My Newest Frugal Discovery - My Library Card (subtitle: Duh, MoneyPenny!)

It's been years since I went to the library. Literally. I used to live right around the corner from one, and was there all the time growing up. But as an adult it became easier to pass around good books between family and friends, or simply buy them. So it had been about 15 years since I ventured in to a public library when I finally did last summer.

I got a library card. Then never used it.

Until last week, when I started reserving movies online. Yeah, so we're #242 in line to see Inglorious Basterds, and maybe we'll rent it via on-demand before our number comes up. But just this weekend we saw Wanted and Burn After Reading for free (which was good, because neither one would have been worth a rental fee, quite frankly).

Kiera adored the children's room - the colors, the other kids, the fish tank. She has more books than we can read to her at this point, but that will change over the years. We tried out a Baby Einstein video (blech) for her. Glad I didn't spend good money for that.

I had forgotten just how good this basic resource is. Want to read it? Check it out for free. Want to take your child to story hour? Just pop in at the designated time. The public library system is a fantastic, and incredibly underused resource for all of us. Impressed doesn't cover how I feel about it.

I don't know why it took me so long to get back to the library. It's a staple of a more frugal, sustainable lifestyle.

Now if those 241 other people would just hurry up and return that movie...