If you have a bunch of books laying around your home that you know you are never going to read (like I do), then you are going to love PaperBack Swap.  PaperBack Swap is an online book trading club that lets you swap books with other club members. Your trades are measured in credits: when you ship a book, you earn a credit; when you request a book, you lose a credit.

How it Works

Once you join, the first thing you need to do is list some books you have that you no longer want.  Make sure the books are in generally good condition, have front and back covers, all their pages, no liquid damage, no writing or highlighting, and are not Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs). All you need to list your book is the ISBN which is found on the barcode of your book. So, it only takes a minute to list your book! If you list 10 books then you can get 2 Free Credits. Those credits can be used to get free books! PaperBack Swap is currently free to join, but like any club, they may require a membership fee in the future.

After you list your books, you just wait for someone to request them. When someone requests a book from you, PaperBack Swap (PBS) will send you an email. You then follow the instructions on how to ship the book. You do have to pay for shipping, but since you are shipping Media Mail it is really inexpensive. It usually costs me around $2.50 to send a small paperback. The best part – you don’t ever have to go to the post office!! I absolutely love that I can just do everything online and then stick the book in the mailbox.

How to Ship

Shipping the book is pretty easy. If you don’t want to go to the post office then you will need to buy postage through PBS. PBS does charge a small fee for this, but I find that it is worth it for me to not have to go to the post office, plus you get instant credit for your shipment. You can always just opt to buy postage at the post office, but I have yet to ship a book that cost more than $3 total (including fees). If you are buying postage from PBS you will need to add some funds to your account (I usually add enough for 4-5 books at a time). Then you just follow the directions for buying postage (really, they walk you through this step by step). Then, you just print out the pages. One page will have the book information – the name of the book, who you’re shipping to, etc. The 2nd page will be your mailing label with postage and address. You print this on plain white copy paper that you already have on hand! You do not have to purchase any special paper for this! Then you wrap your book in the paper with the mailing label showing, tape it well (there are great instructions for this on the site if you need it), and put it in the mailbox. Voila! You’re done!

How to Get Books

Now for the fun part! Once you have a credit, you can go shopping! Browse through the millions of books they have available and pick one that you want! You request a book and the member ships it to you completely free! Each book is only 1 credit no matter if it is big, small, paperback, or hardback! If you are looking for a particular book and don’t see it, you can add it to your wishlist.  A wish list is like a waiting list; you get put “in line” and when you get to the front of the line and someone lists the book, you get “first dibs.” You will get an email when your wish is granted and you only have 48 hours to claim it. I have actually gotten a number of wishes granted and it is so fun!

Once you receive your book, log into the site and in your account there will be a place to let them know you received it. If there are any problems with the book you can also let them know. All of the books I’ve received have been in great condition, but I’m sure bad books fall through the cracks occasionally. After you read the book, you can keep it forever if you want! You do not have to mail it back or do anything with it. It belongs to you now, no strings attached! If you don’t like the book, you always can just re-list it on PaperBack Swap!

I am a huge book-lover, so I have really enjoyed trading in my old books for new ones. Books are so expensive ($7.99 for a small paperback?!), so I will gladly pay $3 or less instead to trade my books. Not to mention, it is so fun to get books in the mail!

Have you used PaperBack Swap before? What did you think about it?

Money Saving Mom and Fish Mama have started an Eat from the Pantry Challenge for the month of January.  What a great idea!

The Eat From the Pantry Challenge is a plan to avoid grocery shopping as much as possible, and only eat food you already have on hand for an entire month (or week, 2 weeks, whatever you want).  It is such a great way to save some money and get creative with your cooking ( I mean, what am I going to make with a million cans of Hunt’s tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, and Nestle morsels??).

After looking through my pantry and freezer, I’m actually pretty excited!  I have some meal ideas already and can’t wait for the last week when I’ll really have to get creative.  I still plan to buy milk, bread, eggs, fresh fruit, etc., but I will not be doing any stockpiling.  I also plan to continue going out for lunch after church on Sundays, and my weekly playdate at Chick-fil-A with my Bestie.

This challenge also fits in perfectly with my personal goal to eat less processed food in 2010.  We will go ahead and eat up what we have left, and any that we don’t eat by the end of the month will go to the local food pantry.  Once it’s gone, it will be great to have a fresh pantry with less temptation.  I also will get to have the fun of re-stocking it with healthier food!

Here are a few dinners I already have planned from my stockpile:

• Slow Cooker Veggie Chili (I’ll probably be making a LOT of chili this month…)
• Southwestern Chicken Stew
• Spaghetti Broccoli Bake
• Spicy Nacho Bake
• Monterey Chicken Quesadillas
• Leftover Mashed Potato Soup
• Cheesy Broccoli and Rice with Chicken

That is a week of dinners planned with no effort at all!  Here in a couple weeks I may be desperately asking for ideas though!

