Good for you Jean, and a hope yiv no skint yersel.
Some folk may well rightly ask; why buy census CDs when SP (and FreeCEN) will soon have them all online?
For starters they are one-off payments, and you can search whenever you want at no extra cost.
(one of the best buys must be the LDS 1881 British census CDs - includes Scotland! - for £30)
Another reason is that they are usually much more flexible when searching.
But census CDs are
not available for every Scottish County or city/town,
and are mainly 1841 & 1851 (the most), with some for 1861.
They aren't all the same though - some are better in the way you can search, and also in what they display.
The best allow *wildcards* in any combination. Some show birthplaces etc, others not.
Many have the very useful "neighbour" search - shows all names before and after the name you're searching.
All have, at the least, forename, surname, age, census district, and most are in the order that they appear on the pages.
This usually gives you a very good idea if you have the right family.
For those unable to visit libraries etc, and have no option but to use SP to look at the pages,
then you've narrowed your list of "possibles" without having to download a list of names and cross-check the Ref Nos.
Lothians FHS
[1841 & 1851 - all Midlothian except Edinburgh] and
West Lothian FHS
[1851 - all West Lothian] CDs are both
much more than just name indexes.
(they all give address, name, age, relationship, occupation, birthplace of those in each separate household)
The West Lothian CD, in addition to the above, also has a "neighbour" search, which
really means what it says,
ie complete households, and all of these Lothian CDs allow *wildcard* use anywhere.
There's also an 1851 East Lothian census CD - it's quite a bit different in search procedures though.
Certainly you can use *wildcards* with ScotlandsPeople, but can you search by a forename only?
Answer is no, but you can with census CDs!

Say for eg; every Mary; a Mary aged 8yrs; a Mary 7 to 9yrs; a Mary 7-9 surname starts with "M",
plus many other combinations of your own choosing.
And a few can also be searched by birthplace only - even without a name.
You make your searches to suit what you know, or want to enter.
A personal view is that all census CDs are very useful - especially if you've families in a particular area.
So well done to
ALL transcribers - your work is very much appreciated! =D>
Please say how you fare with them yourself Jean.
Ta - Jack