Generally, I don't feel a real need to have a bunch of material things. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to have a nice house or apartment with good furniture and nice decor etc. But for the most part, I don't feel a special attachment to most of my things.
The exception: books.
I have so many books. I'd guess that I have between 200 and 300 physical books, then probably around 30 electronic and 10-ish pdf. I'd call it a problem except it's not because books are the second best thing, right after good French onion soup (preferably from a bar). Today I'm going to focus just on the physical books and specifically...........
Building a home library.
I don't mean building literal bookshelves quite yet (one day!) but you need to build a collection of books if you want a library one day, yes?
But first, here are a few of my favorite home libraries I've found while perusing Pinterest. I like to think of them as inspiration (or....pinspiration).
The "Fun to Look at but Never Gonna Happen" libraries:
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The "When I Own a House" libraries:
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The "Possible in Rentals" libraries:
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Okay, okay - I know that's not a library (it IS a pantry from heaven), but this kind of shelving is generally affordable, and can easily be installed on a wall in a rental.
My Absolute Favorite Home Library Sources of Inspiration:
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But how to get there?
Before you build walls of shelves, you need to have some books (presumably... I guess you can start with bare shelves but that might look weird.. plus it takes years to build a collection of books). Obviously, the cost of achieving this can be high, but there are ways around that in case money is tight.
When I had my full time job I also worked a part time job so I usually had a little extra cash. Which meant I was going to Barnes and Noble all the time. Liz (who also wants a library) and I used to meet up at the mall, eat Nathans or Chinese in the food court, and go to B&N probably once a week. It was lovely. Since I had the money, I let myself by a book (or a couple) every paycheck.
I make fewer trips now that the job situation is so... sad. But! The good thing is that I became an expert at B&N shopping. Now that money is tight verging on non-existent, if I do go to Barnes, I know what to look at and I know which sales to go for. They frequently have the "buy 2 get the 3rd free" sale (and some stores always have that sale). If there's a new book I want to read, I know how long to wait for it to go to the "Previous Best Sellers" rack, where it's usually half the price it was when it first came out. And of course, I always take advantage of the classics. Borders used to have excellent prices on classics as well. At Barnes, they're between $4.95 and $8.95 and they often have sales that pertain only to their classics (a few months ago I got six classics for the price of three).
Like I said, though, the B&N trips are fewer now and I don't often like buying brand new books when I have so little money. Bills come first.
HAPPILY, there are other ways to fatten the book collection when ya ass is broke. Here are some of my pro-tips. (lol yeah bc I'm a pro.)
Pro-tip 1: Buy from thrift stores
I live in NC with family now, and my aunt and grandparents really enjoy going to thrift stores (I do too, but it's slightly depressing to look at furniture/home decor when I no longer have an apartment). Some of the fancier thrift stores have books, but they're often overpriced and I won't bother. But others hold treasure -
You'll find old books, new books, and probably everything in between. My rule is to stick to what I think I'll actually like to read or reference. A couple of weeks back I got a few books originally part of a set called "Building America" for something like $2. While I'll never sit down and read those books front to back, I know I'm interested in parts of them. One includes aviation history in America and I've already looked at that part of the book several times. The other discusses labor history in America - another topic I know I'm interested in.
Sometimes, stores don't feel like pricing each individual book, so they'll throw some string around a set and sell it for half of what they'd get if each book was sold separately. That was the case with this set for $3.50:
On Amazon, Little Britches isn't sold used for less than $6.00 and that's just one book - this set comes with all eight of Ralph Moody's autobiographies.
It can be really, really easy to build your book collection if you look at thrift stores and garage sales. $10 or even $5 can get you a slew of books. Like I said, the rule I've set for myself is that to buy it, I need to know the book is going to be used. If I didn't follow this rule, I'd have a ton of books sitting on the shelf for no reason. It's true that when I have a library the shelves will need to be filled, but I consider it wasteful if the books will never be picked up. It might only cost me a quarter for a used book, but if money is tight I don't need to be wasting even a penny on something I won't use.
That said, sometimes I buy books knowing that they'll be used, but maybe not by me.
I actually do love looking at illustrated books just for the art, but it's not often that I pick up a children's book to read for fun. But a physical home library is likely 6+ years away, and I think that books like these will be used. Even if I don't have kids at that point, I've got seven younger siblings. The youngest is six. I also have friends with kids. For me, the ultimate goal of having a library isn't just for me to get joy from it, it's for every person who comes into my home to enjoy. I've got books on fairies, elves, world art, Africa, and so many other things because I know that they'll be enjoyed by some of my friends. (Not that I don't also love reading about elves!)
Pro-tip 2: Take advantage of seasonal sales
I visited a Barnes and Noble a few days after Easter and there were picture books galore on sale - many with Easter or spring themes. I didn't get any, but it's something to keep in mind. One of the seasonal sales I do normally take advantage of is Christmas sales. Normally after Jan. 1 Christmas books go on sale, so it's nice to keep an eye on that.
Combining tips 1 and 2, thrift stores/novelty stores/junk stores often have Christmas items on sale year round, except for the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. For less than $2, I got these three books:
I've thoroughly enjoyed flipping through each of them. Christmas is sort of my thing, so it's rare that I don't buy a book like this if it's under $1. I'll often save up my change for a week and find that I've got around $5 and let myself buy books with it.
Pro-tip 3: Libraries are your friend
Many libraries have a little section near the door where you can buy books for 25 cents. I like to check this section out whenever I visit the library - if there's a book I think I'd enjoy or that brings a specific friend to mind, I'll get it. One more book for my own library.
Pro-tip 4: Keep an eye out
If you just like having books but you're not dead set on having a home library one day, then you don't really need to keep your eyes peeled. But if you genuinely want to have a lovely room with shelf-lined walls and you don't want to break bank buying all new books, you should keep your eyes open for inexpensive (or even free!) books. I worked at a school, so when the PTA was hosting a used book sale, I knew about it and bought around nine or ten books for $1. But if you're not lucky enough to work at a school (ahem), sales like this are often advertised in local papers and magazines. All you need to do is check. Garage sales also can be a place to find books for next to nothing. Sometimes Craigslist has ads for boxes of books for free. I usually skip over those because of my rule (I need to know the books will be used), but sometimes there are great books to be found.
Another thing I've done: Keep school textbooks. Now, I didn't keep every book I'd been assigned in school, but I kept the ones that are about interesting topics. I've got a bunch of philosophy, political science, and sociology books, plus a few on research and writing. I could have sold them, but usually used textbooks go for less than half (if that!) of the original price, so I don't really count it as a loss.
Those are pretty much the main ways I buy books. Right now I've got enough books to fit probably one wall of shelves, give or take. They're currently stored in two closets, and with all the moving I've had to do in the last two years, it's been a huge pain in the ass. But worth it! Totally worth it.
To libraries!
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Charlotte
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