Sometimes Catalogs Can Save You Money

When you are trying to stick to a budget and are struggling to spend less than you earn, catalogs can be a huge temptation. You can find all sorts of things that you didn't know you needed until you saw them in the catalog, and that's not good. But sometimes they can save you money. You just have to think outside the box - the mail box, that is!

I get a catalog from a discount Christian book seller, and I see dozens of books that I would love to read in there. And it's discount, so the prices are generally pretty good. Years ago, I would think nothing of spending $50 or more each order 3-4 times a year, and I would be pretty proud of myself for the money I "saved." Now, 7-10 years later, as I go through my annual purging of the house, many of those books I either haven't read or read only once and out they go to the library book sale or Goodwill. What a waste of money! Today I still get the catalog, and I still mark the books I like, but there is one big difference. Instead of sending off an order to the bookseller, I send off an order to the library. Our library has an online catalog of its own, and you can put on hold all the books and movies and CDs you want, and they will call you when it is available. I have read more books this way than just by ordering them and putting them on the shelf. I am also able to see if it is a book I would read more than once (most often not). I have bought a couple books after getting them out of the library - Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, for one - and I have put several on my Christmas list, but more often that not, reading the book once is fine for me.

I also get several craft catalogs. While I wouldn't copy a design bit for bit, they do sometimes give me ideas on how to do something similar with materials I already have at home. Those cute felt ornaments? I can do something similar with the felt and buttons I already have. That planter made from toddler boots and jeans? I can look for those items at yard sales and Goodwill and make my own. (I wouldn't advocate taking ideas from catalogs and selling the items at craft shows, etc., passing them off as your own. That would be a copyright violation and is illegal.) Fun crafts at minimal expense.

Another benefit of using the book catalog that comes in the mail is that it gives me ideas of books to take out from the library that I never would have known about otherwise. Joel Rosenberg? I took out Epicenter long before our Sunday School teacher mentioned it. Scream Free Parenting? Saw it in the catalog. And I knew which "Left Behind" series installment was coming out in time to put it on reserve at the library and not have to wait 2-3 months for my turn.

Obviously, catalogs that come in the mail can be a huge temptation, sucking money out of you and replacing it with envy, but used in the right way, they can also save you money!