3 Methods To Unhaul Your Books

Have too many books? (Is there really such a thing?) Want to get rid of books? (Gasp! How could you!?) Well, in the spirit of the spring season and at the risk of beating a dead horse with this topic, I wanted to chat about how I get rid of my books. Even though one really can’t have too many books and it is painful to get rid of them, there is always a time that we unfortunately need to do an declutter of our shelves in order to fit all the beautiful new books coming out! It’s hard, I know, but with some of these tips I hope to make it just a bit easier for you. So, let’s get into it!

BOX OF BOOKS

This first one plays on the declutter rule you may see a lot when it comes to clothing, but I apply it to my books. When I go through my shelves and come across books I’m not super sure I want to get rid of but also I’m not super sure I want to leave them on my shelves, I create a Box O’ Books! In fact, I currently have one of these boxes in my garage with a time frame of 6 months. So far, I haven’t thought about any of them  but it has only been a couple months 😆

• WHAT YOU NEED: A box – big enough & strong enough to hold books! Books are heavy y’all.
• WHAT TO DO: Go through your shelves and any book you’re on the fence about, put it in the box. Don’t worry, the box isn’t leaving your home just yet! So feel free to put anything you’re even slightly unsure about! Once the box is full, store that bad boy somewhere. Under the bed, in the garage, in your attic. Just don’t store it right in front of your face – put it in storage like you would your Christmas decorations! Now what do you do with the box? Set a time frame for when you will get rid of it – 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, whatever time frame seems reasonable to you. If during that time you didn’t think about any of those books in the box, get rid of them! If you have a book in a box for 6 months and you, not even once, thought about reading it or even taking a bookstagram photo for it, do you really need it?

Another way of doing this, which I’ve never done and is another play on the clothing declutter tip, is to turn your books around so the spines are facing away from you. If by the end of the set time period you never even bothered to look at what the book was, it might be time to get rid of it. This seems more complicated, but it could be an interesting way so I wanted to include it!

CHECK YOUR LIBRARY

Want a faster way to get rid of those books? Here’s another option! This one was the easiest way for me to remove books from my shelves.

• WHAT YOU NEED: A library/library card, that’s it.
• WHAT TO DO: You know all those books you’re kind of on the fence about – maybe you want to read them but just not yet, maybe next year, maybe when the series is complete, whatever the reason? Check your library to see if they have a copy! Do they have it as an ebook, audiobook, or physical copy? Yes? Get rid of your copy! It’s collecting dust on your shelf when it could be used by someone who wants to read it now – and when you finally decide to get to it, use the library. It’s almost like you still kind of own it because you know a copy is just within reach. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

ONE IN, ONE OUT

Don’t want to get rid of a bunch at once? Have more self control than most people? Here’s one for you! Don’t buy a new book until you get rid of a book! This is difficulty level 10 and nearly impossible for me to do (helloooo new books, cover buys, bookstagram peer pressure, etc), but if you have the will and self-discipline, then I have faith in you!

• WHAT YOU NEED: Self control
• WHAT TO DO: Simple, read the damn books. Don’t add one until you finish one!

NOW WHAT?

So now you’ve checked your library, you’ve waited your set time period, you’ve been reading like a mad-man to buy more books, and you have boxes to get rid of. First off, go you! You proved to yourself that you can get rid of books no matter how painful it can be to do so. Now what do you do with them? There’s a lot of ways and I’m sure I can’t list them all, but here is what I do with mine:

1. ASK FRIENDS! Do you have any friends that might want them? I even ask my husband to mention my Box O’ Books to coworkers. Do you have family members? Or even some online friends that might want some free books? Ask away! This is especially helpful for ARCs since they can’t be donated or sold.
2. DONATE! I know donating might be hard right now due to Covid (my library isn’t accepting donations right now), but there could be several options in your area! Check your library, Goodwill, Salvation Army, women’s shelters, children’s homes, teachers, book drives, Little Free Libraries. It could even be fun to wrap some and leave them in random public places for people to find!
3. SELL THEM! I used to have a book store that bought books near me but, frankly, I don’t like doing that because they give you so little for it. You could also try Ebay or other online marketplaces. I have not done that because it seems like so much work. One thing I have done is post about my books on Instagram! I have been able to sell quite a few books using my Instagram stories. This is another good way to get rid of ARCs because all you have to do is charge for shipping!

So, that’s how I get rid of my books! Do you do anything similar? Do you need to declutter your bookshelves? Will you try any of my methods? Do you have any other tips you can share? Let me know in the comments below!