Book Shopping Savvy

I like books and I cannot lie.

You other brothers can't deny.

When someone walks in with a volume, set or case.

And it's a best seller down to date.

I get sprung.

(sorry, my attempt at book rapping)

But seriously, I love them.  My collection of books, new and used, is something I'm super proud of.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I judge people by the books in their house.
Especially if there aren't any books to be found.
I love books so much that even if I haven't read a book, if it's received positive reviews or is a classic, I can recognize it from a mile away.
There are worse addictions in the world, ya know like meth.
I just love books.

What's better than loving books is finding a great deal on them.
So how do I shop for books, apart from supporting a local bookstore or Barnes and Noble?
THRIFTING!

Please tell me that you've seen the Macklemore video on Thrift Shopping.  It is so incredibly worth your time.  Watch it, laugh and be merry.  The scene where he is jumping across the furniture is basically what I'm doing in my mind as I walk into the doors of a Goodwill.  Plus, I love a good used book.

I hit the lottery with our local Goodwill because it seriously has the best literary selection I have ever seen at a (super cheap) used bookstore.  I have a few theories on why this is.  Where I live: a really small town and the nearest Target is about a half hour away.  Now I love Target.  One of the many reasons that I love Target, is because unlike Walmart, they feature actual best-selling books and not really shitty ones.  I'm sorry but the Walmart here sucks and I am consistently disappointed in their book selection and we all know Target is the shiz.  So my theory is that folks pick up books at Target a half hour away or shop online because there isn't much to do here except sky dive. 

Say what? 

I'm being totally serious.  They don't have a Target but they have skydiving. 
In what world does that make sense, who knows? 

When these readers try to clean out their house, they donate their books to Goodwill.  Ka-ching!  Upon discovering their awesome book collection, I quite literally frequent it every week. 

So that is the main way that I thrift for books - to check out my local thrift shop.  You've got to keep an open mind with thrifting because whether it's a picture frame, book or clothing item, you never know what you will find.  I always have my phone on me because that is my secret thrifting weapon.

The Amazon App

Simply type in the name of the book that you are considering purchasing and voila, you get the rating and customer reviews on it.  This is super nice, especially if you recognize a title or an author and don't know if you would really like it.  Goodwill had a baller good deal the other day and I got over 20 books for $7.  I don't know any book lover who would deny that kind of deal.

Tips for thrifting for books:

Know the area you're thrifting in.  Not gonna lie, I like going to the thrift stores in ritzier areas because not only can you pick up really great reads that are probably in stellar condition, but you can pick up some J.Crew for ninety nine cents.  Why yes, I'll take that deal.

Check out garage sales.  I haven't done this in awhile but people love getting rid of their stuff, including books so they can make more space.  You can find classics and even best-sellers that folks never got around to reading.

College bookstores are the bomb dot com.  At Madison, we had a basement dedicated to 50% off title prices and they had everything.  I'm not even remotely exaggerating, it was an awesome place to go.  Rainy weekends, I would spend a solid two hours there, simply browsing.  Now I prefer thrift stores because I could get a book for like 99 cents for $7, but it was still nice to get books 50% off.

I also don't mind buying used books online and if you know me at all, I adore Amazon.  If you like online shopping or are starting to explore it a little more, consider getting an Amazon Prime account.  This isn't a sponsored post, I just seriously love all of the benefits that come with it.  Not only are there Prime account offers for new books, but used books as well.  You get free, 2-day shipping and access to free shows and movies online.  I find a ton of books, both used and new on Amazon and getting mail is like Christmas morning for me. 

The key is to check out a couple different categories.  I look at the prime price for a new book, the used copy price, and what the price is for the Kindle edition.  In this example, you can find a used copy for $1.97 and shipping will probably be around $4, so you're spending $6 instead of $16.50.  That's $10 you can use on more books! ;)

Amazon also has daily kindle deals, which are awesome.  I receive the e-mail for them every day and I can check them out to see if there is anything interesting that catches my eye.  They also have monthly deals where select titles are under $3.99.  Even if you don't own a Kindle, you can download the app and read it off your phone or computer.   

Now my last recommendation is to become a book reviewer at Netgalley.  There you can get free downloads of up and coming books that you may love to have.  You create a profile and shop around to request titles.  The publishers grant you permission and then you have a new read.  It's pretty awesome.

