How To Grow Your Personal Home Library
I love books! I love book stores, old and new. I love libraries. I love reading and collecting books. Books can get expensive real fast UNLESS you know where to look! I am always on the hunt for books. We have grown our home library quite a bit and one of our biggest goals as a family is to have walls and walls covered in books. We even want to have one of those rolling ladders. How cool would that be!?
It has taken many years to grow our book collection but I have become quite good at finding books for cheap and in great condition.
Here’s where I like to shop for books!
Goodwill: I love to stroll through the different goodwills in my area and scan through the book sections. I try to do this at least once a week. I have found TONS of books by doing this. We have collected a good portion of the Magic Tree House series solely from goodwill. Books cost anywhere from .50 cents to a dollar.
ThriftBooks: Thriftbooks is an online second-hand book shop. It has thousands of different books in a wide variety of conditions and for amazing prices! I can usually find books under $5! Shipping is fast and easy! I have yet to receive a book in terrible condition.
Amazon: The last place I like to check is Amazon. They usually have really good deals but I use them as a last resort.
When growing your home library you want to keep some type of database to keep track of your books or you’ll end up with multiple copies (I’m guilty!). That can be a good thing if you have kids who are hard on books or have multiple kids the same ages but I try to avoid duplicates.
I also like to keep a running wish list, that way I know what to look for when I am thrift shopping or checking ThriftBooks. You should see the crazy amount of screenshots I have on my phone of books I want.
It takes time but it’s possible. I have a monthly allowance of $50 for books every month and can usually find anywhere from 10-15 books a month for that price.
Let me know where you like you find your books!
love & light,
Jalesa