Sunday Salon: How to get rid of books

This will hurt some of you. It would have hurt me once.

Most of my life, until a few years ago, I was the sort of person who (1) wanted to own all the books I read (i.e., no libraries) and (2) never wanted to part with books, read or unread. Then a couple things happened: in 2003 I started blogging, posting book reviews at book-blog.com. The combination of having a (public) record of books read and an influx of free review copies from publishers made it both less practical to keep all the books I read/had in hand, and also less necessary: somehow blogging about the books gave me an ownership of them, even if I didn't have the book itself.

More recently I've found myself becoming, hmmm, cheaper and more interested in simplifying life by ditching possessions. To that end I challenged myself, starting on June 22nd, 2008, to get rid of a thousand things in the coming year. After decluttering my younger daughter's closet today I'm up to 979 things, after a little more than a month. It actually hasn't been that difficult, because there was so much to get rid of. Were I to extend the challenge to a second thousand, I'm sure I would find it much more difficult.

But anyway, the point is that a great number of the things I got rid of were...books. Specifically, I'm 127 books (and magazines) lighter than I was on June 22nd, which is kind of hard to believe.

Here's where the books went:

• 65 books and mystery magazines were shipped out to troops via Operation Paperback
• 42 books were given to our local library for their sale
• 11 books were shipped to fellow Bookins members
• 05 books were sold on Amazon
• 02 books were sold to Powells
• 02 books were given to friends

And I don't feel any the worse for it!

Tags: Amazon, Bookins, books, Operation Paperback, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, clutter

Comments

[Clare D]

1.

I'm mightily impressed!

I likewise am getting rid of books (and feel slightly surprised that I am) - but instead of local libraries we have a few charity shops in town (Oxfam mainly) who have taken a few from me.

Your numerical challenge is a much better idea. 'One a day' lacks the satisfaction of a good clear out.

[Debra Hamel]

2.

Yes! Once one is cleared out, I can see doing one thing a day. I could probably get rid of another thousand things, but I don't think I'll extend my challenge, at least not in its current form. Not sure what I'll be doing. I must say, the house is in a lot better shape than it was before.

[Kimmy]

3.

What a great idea. 1,000 things seems like a lot, but I love the idea of simplifying your life and having less possessions. Giving up books would be the hardest, but I do have too many. I might have to give that a try. Thanks for the idea!

[gautami tripathy]

4.

When I moved house in April 2008, I gave up 1500 odd books out of my 4000 books. I sure felt bad initially but now I am planning to giveaway more books. It kind of feels liberating. Way to go!

[Ruth]

5.

As I continue getting review copies, I find myself more and more willing to let some books go. I used to keep everything that I read, but if I'm not likely to read it again within the next 3-5 years, it no longer stays in my library. It's very liberating to let things go. I can't stand clutter!

[Julie]

6.

Getting rid of 1,000 things is a GREAT idea! I could do that in my basement alone...

I'm not a big book collector; except for a few that have sentimental value or that I know I will read again, I don't have a problem passing them on. I've sold to used bookstores, donated to the library, and most recently joined BookMooch, where I'm having a ball.

[Debra Hamel]

7.

Kimmy and Julie: why don't you join me in the 1000-thing challenge? :)

Ruth and Gautami: It *is* liberating! I also find myself thinking that, for most books, if I really need to see it again I can always get another copy, or just look online if it's available on Google or Amazon Search Inside. I think once books start coming in for free you lose some of your emotional attachment to them.

[JoAnn]

8.

Deb, could you please e-mail me? For some reason or other, I cannot send you e-mail and I am DESPERATELY in need of some help regarding posting to Sunday Salon, etc. I am really NOT stupid, just confused. LOL

Thanks!
JOANN

[Kimmy]

9.

I think I just might join you in this. So, basically, it's get rid of 1,000 things within a year?

Kinda sounds like fun!

[Debra Hamel]

10.

That's the challenge I set myself! Clare's doing it a little differently: http://declutteringmyself.blogspot.com/ She's getting rid of at least one thing a day.

[Eric the Blogless]

11.

Surely you aren't going to count Meli's things? I mean, shouldn't it be 1,000 things of your own? I'm sorry to join the People's Revolution, but this is just not equitable.

[Debra Hamel]

12.

Don't cause trouble!

It's 1000 things from the house itself. I suppose I personally could get rid of 1000 things, but it would be a lot harder. I don't have as many small plastic creatures.

[SmallWorld Reads]

13.

Wow! I am terribly impressed! I am going to have to think about that goal myself!

[Debra Hamel]

14.

Go for it! Decluttering is in!

[dshep]

15.

I have the occasional book purge. Thanks for the tip on Operation Paperback. I went on over and signed up. Sounds fun as well as being worthwhile.

[Debra Hamel]

16.

Yes, you feel good about getting rid of books that way. I just shipped a box of 28 books today, in fact, and it was a little less than $6 to ship, so it's not at all expensive, either.

[Ivan Girl]

17.

how to get rid of books? Hmm.

i'm not a book reviewer like you guys but i love reading and collecting books. right now, i just accumulated 2 big shelves of books and looking forward to organizing them before i start reading them.

but there was a time i had to let go of some books because I need the space for new ones and I was moving into another room.

but like some of you, i really wanna declutter other things before i turn my attention to freeing my books away. ;)

[Debra Hamel]

18.

It's funny how stuff multiplies. I remember when I had just a few shelves of books (how is that possible?), and somehow they expanded. And I remember we used to count my older daughter's toys at night to make sure she hadn't lost them during the day. Incredible! Because they were all in one room! Little Disney creatures. I wish we still had so few.