Hunter Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 It has been harder than I expected. Bill paying has been a hassle. Something times out because of the browser or connection and I don't know if it went through or not. I only have a debit card, not credit. I have to wait days and days to see if the fee cleared and sometimes almost miss the deadline. Even though I have a 6 inch screen, some websites force me to mobile even when I try to override it. I was unable to download my purchase from Harmony Fine Arts for example, and had to wait to get to a hotspot with the Chromebook. Some PDFs will not open. Going WiFi free will not simplify your life anymore. It has become an expected thing. Also phones and Chromebooks cannot print without WiFi, and I expect even more and more devices to no longer be able to print without WiFi. Soon you will not be able to make coffee without WiFi. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Not having access to the news other than the yahoo app on my phone has been good. I'm pretty clueless about most of what is going on, and it has been calmer. Yahoo sends me 7-9 stories twice a day. I read about 2. That is enough for me for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AppleGreen Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 *Temporary thread hijack* I'm a minimalist myself, and I'm wondering when it's ok to completely get rid of the board books? I might keep a favorite for each kid, but I'm kind of ready to give them away. (Youngest kids are 5) I only kept the ones that had been inscribed to a specific child. I aways gift my child two books at Christmas and on their birthdays, so when they were in the 0-3 stage, they got a board book or two from us. I could do this because it amounted to 5-8/child, which was not unwieldy for us. The rest were donated to the library. I often catch sight of one on display on our weekly (sometimes daily) library visits, and it makes my heart swell. :001_wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy to monkeys Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 You know, I can handle 10 board books (we probably have 20?), I can handle the 20-40 picture books, (I'm thinking we have less than 40. One rubbermaid tub full here), but the idea of having less than 40 chapter books around gives me chest pain. My readers READ. And I tire of paying their library fees. I'll be back with our board and picture books titles later. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AppleGreen Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 My youngest is just about to turn 5 and we just did a board book purge. We kept a few favorites and a couple that have writing in them from relatives (nothing breaks my heart more than to buy a used book that has a sweet message in it addressed to the previous owner). Me too! I have made a point to keep at least a couple of books in my kids' personal collections that have personal messages from their grandparents and other close relatives. I heard or read something online many years ago about how notes in a loved one's hand were treasured after that person was gone, and it really struck me. I want to be sure my kids have that available in years to come, if they want it. I love the few books from my childhood that have inscriptions to me. It is like a little window to the past. In one of them my aunt wrote, "You said you wanted Beverly Cleary books, so I hope you enjoy" or something to that effect. It takes me back to 3rd grade when I had just discovered her wonderful stories. My DH's family doesn't inscribed books, so it's not like I am keeping an unruly amount. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AppleGreen Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 You know, I can handle 10 board books (we probably have 20?), I can handle the 20-40 picture books, (I'm thinking we have less than 40. One rubbermaid tub full here), but the idea of having less than 40 chapter books around gives me chest pain. My readers READ. And I tire of paying their library fees. I'll be back with our board and picture books titles later. :) I know! My oldest informed me a few weeks ago that he had read every chapter book on our shelves (which in not a small amount). I often find stacks of books, even ones too "easy" in his room when he has nothing else to do. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Picture books that we have loved: Eloise Wilkin Stories (I'm pretty sure DD would be positively rabid if I tossed this one. She still reads it from time to time) If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Curious George Treasury Eloise: The Ultimate Edition (can you tell DD is a fan of collections/treasuries?) Beatrix Potter Treasury Fairies and Magical Creatures pop-up A Pair of Red Clogs The Little Engine That Could Six By Seuss Pickle Chiffon Pie Animalia (Graeme Base) James Herriot's Treasury for Children Each Peach Pear Plum The Giraffe Who Walked to Paris Ten Apples Up on Top A Treasury of Children's Literature In the Nursery and Story Time (Olive Beaupre Miller - more treasuries, LOL) How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World The Duchess Bakes a Cake The Legend of the Bluebonnet Thunder Cake The Rough-Face Girl (lovely Native American version of Cinderella) The Giant Jam Sandwich Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain Tikki-Tikki-Tembo Grandfather Twilight The Dreamkeeper Madeline and sequels Berenstain Bears (various) Around the Year (or almost any book by Elsa Beskow) we have loved multiple fairy tales illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (like Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin) and K.Y. Craft (The Twelve Dancing Princesses, King Midas and the Golden Touch) I have no idea how many that is, and I'm sure I could think of more, but that should be a start. ;) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Before things got really whacky, I looked around my apartment and decided how much room for books fit in with my greater life style. Instead of adjusting my life to fit my books, I decided to fit my book collection to my life. I understood that meant I might not always have the books I would want. Sometimes I don't have the perfect food, kitchen tool, or clothing, but I long ago adjusted to that. It took me longer to accept not having a book and just NOT accomplishing an academic task. