I never really count how much money I spend for books per year. Mostly I spend around Rp. 100.000 - Rp. 200.000 per month for books. That would make around Rp. 1,2 - Rp. 2,2 million every year. Quite a number for a average paid employee like me. Mostly I find them at book fair which is a perfect place to find bargain books, and online bookstore for affordable imported book. They are not necessarily new books as I really like to shop for used books online. Browsing and searching for used books online are kind of therapeutic for me.
In fact, book fair and online used/new book store are my saviours for keeping me for spending fortune on books. The last time I went to real book store and actually bought a book was around a month ago. The book was Honeymoon with my Brother (Franz Wisner) and I bought it because I was emotionally and impulsively need to read something I could connect to immediately.
I don’t think I can ever stop buying book as I think I will always be a reader that takes pride on my book collection and I fuss over my depleting not read books. I barely have books I’ve not read, well, I have 3,5 half books I ‘ve not until now ( The Last Mrs Astor, Miami, Sea Glass, and a collection of short stories written by African American women authors) But it it always intriguing to read ways on how to save money on books, especially for a average employee like me. That is paid peanut. I hope someone from my company read this thus thinking to raise my salary.
Anyway, here are what I found from www.getrichslowly.org and I try to relate them to current condition here in this country.
1. Avoid new release. So true because sometimes I found them way too pricey. I was only once tempted to buy a new release (it was Ayu Utami’s book) but I had successfully restrain myself and got it at a book fair for 10 % less. Well, it’s not much but better than paying full price.
2. Read reviews. Though sometimes I am sceptical about what people think about a book because I believe on my preference when it comes to choose and read book, I love to read book reviews from people’s blogs, not from people who are paid to write a review.
3. Find the classic online. As a former English literature student, sometimes I miss reading literary canon such as Jane Austen’s books, Moby Dick, Huckleberry Fin, D.H Lawrence, some of Rabindranath Tagore, and so far I’ve found Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) is very helpful as I can download classics for free. I can even found my childhood books written by Susan Coolidge and happily downloaded them for free!
4. Search for bargains. For me the only easily access able bargains are book fair and online bookstore. Pasar buku bekas at Senen is famous but truly I do not have time to travel such a distance and facing typical Jakarta traffic jam to rummage dust mites infested store to find books. I am allergic to dust. And sitting and browsing for used books that had been classified based on title and author are way suitable for a lazy me.
5. Make Amazon your all-purpose book tool. I used Amazon only for reading about people’s recommendation and book review. I don’t own credit card therefore it is hard to shop from Amazon.
6. Frequent your public library. Ok, cannot do that. I don’t think Indonesia is a public library friendly. So sad I know and I refuse to talk about it. *sigh*
7. Explore used book store. I haven’t found one in my neighborhood but I definitely go there if I found one. So far I only discover taman bacaan and I don’t think they want to sell their children collection to me though I want to have some of them.
8. Harness the power of the internet. This is what I have been doing to supply my own demand of book. Internet is the source of book review, online bookstore, used imported book store and others.
9. Buy only what you intend to read. This is hard. Mostly I come to book fair with a note of books I want to read, but then I will come home with more books to read. I know, bad for my pocket and budget.
10. Share. This is not what I want to do. I hate this. The last time I lend my book to a friend, he hasn’t returned it up to now and it’s been almost two years! I am going to kill him when I meet him. After slowly torturing him with my whip, why of course.

Dinner this Saturday was easy. I ate 2 whole wheat toasts with cheese and mushroom omelette, grilled tomatoes and I was content. I made my omelette with only one egg so it was kind of a small one but it was enough for me.