In our early married days in college Jared and I were on a pretty tight budget, but somehow we always managed to find a few extra dollars to spend on books. One of our favorite date night activities was to go to the thrift store and load up on $0.25 treasures. He would look for novels and classic literature (that’s what English majors do!), and I would scavenge for children’s literature (that’s what Elementary Education majors do!).
Once I started teaching I’d acquired a good-sized library for my classroom and then when I left public school teaching to stay at home with my first baby, I brought that collection home with me. Happily it seems our kids have inherited the same passion for books.
A love for reading begins at home, and one way to fuel the passion is to make good books easily accessible. A weekly trip to the library and bringing home a canvas bag so full it almost bursts the seams is great! But there’s something special about having a collection of your own books to read over and over and tuck into bed with you.
{Most of our Magic Treehouse books came from thrift store scavenges!}
The thrift stores are still my favorite place to find books. Right now we live in a small town with an even smaller book selection, but when we’re out shopping in the city my kids know it’s often part of the routine to thrift shop stop–our radar going to the back of the store’s bookshelves first. Summer yard sales fit into the same category. These places are always a gamble, but definitely have the best prices, are a good place to start that collection, and are often overlooked because most people don’t want to take the time to sort through randomly shelved used books.
What about you? Where do you like to find good deals on books?
I always check out books at garage sales. During the spring and summer my girls always ask me if I have any new books on thursdays I work. My work involves driving so I pass lots of garage sales.
I used to love our goodwill for books, but they recently raised their prices to $1 a book. We do have some smaller thrift stores I need to check out more often.
The other great place is library book sales. I have found lots of classics and read-a-louds at the library. There prices are usually good as well, but even so it is beneficial to me to support the library I use by buying their old books.
Great post! It’s amazing the deals you can find!
Indeed, I agree. Thrift stores are the places to score the best prices on books. When I have time, I do this, but I also find good deals on amazon and half.com.