BlogHer - The Library Saved Me $1128.27 This Year - Comments

Book-Nerd

SoMuchMoreThanAMom — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:50:08 -0500

This is difficult for me to accept because I LOVE owning books but it does make a lot of sense when we're making so many cutbacks. Plus, who doesn't love going to the library?! Nice post!

http://somuchmorethanamom.wordpress.com/

Long-time library fan

daniinnc — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:39:02 -0600

I never have been much of a book buyer, so I am thankful for my local library. With six of us in the household, we would go broke if we bought all the books we read. The day our library put their request system online was practically a holiday around here :-). I request books and my husband makes the weekly pick-up on Mondays.

Speaking of different formats, I didn't realize how many large-print books my library stocked until I got one accidentally. I hate to admit it, but large-print has improved my reading experience immensely. I didn't think that small print was a factor in me not getting into a book until I tried books with larger print.

Yes!

thesassykathy — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:39:49 -0600

For the past year I've really cut back on book-buying and once again become intimate with my local library. When I was younger I haunted the library ALL of the time, but then came a period of deep and undying bookstore obsession, that made me feel the need to purchase all books. Now that I'm an avid library-visitor again, I can read guiltfree! I really adore owning a brand new book, but they are just WAY too expensive.

(And I love that you keep a list of what you've read too. I've been doing this since SIXTH grade! And so happy I have. It's great to look back on now for recommendations or simply to remember what I've read for all these years!)

Read my mind (no pun intended!)

turbo-mom — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:08:16 -0600

Funny, I just blogged on this very same topic this week!

The biggest savings for us (after books, of course!) have come from borrowing DVDs from our library over the years. We're allowed 5 DVDs at a time for one week. Borrowing (instead of buying) DVDs alone have saved us well over $1,000 this year as well.

Kristin, author of the Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money without Wasting Time. www.turbo-mom.com/blog

love the library very, very much

laurie — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:45:05 -0600

I am a hard core library user. I tend to be ruled by my requests (although I do my best to manage them) and sometimes feel a bit opressed when too many books arrive at once. I love that the library is accessible to everyone, that I don't feel like I've wasted anything if I take out a book and then don't want to read it and I LOVE the feeling that I have been shopping without spending any money.

I've completed 55 books so far this year (not counting the ones I read with my kids). 32 of those came from the library (although I ended up buying 4 of those because I HAD to own them).

Everyone in my family had their own library card. My five year old got his first one a couple of months ago and he was SO proud (and they gave him coupons for a swim at a local pool and free pizza!). My ten year old monitors his own account online, is responsible for due dates and for paying his own fines...

Great post!

laurie

www.notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com

That's really cool

Candelaria Silva — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:18:17 -0600

How cool it is for you and your children to use the library this way. I will also suggest to a friend that having her child read the printed copy of the book while listening to the audio copy may just be a way to get her son into reading.

Hooray for libraries!

blog.candelariasilva.com

Good and plenty!

This is way cool

future4mykidz — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:41:28 -0600

My oldest and I have been going to the library for a little over a month now and oh the savings. We get VHS, DVD, and cds all the time now, my youngest loves when we come home cuz he gets to see the new tapes he can watch. THe oldest has gotten into reading along with books on cd and tape, which helps me out considerably (not having to always read to him while he pulls on the books to see the pages). Not only that but it takes him less time to read a book and he can make book reports on them for school faster (he pays attention more too). I did a mini calculate and in the month we have been going just on the movies, cds, audio books and paperback kids books so he can follow along the cost was over $950 in savings. I about fell outta this chair when I saw that

Tammie

http://mommysonlineworkn.blogspot.com/

http://easypeasygreenguide.blogspot.com/

Two ways to avoid the costs

justcallmewoman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:54:27 -0600

Two ways that I have found to avoid the costs of using the library is volunteer and sign up for their email service. By volunteering on a weekly basis, we are at the library at regular intervals and this allows us to get our books back in a timely basis. Also, our library subscribes to an email service that emails you when your books are coming due. This service has been invaluable. I highly recommend that you find out if your library offers such a service.

Furthermore, I would argue that you probably have saved much more. If any of these books gave you money saving ideas this figure could double or triple.

As we have been looking at towns to move in, we always check out the library first.

I'm reading the Sookie series

KatieBeez — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:03:27 -0600

right now too! Looks like you are going through them faster than me though - I just started book 4. My mom keeps feeding them to me and these are really fun.

There's a HBO series based on the show that started this Fall, True Blood I think. I'd be curious to check it just to see how close they stay to the book.

That's a fantastic idea...

makeupmoxie — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:05:31 -0600

Thanks for the great idea, Lisa! I'll see if my local Starbucks would be up for that. This is defnitely the kind of reading that goes well with a leisurely latte.

If they're not up for it, you also reminded me of another good option. Last summer, freestanding Kiehl's stores held a free book exchange where you could come in and swap your books for some new summer reading.

