Whether you pronounce it lie-berry or lie-brary nothing is better than the library. If you’re fortunate enough to live in a city that has a library system half as good as the one here in Denver then you’re a lucky little chap.
The library system here is so great because you can go online, type in your library card number then look for any book, movie, magazine, cd, tv series that you’re interested in and then say what branch you want to pick the item up at and they have it delivered there for you.
Uh.
Can you spell a-w-e-s-o-m-e?
Sometimes, I’ll find myself in a certain well known book store using the camera on my cell phone to take a picture of book covers I’m interested in so that I can then go home and look the title up on the library’s website. Better that than shelling out the money for a book I’ll read once and then it just gets shipped off to the basement only to start the getting-musky process.
There have only been a couple instances where the library didn’t have the item I requested. I still don’t know why they wouldn’t carry the tv series “Hogan Knows Best”. What do they have against big blonde muscle-y wrestlers? It’s not like its a moral issue or anything like that because they carry “The Girls Next Door” and I can almost guarantee they will be carrying “Jersey Shore” just to please Snooki.
Also, I can tell you from personal experience that paying the late fees stinks. Our library recently lowered the check out limit for overdue fees from $10 bucks to $5. I was bummed as I paid a whopping $7.75 in late fees the other day.
That.
My friend, is NOT in the Spending Fast budge. Never thought I would say this, but the money actually hurt as it left my card. I had been doing so good before the fateful checkout counter run-in.
I’ll suppose I’ll have to forgive you library. You un-wieldy beast you.
I love the library because if I have an interest in a topic either vaguely or huge-ly I can research it from every angle up and down and all for free… that is if it gets returned on time.
So, I’ll keep checking things out and keep my fingers crossed that sooner or later they’ll come to their senses and order “Hogan Knows Best”.
Whenever I need an inspirational financial boost, I come back through here and read your blog from the beginning. It reminds me that everyone has to start somewhere!
That being said, you may already know (and have posted) what I’m about to write. I used to be HORRIBLE about late fines with the library (goodbye $47). About a year ago I bought the most basic Kindle for $69 and now mostly only get e-books from my library. The book automatically gets returned when the due date comes around as long as I’ve hooked my Kindle up to wifi.
So, if you’re struggling with returning books, I suggest dishing out the money for an e-reader and knowing that your books will always be returned on time. Also, there are hundreds of CHEAP books, if you’re in the mood to purchase one.
As I life in Littleton, south of Denver, I know that the library over here will absolutely order something if they dont have it. You might just need to make the request. Although, by now, they probably have Hogan Knows Best.
I’m reading your blog from the beginning :)
I started to be frugal in the last few months, it has been so hard at first but then.. I felt good. I’m on a roll lately and I can see it impacts my partner a bit but he’s coming around. ;)
I’m glad to see that I’ve done what you had done — buying books is one of my biggest temptation. I have way too many books and I finally gotten around to:
1) stopping buying books 2) the only time i can get a new book is when i trade in old books 3) that encourages me to read books i have 4) if i am still restless then I go library
it works out in the end!
That’s awesome! :-)
One of my most favorite posts EVER! It never occurred to me to take pics of books at the bookstore and then look for them at the library! Brilliant!
I make sure as soon as I get home to put the due date on my calendar in big letters and return books as I finish them rather than returning them all at once lest I miss one or two when I gather them up to return. I also keep the check out receipt and put a tick next to each as I return it. Doing so has cut WAYYYYY down on fines for me!
If I realy LOVE a book and can’t imagine not owning it, I know I can always put it on my “to buy later” list and wait until I find it for a rock bottom price or have Amazon credit from Swagbucks or other sources.
This post makes my little librarian heart sing! Some libraries also offer classes and events open and usually free to the public (some even offer fitness/yoga classes). I’ve seen public and academic (for those starving students out there) libraries offer some amazing things like creative spaces and even checking out crafting tools, cookware and bakeware, and so much more than just the typical books, music, dvds.
Does your library do interlibrary loans? They might be able to get Hogan Knows Best from another library for you. Side note: If your library is a “popular materials” library (vs. an archive), they’re probably keeping just the items that circulate and weeding out the rest. Which is why they don’t have Hogan. :)