Cash, Credit, or Library Card?

When I picked up my Kindergarten Kiddo today she was flush with excitement.  Today was her turn to take home Clifford, the class pet.  Clifford (as in the big red dog) comes complete with his own pet carrier, doggie dish, doggie bed, and a journal where his hosts record the juicy details of his time spent in their company.  In my Kindergarten Kiddo’s world, this is about the equivalent of having Santa Claus as a house guest.  And for a guest of this caliber, only the best will do. 

So we spent the afternoon showing Clifford all of Kindergarten Kiddo’s favorite spots.  We stopped in the village candy shop for some ice cream and then hit up our favorite independent bookstore, Annie Bloom’s.   

She read him a story…

…gave him a ride on the dragon…

…and introduced him to the store’s mascot kitty, Molly.

All was going swimmingly, until it was time to make our way to the register.   Like a contestant in an episode of Supermarket Sweep, Kindergarten Kiddo started grabbing picture books off the shelves and piling them into my purse. 

Incredulous, I asked, “What are you doing?”

“Checking these out,” came her pragmatic reply. 

Queue the reel of me explaining the difference between a book store and a library.  But it got me thinking though: just how much would our reading habit cost us if we weren’t using the library?  Thanks to Google (and the State of Maine), I found an answer in the Library Use Calculator.  Though it recommends you inputting one month’s worth of checkouts, I decided to just use the books we checked out this weekend as seen in my previous post here.  The grand total for 1 adult book, 11 children’s books, and 5 audio books came to $189.00.  YOWZAH!

Check out the calculator for yourself.  How much is your family saving?