Jonathan and I are gearing up for a Garage Sale.  We started thinking of how we could get more money than we would at a Garage Sale for selling certain items.

I’m not sure if this got me more money than it would’ve from a Garage Sale, but I took some of Abigail’s clothes to Once Upon a Child.  I do this every few months.  The last time, I got $16+ dollars.

Then, I thought about books.  So, I started calling used book stores to see if they would buy the books.  A lot of them would only take them for store credit (trade) in return.  So, I thought about selling books on Amazon or something like that, but decided it’d be too much work for not a lot of money.  Then, I thought of Hastings.

So, we took a bunch of books and DVDs to Hastings in a big tub.  They bought 32 books and offered us $110 in store credit OR $75 in cash.  We took the cash!  Just one trip, no shipping costs, no conditions, just cash back!

I took some brand new DVDs in shrink wrap, and they only offered $2 for them.  So, I didn’t sell them to Hastings because I hope I can get more at the Garage Sale.

The next day, as we were sorting through other boxes for the garage sale, we found more books.  So, we took them to Hastings.  Not sure how many they took this time, but they gave us $47.

So, if you wanna sell to Hastings, call before you go, to make sure someone is there to look through and price your books.  Also, take your Drivers License, and be prepared to get your thumb printed (they said Police come by each week and check the records to make sure you didn’t steal the dvds/books/cds).

Our Hastings would not take the small sized paper back novels.  But other than that, they took back most everything.  I think the most I got for a book was $6 (Hardback Twilight books).  I think the least was $1.  So, it’s more than you would get from a Garage Sale; we’re happy with the $120 cash.

Anyone else like to read out there?  Well, reading can get expensive; $25 a book??  Crazy.

So, when we feel like we need a book, we buy from Amazon, Half.com, Ebay, or A1 books.

But if you’re not sure you might like a certain book, check out Google Books to see if you can see a limited preview, like this one.

You can also download some free books from Gutenberg.  And of course, you can get some from your local library.  Someone told me they don’t like checking out books because they end up with at least $10 in late fees.  Well, I found Elf for her.  It’s a service online that emails before your books are due.  Go here to see if your library participates.

Or if you’d like to swap books, check out BookMooch or Paperback Swap.

You can also sell your books at some of the above mentioned links and also at Cash 4 Books.

Do you know of other good resources that are cheap or free?