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Housekeeping

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Original poster

Getting rid of books - how did you do it?

23 replies

MyLatest · 13/04/2014 22:04

This is an appeal for help from anyone who successfully got rid of lots of books.

My book collection is out of control but somehow I can't bring myself to part with them. I really intend to cull them but then end up thinking, 'I haven't read that one yet but I will read it soon / I might want to re-read that one / so-and-so gave me that one / insert other ridiculous excuse.'

I have a lovely room in my house that is barely usable because it is crammed with books and everything is a disorganised mess because all the shelf space is taken.

I'm not an e-book fan and this is more about books I already have.

If you have conquered your habit, how did you manage it?!

Thanks in advance.

OP posts:

balenciaga · 13/04/2014 22:06

Oh I'm the same I forced myself to have a cull the other week but still have too many

Hate e readers too they are just not the same IMO

goofygoober · 13/04/2014 22:14

I do empathise, I absolutely love my books. In the end, I made a list of them all, knowing full well that I could borrow them from the library. I kept 5 that were really special and donated the rest to the charity shop. You can do it, just be good to yourself and use the library! . I still have a pile of books beside my chair, but it is a very manageable pile. Good luck!

Original poster

MyLatest · 13/04/2014 23:08

Goofy how long did it take you to make the list? It would take me days I even got one of those apps that is supposed to scan and catalogue them all but it took an hour just to get about thirty of them logged.

Balenciaga how did you cull them?

The awful thing is I would feel sort of free if I got rid of some of them but they are so tied up in my memories too :(

OP posts:

sleepyhead · 13/04/2014 23:17

It took a good few years from double shelving, no more room for more bookcases, boxes of books piled in cupboards and still acquiring more, loving my books as objects as much as for what was in them... to wanting the space more than I wanted the books.

Once I'd got over that mental block, I had a cull and got rid of a couple of hundred. I sold a good few at work for charity, gave away more, and the final ones went to Oxfam.

Six months later I did it again and found that some of the ones I couldn't part with I actually could imagine myself being without after all.

Then a year later we were decluttering to prepare for moving and I did it again.

Then as I was packing to move, I found myself culling as I packed.

Then we didn't have as much wall space for shelves in the new place - cull.

In the space of maybe 3 years I've got rid of maybe 60% of my books and I'm yet to miss or regret a single one, and I still read just as much.

It was a mental thing though - I'd have hated to have to do it before I was ready (having a Kindle helped).

sleepyhead · 13/04/2014 23:24

A really important part of it (imo) is separating the object that is the copy of that particular book, from the writing.

Some books are precious because of an inscription, or where you were when you bought it, or because it's a truly beautiful thing, or be cause it was a present from someone important to you.

Most of my books weren't like that though when I really thought about it. I can get another copy if I want to read one of the ones I got rid of again. I probably won't though. So many books in the world I haven't read!

I've come round to the Kindle for things I want to read but not keep. It conveniently makes you separate the object from the words.

Original poster

MyLatest · 13/04/2014 23:40

Yes that's a really good point Sleepy thanks. Some of the books are old Uni books which are probably out of date anyway and don't even have particularly happy memories.

Can you tell I am a hoarder generally?

OP posts:

sleepyhead · 14/04/2014 00:13

It took me ooh 15 years I think to get rid of my Uni lecture notes . Still got some old textbooks (although I've got rid of most of them now - I think they survived the first couple of culls). Haven't cracked them open since circa 1995.

I maystill have a lever arch file of bank statements from the 90s, although I think I got rid of that in the big packing cull...

I've always hankered after a big old house with a huge attic so I could put all my useless junk up there and sit and go through it and reminisce on Sunday afterternoons

Unfortunately I've got a small, modern flat with not enough storage for that sort of lifestyle so I've had to adjust .

clearsommespace · 14/04/2014 05:25

re:" I might want to re-read it / I haven't read it yet"
I sorted all these into a box and put it next to my bed. I'm not allowing myself to buy/borrow/request as gifts any new books until I've read/re-read them all. I did this 16 months ago and still have plenty in the box to get through.

Books have to prove they are worth shelf-space on re-reading. I have to be sure I will want to read yet again. Most end up in the charity shop box even when very good because I know there are equally good reads out there. Some I don't bother to finish second time round.

I used to keep books automatically unless they were rubbish. It didn't cross my mind to pass them on. But life is too short to read everything yet alone re-read everything.

SavoyCabbage · 14/04/2014 06:31

Could you start with just the uni books? You aren't going to use them, you know they are out of date.

Put them in the recycling.

catwithflowers · 14/04/2014 06:38

I posted in chat yesterday here about clearing away books. I managed to get rid of 22 carrier bags full yesterday. Was hard though

thereisnoeleventeen · 14/04/2014 08:55

It was a case of needs must in the end. I needed more space and we couldn't afford to move (I cleared out so much stuff that we no longer feel the need to move!).

We have a Mind second hand book shop near us so I decided to donate the books so at least someone would actually be using them. I like goofygoobers idea of listing the books you could borrow from the library if you needed.

I cut down my book collection by about three quarters at first. More books get sent off every now and again. The free space is wonderful!

