Decluttering Books

[momacacia]

I know this is the wrong place to ask this question...but it is also the right place.

 

How do you declutter books? What questions do you ask? I find myself thinking "child #3 will read this someday; what if we need this for history, science, etc., Winston Churchill wrote it! blah, blah."

 

But our basement is full of book we honestly, no child will ever read. I would be happy for them to inherit them, but really?! Dh and I brought the books to the marriage...from library sales mostly, when we were single. Yes, I've gotten rid of duplicates. 😠But what is your book decluttering mindset? I just kind of want my basement back. :)

[EKS]

I did a big decluttering a few years ago.  At that point my younger son was moving into high school level work.  So I decided to get rid of any book I didn't love that was intended for an audience younger than about 6th grade.

 

I found it helpful to have a rule like that--it made things a lot easier.

[Bluegoat]

I did a big declutter a few years ago.

 

I got rid of anything that wasn't going to be read again - casual novels.

 

Also, books that were hard to read - some classics with too small print or in bad shape.

 

Anything where it is out of date in a way that makes it not useful - technical books in particular.

 

As for classics, including kids ones - one thing you might think about is to set aside ones to keep that are also beautiful as books.  So,a paperback of Alice in Wonderland could go.  A Folio Society edition of the same thing, you would keep.

[DawnM]

Homeschool books I take to the homeschool curriculum consignment shop.

 

What they won't take I give to homeschooling families.

 

Or, if I know I can get more for it, I sell it.

 

Otherwise, I donate.

 

I did MAJOR book decluttering last month.  There were boxes and boxes I donated to Goodwill because they weren't HS books and I didn't have the time to deal with selling, esp since books don't typically sell well or quickly.

 

BUT, just Saturday, we found a huge box of books in the attic that I had forgotten about.  What did my 17 year old who loves to read do?  Act like they were the biggest treasure find on the planet and want to keep them ALL!!!!!!!!!

 

I wish my kids liked Kindle books.  They don't.  They want pages to turn.  

[Baseball mom]

Last summer I did a big decluttering of books.  I probably got rid of 2 books cases worth of books.  

 

I immediately got rid of all duplicate copies, easy readers & information books written for younger children and anything we just didn't care for.   That got rid of a lot.

 

Kept 1 copy of classics, favorite children books, Childhood of Famous Americans books and an old series books.

 

 

 

 

[winterbaby]

I've been very attached to my books but I realized some of them are starting to be damaged by improper storage. It's just not realistic for us to set up our house with shelves against every wall, which is about what it would take.

 

In particular, the basement is bad for books because of humidity. Unless you have an absolutely wonderful finished basement of the sort a person could live in. But even then I would be nervous.

 

We have a wonderful library system and I'm trying to think in terms of not keeping too much that could easily be checked out.

[Xahm]

I find it easier to give up books if I ask myself "Is this likely to help another person more than it is helping us?" Not that we are entirely selfless and give up all we love, but thinking of someone else loving a book helps me emotionally with that release

[prairiewindmomma]

We did a big purge (5 6' bookcases worth) before we moved.  I got rid of all duplicates, damaged books, and things I didn't like. During my next sweep through, I gathered everything according to topic, and picked the best three books on the topic, and got rid of the rest.

 

I recently purged books again.  I sorted everything into what my youngest would actually use....an appropriate number of books and the right selection for her capability and temperament.  That allowed me to empty two more bookcases.  

 

I found that I was hoarding books for fear of lacking something.  Once I could separate emotion out of it, it became easier to set things free.  We needed the space more than we needed a third geometry textbook.

[MotherGoose]

I've sold ones that have some value on Amazon. That's really rewarding! And easy. Might be a nice summer project for you or the kids. Just don't mess around with books that sell for less than an couple of dollars plus shipping or you will be wasting your time.

