Money Saving Tuesday- The Library

I love my library. I have always loved the library starting from when I was a little kid. My mom started me off by taking me to storytime when I was a kid. This was back when you pretty much could only take books out of the library and had to use an actual card catologue! I never got out of the habit of going, whether to the town library or the local library. In college the library was a great resource for papers to write and for lessons tp prepare for my student teaching. And when I was teaching the library saved me LOTS of money on books to use in my classroom. I loved taking my students to our school library once a week as well and they loved being allowed to choose their own book to borrow for the week.

I am trying to pass that love on to my children. We go weekly for storytime, but there are so many other things there now as well. In addition to a love and appreciation for the library that I am hopefully building in my kids I save so much money just by going to the library.

*For one I almost never buy a book anymore. The only ones I have bought in the past few years have been with gift cards. I get all my books from the library. And if my library doesn't have the books I want or need I can request it from another library in the system. When I was curious about vaccines I requested about five different books and got a lot of information. When a new book comes out that I want to read I may have to wait for it but I don't have to buy it! *My kids have access to new books all the time since we go back weekly. We do have a home librarby of books for them, but I can't buy all the books I would love to read to them. So the library is the answer!
*I never pay for movies to rent for my kids. The library has tons of dvds. And again, if there is one I want that the library I visit doesn't carry, I then request it. They are free for the first week. If overdue they charge me $1 so I make sure to return them on time!
*Storytime is a great activity and it is free! We go weekly and Madeline is at a stage where she can go into storytime alone. This is great for her and I. Even if it is only 40 minutes, it still gets her started on listening to a "teacher" when mom isn't in the room. I will start Owen in storytime with me in the fall.
*Free magazines if you don't want to pay for a subscription. I do buy some subscriptions because I like to rip pages out for ideas. But for things I want to read once in awhile the library copies are great. I just have to hid them from my kids so they don't acidentally rip them!
*Puzzles, games, activities and other things as well are free to be borrowed. Madeline and Owen have taken to borrowing puppets and stuffed animals from the library. This si great because we don't add to our personal collection and the kids feel like they are getting a treat! It teaches them what borrowing is and they learn responsibility by taking care of something that belongs to others.
*Passes to local museums at reduced prices, or sometimes even for free! My MOMs club was able to get over 12 people into our local children's museum for free by borrowing passes from local libraries. Jon and I are trying to take the kids to the butterfly museum, but at $10 an adult and $7 a kid it is an expensive outing. A local library has a pass that gets two people in for free so we are waiting for it to become available.

I love going to the library. I love that my kids love going to the library. And I love that it saves me money as well!