The Frugal Accountant is known for his frugality. He avoids retail as much as possible. The Frugal Accountant is an avid book reader, he would rather read a book as do almost anything else. The Frugal Accountant has a mind to feed. Yes, we eat mentally. The Frugal Accountant has a huge library that continues to grow. Book expenses are thus a part of the Frugal Accountant’s budget.
The Frugal Accountant is also a pastor of a church. In a way, pastors get paid to read. The church pays for the pastor’s books., this would be considered a fringe benefit. Even if the church did not pay for the books, the Frugal Accountant would use the same approach. The church like the Frugal Accountant has a limited budget and there are financial obligations that take precedence over buying books.
Book buying is to be taken out of discretionary income. Discretionary income is income that if left over after you have met all primary obligations. For the church this means the pastor’s salary, utilities, phone bill, water bill etc. These obligations have to be met first before considering spending money on books. This is basic budgeting. It is basic but it is amazing how many people spend obligation money on discretionary items and then do not have the funds for their primary obligations.
The Frugal Accountant avoids paying full retail for a book. He buys his books used. There are two main sources that the Frugal Accountant will utilize. One source is the used book store. Here he finds used books at bargain prices. The better the condition of the book, the more you will pay for it. Since these bookstores want to make money, the books that they have for sale are usually in good condition.
If you are looking for a specific book, the Frugal Accountant has found that using Amazon.com is your best resource. Amazon.com gives you access to a large supply of book sellers, which greatly increases the probability of your finding the book you are searching for. The Frugal Accountant has been reading Ayn Rand’s works. He received her book in the mail through Amazon.com, Philosophy: Who Needs It.. Though used, it is like new. Its retail price would have been $7.99, with sales tax for a total price of $8.75.
But through Amazon.com, this book came from Georgetown University for $1.50 with shipping of $3.99, for a total of $5.49. This is a savings of $3.26. Sometimes Amazon can work against you. He found the same author’s The Romantic Manifesto at $4.99 retail and with sales tax for a total price of $5.46. The Frugal Accountant paid $3.00 plus $3.99 for shipping for a total of $6.99 through Amazon. This was an overpayment of $1.53. The net savings of the two books was $1.73. All savings are good savings.
A disadvantage of local used book stores is that they may not have what you are looking for. This makes Amazon indispensable. Even though there was an overpayment for The Romantic Manifesto, there was a time savings in finding the book, this translates into a financial savings in money spent going to the book store and looking and not finding it and going back to see if it might be there the next time, etc. Going to a used book store can be unfruitful when looking for a specific book. This problem is alleviated by using Amazon.
An advantage of using Amazon is that the book is shipped to your house via USPS. When going to the used book store, you must also factor in your time and the gasoline used in going there. These are also expenses. Thus, by using Amazon, the Frugal Accountant got a book he was looking for and did not spend a lot of time and money trying to find it. Using Amazon increases one’s efficiency in finding specific books. This translates into added savings.
The Frugal Accountant says don’t pay retail, if you do not have to.
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