First: WHY do we want to focus on this?

1. We’ve become very reliant on the internet for our resources which might not always be so accessible. Plus, blogs get taken down, moved, and you can no longer find or access those resources.
2. Having a library out and accessible gets ALL of us off of screens more. How many times have you reached for your phone to look up a recipe and got side tracked and ended up down the Pinterest rabbit hole or Instagram?
3. As Charlotte Mason says, we should lay out a feast for our kids with good books and resources and let them nibble on different kinds. We should be doing in this addition to our kids!

Building our kids libraries:

This is something Jason and I have been focusing a lot on this year. Our kids are really starting to devour books and we want a lot of books laid out for them to choose from. Our favorites are classics and series. I’ve started a master resource list and included my favorite books for kids. You can find it here: https://findingjoyshop.mykajabi.com/jami-s-favorite-resources

I am all for utilizing the library and swapping books with friends! But I also think you can slowly build up a library in a very sustainable way by shopping sales and thrift stores.

Favorite places to buy books:

• Thrift Books: Sign up with a free account, sign up for their free Reading Rewards program, and do a $30 order and you’ll get a FREE BOOK!!
• Half Priced Books
• Costco has good book sets
• Thrift stores & consignment sales
• AbeBooks.com: Another great place for used books. Thrift Books is my go to but I always check Abe as well.
• eBay is a terrific source for finding whole series or individual books. There’s a book seller on eBay (Second Sale) who offers Buy 3 books under $5 and get 1 free. I’ve gotten soooo many books from their shop. You can find all their book deals here.

I keep a running list on my phone of ALL the books in our library in order in series. I find books all the time in thrift stores and at consignment stores. Having a running list on my phone allows me to buy random books in series for super cheap without forgetting which books we have and which we need!

Building a resource library:

• Practical & hands on books: Books on building, building a natural medicine cabinet, herbs, gardening, etc. This is for us adults but also for the kids to go through.
• Cookbooks: Do you have actual cookbooks? Or printed recipes? I love building up my cookbook library. For everyday recipes yes, but also unusual things like: Making kombucha, cheese, I’ve got a book on my wishlist for making my own tea blends, canning, dehydrating, etc. I love checking out these kinds of books from the library whenever I can. It’s a great way to test out if you love the book or if it’s just alright. And I’ve photo copied a page or two out of library books when there’s something so good I want to keep it.
  • You can do the same thing with Pinterest tutorials, recipes, etc. Print out amazing ones and start to build your own DIY medicine cabinet cookbook or canning recipe book. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to start thinking through building up a good solid library for yourself.
• Christian books and theology books: this is a huge part of our library that we’ve been building for years. We want solid, terrific Christian resources that we we can read, our kids can start reading and that we can let others barrow.

For Jason and I, we are thinking through building up our home library, not just for us, today. But also for future generations. With libraries becoming less reliable, with books being cancelled and banned, and with less good literature being produced, and so much more being moved online and digital, we want a physical library that can grow with us throughout the years.

We want resources at our fingertips that we can browse, learn from, and lend out to others. We dream of having a very large library in the future that our kids can come barrow books for their kids from. We want to slowly cultivate some amazing resources over a lifetime and that means being very intentional about the resources we bring into the home and how we make them available to our kids and ourselves!

I read a quote recently that said, “Reading an hour a day is only 4% of your day. But that 4% will put you at the top of your field within 10 years.”

Links and Resources:

• Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com
• Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube
• Join our Build Your Natural Medicine Cabinet Bootcamp here: https://findingjoyshop.mykajabi.com/Build-Your-Natural-Medicine-Cabinet-Bootcamp 
• And our Christmas shop opening will be coming sometime in November – stay tuned!!! 
• Our Sponsor: Go to AquaTru.com and enter code “HOME” at checkout to get 20% off any AquaTru purifier!
• Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/50homemaking and use code 50homemaking for 50% off plus free shipping!