to give all my books to the charity shop?

[Boomba]

I'm fed up with all my clutter. I'm not really a hoarder, but very short on time and want to streamline so I can keep clean and tidy.

Ove got loads of books. In the sitting room 2 bookcases stacked 4 deep on each shelf.

I don't have time for reading anyway ant more. I've got a kindle

I feel strangely attached though. And a bit sad, that I don't have time for reading

Do you keep your books??

I did this earlier this year. Literally gutted my book collection, to the extent I even rebought one or two I loved for Kindle.

What I did instead was create my "nooks" ala Pinterest. I have two reading nooks now, one for me (and dh theoretically but he doesn't often use it) and one for the kids which is basically a converted wardrobe that was a really funny shape (really wide with depth but not really great as a wardrobe, we are chest of drawers sorts of people anyway). I'll see if I can find a pic to post in a minute.

We only have a 2 bed semi-d that is ex-council so I am not talking about fitting up a mansion here. It was great fun to design and I love the space, it has been much nicer than just having an endless put of books everywhere.

Ooh I have just uploaded my first Mumsnet pics to my gallery! See what you think. I had LOADS of (maternity leave) fun getting these sorted.

I loved this idea when I was decluttering because it still emphasises the value of books in our home without having stuff strewn all over the place or dusting up.

working9while5 god I love that idea - thanks for posting. I may have some mat leave fun of my own!

I have far too many books, mainly reference. I love it that whatever the question, however esoteric, I have a book or a pamphlet on the subject... It's really encouraged my children to read - far better than Googling.

Now they are at secondary school, they often browse the shelves and pull out a tome. My dd is quite an expert on self-sufficiency (thank you, John Seymour), and my son was oiling an old coin he'd found - the best way to clean it, according to my coin-collecting book.

W9W5 - love the wardrobe too. You also have the same wooden box as me :)

I collect books so I wouldn't give them all to the charity shop, some are old and valuable and I hope to pass on to my children.

If you're talking mass market paperbacks then yadnbu.

no time to read thread, I have to go to A&E, I think I'm being traumatized by the idea of a bookless house.

empty bookshelves = death

I read loads of books but when I have finished them I pass them on to someone else or give them to the charity shop. I very rarely read a book twice as there is always a book that I haven't read before to read instead.

houses with no books or pictures on the walls seriously freak me out. My DFIL always says 'empty walls = empty minds'

does wine on the wall count as a picture?

Now pictures I find very hard to get rid of!

Don't do it! You will regret it and never be able to replace your collection (bitter experience).

I don't have nearly as many books as some of you, but I've spent a lot of the weekend categorising and putting them into boxes because there's just no space to stack them anymore. I couldn't bear to give them away though. I feel sentimentally attached to most of my books because I always remember how I was feeling when I read them, or what the stories mean to me. Even the trashier chick-lit novels. I can devour those in a few hours, and I know as soon as they're gone, they would be the only ones I wanted to read!

I'd think twice. I love my books. Why not say get rid of 25% of them or 50% or whatever figure you feel comfortable with. I got rid of around 250 books but I've still got loads.

I've just had a thought that gets rid of my books without actually getting rid of them.
I've got a second home abroad and what if I just moved my books over to that? It's practically empty and needs filling.

Only trouble is that we were hoping to rent it out for holiday lets - would you be annoyed if you rented out a house for a week and it was full of someone else's old books??

It's in a part of the world where there's not much else to do but read, and English books would be hard to come by.

(I might move all my half-finished cross-stitch pictures over there too in the hope my visitors finish them off for me )

theres a lot of bollocks on this thread about books. ive sorted out my books to get rid of, theyre going to a carboot soon and whatever is left is going to charity, ill have about 50 left and i probably wont buy more since ive got a kindle. just get rid op, if its worth keeping then keep it.

nobody would be impressed by my collection of dick.francis, sophie kinsella and philippa gregory, but then again im not trying to impress anyone.

plus im.saving trees by using my kindle

honestly, those of you talking about sharing your collection with your children....

My 4 and 5 yr olds also have kindles, the family amazon account means they can scroll through and investigate any book they like, with a nice large text size and even text-to-voice for hard words. Digitalising our book collection opened it to them too.

And there is no danger of them not thinking reading is normal now our house has been reclaimed from the paperbacks! We always have a kindle in my bag - I can choose something to read to them if we're all waiting or read for myself if I'm waiting for them.

As I said upthread, we still have one wall of the dining room and a bookshelf in the living room, but the ever encroaching piles of paperbacks are over and the relief is palpable - the dusting is no longer a guilty to-do list item. It's a 5 minute job!

I love my books and have loads around the house...but not double stacked. When we moved a couple of years ago I did a small declutter, and got rid of the embarrassingly crap airport pulp fiction that I didn't really enjoy the first time round and will never read again.

Due to the kindle, am not accumulating so much now. Could do with an ongoing declutter, but don't really have the time.

The DSs love their books too, but I am trying to keep a handle on the expanding collection. Find it hard to get rid of books I had as a child that they have read or have no interest in....

I downsized my book collection years ago and never looked back. I donated most of my books to hostels, womens aid centres or released them into the wild via bookcrossing and kept only a few to read at a time. Libraries, book swaps and the odd gem found in a charity shop is enough to keep me going.

I can't bring myself to own a kindle when there are millions of hard copies out there waiting to be read and passed on.

charity shopped all mine when the DD arrived to make space for her toys etc. she appears to have filled it with..................

Books, but cute, toddler friendly, slight tattered/chewed/redecorated ones that she gets very ungratefully distressed about if i mention she might have outgrown and want to rehome them.

do i sound a little bitter?

YANBU
we try to operate on a one in one out policy

there's no way I'm buying more furniture just to accommodate books.

theres a lot of bollocks on this thread about books
I totally agree with this. Just because you don't hoard books doesn't mean you are empty-minded.

I fecking hate the bookcase in our house (confined to spare room). I also read on Kindle or books from library and hate the messy looking piled high bookcase. DH won't let me gid rid in case the kids want to read the books. Like they won't be Kindle'd (or fiture equivalent) up to the eyeballs anyway. I do a sneaky cull every now and then of 10 books at a time. Neither DH or I tend to buy 'real' books any more anyway so hopefully I am chipping away at them faster than we buy.