[Stacia]

For myself, I rarely re-read books, so I tend to check out books from the library. Still, I manage to acquire quite a few a year (gifts, yard/library sales, etc...). Usually, when I am done w/ a book, I pass it on to a friend or donate it to the library. I keep very few books for myself -- some that I've read that I still want to hang onto & some that I still need to read (that will likely leave the house once I read them).

 

I let my dc (both teens now) go through all their books & decide what to keep or donate. They each got a chance to look through the other one's piles to see if there were any in there they wanted before they went out the door. My only "must keep" rule for them was Richard Scarry books from their toddler days. :lol:  (I love Richard Scarry.) Dd keeps everything & has almost every book she's ever gotten. Eventually her bedroom floor will collapse. Ds is more discerning in what he keeps, as well as what he buys or asks for in the first place. He culls once in awhile, but he still has space on the bookshelves in his room.

 

Re: school books back when we were homeschooling. At first, I kept everything. Then I realized that ds (the younger child) did not learn at all in the same way as dd, nor did he have many similar book interests. So, as someone else has already mentioned, I sorted by topic & selected the best of the ones we had & let go of the rest.

 

I still find that we have plenty of books in our lives, from using the library to finding them at sales to getting them as gifts.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Stacia

[Rebel Yell]

I find it easier to give up books if I ask myself "Is this likely to help another person more than it is helping us?" Not that we are entirely selfless and give up all we love, but thinking of someone else loving a book helps me emotionally with that release

 

We did a big purge (5 6' bookcases worth) before we moved. I got rid of all duplicates, damaged books, and things I didn't like. During my next sweep through, I gathered everything according to topic, and picked the best three books on the topic, and got rid of the rest.

 

I recently purged books again. I sorted everything into what my youngest would actually use....an appropriate number of books and the right selection for her capability and temperament. That allowed me to empty two more bookcases.

 

I found that I was hoarding books for fear of lacking something. Once I could separate emotion out of it, it became easier to set things free. We needed the space more than we needed a third geometry textbook.

Agreeing 1million% with these.

I found that if I have dozens (or at one time, hundreds) of books on a subject, it becomes overwhelming and none of them get used, so we'd go buy or borrow MORE books. When we just have a select few, they get used. Kind of like clothes... When we have overstuffed closets and dressers, we think we have nothing to wear. When we have a few good pieces we always manage to find great outfits.

 

Oh, and a few years back we had horrible flooding. I could see water literally pouring in to my basement, where most of the books were stored. Many of my "Paper Babies" drowned that day. There were too many to try to save, and most of them I wouldn't have wanted to anyway. I wished I had set them free sooner.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Rebel Yell

[Minerva]

I am in the middle of this right now. My battle cry is:

Be fierce! Be brave! Remember that everything has to fit on two bookshelves from here on out! 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

I tell myself that a book just sitting on a shelf or in storage is a sad book. A book needs to be read on a regular basis to be alive and happy. If I can't keep a book happy then I pass it to someone who might do a better job. 

[HomeAgain]

I have to do this often. :(

 

If I find it in a library, it goes.  That means we don't keep a lot of award winners or Sonlight readers around.

If there's no personal connection, it goes.

 

It still means we have too many books. :lol: I think we're the only house with at least one copy of Harry Potter for each person plus one to spare.  But it makes us reevaluate what we have each year.

[marbel]

It's very hard for us to get rid of books.   I've actually regretted some untimely decluttering, and had to rebuy books.  Even sadder: books I found I needed/wanted but could not rebuy as they were out of print and just... gone.   So I'm very careful.

 

We get rid of ratty books, novels no one is going to reread, specialized nonfiction books for which the interest is gone for sure, and books used for homeschooling that are outgrown.  I still have some books read (or intended to be read) for high school that I'm keeping because it might be needed or desired for college work.  And this may be wishful thinking, but there are books I hope to read in my as-yet-hypothetical retirement.  So what if I've had them for 30 years and haven't cracked the spine yet?  I've been busy.   :-)  

 

I'm very sentimental about books; my husband is worse (he also suffers from "we may need it someday" mentality), and my kids are getting to be bad too.  So it's a struggle.