On this page, we’ll tally up the money saved with each life hack. At the end of this year-long experiment, we’ll add up the numbers and see what the dollars-and-cents value of my library card is.
In 2013, I also borrowed extensively for entertainment, and to save myself money on textbooks and books for academic projects. These added up to a savings of $424.26 and $124.32 respectively
| Post Date | Library Resource | Money Saved |
| Jan 1 | The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing | 12.60 |
| Value Line Investment Survey (1-year subscription is $598 US) |
591.42 | |
| Standard & Poor’s Outlook (1-year subscription is $200 US) |
197.80 | |
| Investor’s Business Daily (1-year subscription is $269 US) |
266.04 | |
| Jan 8 | I Love Coffee | 12.60 |
| Savings generated by home-roasting coffee for one year | 252.75 | |
| Jan 15 | Running Until You’re 100 | 14.78 |
| Running: A Year Round Plan | 15.82 | |
| Savings generated by marathon training on your own | 73.49 | |
| Jan 22 | My Japanese Table | 20.27 |
| Savings generated by making your own gyoza instead of buying them at a grocery store | 6.64 | |
| Jan 29 | Yoga Journal: Complete Beginner’s Guide | 22.49 |
| Yoga Journal: Complete Home Practice | 22.49 | |
| Savings generated by training twice a week at home instead of going to a yoga studio for 30 classes | 345.00 | |
| Feb 5 | Making Great Cheese at Home | 22.95 |
| Savings generated by making 800 grams of your own goat cheese | 15.76 | |
| Feb 12 | Taste of Home Baking Book | 14.29 |
| No Need to Knead | 36.95 | |
| Feb 19 | The Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits | 26.67 |
| Mar 2 | Charcuterie | 23.81 |
| Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It | 19.30 | |
| Mary Bell’s Complete Dehydrator Cookbook | 17.42 | |
| The 4-Hour Chef | 25.70 | |
| Savings generated by making 690 grams of your own beef jerky | 17.61 | |
| Mar 19 | The 4-Hour Workweek | 17.34 |
| Mar 26 | The New Best Recipe | 25.09 |
| Savings generated by making a dozen of your own pickled eggs | 4.56 | |
| Apr 2 | Pizza, Pigs and Poetry | 17.10 |
| Savings generated by learning to write poetry on your own instead of taking a class | 139.00 | |
| Apr 9 | Baking with Julia | 28.32 |
| Pastries | 37.00 | |
| Apr 17 | Wine for the Confused | 15.68 |
| The Everyday Guide to Wine | 292.56 | |
| Apr 29 | Simple Screenprinting | 13.30 |
| My Art Book | 13.33 | |
| May 27 | Savings generated by baking your own eccles cakes instead of buying the lardy ones at Safeway | 1.98 |
| Jul 3 | The $100 Startup | 17.34 |
| Jul 23 | Organic Body Care Recipes | 17.00 |
| Savings generated by making your own lip balm instead of buying Blistex | 25.14 | |
| Aug 14 | Savings generated by making your own face cream for a year | 18.76 |
| Aug 26 | Savings generated by making your own batch of limoncello | 9.17 |
| Sept 2 | True Brews | 17.34 |
| Savings generated by making a dozen bottles of home-brewed ginger beer instead of buying Fentiman’s | 25.51 | |
| Sept 3 | Savings generated by taking resources out of the library (instead of buying them) during a year-long program of self-directed study | 1161.69 |
| Total so far | $3971.86 |
