I have been told that patience is a virtue. I also believe that patience is an essential characteristic for saving money. So I decided to put myself to the test to see (1) if I have the necessary resolve to wait to purchase some desired items, and (2) if my patience is rewarded.
Photo by Gill Rickson
The other day I was on the Get Rich Slowly site and came across this post on 25 Essential Books about Money. In the post, J.D. suggested you get these books from your local library and read them. Unfortunately, I checked out my local library and none of the books are available. Moreover, I live overseas and thought I should pick up some personal finance books while I was in North America. So I decided to make it a challenge to see how many of the listed books I could get used and see how cheaply I could get them. I have until the end of August to see how many of the books I can buy second hand and how much I am able to save in the process. You might also want to print up the list so you can carry it around while you shop. I bet even if you paid full price (as long as you read the books), every book would be worth the purchase price.
Books are great things to buy second hand as you naturally have time to find another read. The biggest disadvantage is you never know what you are going to find …
The only book I currently own from the list is The Total Money Makeover so I am not going to search for the book. If I were to buy the other 24 books from Overstocked it would cost me $254.46 for 21 of the available books. The remaining three would cost $46.92. The grand total would be $301.68. I will update you when I find a book.
My first was The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. Overstocked price = $10.05 Amazon Price = $10.15. My price at Value Village = $1.99. Total Savings to date = $8.06.
Stay tuned as I plan to provide a review of all the books I read.
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