Yet another good idea for books that are just collecting dust would be to donate them to a local library and bulk up its holdings for all our fellow library-lovers :)

Jazmin

Makeup Moxie | Best Kept Beauty Secrets

Libraries rock

Candelaria Silva — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:50:46 -0600

They save you money, time, create community, and you can renew books via phone or email!

I blogged about my local library and sent my post to them. This made them feel very appreciated.

In Boston, there's even a reference line you can call and get all sorts of useful information.

Great post.

blog.candelariasilva.com

Good and plenty!

I love the library, too

gringainteguz — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:05:18 -0600

I used to live in suburban New Orleans, and I could walk to the library in every neighborhood that I lived in. I loved the library, too. Now I live in Honduras, and I am amazed at the lack of libraries and affordable books. I was in a popular bookstore the other day. Small paperbacks were over 7 dollars, and softbacks were over $15. The average Honduran makes between 2 and 3 dollars a day. Even libraries in private schools that I have seen are pitiful. One of my goals is to get better stocked libraries and more internet services for students in poor communities in Honduras. Maybe some of us could use the money we save by using the library to buy a book for a kid. Or a community. Even in the US, there are kids who need better resources.

Laurie,

laurieishere.blogspot.com

I love the library

geekgirl — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:47:05 -0600

I love the library for books.

But I also love it for its children's section. I take my daughter in there weekly and whenever the weather is bad. We are fortunate to have a library system with many children's books, dvds and computers.

Christine

Geek Thoughts Technology doesn't have to be boring.
Frog In North Georgia No, I'm not from around here.

A great idea from a local Starbucks

Lisa Stone — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:24:52 -0600

Locals started bringing in their paperbacks and contributing them to a reading shelf in the corner. Anyone can read anything as long as they don't take it out of the store, per the honor system. I love it! So Jazmin, this is where I'm going to donate my own recent acquisitions (that I should have checked out from the library, natch) and feel less guilty about the 30 bucks I dropped that I could've saved...

Terrific post Sassy, thank you!

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

BlogHer is non-partisan but our bloggers aren't! Follow our coverage of Politics & News.

I could have saved over 60 bucks this week

makeupmoxie — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:51:55 -0600

Sassymonkey, this is such a great post...and particularly timely for me. I very recently have become addicted to The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (they're pulpy, but incredibly entertaining). I bought seven of the eight books in the series this week and they're such quick reads that I now have a stack of them sitting on one of my already over-populated bookshelves.

I was just thinking how I could have saved myself some money by borrowing them : )

Jazmin

Makeup Moxie | Best Kept Beauty Secrets

The Library Saved Me $1128.27 This Year

sassymonkey — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:54:16 -0500

You've heard people say that using the library will save you money. I've heard your excuses not to use it. It's out of the way. I end up paying late fees. The book I want to read is checked out. My library charges me for requests. It's inconvenient. Piffle! We live in an instant gratification society and we're used to getting what we want when we want it and who cares if we have to pay for it. Again, piffle! The library has saved me $1128.27 so far this year. And guess what, I've only been using the library since March and the year isn't over yet.

You're probably wondering how I came up with that amount. The $1128.27 figure seems quite exact and it is...but it also isn't. I maintain a spreadsheet where I list all the books I read each year. It's a Google Spreadsheet which I like because it means that I can access it from anywhere and it helps me keep track of not only what I've read but what types of books I'm reading. I just added two more columns to it - one for "Library/Owned/Borrowed" and one for the cover price of the book. I used the cover price to get the amount,ie the price I would expect to pay in any bookstore that I walked into, and not the price that I can get online or second-hand. The amount is, of course, debatable. In addition to not using sale or discount prices I also didn't include magazines, videos, musicCDs and cookbooks because I don't keep track of them and while I could remember some of them I wouldn't remember all of them. And well, the prices are in Canadian dollars. The price of a book in Canada versus the United States ranges from being the same price to being as much as 40% more. I personally found my biggest individual savings were in non-fiction and audio books but I read so much fiction that the quantity of what I read makes those a big saver. I'm comfortable with the amount even though it scared the pants off me to calculate it.

There are easier ways to calculate the value of your library use. The Maine State Library, Brooks Memorial Library and Montana State Library all have calculators to help you. You input how many books, movies, magazines, etc you borrow each month and it spits out a number. In my case I've read 46 library books since March. That's just about six books per month. Using those calculators it works out to between $90-150/month which is between $1080-1800 per year. I know what you are saying, and yes I do read a lot. Let's say you read just one book a month or twelve books a year. That's between $180-324 per year. Add one DVD per month in addition to that one book and your savings shoot up to $228-588 over the course of a year. Do you commute? If you borrow one audio book per month (which more often than not you can download right to your MP3 player) you'll save $120-492 over a year on audio books alone.

