Making room in my budget for books: Part 2

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Reading, especially if you are voracious, can be a remarkably expensive hobby. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I am perfectly willing to find ways to make the cost less onerous, or to squeeze money out of other parts of my budget. So here's a run down of most of the things I have included in my day to day habits to help finagle my finances.

OpenLibrary is a free online library open to quite literally anyone with an internet connection and the ability to use AdobeDRM. Handy tip: never get the epub, always stick with the PDF. The selection is bizarre, but there are some true out of print gems in there.

I've also finally renewed my library card and am using Overdrive. My library's selection is hit or miss, but a book I don't have to pay for is a different book I can purchase some other time. And an online library is a library that doesn't require pants, which is always a bonus.

I also started using apps and online printable coupons. There were quite a few on that last post, but I have added a couple more.

For Texas specific residents who shop at HEB, there is now an app, and there are digital coupons. A few key things to remember, when you buy something that you have a digital coupon for, if you also give them a paper coupon they will ALWAYS default to the paper coupon, even if it is worth less. Also, this means no doubling of store and manufacturer's coupons. However, and this is key, HEB does some really cool things with their coupons, like $2 off an $8 purchase of produce, or meat, or seafood. There are even coupons for things like bread and milk. So there are coupons for things you almost always buy but almost never get coupons for. Pairing the app/digital coupons with the email newsletter ones has resulted in some pretty incredible shopping deals. I have to eat, but at least now I don't have to spend quite as much. Plus, it has a grocery list feature and lets you add things to your list from the sale ads. It doesn't let you add things to your grocery list from the coupons list yet, nor does it take you to the coupons directly (grocery IQ is better for this), but if you add an item that does have a coupon it will highlight it to let you know you can go "clip" that coupon.

The other new app I have added is Shopkick (disclaimer: that will link to my referral code). This is an odd app and I had been resistant to getting it. Basically, you get points for walking into stores that offer "kicks", for scanning specific items, and for linking your credit card and purchasing from specific stores (this last one I have not done). There is not an amazon giftcard option or a cash option, so you can't directly buy books with your savings, but it is a relatively painless way to earn giftcards for stores like Macy's, Starbucks, or a variety of other places.

So this is where I'm at in the budget finagling. Anyone else have any suggestions?

2nd Shelly Laurenston Sale

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A week or so ago books 2-4 of Shelly Laurenston's Pride Series were on sale. Now, fortunately for the weeken, books 6-9 are on sale as well for $1.99 each in the USA. Happy Reading!

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon

Sale - Shelly Laurenston

I believe it is very clear by now that I have big, big love for Shelly Laurenston, no matter her pen name and series. Whether it is her Dragon Kin Series under her pseudonym G.A. Aiken, or her newer series Call of the Crows. But the series that started my obsessive love was the Pack Pride Series. And for a limited time books 2-4 are on sale for $1.99 each. Fortunately, book 1 isn't really the best book in the series, and you can start with book 2 with no fear of being lost, the overall series arc doesn't even start until book 4 any way.

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon

Free - Gail Carriger

I'm going to be honest, I have no clue what precisely this is, and I've not read it yet. But there appears to be an anthology about mummies that includes a Gail Carrier story. It's free on Amazon.

Surprise Sale - Burn For Me

Illona Andrews' Burn For Me is on sale for $0.99, presumabley for a very limited time, at Amazon. I highly recommend this book, so get it while you can.

Making room in my budget for books.

No, this post isn't exactly about books. But, making room in a budget is somewhat crucial to the process for most of us. So, I have been experimenting. One way I've managed is by saving or making money on the things I have to do anyway, most notably grocery shopping. There are so many options out there.

Here are the apps I use:

Ibotta

This seems to be the most successful app for people. You unlock offers by performing small tasks, then when you shop at specified stores you scan the items you purchased and then take a picture of your receipt to upload. When they have verified the items they credit your account. When you have reached at least $10.00 in rebates, you can cash out for things like Amazon gift cards. What sets this program apart from the others is the $5.00 referral bonus you can get when someone signs up with your code and redeems their first rebate (full disclosure that link up there puts me as your referrer, but you can just ask a family member or friend for their referral link if you really wanted), and the team activities. Basically your team is made up of everyone who signed up with your referral code, and all your Facebook friends. And each month there are team activity bonuses that make you extra money. The easiest way to do this is to have a lot of friends who are active using Ibotta, and there are a ton of people out there who are thrilled to be Facebook friends with someone else who is active. Check for Ibotta Facebook groups and the like for people to friend request. Pro-tip: If they are only Ibotta friends, make a Facebook list for Ibotta friends, and then add these people to your Ibotta List, Restricted, and then unfollow them. It keeps your Facebook account uncluttered.

