A few weeks ago, I discussed 6 Place to buy Cheap Books for Thrifty Book Nerds in the same vein today’s will be about library book sales a.k.a. one of the cheapest ways to buy large amounts of books at one time. can be surprisingly complicated and weary endeavor. Over the years, I’ve developed a strategy on how to tackle library book sales to make them both less complicated and stressful, and exhausting by the end of it.

1. Eat Breakfast
Before going to to a sale, it is essential to eat breakfast. If you don’t, then you will find yourself quickly depleted of energy after going up and down only a few rows of books.

2. Dress Comfortably
As you’re looking through books, you really don’t want to be uncomfortable and focusing on fixing your clothes instead of the wonderful books in front of you.

3. Wear a book bag
Of all the advice, I’m giving in this post, wearing a book took me a long time to figure out. In the past, I usually brought along a cross body or a canvas bag strapped to one shoulder. I noticed my right arm would feel achy and the bag would constantly fall off my shoulder. Fed up with the constant arm aches after my expedition, I decided to try going with a book bag. The results were excellent, I had so much more relief with the book bag and free hands!

4. Bring a canvas tote

Why a canvas tote? To carry all the awesome book you pick up, of course!! Occasionally, there are book sales where they offer a “fill a bag” promotion (which means you pay a fee to fill a bag without having to pay any extra fees for each individual book you happen to pick up). Even if a library offers this promotion, it sometimes helps having the extra support of the tote to help support those hefty tomes. In general, I highly suggest to bring a canvas bag to prevent you from trying to stack the books in your hands or the pressure from the weight of them onto your arms.

5. Go with a clear idea
Attend a book sale with a clear idea of what books you want to buy. As you’re browsing, fingers touching each book title, the temptation to go overboard becomes stronger each moment. To combat finding yourself strapped with a bunch of books you will never use, simply write or make a note of what books you want. Doing this will significantly cut down on impulse book buying.

As you attend book sales in the future, I hope this post will help you on your way to making your library book experiences awesome!!