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If you are a book lover like me you know how hard it is to ever throw away any books (OK, maybe the bad ones are easy to toss), but that means it is also the item you probably have a large number of being stored in your house. I know that the reason I left my multiple book cases as one of the last items to declutter was because deep in myself it was hard to justify books as clutter. 
I was one of the kids that used to get in trouble for reading books with a flash
light under the covers till like 3am on a school night and then being exhausted for school. Books were the first adventures I took, they allowed me to visit countries I couldn’t and taught me so much I couldn’t learn in my own backyard. But I knew that keeping two books cases full of books just wasn’t really something I needed. There were too many books on those shelves that I had never read more than once, no matter how much I enjoyed them the first time.
So, a couple weeks ago I took a deep breath, put on my favorite music, and started the process of getting rid of most of my books. I set aside a good chunk of time for this project because I knew that an internal battle would happen in my head over every book. I started out getting rid of the ones that didn’t really have that much pull on me. A couple cook books I never use, a couple diet books that no longer pertain to my lifestyle, and some novels that were ok, but not something I would ever read again. I quickly got down to only a couple shelves on each bookcase while filling up a couple boxes to be donated to the local library.
I next tackled the series that I had loved, but hadn’t read in years, these were all paperbacks, so not like fancy series books, but ones I had read multiple times over the years, but if the last time I had read them was more than 2 years ago, then they were also regulated to the donation boxes. I then pulled out paperback novels I had read recently and had to truly ask myself if I thought I would read them again. A lot of them I knew that even if I did decide to read them again, I would probably do so digitally, since a majority of my reading is now done through eBooks or Audio Books. Those went as well. I then took my last major cut on all of the self-help type books I had read over the years, or the ones I had bought and never read. Once again I made myself be honest and asked if I would really read them again, most of the time it was a no. I had enjoyed them, but based on the stack of the ones not yet read, the likelihood of me going back and reading these old ones when I didn’t find time to read the new ones meant that those ended up in the donation boxes as well. As for the ones I hadn’t read yet, I checked online to see if there was a eBook version and if there was I donated those as well, figuring I was much more likely to read them in that format anyways and I didn’t need to hold onto these in case I ever got around to it, if I decided I needed to read it, I would just get the eBook. I did keep a couple that I had just purchased and couldn’t wait to read, those got brought to my bedside and I have been slowly working through them.
Once I had finished that process, I was down to about fifty books I thought I could not get rid of! These books got transferred to the smaller of the two bookcases with the other things I couldn’t get rid of (DVDs, CDs, etc.) and I left it for a couple weeks. I was proud of myself. I had done a major purge of these books and I patted myself on the back and decided to move on.
Well this weekend I went through and got rid of most of everything else that was on that bookcase and I decided that it was a piece of furniture that I really didn’t need in my living room anymore. That meant I had to either find a location for these books or get rid of them. So, of course, off I went to try to figure out where I could put these books because obviously they were not clutter. I had already purged most of my books. Don’t try to pry the last fifty out of my hands!!
Of course, I was able to find a place to put them, so I started transferring them over. The problem was that I got a little over half way through putting the books in and I was out of room. Oh no, I didn’t really have anywhere else I wanted to keep these. Finally, I admitted that I needed to get rid of some more books. It took me forever, going back and forth about which ones I should really keep, checking online to see which ones I could get in eBooks, and which ones would be the most expensive to replace should I decide three months down the road I made a horrific mistake! But in the end, I ended up getting rid of more than half of those remaining books, only keeping those that I had a hard time finding online in a digital form, or that I knew I would use all the time (i.e. my favorite cook books). Once that was done, not only did the remaining handful of books fit in their new location, I even had space to put in the handful of workout DVDs I decided to keep in there as well!
I had done it!!! I truly went through and got rid of all the books I did not need and only kept the handful that I really wanted and made me happy. I already pulled a couple out and used them in the last couple days since I finished this process. I must admit that purging my books was the hardest task I have taken on to this point. I know that for some of you it may be shoes, or ties, or make-up, or work-out gear, or tools, but we all have that one collection that is going to be very very very hard to go through. But I am so glad I did this. The corner the bookcase came out of made my living room really open up and made one less thing I had to arrange around if I wanted to have friends over for a game party! My living area is so much more livable now that I have gotten rid of all the furniture I used to store stuff I never used! So, take that deep breath, put on your favorite music or movie, and get to purging!
Tips and Tricks when purging books
In this process I have learned a couple things that really helped me get through whittling down the number of books in my place.
First, investigate the public libraries in your area to see if they have a good online rental collection! I live near Los Angeles and their eBook and Audio Book collection is crazy extensive. Over the last year or so I have rented and read or listened to a ton of books through them. Even the most common books they will have, and you can usually get with just a short wait. If your town doesn’t, look into finding out if you can get a library card in a nearby large town that might. I was able to simply stop at a Los Angeles library and get a card, even though I did not live in the county.
Second, most of these online libraries use Kindle as their medium, so if you don’t have the Kindle App on all your electronics yet, add it. Even though I have a Kindle Reader, sometimes I just don’t feel like carrying two devices and like the convenience of reading the book on my phone while waiting for a doctor appointment. The great thing about the kindle apps is you can stop and pick up again in the same spot on any device!
Third, if you can’t find a decent online library near you, look into services like Kindle Unlimited or Audible. That way you can offset some of the costs of reading the books that you used to own. I go through a lot of books a month and make use of both of these services along with my free library rentals. Sometimes there are just books I want to read or listen to without having to wait for them to come through on the library, or that my library simply does not carry.
Fourth, donate books to libraries or shelters or such, not to your normal local donations center where they will just be sold. I feel like everyone should have a chance to read all types of books and the more options we have in our libraries the better chance people who cannot afford to buy books will have a chance to read great books. Especially if you are donating a series or harder to find books, or self-help books that a library might not feel is a requested enough area to spend their limited budget on. I love that my local library also has a book store in it, so if they get donations of books they already have copies multiple copies of or don’t need, they can sell them to supplement their budget!
Fifth, do a second purge! You will for sure find more books you can get rid of the second time around. Some of the books I got rid of in y second purge I even asked myself why I kept in the first place. I think with things that are this important to us, we hit a saturation point and just can’t get rid of anymore, not matter if the ones left are import to us or not.
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