Checkout51

Checkout51 is similar to Ibotta, except there are no referral bonuses or teams, and they don't have as many items, but they do usually have produce and they don't require specific stores.

Snap

Snap is Groupon's version of the previous two apps. It has small selections, and the rebates don't just expire, they can be used up, so you need to be fast. But it frequently duplicates Checkout51's items, and there is not specific store requirement. There is also a referral bonus, but it is only $1.00. (Full disclosure-that link is for my referral code)

Receiptpal

This app you just scan receipts, basically any receipt though it works better with shorter ones. Earning are much slower to accrue, but it does make a handy space to keep copies of your receipts. And, you can cash out for an Amazon gift card.

Wal-Mart Savings Catcher

This app only works if you shop at Wal-Mart. basically, instead of you bringing in adds for them to price match, you scan your receipt and then they check for you and credit your account. Results are kind of mixed with this, but if you are shopping at Wal-mart, there is absolutely no reason not to do this. Plus the app lets you look at prices for things, so it is handy when you are shopping at other stores.

And the really nice things, is you can use the same receipt for all of these programs. Of course this only works if you are only using them for things you would have bought anyway, OR if you get them ridiculously cheap, or free, or even make money on them. And this is edging into extreme couponing territory, but there are plenty of places besides the circulars and Sunday newspaper where you can get coupons.

Coupons.com

RedPlum

Common Kindness

Krazy Coupon Lady

And check your local stores, because some of them have coupons to print or other offers. I frequently shop at HEB which has an email you can sign up for that sends you great coupons like for produce and meats, and they have manufacturer's coupons you can print. HEB also has in store coupons that are frequently amazing, but since it isn't a national store I didn't want to spend too much time on it.


So this is just what I do. Anyone else out there doing anything different? Do you have any suggestions?

Sale - J. D. Robb In Death Series

The first 8 books in J. D. Robb's In Death series are on sale for $1.99 each at Amazon. Price matching doesn't appear to be in effect yet with other retailers.

There's over 40 books so far in this series, with no real signs of stopping. For the uninitiated, this is a police procedural romance series set about 50 years in the future with a stable long term couple. It's probably my favorite non UF or SciFi series.

Free - Wrecked by Meljean Brook is FREE

Ok, so the title says it all. But Wrecked is free over at amazon.

Even more interesting, Meljean has contact to get an epub from her if kindle isn't your thing.

http://meljeanbrook.com/wrecked-free-december-11/

Since I read this series in order, I am a bit unqualified to determine how this fares as a stand alone, but this is my absolute favorite steam punk series. So I highly recommend it.

Review - A Kiss of Christmas Magic

Kiss of Christmas Magic: 20 Paranormal Holiday Tales of Werewolves, Shifters, Vampires, Elves, Witches, Dragons, Fey, Ghosts, and More

by Eve Langlais, Aubrey Rose, Molly Prince, Deanna Chase, Mandy M. Roth,Michelle M. Pillow, Angie Fox, Mimi Strong, Viola Rivard, Michele Bardsley, V.M. Black, Lola St. Vil, Tera Edun,Jessa Slade, Chloe Cole, Cristina Rayne, Shawntelle Madison, J.S. Hope, Carina Wilder, Dawn Michelle, Jessica Ryan

I am absolutely not going to review these each individually. Come on, there's 20 of them and the book is well over 1000 kindle pages long. The more important thing is that it is currently $0.99, and it is absolutely worth that much, but after the holidays it is supposed to go up to $20.00, and I would absolutely not pay that price. Some of the stories I absolutely loved, like Caribou Christmas and Everlastingly. Some of them I just could not finish. Some were mediocre. There were only a couple of parts of a serial (since I hate the serial thing this is a good thing). But for $0.99 it absolutely rocks.

Pamela Clare Breast Cancer Fundraiser Anthology

Here's a novel way to fund raise for breast cancer treatment.

