The Frugality of Books
Dusting my seemingly endless shelves of books, my thoughts began to wander.
How does the acquiring of books fit into the frugal life?
Which would a more frugal purchase: hardbacks or paperbacks?
My whole family loves books. All my children are working on their own libraries, and my youngest son in particular devours classic authors such as Henty, Ballantyne, and Stevenson. (Feel free to check out this poem Youngest Son wrote about his favorite writers.) A good portion of his limited income goes to the purchase of books. I asked myself if this was wise in light of our frugal life?
My answer was yes! Books are a comparatively inexpensive means of education. Through books one can learn history, geography, science, theology, and so much more! (Of course, I’m referring to written material other than textbooks.) A love of reading often translates into a love of writing, and the proper study of writing technique and style advances this skill.
I’m not advising you to go spend all your money buying books. Youngest Son is not providing for a family and keeps a careful budget. He has a budgeting freedom at this stage of life others may not have. Certainly, the amount allotted for books will vary with each household.
I recognize that it’s not always possible for a frugal family to buy new books to read. However, the internet provides easy and inexpensive ways of obtaining literature. Below are a couple websites that I have either used in the past, or still use.
PaperBackSwap.com - Extremely inexpensive way of swapping your books, (hardback or paperback) for others, only paying the cost of shipping.
Ebay.com - Ebay often has deals on books, as well as Half.com, an eBay affiliate.
And, of course, the library is a wonderful and free resource.
Continuing to dust our collection of books, I recalled how years ago, Husband and I concentrated on purchasing paperbacks because they cost less to buy. However, as we began to focus on living life with a multi-generational vision, we realized paperbacks did not last as long. Their bindings were prone to fall apart and the covers bent easily. These books were much more fragile, especially in a family with young children.
Hardbacks, on the other hand, lasted much longer and were perfect for heirloom hand-me-downs through the family. Predictably, hardbacks usually cost more, but just may be the more frugal investment because of their durability. For example, we stopped buying the Henty series in paperback and chose the hardback versions.
My musings continued as I placed books back on our shelves. Perhaps the best way to analyze whether to purchase hardback or paperback, is to ask yourself what you plan to do with the book. Is it a novel that you plan to read only once or twice? A biography that will be used for a particular study, and then disregarded as the student progresses? Then paperback is a good way to go, because you don’t have any long term plans for this book.
On the other hand, if you expect the book to be special in some way, referenced often and frequently re-read, buy hardback. This way, not only will it hold up better to your repeated uses, but you can hand it down to your children, and get many years use from the book. (That, by the way, is a frugal concept to the core.)
How do you build your library? Do you purchase hardback or paperback?
~DL
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13 Responses to “The Frugality of Books”
August 5th, 2010 at 6:20 am
I suffer from an incurable case of Bibliographic Obesity and have for as long as I can remember. I have a mixed collection of hardback and paperback. And now I also have a Nook e-reader on which there are electronic versions of many of my favorite classics…all of which can be found for free from many different places.
It is currently a difficult thing to have most of my books in boxes as we are trying to sell our house.
I also use Paperback Book Swap extensively.
August 5th, 2010 at 6:54 am
My husband and I have a house full of books, collected when we were young, but in my old age I’m doing just the opposite. My new personal rule is to give away every book I read–well, I don’t give away the library books
I find that part of the reward of being frugal when you’re young is that you can afford to be generous when you’re both young and old. People love getting my books and I hope I set a good example and they will give theirs away too.
August 5th, 2010 at 9:17 am
I love books. Hardbacks do hold up the best so I try to invest in them when I can. The main way I try to stretch my money is to check the library before I buy anything. I concentrate on buying the books that I can’t get through interlibrary loan. a lot of the time tose are the books that I especially will want to pass down anyway – Christian books and other classics. Our library is being taken over by “popular” books which I can find at a yard sale anytime. It has 3 copies of each Harry Potter book, but only one of the Little House books… So I buy the good stuff!
