Want to make car rides more bearable? Explore new worlds from your seat on an airplane? Make cleaning the house more exciting? Learn new things while gardening? Hear bedtime stories again? Then audiobooks are the thing for you!

Seriously, audiobooks have changed my life. For the better. I know it sounds cheesy, but the entertainment they have provided me, especially during long travel days, has been so appreciated. And between going to college out of state and long distance love, I have experienced my fair share of long travel days. Normally a long car drive makes me tired and bored and irritable, but tell me a story and I can easily hammer out a 12 hour drive, or longer. The only downside to audiobooks is their price tag. Some books on iTunes are $20 or $30 to purchase. And once I listen to the book once, I have no need to revisit it in the future. With that said, audiobooks are not cost-effective for me. I don't normally pay more than a few dollars for most of my actual books (AbeBooks saves me so much money), let alone $34.99! Therefore, I was so thrilled to finally discover how to access literally hundreds of audiobooks gratis. Yes, you read that right--Free Audiobooks! And eBooks too!

So really, I probably should not tell you about my discovery. Because, you see, if you live in the same geographic location as me, and do follow the steps I tell you about, then my access might become limited. But, here's to hoping ya'll are elsewhere.....

The secret to getting free audiobooks and ebooks is to check them out through your library. And no, I'm not talking about going to your actual library, and renting 17 CDs that tell you your story. I'm talking about checking them out through the internet! Through a really awesome App. And no, no late fees because life got busy and you turned them back in 2 months late.

I'm talking about renting audiobooks free of cost through a web-based application known as OverDrive. Therefore, the first step you must take is downloading the OverDrive app to your phone, iPad, desktop, whatever device you use. You can get it from the app store or by going to https://app.overdrive.com/

Once you get OverDrive, you'll need to open an account. The thing about OverDrive is that it is linked through your public library system. With that said, you will need a library card to access the audiobooks and ebooks offered through OverDrive. You can still get an account, however, without a library card. Once you make an account, you can search for your would-be library on the application via your location, and look at what titles are available. If you like some of the titles, then you can go take 20 minutes to get a library card through your city or county, and link it to your OverDrive account.

If you happen to be old-fashioned like I am, and already have a library card, then you are in luck because all you have to do is login with your library card, and Viola! Access instantly to hundreds, even thousands, of titles. You might have to dig around for a while to find that old library card though....Surprisingly, my card is 10+ years old and it still worked.

Once you log in with your library card, look through the audiobook and ebook collections. It helps to select the "Available Now" filter to see which titles are available immediately for rental. Add anything of interest to your Wish List because usually there are lots of pages of books to go through. If you don't want to constantly backtrack, you can add them to this Wish List and easily access them when you're ready to make your checkout choices.

Once you decide on a title, or a few titles, you can make your selection by using the "Borrow" button. Checkout and then click on "Add to App" so the book can download to your Bookshelf on whatever device you are using.

The book or books will be in your library for a specified number of days established by your library, unless you decide to return it early or extend the rental. For example, my library allows 14 day rentals, but I try to return books as soon as I'm done with them so other people can have access. If Day 14 comes around, and I'm still not finished with a particular book, I will click extend to keep it on my device for 14 more days.

Contrary to what you might be thinking, free doesn't equate to lousy book choices. Here are a few audiobook titles that I have read or added to my wishlist for future reading on OverDrive. Let these be proof to you that there are actually awesome titles available. These titles vary library to library, but I have browsed through a few different libraries and found that most libraries have their fair share of interesting reads available through OverDrive. They also offer great family titles. So while ya'll are taking your kids to Mt. Rushmore or the Grand Canyon, you can listen to Where the Red Fern Grows, Charlotte's Web, or James and the Giant Peach,