It’s crunch time. You’re in between pay cheques and the latest book is out, you’ve read about it, dreamt about it, you can practically feel the pages beneath your fingertips and it’s the next in a series.

But money has become an issue.

And books, unfortunately are not free.

But there are ways to get them, some of them nefarious, and some of them not.

Okay, none of them are really nefarious but they are a little…odd…

1) Sandwiches. For books.

I once told one of my friends that I would make her grilled cheese sandwiches every day if she allowed me access to her library.

My grilled cheese sandwiches are legendary. They are worth their weight, or at least calorie count, in books.

2) Points, for books.

Do you collect Air Miles? Aeroplan? IHG points? Points of any kind? Points that you would normally spend on groceries, on travel? But could instead be spent on gift card. To obtain books.

These books will allow you to travel to places you’ve never imagined. Walk beside the Gunslinger, take a trip into Narnia.

3) Babysitting

Who cares if you’re a single 20-something who works full time and you’re the only one who doesn’t have kids in your group of friends.

You could always borrow a kid and give someone a day off! In exchange for books!

4) eBooks for free

Don’t have an eReader but you’re desperate to read? No problem! Most of the eReaders out there have desktop apps, or smart phone apps or iPads or whatever. And guess what? They have free and/or really cheap books on there!

Most of them offer the classics for free, so why don’t you check out something you’ve always wanted to check out? It’s a great opportunity for you.

And while we’re at it, Project Gutenberg is a magnificent thing!

There is BookShout and BookBub for this but Kobo has a pretty good selection too!

5) Is it snowing where you are?

I live in Canada. It started snowing in December, and it was still snowing in April. I have neighbours. Neighbours who really don’t like shovelling snow.

There was a book I wanted that, with taxes, cost me $14.95. So when they asked me how much I would do it for, I said $15 bucks for two days snow removal.

Two days of shovelling, countless days spent enjoying a new book and lots of hot chocolate.

Heck, some of my neighbours just pay me in books nowadays and I’m as happy as can be.

6) There’s this thing called a library…

Where they give the books away…for free.

It’s amazing. Now this might not help you with the newest, hottest book, because that will be on hold for a couple months.

But ask a librarian for help and you’ll find a wealth of knowledge.

Just return the books on time, because let me tell, library fines can be a fierce thing to pay off.

7) Your bookshelves are your friends.

And the books on your shelves might remind you of old friends, might remind you of old lovers, family members.

Revisit a series you loved as a child, as a teen, last year. Read it out of order. Read it back to front.

Read something you couldn’t get through before but held onto just in case, maybe this will be your time to conquer it.

After all, no one knows what you like better than you, and you kept those books for a reason. Didn’t you?