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy to monkeys Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I know! My oldest informed me a few weeks ago that he had read every chapter book on our shelves (which in not a small amount). I often find stacks of books, even ones too "easy" in his room when he has nothing else to do. We go through the exact same thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 Yes, upon reflection, I think I will only remove the poor chapter books. DD2 is a reading machine, and I hate library fines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I have been on an ongoing journey to purge my book collection. I left 11 boxes behind when we moved cross country three years ago. I have gotten rid of another 5 boxes or so since then. I have a long way to go... I found that I had accumulated many 'lesser' titles at good prices (Goodwill etc.) but there were many that I didn't enjoy reading to my children. Consequently, they were never really read :). I just pitched a bunch of board books yesterday. I'm thinking of cutting back to, and establishing, a core collection of quality titles. The ones I LIKE to read. The ones that ARE read. And maintaining only that. These are outside of established curricular reading, like the literature in Notgrass etc. This list also doesn't include easy readers for establishing fluency or reference/non-fiction works, though I am also paring those down. These are STORIES. I do have seven children from babies to young adult (12), so I need to keep a number of levels on hand. I'm thinking that it would be reasonable to have: 10 Board books (baby-2) 20-40 Picture books (2-7) 20-40 Chapter books (8-12) That would be incredibly drastic for us. Most of my books are still in boxes under the beds and stairs (embarrassing!) I'm making lists, I'll share my picks. Want to share yours? I, too, have been purging. However, my dd counted books at our house (oh, honey, don't do that...) Her total- not including the attic- exceeded 800. I have established some criteria- ie, we mostly don't own books that I can get at the library closest to our house, no low quality series, etc. I would say probably 1/2 are either non-fiction, belong to DH and I, or are attached to curriculum we are using or I used for older kids and will re-use with the youngest. That still leaves me 400 or so that "could" be trimmed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaughingCat Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I'm thinking that it would be reasonable to have:10 Board books (baby-2)20-40 Picture books (2-7)20-40 Chapter books (8-12) Since I'm also weeding through my book collection, I jumped into this thread but... I am just hoping to weed down to 'everything fits on the wall of shelves' ! :scared: As far as board books though -- I so dislike them that I dumped all of them as soon as younger was able to handle regular books responsibly -- which was about 3 yo. Even before that I kept them mostly weeded down. Here's my 'minimal' list: Goodnight Moon The Carrot Seed Good Night Gorilla Pajama Time by Boynton 1 touchy/feely book (with textures) 1+ lift the flap book (we liked the Maisy books for this) Note: I've replaced the board book with the 'regular' (non-board) book for all the named books on my list -- except Pajama Time which I haven't found -- might have to break down and buy that one on Amazon (yeah, ironically I am still buying books even as I am getting rid of 100's). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizaG Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Thanks for this thread, Jennifer. I was recently able to pack two more give-away boxes, mostly with board books and picture books, even though we didn't really have a huge number of those types to begin with. I showed the boxes to DH, who does most of the bedtime reading, but AFAIK has never actually looked at the bookshelves. Him (surprised): "I didn't even know we had most of these!" Me: "That's because I don't really like them much, and the children don't really like them much, so nobody ever asks you to read them." Him: "Okay, I guess you can get rid of them, then." So I guess the "DH test" would have been an even quicker way of sorting them. :laugh: (Also, the girls cleaned up the clothing pile in their closet, and came up with half the missing board books on my list. More progress!) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 Well, I kept the internet. I need it for my online high school courses! I am still cutting back physical books. Don't ask me about Kindle books though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 I did get rid of some of our board books because of this thread, but because this was in the fall, I've already nearly replaced the amount I tossed. I feel like I replaced some tired ones with some newer/better titles. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Honestly, if I really wanted to purge my book collection, I would not hold onto any chapter books. By the time my kids can read well enough for chapter books, they would be happy to read it on a kindle. I would prioritize board books, as they are sturdy, and basically only get picture books that weren't board books that I couldn't find as board books unabridged. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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