EXISTING ECONOMICALLY

As I continue to learn the ways of being frugal, I have stumbled upon the first 'master of saving's' (Trent Hamm - writer of 365 Ways to Live Cheap) blog titled The Simple Dollar. He is a great writer and clearly has tons of excellent advice and probably a pretty big heart to be giving it out for free.

Yesterday I skipped all of my college classes and took a personal day in order to continue my research in all things blog and money related. I have stumbled upon many websites and tips that tell readers to get rid of old books before buying new ones. Being an English Literature major I can not see myself getting rid of old books. I have many bookshelves filled with old books and new ones. There are books I've only read once and will probably never read again, but they are still books right?

Divulging more deeply I learned about a book swap:
http://bookmooch.com/
http://paperbackswap.com/index.php
http://www.bookins.com/

Those are just a few examples of the many sites out there that let you ship away books you have read and pick new books to read. Most of the time there are no membership fees only shipping costs and you must register to join.

How it works:
You begin by registering. Once you have registered, you list books you do not mind giving up for trade. Each book you register and swap earns you credits. You can not request a book from another member unless you have the credits needed. This I'm guessing is to make sure everyone is actively participating and it increases the various books available for swap.

Once you have mailed a book out for swap, you no longer reserve the right to ownership. Therefore, unless you find another listing for that book, you probably won't see it again. Just something to keep in mind before swapping your favorite read.


I decided to join Paper Back Swap and immediately set up a free account to see what it was all about.

After reading the terms and services over slightly I got to thinking. An author can post his or her book on a site swap (published or not) in order to gain recognition. However, when reading deeper into the T.O.S. it stated that any property swapped becomes property of National Book Swap for five years. After those five years you may publish your book. This just does not seem like a good idea, so i reccommend saving your unpublished material for your editors eyes only.

Does anyone else use a book swap service? How has it worked for you?

Total Cost For A New Book: $5.00-$25.00/book
Total Cost For A Book Swap: $2.17/lb
Total Savings: $2.83-$$22.83