So, what do you think about the challenge?  Will you be participating?

It’s December 26th – time to start Christmas shopping!  For NEXT Christmas that is.  Start watching for stores to be marking down their Christmas merchandise as much as 90% off!

Some items to look for:

• Wrapping Paper, Bows, Gift Bags, and Tape
• Home Decor and Lights
• Gift Sets – Snacks, Coffee, etc (check the expiration dates)
• Stocking Stuffer Toys
• Misc. – Ornament Hooks, Extension Cords, and Light Timers
• Household Items – Paper Towels, Kleenex, Dish Soap, Hand Soap, etc.

The best part is, if you look for neutral items, you could potentially use them year-round!  I suggest waiting for at least 75% off, but if you live in a heavily populated area, 50% might be as low as your store will go.  Make sure you watch the register as your items are rung up to see if you are getting the right prices.

Most importantly – if you don’t need or can’t afford it DON’T BUY IT!

I am completely worn out.  Completely. Here’s why:

Meals:
(2) Vegetarian Chili (un-vegetarianized, my husband requested that I add ground beef)
(1) Veggie Lasagna (large – will feed our family at least 2 meals)
(4) Breakfast Hot Pockets, 3 – 4 per package (these turned out HUGE!)
(5) Cinnamon Rolls, 4-5 per package (there were 6, exchanged with friend for 5 eggs because I ran out!)
(1) Chicken Pot Pie Soup (not pictured, eaten for dinner)

Misc:
(2) Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (18 out of 24 left to freeze!)
(2) Banana Nut Bread
(1) Stuffed Bread Sticks (will make several snacks)
(4) Beans in 2 cup portions (see a great tutorial for cooking dried beans here, as well as the “per can” savings)
(4) Pie Crusts (not pictured, forgotten)

I am really excited about all the breakfasts.  I am not a morning person, and cooking first thing when I wake up is just not going to happen.  Now I have several homemade breakfasts that I can microwave in the mornings for the kiddos.  They will be thrilled!

This was a hard day, but thinking of not cooking again, at all, for at least a week makes it so worth it.  I mean, if you had to choose between working a little bit a day for 7 days a week, or working for one really long day and taking the rest of the week off, which would you choose?

Find all the recipes HERE and some yummy-looking pictures HERE.

I am nearly done cooking!  Though, I have lost steam and it’s taking me longer to get things done because I’m tired.  I am encouraged though by how much I’ve accomplished!  Nearly everything has been crossed off my list!  I am having a bit of an egg crisis though and may not be able to finish one of the projects until tomorrow.

Here are some pics of my day:

Cooking Beans

Dough Rising

Cinnamon Rolls - Mmmmm!

My kids helping me make Stuffed Bread Sticks

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Don’t make those muffins!  Their chocolatey-pumpkiness is irresistible.  You will become obsessed with them and want one every day for breakfast and a mid-afternoon snack.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Find all these recipes, and everything else I’m cooking today HERE.

It’s Baking Day!  What is “Baking Day”, you ask?  Baking day is when you spend a large chunk of time cooking several meals for the purpose of freezing for later use.  In 6 – 8 hours I can make enough meals to last our family an entire week (or more) plus various other things.

Baking Day is being hosted by Money Saving Mom and Life As Mom.  Those two are far more experienced with bulk cooking than I am, since I’ve only done this a handful of times, so be sure and visit their blogs for some great tips!  Hundreds of people are participating in Baking Day and are live-tweeting/blogging about it.  If you would like to follow all the baking day fun, just search for the hashtag #bakingday.  You can also follow Money Saving Mom, Fish Mama (Life as Mom), and ME on twitter.

I actually did a baking day last week (well, it was more cooking than baking) and it was a huge success!  I made a ton of meals and it has saved me so much time and sanity by not having to deal with cooking dinner every night!  You can read an excellent post HERE about how bulk cooking can save you time and money.

Alright, here is what I am making today:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Banana Bread
Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Breakfast Hot Pockets
Stuffed Bread Sticks
Veggie Lasagna
Vegetarian Chili
Cinnamon Rolls
Red & Black Beans (1 lb each)
4 Pie Crusts

Everything is going well so far!  Here is a pic of me whipping up something yummy:

Oh, and this photo was so not staged.  I always look this cheerful, and have a super clean kitchen when I’m cooking all day. Ha!  Okay, truthfully, immediately after this picture was taken, I pulled my hair up in a pony, furrowed my brow, put some stuff in that bowl, and got to work!  I just had to get a pic of my apron before it got all dirty.  My bestie made it for me.  Isn’t she talented?

