The Art of Frugality

Lately I've been debating about whether to cancel my cable. I know this will save me loads of money per month, but it will also induce massive amounts of boredom since TV is one of my main sources of entertainment (oh I know, I'm a total potato ok?).

Now before you wax on about how I’m killing brain cells and I’m nothing but a droid obsessed with obtaining “stuff” fueled by the havoc commercials wreak; allow me to defend myself. 1) I have Tivo so those commercials hold little power over me and, more importantly, 2) I’m also a huge reader. Books, however, are something I can dramatically reduce the cost of.

There are the obvious choices such as the library and used book stores. However, I managed to come across another (easier) source for my thirst of knowledge. What is this titillating tidbit you ask? Why it’s Paperback Swap! An online medium for folks to get rid of the books they don’t want and find books they do. How it works is you register and list the books you have and want to get rid of; which is done by ISBN number (the barcode numbers on the back of your book). Each book is worth a credit, so you send a book off and you receive one credit which can then be used to select a book from another user. Granted, the likelihood of finding new releases is rare, however, I’m willing to wait a few months to save 15 bucks. Shipping typically costs around $2.50 and while you pay to ship the book to the requester, when you request a book the shipping is paid for.

I love this site because, though I enjoy knowledge packed non-fiction, I've also been known to devour a little genre called Chick-Lit. Chick-Lit books make awesome beach reads, but are a little hard to justify purchasing since I tend to read them once and be done with them (unlike books similar to Freakonomics and The Encyclopedia of Theories books I read over again). It's a perfect way to indulge guilt-free and still stay busy during the idle summer months.