New Year, New You: Library Resources For A Healthy, Wealthy, And Wise 2023

As 2022 comes to a close, many of us are looking toward the new year with an eye on personal improvement. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays winding down and the long, cold span of winter looming, now is as good a time as any to take charge of those aspects of our lives that could use a little tune up. 

The Birmingham Public Library is a wealth of helpful information that can make those resolutions feel like a snap. From bettering yourself, to organizing your home, or taking the reins of your finances, the library can help you with that! Let's take a look at the top 5 resolutions and a few options available for tackling them head on. 

1. Home organization and cleaning

While a lot of people wait until Spring to grapple with the really big projects in their homes, today is the best day to start being mindful of the everyday tasks that will put you on track to have a cleaner, more organized home and have it stay that way. Check out these books to help you on your journey:

• Simply Clean: The Proven Method for Keeping Your Home Organized, Clean, and Beautiful in Just 10 Minutes a Day
• The Complete Book of Home Organization 
• Clean My Space: The Secret to Cleaning Better, Faster—And Loving Your Home Every Day

2. Cooking at home more

This is something that my household struggles with. It's 7 in the evening, we've both just gotten home from work, and we haven't planned ahead for dinner. So, I guess it's take-out-again or just order a pizza. What are ways that you can plan ahead, so that a home cooked meal is easy, quick, and reliably there for you? See what these titles have to offer on that:

• Everyday Dinners: Real-Life Recipes to Set Your Family Up for a Week of Success
• Easy Meal Prep: The Ultimate Playbook for Make-Ahead Meals
• Fresh Food Fast: Weeknight Meals

3. Making a budget

The first time in my mid 20's that I actually started using a budget, it was like most of the stress in my life melted away. Before then, it was always a question of when things would or should be paid with constant concern. Once the budget was put into place, the guessing and worrying wasn't an issue anymore. Bills never blindsided me again, and there was no question of where the money was going to come from to pay them.

Not to say that there weren't unexpected expenses but being on a budget puts you in far better shape to analyze those situations and mitigate them quickly. Here's some resources to put you on your path to living within a budget:

• Be Smart About Money: Money Management and Budgeting
• Do I Need It? Or Do I Want It?: Making Budget Choices
• You Need a Budget: The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle, Getting Out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want

4. Mindfulness, patience, serenity, and kindness

Everything is loud. Everything is happening too quickly. There's too much information bombarding us at all times. People live their days with the regrets of the past like chains around their necks, walking towards goals that would be easier to reach if they could just live in the moment. There's too much clutter in our heads sometimes, but here's some books to help sweep out that clutter and make room for the moment:

• Don't Sweat the Small Stuff—And It's All Small Stuff
• I got this book when it was first published about 25 years ago, and I have given it to a few people as gifts throughout the years. It's a very helpful book if you're the type to worry and hang on to your stress for dear life. 
• The Kindness Method: Change Your Habits for Good Using Self-Compassion and Understanding
• Meditation by Domyo Sater Burk

5. Reading more

Here's the big one for us here. Everybody says, "I used to read so much, and now I can just never find the time." When I tell people that I work at the library, 95% of them literally say that exact sentence. While part of reading more is prioritizing your time to sit down with a book, there's so many more things you can be doing to get the most out of your library experience. 

The number one thing you can do today to help you read more is to get to know the modern library.

First off, do you have a library card, and do you know where is it? Click here to apply for one or renew your Jefferson County Cooperative library card online.

You're reading this on the BPL blog, so you at least know we have a website and how to use it. Do you know how to search the catalog? Have you signed into your account, so that you can put holds on books you want to read and see when your books are ready to be picked up or are due to be returned?

An absolutely essential thing for you to do right this minute to help you read is to download the JCLC, Libby, Hoopla, and Kanopy apps to your phones and tablets. I can't stress how invaluable Libby and Hoopla are to you for finding time to read. Say you find yourself with an hour to kill at the airport or in the doctor's office, and you don't have anything to read. There are thousands upon thousands of titles available for immediate download through those services for free with your JCLC card. You can download eBooks to read off your device or audiobooks to listen to through your ear buds. 

Speaking of audiobooks, refute the stigma that if you listened to a book being read to you that you didn't actually read the book. How many of us commute almost an hour a day for work? You can easily read a book a week if you just listen to it during your car ride, while grocery shopping, or cleaning the house. There are so many opportunities that we don't think of where we can be reading a book.

You just have to realize that those resources are there at your fingertips. 

By J. Michael Coe—Library Assistant Ⅲ | North Birmingham Regional Branch and Inglenook Branch Libraries