Okay, back to work!  I’ll have some pictures of my progress coming up soon!

When I first started grocery shopping, I would buy our meat in 1 lb packages – because that is the amount I would need for our meal.  I was intimidated by the large packages because it didn’t occur to me that I could separate the large packages of meat into smaller portions and freeze what I wasn’t going to use right away.  I soon learned that buying the larger package could save me a lot of money!

I made a short video showing how to separate a 5 pound chub of ground chuck.

**If you are reading in a feed reader or email and cannot see the video, go HERE.

First of all, sorry for the poor quality of video! I don’t have a “real” video camera, my camera will allow me to record small portions of video though. Also, I meant to say 1 lb portions instead of 5 lb portions (oops!).  I also wanted to mention that I like to wash the package before I cut it open so that I don’t transfer anything to the meat when opening it.  One other thing, the flattened ground beef thaws much quicker than when it is frozen in a big lump!

So, if I got a 5 pound chub at $1.49 per pound, the entire 5 pounds cost me $7.45.  If I were to buy five 1 pound packages at $1.99 per pound I would pay $9.95 for 5 pounds.  By buying in bulk I saved $2.50 on 5 pounds of meat.  As you can see, the video is just over 3 minutes long (and that’s with me talking too!).  So, it only took me about 3 minutes to save $2.50!   That translates to $50 per hour!  Now, obviously, I’m not going to separate meat for an hour, but you get the picture.  Little money saving efforts like these really do add up.

Hopefully this will help someone to save a little money.  If you know of a better way to do this, please share!

The following is a guest post by Rachel at Surviving The Stores:

We have been traveling A LOT recently. And by “a lot” I mean that most weeks we haven’t been able to fully unpack before we are on the road again.  Whether it’s been seeing family, weddings, or traveling with my husband for business, it’s just been CRAZY this summer.

Hopefully the traveling will calm down soon… we are very ready to be at home for several weeks in a row!

Since our budget doesn’t increase just because we are traveling, here are a few things that we can do to keep to our monthly budget while traveling so much:

1)  Water – Can you believe how much a bottle of water costs at the convenience stores?  Most of the time it’s more than $1.00… for ONE bottle of water!  We always make sure to buy a large pack of water before leaving on a trip.  Even buying a 24 pack of bottled water at the store at full price is typically under $4 (much less with coupons!)

If you want to be really frugal, you can get a couple of gallons of water (or fill empty gallons up at home) and bring plastic cups for everyone during the trip.  We still have little ones, so water bottles just work better for this stage in our life.

2)  Food – Packing your own cereal, fruit, lunch meat, cheese, peanut butter, and bread can save you TONS of money when traveling!  It’s definitely worth it to keep refilling the ice in the ice chest to keep the food cold.  Instead of buying bowls, we buy a bag of paper cups that we use for drinking as well as for cereal in the mornings when we travel.

For those times that you will want to eat out, see what’s available at Restaurant.com ahead of time.  You can get $25 gift certificates for $10 (and many times they run specials where it’s even less!).

A good friend of mine makes beef jerky at home before she travels with her family.  Her recommendation is to buy rump roast and have the butcher slice it thin.  Then add your favorite seasonings and put it in a food dehydrator to dry.  A food dehydrator is a little bit of an investment, but something that is very worth it!  You can make all kinds of great dried snacks with a food dehydrator (apples, pineapple, blueberries, veggies, beef jerky, etc…)

3)  Hotels – Sites such as Priceline, Hotwire and Travelocity (and many other sites too!) help you to find the best hotel deals, and typically their prices are better than going through the hotel website.  Priceline and Hotwire allow you to pick a star rating, pick the amenities you want, and then name your price.  They assign you to a hotel (you don’t get to choose), but we have used the “name your price” method and it’s worked out great for us!  My recommendation is to always go a star above what you think you might want.

And there’s always the option of vacationing in places where friends and/or family might let you stay a night or two! 

4)  Potty Time – When we stop at gas stations, it seems inevitable that we end up buying something (like a Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino drink).    Stopping at rest stops instead of gas stations for potty breaks can help curb the desire (or the feeling of obligation) to buy something every time you stop.

5)  Toys – Everyone knows that the souvenirs at theme parks and tourist attractions are WAY overpriced.  Buy some souvenirs ahead of time and hide them until you are at your destination.  Then, when the pull to get a souvenir is just too great to resist, you already have them ready (and at 1/4 of the price!!)

Rachel is a work-at-home, homeschooling mom of three precious little ones.  She helps you navigate and “survive the stores” through her blog, Surviving The Stores, where she posts great deals, coupons, her own shopping trips, and a weekly Survival Tip Tuesday post.