Fun for Free – January

To quote a song that I quietly hum to myself while hunting down the perfect read, “having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card!” Today, I want to talk about both ideas from the quote – libraries and fun (… for free).

While I’m lucky enough that my local library has a curb-side pick-up option for physical books and other media, I don’t exactly want to venture out into the cold just so I can read. Assuming that you may also be in your coldest season, too, I wanted to talk about the two library apps that I’ve been using to keep up with my hunger for fiction, audiobooks, and graphic novels. Don’t have a library card? I’ve got you in mind as well, and I’ll talk about a non-library option later on.

Hoopla

Hoopla has a bit of everything, whether you’re looking for comics, e-books, audiobooks, movies, TV shows, music, or quick guides to popular reads. If Hoopla has it, you can borrow it. The borrow period is fairly standard (21 days, unless otherwise stated), and there’s no limit as to how many people can borrow the same piece of media at the same time. There’s a limit to how much you can borrow per month, which may vary from one library to another. Where Hoopla shines is in their audiobook selection and their quick guides. The audiobooks are sometimes the only format available for a given title (or maybe that’s just my library), but I personally like having the variety of going back and forth between what format my books are in, so it’s not too much of a trade-off. The quick guides fill in the gaps for major titles that they don’t have available to borrow as an e-book, but likely have as an audiobook. While the app doesn’t have a sample-read function, this fills that gap (but it will take up one of your allotted borrows for the month).

Pros: Audiobooks aplenty; no wait time – if you see it listed, you can borrow it
Con: Selection might feel a bit limited depending on the format of media you prefer to consume

Libby

Libby functions more like a traditional library, in that you’ll have a wider variety to choose from (they also have magazines!) but you also have wait-times for popular media based on the number of copies available for a given title. Borrowing periods vary according to how new/in demand a title is, though they might have more than 2-3 copies of a title if it’s particularly famous. If a title is in the public domain, they will have unlimited copies, so feel free to go wild on some Wilde. The app itself feels a bit fancier (for lack of a better word) and offers a different reading experience as a result. They also have curated collections that pop up on your homepage – some of which are seasonal, while others are a reflection of what’s on everyone’s reading lists. Though I led with pointing out that you’d have to put a hold on titles that aren’t currently available, the app does have a section dedicated to titles that are ready to check out immediately. Lastly, this app will allow you to sample the title (I’ve only tried this with books and audiobooks), so you at least have an idea if it’s worth your time to wait weeks (…or months) to place the hold.

Pros: Wide selection, curated lists, magazines with no wait time
Con: Depending on title popularity, you might have to wait a few months before you can access the title (but at least the tell you the estimated wait time)

To be clear, I use both library apps, and I use them to their respective advantages. My library has other apps and services that are available with the card, though I haven’t taken the time to explore them enough to comment on their content or qualities. For now, I have plenty to select from between the two apps and my stack of books at home.

The Gutenberg Project

Not forgetting those of you who may not have a library card (no judgement, I only got mine last September), I want to talk about the Gutenberg Project. If a title has entered the public domain, the Gutenberg Project website will have a copy of it – meaning that a bunch of classics will be available to read online or download immediately. Their selection is, understandably, older titles, but if you’ve ever wanted to read the “classics” that you Coles Notes’d your way through in high school, or just want to visit other titles from authors you’ve sampled from the same category, then this will meet your needs. I’ve read a handful of titles online through the website when seeking out specific novels, though I’m sure that perusing their expansive selection would offer more than enough. The novels and other works have been digitized, meaning that you’ll be able to read them online as text, rather than relying on scanned copies (as far as I’ve seen). Lastly, I want to point out that the works they have available are not only in English, thought the amount of e-books (and other media) will vary from one language to the next.

Pros: Immediate access to over 60 000 titles, and you can keep the download (depending on copyright laws in your country)
Con: If it’s not public domain, it won’t be on the website. 

What’s next for this week:

I’ll be working on using what I have from my yarn to crochet a quick something for myself, and then having a look at what products I want to focus on for empties for the next bit. Thanks for reading!

Advertisement

My No Buy Plan for 2022

What is a No Buy?

The purpose of a No Buy or Low Buy is to reduce how much you are purchasing new things. You set parameters for yourself of what you are limiting (whether entirely or capping), and for how long. You make the rules for yourself according to what your needs are (i.e., it would be incredibly difficult to purchase nothing an entire year if you included essential categories like food and rent), as well as what exceptions you have for your rules – or what you are indeed allowed to spend money on that may not be considered to be essential by others.