August 5th, 2010 at 11:24 am
We’ve been using paperbackswap almost ever since it came out! We definitely only keep the books we want to keep, the ones we never ever read, we swap or give to someone or some organization. We try to do library as much as possible so we aren’t just collecting books that we’ll only read once.
August 5th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Thainamu:
What a wonderful example to give away books in older age!
Shannon:
The Little House books are the good ones to my family! Oh, the memories circulating through my mind as I think back to reading these to my children. Snuggled under quilts (I didn’t live in Texas in those days) or close together on a couch, we delighted in these stories.
Each of my children have a set of this series but I must confess they are all paperbacks. Has anyone ever purchased this series in hardback?
August 5th, 2010 at 11:43 am
I love PaperBackSwap! I also used alibris.com and half.com for cheap books. I prefer paperback books because they are more comfortable in my hand, but I’ll read either. I also sell my used books on half.com as a way to earn a little extra money.
August 5th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Ironic … I was in this same situation just a few weeks ago, cleaning the bookshelves and realizing we had some books we’d never read again, and even a few duplicates. I’ve been using PaperBackSwap.com as well – I think I’ve traded 5 or more already. But there’s also Swaptree.com – very similar except you can trade for different media without transferring anything (ie, a book for a dvd), and they also include video games. Plus, Swaptree.com has an ‘acceptable’ category, so if you have a book that can’t be posted on PBS because it has some writing or highlighting, or a binding that is a bit more worn than usual, you can still post it on Swaptree.com and trade it for a book in a similar condition.
By the way, I love your discussion about paperbacks vs hardcovers. I hadn’t thought about it that way before!
August 5th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I have found that I much prefer to buy a well-used hardback rather than a like-new paperback. Prices are usually comparable, and the hardback has far more life in it than even a brand new paperback.
Even if we don’t plan to keep it forever, a new paperback is likely to be in well-used condition after a short stint in our house, while most hardbacks leave in the same condition as they arrived.
August 5th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
I downloaded Kindle for PC for free off of Amazon. They have a ton of classics available for free. Takes less space, less dust. You can even write notes in the margins
August 5th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
We moved so often I could never count on access to a good library, so I built up a huge collection of books to suit the tastes and interests of 9 people, and then some (we have over 8,000). Every time we moved we would get rid of almost all our furniture and other stuff, but keep the books.=)
Now, as children marry and leave home, we lose a few each time.
When I have a choice, I prefer hardback because they do last longer, but some books I can only find in paperback.
August 8th, 2010 at 8:50 am
DL,
Our 2nd or 3rd set of Little House paperbacks is wearing out and I finally started collecting older hardbacks. I’m getting them 1 or 2 at a time from Ebay for Becca’s birthday. They will belong to her, but she won’t mind having them on the shelf in our family library for others to enjoy as well. I don’t expect to have the entire set by then, but her birthday will go on until we do. You know how little ones love to receive packages in the mail! I think it will be a fun gift for her since this is her favorite series and I’ve been reading them aloud to her and the other younger ones.
August 9th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
hekatesgal:
Don’t you miss the smell of an older book? How about the memories the cover of a favorite book brings to mind? I guess I am just showing my age, but my heart grieves at the thought that some day books as I know them may be a thing of the past.
Kimc:
Oh what bliss to be reading the Little House to “littles!” Ma Ingalls is one of my heroes. I was thinking you could add reading “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder to your list of 10 Ways to Keep Your Cool (http://inashoe.com/2010/08/living-without-ac/).
August 20th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Frugality and simple, uncluttered living goes out the window when books enter the picture. I LOVE them way too much! I think my husband and I have finally broken the habit of impulse buying books, but we can NEVER say no to a free book.
Have you heard of Imagination Library? It’s a great program for kids under age 5 to get a free paperback children’s book every month. http://starvingstudentsurvivor.blogspot.com/2010/06/imagination-library-program.html
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