If, like me, you’re an avid reader, you’ll be familiar with how much you can (very easily) spend on books. When there are so many amazing books out there, ready and waiting for you to pick them up and take them to their new home, it’s all too easy to go into a book shop and just lose control. Today I’m going to share some of my best tips on how to spend less money on books.
And whilst I have no qualms about spending money on books – it’s SO important to support authors – I have to be realistic and recognise the fact that there is a cost of living problem and lots of people are going through a financial crisis.
We’re probably all looking for ways to save more money these days, whether it’s on our food shop, our energy bills, our health and wellness or we’re cutting down on things like takeaways or streaming subscriptions.
I don’t think we should ever deprive ourselves of things that make us happy because those are the things that have such a profound impact on our mental well-being.
And if you’re like me, then books are one of the things that make you very happy!
Luckily our hobby isn’t the most expensive hobby in the world. There are plenty of other things you can buy, collect or enjoy doing that cost a LOT more money than a few books. But it all adds up.
You should always support authors where you can but if you can’t support them by purchasing their brand new £17.99 hardback right now, that’s absolutely okay and you shouldn’t be made to feel like because you can’t do that, you’re not supporting books and authors.
There are plenty of other ways to support authors too, such as leaving positive reviews, sharing links to their books on social media, re-tweeting (or re-X’ing, what is the phrase for this now?) their promo tweets and more!
But if you are an avid book-lover like me but you are trying to save some money as well, then here are 10 effective ways to spend less money on books but also still obtain books to read!
How To Spend Less Money on Books in 10 Ways:
Use charity shops
Charity shops are an excellent way to help you save more money on books but also support a charity in the process as well – so win, win on this one! Most charity shops have large book selections where you can find a range of fiction and non-fiction, all usually in quite good quality as well. I’ve found a few gems in charity shops over the years!
Get yourself a library card
Your local library really is your best friend when you want to start spending less money on books and not only that, libraries are such an invaluable resource to have in our local communities, so I’d urge you to support your local library wherever you can. It’s not just physical books you can rent either, you can often get eBooks, music and magazines too.
Ask for vouchers for special occasions
If your friend and family know that you’re a bookworm (which is likely because you probably don’t stop talk about books, right?) then this is a great opportunity to politely ask if they can gift you book vouchers for any upcoming occasion, such as a birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day etc. Some people say vouchers are a cop-out but I wholeheartedly disagree.
Use the CashWalk app to get vouchers
I use the app CashWalk, which enables you to get vouchers for walking. You get coins for the amount of steps you take each day then when you hit a certain amount, you can cash out in Amazon vouchers, Tesco vouchers, JustEat vouchers or any voucher of your choosing that they have available. I use this as a way to treat myself to a new book, whenever I cash out!
Look for Tesco Clubcard deals
If you’re in the UK then you need to get yourself a Tesco Clubcard. These cards not only save me £10 – £15 on my food shopping but they also run good Clubcard deals on their books. They usually have a 2 for £9 offer or occasionally they’ll do certain books for £3 on Clubcard!
Consider going paperless
It’s no secret that eBooks and digital books are much cheaper than paperbacks. Whilst all us book lovers love a paperback, if we really want to read more without breaking the bank, then eBooks might be the way to go. If you have a Kindle, great! But if you don’t, then all you need to do is download the Kindle app on your phone and you can access eBooks anyway.
Do a book swap with friends or family
Book swaps are super easy and effective ways to read more books without breaking the bank. Get together with your other book loving friends and do a swap, perhaps a selection of books each so you all have new ones to read. If you don’t live nearby, then an online swap could work just as well if you’re prepared to pay postage.
Become a book reviewer
Obviously this is a very niche point as not everyone would want to become a book reviewer or have the capacity to do so but from my own experience as an establish book reviewer, I know that this is an excellent way to get lots of books for free, in exchange for reviews.
There are lots of things to consider if you want to go down this route, for example which platform are you going to use? Will you realistically be able to keep up with reviews? Do you know how to write a book review? Are you prepared to give negative reviews? But it’s definitely a really satisfying and rewarding thing to do if you want to!
Create a cash pot for books from survey sites
As well as saving money on books, there’s also ways to make more money that you spend on books. Like with the point about CashWalk, I’d also recommend signing up for some survey sites in which you can create your cash pot that you can dedicate entirely on books. My favourite is Prolific, as it’s easy to make money and the tasks / surveys you’re asked to do aren’t boring.
Read what’s on your shelf
A bit like when people say, “shop your wardrobe”, here you should, “shop your bookcase”. If you’re an avid reader, then I just KNOW that you have a ton of books on your bookcase that you haven’t read yet. You buy books at 5x the speed that you can read them, inevitably leaving you with plenty of unread books sitting there for months – maybe even years!
I hate the thought of anyone who loves reading and who takes solace in books not being able to read because of money restraints, so I hope this post has given you some ideas on how to spend less money on books.
There’s always a push and pull between saving money and supporting authors but remember, there are other ways to support authors you love and there’s absolutely no need to sacrifice your savings in order to do so.
If you’re an avid reader, how do you save money on books? Any hacks?
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