Books, Cd's Dvd's: Do You Buy Them?

When we knew that we would be moving from our house to student housing 2 years ago, we got rid of alot of stuff which you can read about here. There was just no way that we were going to be able to keep it all. I purged about 50% of our book collection which was extensive. As well as donating alot of videos that #1 son no longer watched. Recently I purged our cd collection and was able to weed through about a third of what we still had.

Once we moved into our tiny campus apt, I had no desire (nor much money) to buy books, cd's or dvd's to replace the ones we got rid of. Instead, I decided we would just make do.

Wow, what a concept! (insert twinkle in eye)


Instead we searched out the library and found wonderful books to read, dvd's to watch, and even cd's to listen to. And it only cost me the fines I racked up forgetting to take them back on time! But seriously, the small amount of money and the fact that I didn't have to store them was a great incentive for me to reform my buying ways.

Eventually when money wasn't such an issue, we renewed our netflix acct in order to enjoy an even more diverse amount of dvd's. And my sister gave me an itunes card for my b-day. As for books, I'm very judicious about what I will buy now. For a book to be invited to find a home in my bookshelf, it has to meet the following criteria:

1) Is it a book that I can't seem to find at the library and I know I will read it over and over again? This might be because it is a rare or old book, a niche book that only a few people are interested in, or maybe self published. I kept a set of mystery cozies when moving just for that reason. I think I've read them all at least 3x and some more than that. And I never see them at any library. Believe me, I've looked!

2) Can I find the same info for free on the internet? If so, its not worthy of my money or my space. Cookbooks come to mind. Only one cookbook has come to live with us in the last 2 years, and that was a gift I asked for, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day". I had searched for the recipes and the secret to their method since hearing about this book a couple years ago, but came up empty. So after some not so subtle hints, I got it. And I'm not disappointed. Tho I did notice that last months Mother Earth News had an article on the book and gave away a couple of their recipes! So if you're curious about their breadbaking method as I was, check out the magazine first.

3) Is it a "referance book" meaning will I refer to it over and over again? Whether that's a craft/sewing book, medical journal, or a spiritual book that has changed my life. These books may or may not be in the library, but if they are I dont' want to be checking them out every other month or so. They have passed the test that I will use them over and over again.

For cd's we just don't find we need to own them anymore. We have found a wondeful music site called Pandora. It's like a radio for your computer and you even get to create a station according to your personal music tastes.

So there's my tale, how bout you? Do you still buy cd's dvd's and/or books? I'd love to hear why or why not. Leave a comment and tell me your story.

Til next time ....