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How to Save Money on Children’s Books

How to Save Money on Children's Books

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How to Save Money on Children's Books
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Note:  This post is part of a week-ish long series on one of my favorite topics–books: Children’s Books, Used Books, Favorite Books, Libraries and more.  Not interested in books?  Just skip over this series and join us again next week…

Have you entered the Children’s Books Giveaway yet?
You can do that here: Giveaway: 10 Favorite Children’s Books.

In yesterday’s giveaway post, I mentioned the following principle: 

It is possible to build an excellent home library on a budget.  

LOTS of children's books!
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This is but a small fraction of our personal children’s library, which consists largely of used books.  Read on to find out more about my favorite sources!

Let me explain…

We have a huge and ever-growing children’s library in our home, the majority of which were purchased used.  [Read more about our ever-growing library, and how we re-label our ex-library books so as not to confuse them with our real library books: How to Re-label Ex-library Books for Your Personal Library.]

This entire set of books for the Giveaway cost me less than $3.  The total retail value, if you were to purchase each of these books in paperback format from Amazon, is about $92.  (Mike Mulligan is unavailable in regular paperback form, but can be purchased as part of a set or in a travel pack, etc.)

As you can see from the picture below, my books–purchased used, for $3–are all in excellent condition.  (Except for Zin! Zin! Zin!  a Violin, which has a crease on the cover–in the top right corner–but is otherwise fine.)  Several titles are Caldecott winners, one is a hardback and all of them came from a local thrift shop on the weekly all-books-half-off day.  Each of these books has been loved by one or more people at my house.

Book Giveaway spring 2013
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This set of ten of our favorite children’s books in excellent used condition would cost $92 (or more) on Amazon, but I paid less than $3 total at a local thrift store.  You could win this entire set!

My Favorite Sources for Used Books

1.  Library Sales 

Summer is typically major “library book sale” season, so be sure to check with your local library to find out their sale schedule.  Our county has one large library system, with multiple locations.  Every summer, there is a giant used book sale for the entire county.  Throughout the year, each library location runs their own periodic sales.  So I always hit the giant sale in the summer, as well as several local sales here and there.

**Local friends should check out the Loudoun Library Foundation’s 24th Annual Used Book Sale.  {Next week!}  

One of my favorite home-educating resources is Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay & Sally Clarkson, and in it they share a humorous list called “Whole Book Fever.”  (“Whole Books” are also known as “living books”–they provide the backbone of our Charlotte Mason homeschooling method.)  One of the “symptoms” I identified with was You schedule your vacation around the annual community used book sale.

Yep, that’s me.  I’ve had this year’s sale marked on the calendar since the date was published last year.  In fact, the wonderful Mr. Native Texan even takes that day off work so that I can shop solo!  (Isn’t he wonderful?)

 

books for spring
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We store and display books all over our house! This book rack hangs in the dining room and contains our rotating collection of books by season.  Every book from our Spring Collection pictured here, except one–Miss Rumphius–was purchased used.

2.  Thrift Stores

Check your local thrift stores to see if they have any special book sales.  As I mentioned above, the store where I purchased the ten books for the giveaway sells all books at half-off on Saturdays.  Another favorite thrift store had so many books that they sold them for $5/box for months on end, just to reduce their inventory.  And those boxes were big!  I scored quite a few treasures during that time.  Since then, the store has gone back to their regular book prices, but every once in while they’ll run another daily sale for $5/box.

Even without special sales, thrift stores can be an excellent source for quality used books.  One store I used to frequent sold all children’s books for $.10 each!  Check around to see which thrift stores near you have excellent prices, great sales and consistent inventory.

3.  Online Retailers

When I need (or want) a specific book, I almost never purchase it new.  My favorite online retailers for used books are Amazon and AbeBooks.com.  I’ve saved lots of money on necessary books by purchasing them used through these sources.

I always look for sellers with high ratings (5 stars), and generally purchase books in Like New or Very Good Condition.  After purchasing countless books this way, I can recall only two specific incidents in which I was not happy with the condition of the book (because the condition did not match the description).  In both cases, the sellers issued an instant refund.  Which made me extremely happy!

June book display
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These are a few favorite month-by-month books that also are displayed in the dining room. The boys eagerly anticipate the first day of every month, for the “changing of the books” (and the reading of them, of course!).  Each of these books was purchased used, in excellent condition.  [We made these rustic, wooden shelves ourselves–from pallets!  Read more about that here: And Yet Another Set of DIY Pallet Shelves.]

In conclusion

Some folks would rather have fewer books in excellent condition, but not me.  Most of our books are in very good condition, and purchasing them used allows us to enjoy many, many more titles than we could otherwise afford.

I would rather expose my children to a great quantity and variety of excellent volumes in good condition, than limit our collection to books in pristine condition.

What about you?  Have any tips for finding great deals on good books?

 

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Kathleen | Roots & Boots

Let's get real! I’m Kathleen Henderson, your Natural Living Mentor. I’m on a mission to help families see the joy in real food, while finding natural remedies and creating a nontoxic home. Learn more about my story >>

4 Comments

  1. Jennifer Dunn on 06/20/2013 at 12:54 pm

    I have actually found a ton of great children’s books at yard sales! They are often sold in bulk so you get a really great deal.

    • Kathleen on 06/20/2013 at 7:46 pm

      Yes! Yard/garage sales are another great source for used books. 🙂

  2. Jennifer Dunn on 06/21/2013 at 12:57 pm

    I forgot to share my favorite way of saving money! It is a yahoo group called freecycle.com. It was established to keep people from throwing away perfectly good items and encourage recycling. You can find anything out there I have gotten an entire patio set and my big find today as huge box of children’s books! Totally free!

    • Kathleen on 06/21/2013 at 7:00 pm

      Cool! We love Freecycle, too.

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