"Enjoy 11 emotional stories - 2000 pages filled with all types of heroes from small town to international action-adventure who earn and protect those they love.

PLEASE NOTE: All proceeds go directly to the medical fund for box set author Pamela Clare, who is in the midst of her own battle with breast cancer."

Last Hero Standing: Eleven sexy heroic stories by bestsellers is available for $0.99 by pre-order:

Kindle

Nook

iBooks

Kobo

UK- Magic Breaks Sale The Countdown has begun.

Ilona Andrews magic Breaks is on sale in the UK for $0.99 for the next hour, then it jumps to $1.99.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Breaks-Kate-Daniels-Book-ebook/dp/B00MBLFMHC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Sale - Nora Roberts: The Inn Boonsboro Trilogy

Nora Roberts: The Inn Boonsboro Trilogy is currently on sale at Amazon only for $4.99. Since that is the price of the current cheapest book in the trilogy, it is an excellent deal. Hopefully some of the other retailers will price match. But for now, if you haven't read them already, or you only have paper and are looking to pick them up in digital, it is a steal.

UK Ilona Andrews Magic Breaks SALE

September 25, 2014 Magic Breaks will be on sale in the UK, and the price will increase as time goes buy. If you are in the UK and have held off, it's time to get it now.


http://www.ilona-andrews.com/blog/2014/09/23/magic-breaks-promotion-uk-only/

How to get a better price on new books?

There is something in the world of books that I only recently became aware of, pre-order price matching.

On Amazon, if you pre-order something (including ebooks), you will eventually pay the very lowest price it ever was between the time you ordered it, and the time it ships. And your creditcard is only charged on the day it was ordered. On 06/17/2014 I pre-ordered JD Robb's Festive in Death at $5.99, it is currently at $11.99, and here is the fun part, I am actually getting it for $5.42 because sometime between when I ordered and now, the price must have dropped that low. So, from now on, if I am absolutely certain I will be purchasing a particular book, I will just pre-order it on amazon instead of comparison shopping.

And what this seems to work best on, is pre-ordering the ebook of something that is releasing in hardcover format.

Barnes & Noble doesn't have anything even close.

"If you pre-order an item and pay with a credit card, the authorization for that purchase usually expires in seven days for Visa, or 30 days for MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB cards. For items that are due to arrive in more than 30 days, we may need to obtain another authorization from your credit card company. Your credit card is charged at the time we ship the product. The only exception to this is digital pre-orders such as NOOK Books, NOOK Magazines, NOOK Newspapers and NOOK Apps—for these items, the credit card account is charged immediately. "

So Barnes & Noble charges your book when your ebook when you order it, not when you receive it.

And I have absolutely no clue what Google's policy is on this. Either my google-fu is weak, or their policy is just no where to be found.

Sale - Charlaine Harris

The first five Sookie Stackhouse books are on sale for $1.99 each at Amazon for today only.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/ref=pe_496600_122617390_pe_button/?node=7533915011

Sale - Jeanienne Frost's Night Huntress series

Jeanienne's Night Huntress series is now on sale for $1.99. This series appears to be complete. There's 7 complete books, the last of which was published 01/28/2014. Goodreads average ratings start out in the high 3's and gradually increased through the series.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B001SPZGEQ_st?qid=1408819322&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_82%3AB001SPZGEQ&sort=price-asc-rank

Sale - JD Robb In Death

JD Robb's (Nora Roberts) first 4 In Death books are currently on sale for $1.99. If you've not yet tried this series, they're at an excellent price to try them out. Don't be fooled by the $2.99 ones though, those are novellas.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B000APT7Y0_rf_p_n_feature_browse-b_2?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_82%3AB000APT7Y0%2Cp_n_feature_browse-bin%3A618073011&bbn=283155&sort=price-asc-rank&ie=UTF8&qid=1408776826&rnid=618072011

All 4 have average Goodreads ratings of over 4 stars. So if you are in the market for a futuristic, tragic back story cop police procedural romance novel series, dig right in. I love these books because sometimes it's really enjoyable to stick with the same couple throughout a series, particularly without any irritating love triangles. And personally I don't figure that's a spoiler considering the 39th book in the series is about to be released, and it's always Eve and Roarke. That's right, 39th, so if you are at all interested in these characters, feel free to wallow, I know I do.