To buy books for kids or to borrow them?
I have been torn between two sides. On one hand is the one time cost for a lifetime of reading and on the other hand a free acquisition but only lasts for a while. What do I do – buy or borrow my child’s books?
I do both!
Yes. I do buy children’s books for my child. Here’s why:
Allow me to play the devil’s advocate for a while. Buying my child’s books gave me the freedom and flexibility to read at my own pace whenever we wanted. And with a fussy child in the house who is totally on his own time schedule, this proved to be super handy.
But let’s be honest books don’t come that cheap and if I could accommodate in my home all the books I wanted my child to read we would be sleeping and eating with books all over us. Where the houses are getting smaller, we needed to be wiser especially when it came to storage.
Now for borrow.
Yes, I do look for and borrow age appropriate kid’s books for my child!
It saves a whole lot of money which can be used for other purposes. Plus, with a opinionated child no one can really guarantee if he would be interested in reading the book for the second time. So a good borrow and return is a smart choice. But there is just that one thing – it’s not your own book. Not only did we have to return the borrowed books on time but also in a good condition. Hmmmm how do we tell our toddlers that?
So abracadabra here is the solution.
1. I waited for the sale time to purchase my list of books I wanted to buy for my child. Whether it is Amazon or Crossword bookstores, I kept track of the sale season and made my wish list. I had purchased many books on sale such as Goose on the Loose (read review here) and The Day the Crayons Quit (read review here) on Amazon.
2. If there was a book that was really expensive, I would try to borrow it first. If after reading it I got a sense that my child would enjoy it again, then I proceeded to purchase. I purchased many Julia Donaldson books such as The Gruffalo (read review here) and also Love You Forever (read review here) because I knew we would read them repeatedly for the delightful stories and illustrations. On the other hand I borrowed Maddi’s Fridge (read review here) because although it has a brilliant lesson it was slightly expensive.
3. I actually kept a monthly budget for books. One month’s unused budget would pass on to the next month and so it gave me more purchasing power when I needed it. Its quite simple. I just made a plan and stuck to it.
There you go. The rabbit is out of the hat. Here is the solution to the riddle which made my decision a whole lot easier.
