10 Ways To Cut Your Reading Expenses

Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

How much do you spend on reading material every week? Whether it is magazines, newspapers, books or ebooks, costs can add up quickly. Today we are going to look at how to cut your reading expenses. Not only will this give you back your money, but it will also simplify your reading list!

1. Purge Your Subscriptions

Subscribing to magazines and newspapers is cheaper than buying individual copies, but if you don’t read them, there is no point in spending the money.

See how many subscriptions you have, and then examine how many go into the recycle bin unread. If any magazines go this route, unsubscribe. If newspapers go this route, check to see if you can decrease the frequency to what you will read (or if they are all unread, unsubscribe altogether).

2. Share

If you have like-minded neighbors or friends, it might be possible to share a subscription to a magazine or newspaper.

Not only does this cut your expense in half, but saves resources!

3. Buy Used

If you need to buy a book, consider used. There are used bookstores in just about every town I have visited, and you can get used books from places like Amazon and Powells (Powells will also buy your books and pay for shipping!)

For the more expensive books (think textbooks), used can often be a great way to go, snagging you a like-new version for much less money.

4. Use Your Library

Your local public library is a wealth of resources. Besides having books (which you can read for free), most libraries also have magazines, ebooks, audio books, movies and music.

Most libraries also allow you to request books they do not have from other library systems. Stop in to your local library and see what is available.

Added to this, if you live in an area with surrounding towns, you can often get reciprocal cards for the other town and use their resources as well!

5. Consider an E-Reader

If you read a lot, you might want to consider an e-reader. E-books are usually less expensive than their print counterparts, and you can often get them for steeply discounted.

The cost of the devices has gone down, and you can now get a All-New Kindle Paperwhite, 6″ High-Resolution Display (300 ppi) with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers* for a little more than $100. (This version will let you read in daylight) When you factor in the savings on the books (especially if you get them from your library), it will pay you back very quickly.

If you don’t want to go this route, you can get e-reader software for most smart devices, making it possible to read e-books without a specialized device.

6. Get A Loan

Libraries are not the only organizations that loan out books. Check with your friends and neighbors and borrow books from them. Even some cafes and libraries have books that you can take on a take-one-leave-one premise.

7. Subscribe to Kindle Unlimited

Amazon’s latest program for Kindle allows you to pay a flat $9.99 monthly fee and read as many of their Kindle Unlimited books as you want. While it may seem pricy, I found it was still much less than I was paying for e-books outright.

8. Finish Your Backlog

Many readers have stacks of books and magazines that they have purchased and never gotten around to reading. If you have books you mean to read someday, do it now, and make the sunk cost worth something!

9. Thrift It

My mother’s main source of books is thrift stores and yard sales. She will often pick up books at $0.25 a piece. These books are generally in good condition, and fairly new. When she is done with them, she sells them at her own yard sale for the same price, and recoups her money.

10. Ask For Gifts

If you can’t find a book another way, you might have to buy a new copy. This is where gifts come in. Ask for gift cards, or start an Amazon wish list to allow your friends and loved ones to purchase items you truly want.

Conclusion

There are many ways to save month on your reading expenses. From the free to the deeply discounted, with a little thought you should be able to cut your reading expenses way down.

Over To The Readers

Did I miss anything? Do you have a way to cut your reading expenses? How much could you save by applying these methods?

Photo by Images_of_Money. Licensed under Creative Commons.