It’s 2024! And it’s New Year’s resolution time. The Library and the Foundation and Friends are here to help you get your stuff a little more organized and to put your finances in better shape.
Read on to find out how!
Cleaning off your bookshelves
If you’re making room on your shelves or wherever you store things, bring your gently used books, movies, and music to the Central Park or Northside libraries. The library will add whatever they want to their collection, and we will resell what’s left to raise money for classes and events at all the Santa Clara City Library branches. How to donate your books, movies, and music.
Your books, movies, and music will go to a new home to help spread literacy and culture across our community!
We also want your bags. That’s right, we can use your clean, empty paper and plastic bags. The paper bags will get used in our bag sale portion of the monthly book sale at Central Park Library, and we’ll use the plastic bags in the Friends of the Library bookstore. Please bring bags to the Central Park Library.
Read about organization
Speaking of our Friends of the Library bookstore, we have books about how to get organized! Stop by the Central Park Library during open hours to find books to help you figure out where to start or how to not get overwhelmed when you’re tackling that big organizational project.
Learn about improving your finances
If you made any kind of new years resolutions about getting your finances in order, learn more about it with books from our online bookstore. Head over to our online bookstore to find a financial topic you want to learn more about. We typically only have one copy of each title, so act fast if one has caught your eye
The Northside Library is hosting a Financial Literacy series for adults on Thursday evenings starting January 18 and ending March 7. Take a look at the listing to find a class that covers what you’re interested in learning more about!
Taking action
If you need a way to spend time without spending money, consider becoming a volunteer! We always need help with various parts of our bookselling operation. If you know books, love reading, are an organized person, or have great sales skills we could use your help. Sign up to volunteer today.
You are probably already using the library to get free access to books, movies, and music. But sometimes you like a book or a movie enough that you want to own your own copy. That’s when our book sales can help! You can find books at our monthly book sales, our bookstore, or our book nook at the Northside LIbrary at a low cost. Prices start at just a couple of dollars. This is a good way to expand your personal library at a low cost, saving you money.
Change How You Donate
We’re just coming off the very spendy month of December. Most non-profits and small businesses make most of their money during that year-end period. It makes for a very boom-and-bust feel. But it can also be hard for your finances – all those expenses all at once.
Many non-profits, including the Foundation and Friends, can handle monthly donations. It helps smooth out our income stream, and can help get your year-end spending a little more under control.
If you’re a person who typically donates $50 – $100 to an organization, if you set up a monthly donation in the $5 – $8 range, you’ll be giving the same amount across the whole year. But it will smooth out both our revenue and your expenses.
Get your estate plan together
One of the best things you can do to get organized and get your finances together is to put an estate plan in place. There are tools out there to do it yourself, but you can also hire an estate lawyer.
After you get your basic estate plan in place, make sure to add any nonprofits you want to support with a bequest. A bequest to the Foundation and Friends can ensure that the library gets the support you want it to have even after you’re gone.