Discussion: Why am I so horrible at returning library books?

July 31, 2015     booklovi     Discussion, Feature

Library due dates always seem to sneak up on me. You check out a book (or 10) and then think, ” I have plenty of time to read these and get them back!” And then a week goes by, and then another week. Suddenly you’ve only read one of those 10 books. Hmm. . .still plenty of time to read another one and then renew the rest? Definitely.

And maybe you do renew the books. So you now have another couple of weeks! Awesome. Maybe you even get another couple of books read. If you’re like me though, your neat stack of books has sort of migrated around the house and there’s a book here and a book over there and. . .how many books did you have originally?

Add to that 3 kids who each get 10 books themselves. Now you have library books hidden in places you didn’t even know you could put books. In the fireplace! In the dog bed! Shoved in the couch so they poke you in uncomfortable places when you sit down!

So you return books here and there as you find them. You think you got all of them. . .right? Oh no, that first warning email pops up. Still 3 days, that’s more than enough time to return the. . .how many books are still checked out? 12?! I have no idea where those 12 books are. . .  And then I get home from work and forget about the warning email.

Four days later you get the, ‘Your books are a day overdue notice.’ Ah! I will totally return those books today. Right after work. And then I forget again. Or I remember but can’t find all of them. Either way. . .the library ends up with some of my hard earned money. Every time.

If I was more organized, maybe this wouldn’t happen to me. Unfortunately, i’m not. So until I can get my butt in gear, the library will continue to get more of my money. Maybe they’ll dedicate a shelf to me one day. . .or maybe they secretly hate me. Hey – the books get back. . .eventually.

Anyone else have a hard time being a good library patron? Let me hear about it!

6 responses to “Discussion: Why am I so horrible at returning library books?

  1. You're not alone lol. I'm horrible at returning books. So I was always hit with the late fee when I was growing. Thank goodness I got a summer job and I could buy my own books without the worry of being late to the library again.

    • Yes! It's always good when you can buy your own books. I have to say though, I still have a lot of love for the library. Especially for those times between paychecks!

  2. oh my gosh, I've had to limit myself on checking stuff out of the library because THIS IS ME. I check out a bunch and then renew… renew… crap now I have to return them and wow, I've only read one?! sigh. I had so many late fees so now I try to limit myself to only a few when I check things out… I have too many books to read! haha

    -Wendy @ Book Scents

    • It's so hard to resist though! My library system is awesome about getting new books in, so every time I'm there I want to get so many of them!! Last time I did only get 3, I'm so proud of myself. Of course one was a new release, only allowed to be checked out for 7 days book and that library fine was. . . not pretty. lol

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