An overdue library book isn't great, but an overdue library video - Ouch! The fine for an overdue movie is $3.00, you heard me right, THREE DOLLARS. Ugh!
To keep this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad fine from ever having to be paid again out of my pocketbook I put a basket on the television. All movies are placed there the very second after they cross the thresh hold. They are only allowed to exit the basket with my permission.
I will not pay $3.00 again, and that's my final answer.
To find other helpful hints, visit Rocks In My Dryer. Good advice. No fines.
I've built a wing... a WING, I tell you... on to our local library with my overdue fines!! I need to be more organized but there's always that one book that just doesn't make it into the bag on library day. Then I find it two weeks later and a whooping $5.00 fine is due. Multiply that by three, or four, or five books... well, you get the idea!
Posted by: Lady Why | April 22, 2008 at 08:40 PM
I had to pay over $20 in overdue book fines the last time we went to the library. I was thoroughly embarrassed.
Thanks for reminding me to get all those books together and get them back before the 29th! :)
Posted by: Domestic Spaz | April 22, 2008 at 08:47 PM
LOL! We finally gave up on borrowing movies from the library and rent them instead from Netflix (no overdue fines!)...
Posted by: LeeAnn (AKA FrazzMom) | April 22, 2008 at 08:53 PM
Don't tell our library that other libraries are charging such fines! Ours is still $.05 per item per day...
Posted by: Gettysburg Mom | April 23, 2008 at 04:36 AM
Good tip. Nothing frustrates my husband more than late fines-at the library or the video store.
Posted by: Sister Honey Bunch | April 23, 2008 at 05:26 AM
Not sure what age kids are involved at your house, mine are 12 and 13. They now pay their own fines. They have their own cards. For "media" that I have to check out on mine due to age restrictions then it's whoever picked the item pays the fine. We're doing MUCH, MUCH better!! I once paid $60 in fines at one time--and no lost items. Late DVDs and music!!
Posted by: Lisa | April 23, 2008 at 05:52 AM
Not sure what age kids are involved at your house, mine are 12 and 13. They now pay their own fines. They have their own cards. For "media" that I have to check out on mine due to age restrictions then it's whoever picked the item pays the fine. We're doing MUCH, MUCH better!! I once paid $60 in fines at one time--and no lost items. Late DVDs and music!!
Posted by: Lisa | April 23, 2008 at 05:53 AM
Not sure what age kids are involved at your house, mine are 12 and 13. They now pay their own fines. They have their own cards. For "media" that I have to check out on mine due to age restrictions then it's whoever picked the item pays the fine. We're doing MUCH, MUCH better!! I once paid $60 in fines at one time--and no lost items. Late DVDs and music!!
Posted by: Lisa | April 23, 2008 at 05:53 AM
Often you can renew over the phone or online. Personally I'm very lucky, our library here has NO FINES! Such a wonderful thing for such a slacker like me, I've probably built a couple of libraries over my lifetime with all the fees I've paid.
Posted by: Marie | April 23, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Our fines our only $.10 a day, but when you check out 60 things at a time it still adds up fast! I do the best I can, but I still pay a lot of fines. Considering how many resources we use though, I just call it my membership dues. :^)
Posted by: Alicia | April 23, 2008 at 12:38 PM
My basket will have to go much higher than the tv. My kids are all under 5 and I babysit three more all under 4. They don't really hold "permission" as a priority right now...so everything they can't have goes on top of my clutter desk, I mean my computer desk. LOL!
Posted by: Heather | April 23, 2008 at 12:57 PM
I only request permission due to the fact that one of the late fees was a result of a movie hidden under a bed. The Rats.
Posted by: Activities Coordinator | April 23, 2008 at 01:29 PM
Yikes! Those are killer fines. We quit going to the library for awhile, because the fees were killing me. Not to mention the books I had to buy because my littlest one ate them!
She is over that stage (mostly), so our library trips have returned. The movies go on the top bookshelf and stay there. Great minds think alike. :)
Posted by: Renae | April 23, 2008 at 04:03 PM
Wonderful idea! I spend too much money on library fines.
Posted by: Dawn | April 24, 2008 at 06:35 AM
$9.50 cents just because Clifford was hiding under a seat in the car. How does something as big as Clifford hide under a seat in the car?
Posted by: Dana | April 25, 2008 at 08:00 AM
Hey! Movie about Dinsaurs under the bed. I get where you're coming from.
Posted by: Activities Coordinator | April 25, 2008 at 09:02 AM
You gotta try libraryelf. It will send you emails or texts when your library items are due (or overdue!). I'm a librarian, and I used to work at our local public library. It's soooo embarrassing to have overdues there, because they all know me and will aggravate me about it.
Hope it works with your library system.
http://www.libraryelf.com/
Posted by: eiela | April 27, 2008 at 08:53 PM
hi - just wanted to share with you this idea. when our kids were young and at home i had a library bag that hung on a hook by the door. all library materials went in the bag that way nothing was forgotten or lost. we also had a library day when everything got returned - read, viewed, etc. or not.
Posted by: jacque stoddart | April 28, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Excellent idea! We have a spot in the living room where (in theory) library books are kept. Every now and then one escapes, which is not really a problem except for when movies disappear!
Posted by: Activities Coordinator | April 28, 2008 at 11:49 AM