I haven't ever read eBay to buy books and I know some people have actually used Instagram to sell clothes, so you might find some luck there.  What are some tips and tricks that you have for buying books?

Thanks for Reading!

Sinus Pressure & Carpets that Smell...Off

I don't know what it is...

it could be allergies,

a wicked cold,

or life just spitting on me in the form of copious amounts of snot.

ewwwww

But, I'm sick.

Nevertheless, I thought this would be an ideal time to reminisce on the move up to my new base.

My roommate Brittany and I are renting a house.

It's big, it's nice, it's ballin-shock-callin.

It seriously is a nice house in a beautiful neighborhood.
I Google Mapped that ish before we moved.

I mean it was key that I figure out the distance from work because I don't like long commutes and to figure out if the neighborhood was majorly sketchy.

It's not...that's a good thing.

We also have a big yard which is perfect for the Hollinator and all of her romping around adventures.

I'm debating whether or not to post pictures...I may post a few in the next couple of days but I do like my privacy so please don't be offended if I ask you to use the brilliance of your imaginations.

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Ok so we arrive on base and are staying at base lodging.

Brit and I are total newbs.

Wee lil babes lost in the world of becoming a part of the "real Air Force."

Everything is going well until we drive to our property manager's
office which is over a half hour away to sign our lease.

As the reader, I'm sure you'll recognize several key "red flags" in this post.

Like hey Kim, you should have had your property manager meet you at the house instead of haulin' your booties all the way to their office.

I would promptly respond, why thank you reader for saving me the time and hassle.

I really could have used you in my backseat at the time.

So we drive to their office, have a little difficulty finding it and then sit down to sign the lease.

SHE (the property manager staff member that we've been working with) basically pro-rated us for the days that we haven't been living there.

Mind you we just moved, so there is no way that the military has our stuffed moved from multiple states yet, plus we're staying at base lodging.

We even expressed this to her before we left our respective dwellings.

Since the earlier date was on the application, that's what she went with.

Of course, she didn't tell me this until the day of 

but hey there's nothing like scamming two fresh-out-of-college butter bars.

It gets better.

So we drive back to our new house and it's amazing.

Three bedrooms, two full baths, a living room, kitchen, dining room, two-car garage...the works!

The kicker is that the previous owners basically ran their house into the ground.

The carpet reeked of animal.

Like they just let their dog and/or cat just mark everything.

Oh hey every corner in the house, if I haven't peed on you yet, 

don't worry I have you booked for after lunch.

It also didn't have a working smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector.

Joyous.

Well after several phone calls and some detective work on my part,

everything was taken care of...except for the carpet.

Brittany autobahned (I don't think that's even remotely close to how it's spelled) the carpet when I went to pick up my dog (she was back in the old town) and then I rented a Rug Doctor and we went to work on the house.  

I videotaped every aspect of the house.

There are holes in the walls where nails used to be, weeds in the cracks of the back patio, lack of door stoppers, mildew underneath the sinks because of the lack of exhaust fans and just some jankiness going about.

With a little TLC- it's back in business.

We have our things moved in, fully utilized Bath and Body Works candles, and the carpets are amazing because we cleaned them ourselves.

Btw, I am obsessed with B&BW candles, scents, plug-ins, etc.

Holy geez it smells so good and I'm doubly obsessed with fall scents,

especially anything with a pumpkin scent.

I also went to Home Depot and got my DIY on.

I installed new doorstops where they didn't exist, put up new blinds, and I think something else but let's just say I was pumped to be a handy lady.

Yes, they were really simple jobs but I had never done them before so I was and still am excited.

Walking through the enormous aisles of Home Depot almost made me wish the house was ours so we could actually invest time and money into it.

It's a shame that the previous owners did such a crap job.

I'm now waiting on one more shipment of goods from Wisconsin and I will have so many awesome things to remind me of home.

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Have you ever gotten jealous of someone else because of the stuff that they had?

My roommate has a kickass bedroom set...I'm jealous.

Her room actually looks like a bedroom and mine looks like I'm a starving artist that enjoys Pinterest.

 However, I have been making the occasional trip to Marshals and Goodwill.

I'm determined to make my little space a beautiful room without breaking the bank.

The Goodwill here has the most amazing book selection that I have ever seen.

I seriously am loving it.