In the end, despite resisting the idea for so long I have fallen in love with my kindle, its the words that mean the most to me, on the Kindle you can hi-light so you can find the words you need in an instant and where ever you are.

Forago · 14/04/2014 12:56

when we moved house I had recently been bought a kindle. I boxed up all the books and shoved them in a walk in cupboard when we moved. I then got into using the kindle and they are now still in there 2 years later. I just need to take them to the dump and recycle them. I will get some non-fiction out and put on shelves before I do but all the paperbacks are going.

Moving house was the main impetus for me.

goofygoober · 14/04/2014 13:32

Sorry I haven't been back! You could take photographs of them all lined up (spines showing) instead of making a physical list. The feeling of freedom is wonderful, when you know you are a hoarder (I freely admit it), and you learn to part with things. I have to sort through clothes in this house regularly - for all members of the family. It isn't easy. Good luck with the books

kentishgirl · 16/04/2014 16:59

I moved and didn't have space for them all.

I took nearly 200 books to the charity shop.

I culled on whether it was likely I'd read them again (or for the first time).

I didn't have many I hadn't read. Of those, some I'd started and didn't like much (get rid), some I'd recently bought and knew I'd read (keep) and some I'd had for ages and still not read (get rid as if I'd really wanted to read them, I would have by now).

Other books - genres/types of book I used to adore but haven't read for a long time as tastes change (get rid, don't hang on to them out of sentimentality), books I didn't really like (get rid), books I liked but reading once was enough (get rid), books I'm very likely to read again (keep).

I just sat down in front of a bookcase and started sorting into keep packing boxes, and charity shop packing boxes. I then had a quick double check through the charity shop boxes and rescued a few a changed my mind on. Likewise, when I unpacked the keep boxes, I found a few I realised I didn't need.

Try thinking 'need this book' instead of 'want this book'.

It's not easy though. I've still got several hundred. That's plenty of reading time!

Original poster

MyLatest · 17/04/2014 00:13

Lots of great advice here, thank you!

OP posts:

Viviennemary · 17/04/2014 00:18

I used this system a year or two ago. Every day I put five books in a bag.

Then when I had a few bags I took them to the charity shop. I got rid of over 200 books doing this. Even one book a day would be a start.

Viviennemary · 17/04/2014 00:19

Didn't read your post kentishgirl. spooky!

ZingHasAHotCrossBunInTheOven · 17/04/2014 00:57

rules for books you don't want:

step 1 - keep them in easy reach of toddlers and/or pets.

step 2 - leave room for about 5 - 10 mins.

step 3 - return to room looking like a scene of mass-murder (of books) and bin anything torn or shredded into teeny-weeny pieces.

step 4 - repeat steps 1-3 until you are satisfied with results

Sandthorn · 17/04/2014 10:12

I have got on board with the kindle for reading novels - it's crap for reference books, but anything you read cover-to-cover in linear fashion... Well I don't know what's not to love. You carry round all your favourite books in one small device. They're all there when you need them (holidays, or when you're sick, or on the train). You stick it in a ziplock sandwich bag and it's perfect for reading in the bath! And you don't have to completely forgo that paper-and-ink thing. I will read novels first on the Kindle, but when I read one that makes my hair stand on end, I'll go and buy a hard copy of it too. So you end up with bookcases filled with treasures, not trash (be honest... A load of your paperbacks are probably complete crap.)

I'm a great believer that books are for sharing (within limits - not the irreplaceable first editions!) My friends rarely leave my house after an overnight stay without taking a book or two with them. Many of them come back with them next time, but I do try to make it clear that I'm happy for them to be passed along to the next person. I just think that a book that sits for 10 years unread is a miserable thing, and that sharing literature with someone you love is like sharing life-experiences with them: it's a big part of my long-distance friendships. If you find charity-shop donations painful, start out with personal, one-at-a-time gifts to your nephew, or your mum, or your elderly neighbour... "I loved this, and I think you might too." Hopefully you'll find the pain of parting offset by the pleasure of the response, and you'll get hooked on the giving-away!

Poshsausage · 17/04/2014 10:17

Does music magpie take books ?

dontevenblink · 17/04/2014 10:25

I so need to do this, myself and DH absolutely love our books but have kept way too many and have only managed to cull a few. I think I may win the prize for hoarding though, we brought the majority of them with us when we emigrated to the other side of the planet but most of them have just sat in their boxes for 2 1/2 years as we have nowhere to put them (can't have high shelves due to earthquakes...). Still can't bear to sort and part with them though - must be strong and start! Where to start?

Perfectlypurple · 17/04/2014 10:27

I got rid of hundreds of books. It was really hard. The ones in really good condition I tool to the local library. The restwent to the charity shop.

DontCallMeBaby · 17/04/2014 10:39

I'm still in the process of clearing out book before moving house - unlikely to finish before we move tbh. I've found the key thing is to go for it, really gung-ho, and stop when you start to waver (definitely when you sit down and start reading one of the books ). You need to be in a mood where you want the space more than the books - if you're getting sentimental about more than maybe one book in ten it's time to stop and try again another day.

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