Discussion: Buying books Vs Borrowing books

When I was in my local library today, browsing the books, the idea for this blog post was formed so when I got home the first thing I did was grab my notebook and write it down so that I didn't forget about it, and now that I have some free time to write a blog post...Let's Discuss:

Buying vs Borrowing books

Lets start off on the topic of buying books:

When I was younger I used to never buy books, I thought it was a waste of money when all the books are sitting there in the library just waiting to be read.As I have gotten older though I have started buying more and more books in the last year or so, enough for me to have to go and purchase a bookcase, which I had never needed before as although I read a lot when I was younger I just took out 3 or 4 books from the library at a time and then bring them back when I needed more...because you know, that's how a library works (Duh!).

When I say I have started to buy books more and more, I am being slightly dishonest, true I have only in the last week or two went to the library again after totally abandoning it for a good year, but that does not mean books have been eating into my savings. When Christmas or Birthdays come around I just ask for books, sometimes if I do really well in a set of exams my mum may buy me a book or two and I may treat myself to a book also, this is what I mean when I talk of buying books because as I am not a very fast reader, the books I receive from Birthdays and Christmas will probably keep me going till next year...and if I don't receive too many books, I may receive some money to buy my own.It is usually only around these times of the year I allow myself make a book purchase.

Buying books can be expensive if you are not careful though. This wasn't a major problem for me as I have always been quite good with shopping around until I find the best price. If I am going to buy a book I will nearly always buy online, either from Amazon or The Book Depository (I may go into more detail about each in a later post). The only time I really buy books from a store would be if they have some sort of deal on or if I have received a gift card to use there. I found that the cheapest way for me to buy books is to not buy one book every 2 weeks or month, but to save up that money and buy a bunch of books in bulk from amazon, as then I qualify for free delivery (WooHoo!)

Now on to Library books:

When I first started to love reading, I never bought books and I basically lived in the library. I loved the day of the week when I got to go to the library, it was like shopping except everything was FREE!..well unless you return the book late then it was 5 cents a day, but back then I had so much time to read that, that wasn't much of a problem for me. The library was great for those first years of my ever growing book addiction, but then you hit a wall.


via GIPHY

You go to the library one day and realize you have read nearly all of the books that interest you,what else is there to read! You see one problem I had at my library when I used it a lot was that they never had the full series....and I know what your thinking "Sarah other people borrow books too, you just have to wait your turn", but it really started to get on my nerves, true you could request the book, but it always took 2 to 3 weeks to arrive and I was a very impatient 10 year old when it came to books.

My last incident with the library was the last straw for me and is what started me into buying books. Everyone in my school had been reading the Gone series by Michael Grant so naturally I could not wait to get my hands on it.I went to the library and of course the whole series was already out on loan, but I placed my request anyway. In the months that followed, I ended up purchasing the series and reading them...and when I was on the last book, several months later I got a text from the library saying that the first book in the series was now back in the library for me to collect.....enough said.

But you are probably thinking "Sarah, if you abandoned the library why were you in the library when you came up with the idea of this blog post?" and that it because in the last week or so, I went down to the library and got myself a new library card...I thought that it would be good to have if I ever need it, the library doesn't have many of the newer books but I still think it will be good for me to check do they have the books I want in the library before I go and buy them as I might be able to save a little bit of money that way, although I have not borrowed any books as of yet.

Conclusion:

Buying- Pros:                                                           

- You get to keep the book forever
- You can reread the book whenever you like
- You can have a book faster
- You own the book

Cons:
- It can be expensive
- Books take up a lot of space
- You waste your money if you didn't like the book
- less likely to experiment

Borrowing-Pros:
- Wide variety of books
- Free books!
- More likely to experiment
- You have more space

Cons:
- May not always have book you want
- Waiting lists are long...
- you don't own the book
- You may have to wait longer to read new releases
- You don't have easy access to new books

So... Buying vs Borrowing, personally I am leaning more towards buying the older I get as the books I want to read are becoming more specific where as i would read anything I could get my hands on when i was younger. Overall I would say a mixture of both is the best option.What do you think?
Do you buy books? Do you Borrow? How about both? Comment below....I would love to hear your opinions!