That is the way it started, anyway. I told Tommy I was ready to start sorting the books in the living room on the table with the TV. I was utterly shocked when almost immediately he headed for the books, thinking he might say 'later.' Nope! He went straight to the books and started piling them onto his walker.
There were about ten books on each side of the TV. Unfortunately, when I went through them, I wanted all but one. That won't work to get rid of anything! So, I went through them again. I think I culled out another five. This was discouraging.
He mentioned the ones at the end of the hall piled on a hamper that has never been used. So, he went after those. I found more to let go and told him to put them by the road. We had ten books to put out for free. Well, it was late in the day, and no one took anything. They came back in and are separate from the other books. There are about 30 more books on the hamper.
Getting them separated from the other books was a major accomplishment. They can be given away one at a time or give all to one person or entity. These are from the books I got free and read only a few from across town. They are not the ones Janet gave me. I hope she is doing okay in San Diego.
So, this is the start of major book decluttering. I hate to talk disrespectfully about books by calling it decluttering when I plan to share them. We won't take them anywhere! It's too hard on Tommy. Someone has to come get them. We have two friends in mind to ask first. NO, we will not offer them to the library. One friend may deliver them somewhere. Who knows? But, I am happy to start this project. I think there is a whole stack of Tommy's books in the bedroom he does not want. I am not supposed to sleep in a room with books!
I don't need suggestions as to where to get rid of books. I have contingency plans.
We went out for a few things, and I could find nothing. We forgot to go to Publix for bread. Leftovers were great, so no cooking. He filled the dishwasher. I started it. That was it.
It was a good, quiet day. No rain, thankfully.
How about you? What did you do or not do on Sunday?
Getting rid of books is the hardest thing to do (in my humble opinion) as I usually want to keep all of them! I put mine in my car as I sort and when I stop at a local supermarket where they have an indoor book exchange I put them in there. And I'm happy to say that they all go, even though they're in English!
ReplyDeleteTreaders,
DeleteOnce I decided to declutter books until every book had a home on a shelf instead of being stacked around and stashed. I got rid of ten books each day. When I had gotten rid of 800 books, I stopped giving them away. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. Getting rid of material was the second hardest. I thought about putting them on tables outside of Publix and places like that. There are no indoor book exchanges. Putting the books anywhere is difficult for either of us, so I may have a friend put them in laundromats. I would think books in English in France would be popular, if nothing else but to practice reading in English.
I am laughing....I really need to go through mine, I gave all the kids cook books when they left home. Now they just go on the internet. I asked what they were going to do if the grid ever failed... call mom... nope grid failed that includes your brain that you hold in your hand Only 2 could think to print recipes off
ReplyDeleteChef,
DeleteI write down recipes I want to keep from the internet, but I am old...lol. If my printer worked, I would print recipes. But, I really like to copy them into a book, so much easier to keep track.
I have gone through mine a couple times and still have many to get rid of. I have shelves of books.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are having a good day.
Cheryl,
DeleteI had seven bookcases when I finished decluttering, over 1000 books. I suppose I have collected over 200 more by now. So, that is nearly 1200 books. I dearly love my books.
Books are a tough one, I'll grant you that. But, regardless of what you are decluttering, it is a waste of precious energy, (yours) to declutter without an immediate and achievable plan to remove the items. My husband is one who fails to see this as well. He gets hung up on the idea of finding the perfect owner of discarded things, including books. For books, I drop my unwanted books off at the thrift shop, or in the collection bin by the library for the Friends of Library book sale. There are also private charity collection bins throughout our area for books and cd's, but I try to avoid those. I am curious, why won't you give them to the library?
ReplyDeleteMeg,
DeleteNo, it is not a waste of energy. I can only afford a little energy at a time, so I will do the deselecting and figure out what to do with the books as I go along. I choose where to take them and to whom. I once gave the 800 books to a bookstore run by a church. They tossed books in the trash if they appeared not to hold up Christian standards. So, I am more careful about where books land. The man who did the deciding looked at the title, the pictures on the cover, and read a blurb on the back to make decisions. His decisions let tawdry books onto their shelves and innocent books went into the trash. I know of no bins for used books here and only one in Cullman. It's for children's books and on school grounds. I have no books for them.
A public library wouldn't do that, though, would they?
DeleteI am not going to argue about what I decide to do with books!!!
DeleteI love books. I love to read. I think that buying books and reading books are two separate hobbies, truth be told. I have so many that I have never read. I may never read them, but they are hard to part with.
ReplyDeleteI have several decluttering projects to finish in the next two weeks. Our family Labor Day event is at our house and we will have dozens of people here. I think I counted 68 last year. Nothing says, "I need to clean," like having people coming over!
Alice,
DeleteI love books, too. The books I am decluttering right now are ones I got from free stacks of books. I never get rid of a book I have bought. Well, not in the last 20 years or so.
Not only do you need to get things in order, but you will need to clean afterwards, too. For two years, I had a party/gathering once a month. Yep, house stayed clean because once a month I decluttered and cleaned.
Hi Linda I am just fine. The Tropical storm turned east before it got to my area. We had close to 3" of rain which is very unusual for us. We don't get very much rain here. It rains Dec - April but pretty much no other time. Occasionally we do get a bit at the end of July when the Monsoon season begins in Arizona.
ReplyDeleteAbout 3 years ago I did a major book purge. My shelves are at capacity. I pick up random cook books even though since John died I rarely do much cooking.
Recently I picked up a book for you. It is a copy of one of my absolute favorite books. I will get it into the mail soon.
These days my vision doesn't allow for comfortable reading so I get my reading done by listening to books. I average 4+ a month. My library has a free program called LIBBY where I can borrow a book and then listen at my leisure. You borrow them for 21 days but of course you can return them when ever you are finished In my area the selection is HUGE. In other places? not so much. Check with your library they may offer a Libby or a similar program. You can download the app in the app store.
Hurricanes can be devastating. I am glad it was not so for you.
DeleteI will look forward to getting the book. Thanks so much.
Never heard of Libby. I will check. Thanks for that tip.