You are SUCH a Mooch!

I have a problem. I am addicted to books. I have piles and piles (and maybe a few more piles) of books that I am reading, plan to read, think maybe I should read, or think someone else should read.

My children have inherited this sickness and each of their rooms is full of shelves of books and piles of books. And they want more books. Always more books.

Of course, this is a good sickness to have. But it can take a toll on the wallet. And yes, there is always the library. But I frequently can't find what I want at the library - and I also have some patience issues (I know, shocking) and so off I go to Barnes & Noble and drop more cash for more books...

And then I found that mooching can be such a good thing! Now I am also completely addicted to the Bookmooch website.

Basically, you list all the books you have (from all of those piles) that you would like to give away to a new home. People who want those books "mooch" them from you and you send them off to their new families. You pay postage (media mail - about $2.50 per book) to send the books away, and you get "points" in return.

Then you take your points - one point per book generally - and use them to mooch new books that you want. And they are sent to you FOR FREE!!

If the books you want are not immediately available, you can build a wishlist, and when one of them becomes available, you get an e-mail. It is such a beautiful system.

I have given away 40 books (!) and gotten 30 FREE ones in return (and I have enough points to get 14 more!)

You can find TONS of kids books on Bookmooch. We have gotten a bunch of "Magic Treehouse" books and a bunch of "The Littles" books. Also lots of bestsellers, current books, older books. The most current will take a little while to get to Bookmooch (people must buy, read and decide they no longer want them first) - but I got all of the Shopaholics for free (not proud that I read them...but I didn't pay for them!)

If you can control yourself (as I frequently can not) at the bookstore and just write down the books you'd like and then go check Bookmooch, you could save yourself a TON of money.

And it is earth-friendly! Recycling at it's finest! Great lessons to teach your kids - patience, cheapness, and reuse/recycle!