My Categories

I chose my categories based on where I spend the most money: clothing, accessories, shoes, crafting supplies, tea, and body care products. Books are also on the list, but are being treated a bit differently. For clothing, I have more than enough seasonal wear, and I know what colours and styles I like to wear most – and I know that I don’t need more. Accessories – earrings, other jewellery, bags, scrunchies – are just as plentiful as clothing. Shoes are a bit different in that I have a lot, for different events/purposes, but many of those events are not currently taking place, so they are not in use. Crafting supplies is likely the broadest category with stationary, writing tools, stickers, yarn, washi tape, scrapbooking paper, and about par for clothing in sheer volume of materials. For tea, I like(d) to buy in bulk with DavidsTea having moved to being almost an entirely online store, so I have around 1.5 kilos of tea, and I certainly don’t need more. For body care products, I amassed so much of everything from shopping sales, buying in bulk, or thinking that I would need more than I reasonably use. A single person doesn’t need five tubes of toothpaste, but that’s what I got from Costco six months ago. For books, I have a healthy To Be Read stack that I want to complete without rushing myself. Books are a bit different, then, as I’ll still be going to the local library, but I won’t be buying new books.

My Rules

Broadly, the rule is to not purchase anything from these categories. I know that I can easily make it through the first half of the year without having to think about replacements for anything. That being said, I have thought ahead of what to do if I do need to replace anything (in order): 1) go without for a two-week span (unless it’s related to personal hygiene, like toothpaste or body wash), 2) if after two weeks, I still feel that I need the item on a daily or multiple-times-per-week basis, see if I can find it second hand (preferably from a local thrift store), and 3) buy new from a local/Canadian retailer.
I will be spending on groceries, monthly phone bill, and other necessities, and I have both travel (when it’s safe) and experiences budgeted in for the year so I can be intentional about where I’m going, what I’m doing and what I’m not taking back with me. I will also be purchasing gifts, which will include a birthday present for myself, but that’s months and months away at this point.

What makes this goal doable

I did a bit of a test-run last year to see how I would fare in slowing down my spending/shopping, and I was able to figure out what did and didn’t work. What worked was making sure I had frequent visual reminders, both in my agenda and on my wall calendar, as well as following content related to these topics. Shifting my thoughts towards abundance and gratitude as opposed to curating or scarcity have helped in how I see what I own. I feel like I’m ready to jump in headfirst and commit to a full year as I’ve just completed a daily habit for a year that I thought I could never do: gratitude journaling. I kept it simple and wrote at least one thing per day that I was grateful for, and I have at least 365 things listed in my journal – while all other attempts at journaling in other formats have failed.
Quitting shopping cold turkey and entirely restricting myself doesn’t work for me at all. If I do choose to spend, then my limit of $0 can turn into $20 or $200 when there’s no reasonable limit – so it’s better that I set aside money for experiences, and that I keep a wishlist for myself. Between small lifestyle changes that I’ve been making throughout 2021 and the desire to downsized my stockpiles, I believe that I can do a no-buy for a year for the categories that I know I need to work on.

What will be tough about the goal

Avoiding sources of temptation will likely be my biggest struggle over the course of the year. Certain stores, like Michaels, DavidsTea, and Simon’s are full of stuff that I like (and that can stay out of my shopping cart), and avoiding them as a whole is my best bet. In 2021, I went to Michael’s twice, once with spending nothing (but I’d already been shopping at thrift stores that day), and the second time with buying more than I intended once I found something that would make a cute gift. I don’t need to say much about tea (see the 1.5 kilos remark above), and Simon’s is a catch all for cute clothing and home goods, and probably my number 1 targeted ad on instagram. I find that thrifting without a physical list has also led to buying more than I intended, and the rush from shopping for new items is the same as it is for thrifted items, with the additional layer of it being an unexpected find. To help prevent these temptations, I’ve already unsubscribed from all emails from these stores (and others) and I don’t follow them on social media anymore.

My philosophy

When it comes to what I’m going to do when faced with decisions of whether or not to purchase something, I want to have a much more intentional and slowed-down approach than I used to. I want to know what I have and what I need (which likely won’t be anything, at least for a few months) and be able to consider what it is that I’m taking into my home. If I don’t want to be in a space where I’m shopping, whether online or in person, I will need to be intentional about how I’m spending my time and what I do in a day. I want the time otherwise lost from online or in-person shopping to be spent on activities that are more meaningful to me, and I want my living space to not be bursting at the seams with stuff. I will be going into this year’s challenge with the mindset that the decisions I make are my own, and that there is no luck involved in the process; if I am tempted by an item, and choose to make a purchase, that is my decision. However, I also recognize that I do make mistakes, stuff happens, and what matters more is what I learn from my decisions and what I choose to do next.

What’s coming up this week:

I’ll be doing a paper-based inventory of my clothing (so I can keep track of number of wears per item), flipping my hangers over, and picking out the two books I’m aiming to read for the month beyond the remaining library book I have on loan.