Today I was reminded that the local book festival (the "Lifeline Bookfest") was due to open soon, and I thought that this would be a great topic to post about.
Throughout my life I have been a fairly heavy reader, and for any other readers out there, you probably know that this can turn into a fairly expensive hobby. My usual method for saving money on reading (and obviously a fairly popular method) was to visit the local library and use a "try before I buy" technique, where I only purchased books I knew I would re-read many times. This method is quite succesful, but I want to put forward another possible method. Second hand books.
Nearly all towns have a second hand book shop of some sort, and quite often these are run for charity (in Australia think of organisations such as The Salvation Army, or Saint Vinnie's). Second hand book stores at school fairs are also a great place to get your hands on books. Not only does this allow you to buy books you have wanted for a while, but also allows you to explore new books.
This is great for students trying to find textbooks too. My textbook bills have been as much as $400 (for only 4 books), so getting even one of these at a cheaper price is definitely worth the effort.
Purchasing second hand books means that aswell as saving money yourself (and the savings can be fairly remarkable; at the local "bookfest" twice a year, good quality books can be as cheap as $2), the money you do spend is atleast going to an organisation that can benefit from it, rather than a large company.
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