On our vacation last week, Kris and I stayed at a nice bed & breakfast on San Juan Island. One morning, we spoke with Debbie, our hostess, and the conversation turned to books. I mentioned that I liked the used bookstore in town. I also mentioned that I have too many books.

Debbie laughed and told us that she and her husband have too many books, too. “When we lived in Arizona, we had a ton of books. We even built an addition to our house — a library/office with bookshelves lining the walls.”

“But when we moved here, we didn’t have room. This bed and breakfast is big, but the cottage we live in next door only has 750 square feet. We just don’t have room for the books. We got rid of most of them before we moved.”

“Our new bookstore is the library,” Debbie said. “It’s great. They have almost anything I want. And if they don’t have it, all I have to do is ask, and they’ll order it for me.”

I love the public library, but the conversation with our hostess made me realize that I’ve done a poor job of using it since I started working from home. It’s only about a 30-minute walk from our house (and a five-minute drive), but for some reason, I used it more when I was driving to work. I’ve become lazy. I should go visit it next week and remind myself that I, too, have access to a “bookstore” where everything is free.

This article is about Frugality  Saturday, 18th October 2008 (by J.D. Roth)