Now are you going to sit there and tell me that your library fines are going to be more than that each year?

As I've said, calculating all of this was scary. I actually added up all the books I've read in the past year (library, borrowed, owned and ARC copies) to date. That is 93 books so far and the total came to $2047.10. Ouch, ouch, ouch! If I were really dedicated I'd probably add up all the books in my apartment but I'm afraid if I did that I'd have to go hide under my bed. With a very large bottle of wine. Or maybe tequila. Needless to say that I will be triple thinking before buying any more books.The library is my friend and we're going to get even friendlier.

So how do I use the library effectively? Here are my tips.

- The online catalogue is your best friend. I check my account almost daily and when the catalogue is down for maintenance it drives me insane. (Obsessive? Me? Never!) Most libraries have moved their requests online as well. I love requesting books online. It's like shopping! But free!Ok , so maybe it's not free at your library so we'll say it's very, very discounted. Even if your library charges $1 per request and you request one book per month you'll read twelve books for less than you'd normally pay for one. You can also renew books online which is very handy. They will also either call or email you when your request is ready and tell you how long you have to pick it up.

- Request more than one book at a time if the book isn't immediately available. More often than not the book I want is not just sitting on a shelf somewhere but someone has it out and there are even more someones in line for it ahead of me. If you are really good you can probably plan it so that you won't get too many books at one time. Keep an eye on your place in the queue and how many copies of the book the library has. Many libraries also let make your request inactive, which means you'll keep moving up the queue but you won't actually get the book until you make it active. This can be handy when you're going to be out of town, for those times when life gets just a bit too hectic, and when you have too many books on your plate already.

- Because I have a (slightly bad) habit of picking up too many books at the library I try to only stick to those that are on my request list. Clearly not everyone will have this problem. I do browse frequently and most of the movies and magazines I pick up there are "impulse buys". This isn't so much a money saving tip as it is a sanity saving one. I also try to avoid the one week loans if possible because that throws my whole reading schedule (such that it is) out of whack.

- Check it out before you buy it! How many times has some told you that you absolutely must buy that amazing cookbook/knitting/parenting/craft/gardening book and then you get it only to realize that you'll never use it? I screen books at the library, especially cookbooks. I'll request it (sometimes having to wait longer than I want to I admit), check it out, maybe try a recipe if it's a cookbook and then decide. There are very, very few books that have made the cut. In fact I think there's only been two cookbooks that have made it to my shelves as permanent additions in the past few years.

- I have one shelf in my bookcase that is exclusively for library books. This means I don't lose them. Well ok, I lose them way less than I would otherwise. Now because I'm a bit nutty I tend to keep unread books standing up properly and lie then down when they are read and ready to go back. That way I can grab them quickly without even looking at the shelf to see if I've read them or not. Having a shelf or another type of designated library book space is a sanity saver, I promise.

- You can request books before the library has them. When a library orders a book it usually goes into their catalogue right was as "on order" or "processing" or something along those lines. That means it's not out for circulation yet but it will be. If you know that your favourite author has a new book coming out reserve early and you won't find yourself number 543 on the waiting list (don't laugh, it's happened to me and yes I did eventually get the book).

- Don't be afraid to try different formats. If you usually only read books check to see if the library has it on audio. The request lists for audio books are usually much shorter than for print copies of popular books. Many libraries also have MP3s available through programs likeNetLibrary and OverDrive . Unfortunately not all are Mac-friendly but for those in a Windows or hybrid household it's a good option. (I also recommend figuring out if your MP3 player has a "bookmark" capability, it makes taking a break much easier.)

- Did you know that libraries frequently have book club sets? Not only can you save yourself money but you can save your whole book club money. It may require a bit of planning but it's doable.

- Work library visits into your schedule. I try not to go more than once a week (but sometimes I do). My local library holds requests for a week so that's pretty doable around here. Some libraries hold them for less time. I go every week because of the volume I read. Maybe you only need to go every second or third week. If you go on the same day of the week your books will be due on the same day all the time which makes things even easier. If you know Tuesday = library day it's easier to fit it in.

But of course you shouldn't simply take my word for it. Sheri at Living Simply and Lightly also recommends the public library as a valuable resource. As she says, the library "fits green living, minimalist lifestyles and frugality."

At Rambling Librarian, two guys discuss their 2007 reading lists and how much money they saved by using the library. Their figures are more in depth than mine but it basically comes to the same conclusion - the library saves us money. Lots of it.

Over at the Passion for Business blog Karyn recommends borrowing audio books as a way for self-employed business people to further their education.

Gigi at Simplitudes recommends making the library a family activity. You can teach your kids to save money and love books at the same time. Score!

Jessica at Low Impact Living thinks that by using the library for books, magazines and DVDs she can save $250 over a year.

So what are you waiting for? Dust off that library card and start saving money.

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.