Because of my love of information, saving money on resources like books became a necessity. With all of the different ways of finding cheap, discounted, and free books, I knew I had to pass these tips along to our readers.

1. Keep a watchful eye at the local yard sales, auctions, flee markets, and library sales. You can find books for .05 - .25 cents each, or in some cases, you can purchase a whole box of books for a few dollars. I love to go to auctions in the summer, and many times I have seen the auctioneer pay someone a dollar if they would agree to take the box of books home with them :)

Here's where this can get really exciting for you! If you find nice books in good condition (for a very good price), pick them up - even if you don't find the book interesting. Then, take the books to your local book shop & re-sell the books there. Most local book shops (not the large big box stores) will pay you 25-50% of the cover price. You will need to check around to see what kinds of deals your local shops offer, as well as, what types of books that they are looking for. Sometimes they offer a cash payment, while other times they might offer you a store credit.

So lets say that you purchased a book for .25 with a cover price of $25, you could get as much as $6.25 - $12.50 in cash or credit! This is a great way to purchase new books for pennies!

2. If you already know what kind of topic that you're looking for, you have the ability to do lots of research about it - before you buy! Simply log on to an online book store such as Amazon.com and do a search for books in your topic area. Amazon.com is especially helpful to use, because they allow you to "look inside" (or thumb through the book as I like to say) before you purchase it. I also like to read what others who already own the book have to say about it. After you've done the research & you have a nice book list of books that you'd like to look over, go to your library's online system to reserve the book. I love using this service, as all I have to do is, log onto the website, find the books that I'm interested in, put them on hold, then I get a phone call when the books are ready to pick up! This is a great way to save time & money!

Then, after you've finished reading them, perhaps you might want to take them to your book dealer & make a nice little profit :)

4. Find out who does the book reviews in your newspaper (or check out the larger ones), they do so many reviews & therefore have lots of books to find homes for! They get the books free in exchange for a review, so if you really love books, perhaps you might look into becoming a book reviewer ;)

5. If you like romance novels, most libraries will allow trade ins. Just bring in the books you've already read, and trade them in for books found in the trade in section.

6. Check out the dollar stores - I uncovered several beautifully illustrated, hard cover, pop up books for $1 each!