Visit the Library to Save Money
Since last year, my family goes to the public library every friday. The reason we go is that there is a chess club (unofficial) whose members gathers at the library from 6:30pm until it closes at 9:00pm. My eldest son plays chess and enjoys going there to meet friends and having a sparring session. My other kids read and use the computer.
Meanwhile Daddy goes to the magazine section and read through as many magazines that I can get my hands on. When I first went to the library, I was amazed at the amount of magazines they had. I had never read so many magazines before. Before we started going regularly to the library, I had subscribed to Fortune, Business Week, Money, Barrons and a few other magazines. I have since stopped subscribing to these magazines because I can read them for free at the library!
Meanwhile, I noticed that Mrs Credit Card started borrowing DVDs from the libary (and we’re talking about the latest releases!). It made us realize that we should never subscribe to netflix or even set foot in a blockbuster video rental store! We could borrow the DVDs for three days (there are also CDs).
There are also about 10 computers that had access to the internet. I used them occasionally, but the connection was too slow for my liking (but hey, what did you expect?).
I have seen a few post in the past about cancelling one’s cable TV and subscribing to Netflix instead. I’d say forget about Netflix and go to your nearest public library. Another idea for those looking to cut their expenditure is to cancel your magazine subsribtion and check out your library as well. I found out that the library is one great resource that is probably under utlizied by most people. Your nearest public library may not be as good as the one near my place. But check it out before you subsribe to any new magazine or Netflix. You may end up saving yourself quite a bundle.
March 13th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
[...] Paula of QueerCents has a good psychology post on Overcoming Emotional Spending. Mr Credit Card writes a post about how you can save money by going to the library. The Frugal Duchess saves 20% on groceries by being in an Organic Food Co-op for the last seven months. [...]
March 15th, 2007 at 4:02 am
[...] The 65th Festival of Frugality is over at the Festival of Frugality site, where my Star Trek story made it in! But I also found that Mr. Credit Card and I do something in common (but not together, ha!): we both Visit The Library To Save Money. How about these Frugal Ways To Spend Time With Friends over at Grad Money Matters? And Stop the Financial Leakage! at My Two Dollars is short and sweeeet! [...]
March 15th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Nice Post. I have been surprized too, when i found the resources at the public libraries. Good magazines, good business and tech books and most of the favorite DVDs.
Definitely a decent money saver.
March 17th, 2007 at 3:04 am
Totally agree with this! I go to the library every Sunday and borrow a few DVDs and CDs for the week, and read finance magazines when new ones arrive. Oh, and I check out some books too (duh!)
If you have DSL and Cable TV, but want to save money by cancelling cable, you can also watch a lot of TV shows directly from studio’s websites. This isn’t suitable for everyone - you’ll mostly need to sit at your computer to watch it, since the sites Flash video players won’t fill the screen or let themselves be sent to a TV screen, but if you really need to save $50-$100 a month on cable TV, but can’t bear to be parted from your favourite shows, this is one way to do it.
March 18th, 2007 at 12:16 am
I’m with Brian above. The library is just great if you know how to get the most out of it. I balked at first when I saw I was number 150 in line to get a real recent movie, but the librarian said no problem, there were probably 60-odd copies of this particular movie floating around and I’d get it in a few weeks. She was right. The movie turned out to be lousy, but hey, the price was right, ha-ha. A step further is to track down movies by particular actors you like - go to IMdB, make a list and go to your libary’s web site to reserve them. Also, I haven’t had cable TV for years and just don’t miss it.
Plus I haven’t had cable TV for years and don’t miss it.
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:10 pm
[...] #4 Entertain yourself for free. Why not try any of these activities? Read a book or two, but pick them up at the library. Or if you’re in the mood for a movie, borrow from your friends’ collections. And best of all, play with your kids and spend time with the family by painting or drawing with them, visiting the playground, taking nature trips and building sandcastles on the beach (granted you need a beach nearby to be able to do that). [...]
May 12th, 2007 at 3:23 am
And you’ve really got access to more than just the books at the library branch you visit. Often you can request any book in the entire local library system and have it delivered to your nearest branch.
Taking advantage of this service has significantly cut down on my spending on books.
May 16th, 2007 at 2:42 am
[...] Visit the Library to Save Money (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog) - Another library enthusiast! Seeing all of this joy about the library makes my desire to make Librarianship my career even stronger. Note what Mr. Credit Card says about DVDs too. Good stuff! [...]