Overrun With BOOKS!! Sell, Give or Trade?

[Momma4Boys]

I am overrun with books - and like many of you right now, I have the urge to DECLUTTER my house (life??).

 

What would you do??

[Galatea]

When I pared down my book collection, I used the "Am I going to read this again?" test. If I said no, then I boxed it up and I took a few boxes at a time to Half Price Books. They don't give a ton of money for them, so I just used the credit to buy some nice copies of classic books for my daughter, the type of books I would keep a long time. It was hard, because I love books so much, but it also taught me that I was spending way too much money on books! I've been much more frugal since.

 

If you don't want to deal with HPB, just take them to your local library. They will either add them to their collection or sell them in a library sale, most likely, so either way it will help your library.

[Jennifer in MI]

We recently got rid of THREE bookshelves worth of books. THREE!!! I am left with ONE. (The kids all have their own bookshelves too - we left those alone!) I love books. Love them. I don't love the clutter. Dh and I were ruthless. If it was a book that was easy to get on a Kindle, we got rid of it. That was the majority of our books. I kept only the VERY favorite kid books.

 

We gave away most of them. I looked at Amazon and their resale prices and did sell a few there. But, mostly I needed them out of my house!!!!

 

I'm so glad we did it! It's very freeing!

[Laurel]

I'd sell what I could to Amazon so I could box them up and get them out of the house immediately, and give away any that Amazon wouldn't buy.

[Shellers]

See what Amazon will pay you for the books. If they aren't worth anything, then donate the books to Hospice or Good Will.

 

We recently purged a lot of books. We sold some back to Amazon, and the rest went to Hospice.

[freeindeed]

First, I'd try to sell them. If you have some that just won't sell, then post them somewhere for credits.

[arstephia]

I took a huge banker box full of books to our co-op and gave it all away. It was a blessing to many different families and that was priceless to me. I don't regret it. I am now filling the box again. It is SO freeing.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I would give them away. See if their are any Little Libraries http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/ in your area. These are a great way to get rid of books. I know they are always in need of books.

[frugalmama]

It really depend what kind of books we're talking about. Homeschooling books? - I'd sell or give away here free for shipping. Novels? - Goodwill. Kids Books? Goodwill.

[DarlaS]

I am overrun with books - and like many of you right now, I have the urge to DECLUTTER my house (life??).

 

What would you do??

 

A little of each depending on the books. If trying to sell though, give them a time limit and either reduce the price until they sell, trade them, or add to the donate pile.

[Catherine]

I've done a combination. I sell the ones that are actually worth more than $2, give away many, and list some on paperbackswap. The only problem with paperbackswap is the general lack of good (academic) books there. I'm 36 of 37 waiting for David Macaulay's Castle, for example.

[oldskool]

I would sell the books that are in good condition on Amazon and take the rest to charity. This is the way we got rid of a ton of books. Half Price Books IMO is not worth it because they give very little money back.

[Mommyfaithe]

I am overrun with books - and like many of you right now, I have the urge to DECLUTTER my house (life??).

 

What would you do??

 

I am doing this too.....I gave away tons....and I am also packing up boxes and sending them to book Samaritan....hoping to bless some other homeschool families.

[Mommy to monkeys]

I voted: give away, but make sure you don't get hasty. I've had to rebuy many a book that I've given away. I'm all about decluttering, but books have a completely different status than all the other stuff in my house.:D