Frugality in Practice: Building a Cheap Personal Finance Library
Published on - August 4th, 2006 (by J.D. Roth) My wife and I went thrift-store shopping last weekend. She was looking for shoes. I was looking for personal finance books. I found several:
- The Millionaire Next Door ($3.99)
- The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need ($2.99)
- A Random Walk Down Wall Street ($3.99)
- The Richest Man in Babylon ($2.99)
Because I received 15% off the entire order, these four books cost me just $11.87. I passed up several other good choices — $12 seemed like enough of an extravagance for one day.
In most cases, books are something you shouldn’t buy new. You can usually find what you want at the public library. Or, if you must own certain titles, you can find them cheap at garage sales, thrift shops, and used book stores. It may take a while to find what you want, but that’s part of the fun.
I’m gradually building an extensive personal finance library comprising only books that I’ve purchased at garage sales and thrift stores. I have a mental lists of books I’d like to acquire, and I keep an eye out so that I can get them cheap.
(I’m also building a cheap writer’s library, though I need to learn to exercise self-control on these books: I’ve picked up five cheap copies of the classic On Writing Well or a total of $4. Why do I need five copies of that book?)
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I’d gladly pay for shipping on one of those “On Writing Well” copies!
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I’ll take another.
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I’d add Amy Dacyczyn’s *The Complete Tightward Gazette!*
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Another thing to do is join up on http://www.paperbackswap.com – list nine books and you get three credits to request books from any other member. When someone requests one of your books, you send it media mail to them and you get another credit to request a book. I joined 2 months ago and have already received nine books off my wish list. I’ve sent out quite a bit more than that, but I have credits now.
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It would have been even cheaper to go to the public library, check out all of the listed titles, and extract and apply whatever useful information they contained. I usually need to feel I can read something end-to-end at least three or four times before I will acually purchase a book. Saves a lot of space at home, too!
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[...] Read personal finance books and self-development manuals — personal finance and personal success are deeply intertwined. Money is more about your mind than it is about math. Your best bet is to borrow books from the public library, or to purchase them cheap at garage sales or thrift stores. (I’ve built most of my personal finance library this way.) In addition to the books I’ve mentioned in this article article, I recommend: [...]
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[...] Frugality in Practice: Building a Cheap Personal Finance LibraryThe Personal Finance HOW-TO LibrarySurvey: The Best Personal Finance Books?10 Ways to Save Money on BooksFrugality in Practice: Using the Public LibraryFrugality in Practice: The Library Book SaleHow I Choose Personal Finance Bookslinks for 2006-10-29Check Your Local Library for Summer Reading ActivitiesGreat Clothing Reference Books [...]
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[...] library, or to purchase them cheap at garage sales or thrift stores. (I’ve built most of my personal finance library this way.) In addition to the books I’ve mentioned in this article article, I [...]
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As I live outside the U.S., it is not easy to find good personal finance literature, used or otherwise. A good solution for me has been to purchase used books through Amazon.com. A lot of the vendors ship internationally – not a cheap solution, mind you, because handling fees are usually more expensive than the book itself – however, it is still cheaper than buying a book directly from Amazon.
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I recently stumbled across http://www.bookmooch.com – you can list books you own and are willing to mail to someone who wants them, and you can request books from others. You can create a wish list and be notified by email if someone lists a book on your list, also you can create a private ‘saved for later’ list for books you’re not sure you want. I’ve no connection with the site other than as a satisfied user, I’ve sent out over 30 books and received about as many so far. There’s a feedback facility and you can see what others have sent/received. There are international users ie it’s NOT US only and you can decide for yourself whether you’re willing to send books overseas or not.
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You said you were also building a cheap writer’s library. I’m interested in what books you have and are interested in. Please let us know! I have the following:
* “On Writing Well” (Zinsser)
* “The Elements of Style” (Strunk and White)
* “Write Right” (Shapiro)
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bookfinder.com is a great place to compare prices for books at different online outlets. True, it’s not as cheap as the library or a thrift store, but you can’t beat the convenience of finding exactly what you’re looking for and having it shipped directly to your house, often for less than $5.
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I just bought The Richest Man in Babylon for $1 on e-bay it cost me 3 dollars to mail it…great book! another IDEA I rarely hear is to go to Borders, have a cupa coffee and read a few books, this works great for all the speed readers out there (I’ve been speed reading since I was 12, thankyou Evelyn Wood!) you can drink expensive coffee and save money on books…this is my way of relaxing for an afternoon when I’m not working or going to grad school…And another thing. Stay away from Rich Dad Poor Dad, I took his advise and everything he said cost me money…I could have invested in realestate better on my own…
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[...] Frugality in Practice: Building a Cheap Personal Finance Library [...]
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