Ivy says:
I knew last week was going to be so busy I wouldn’t be able to get any projects done, so I didn’t do one . This week looks to be better, though, so here’s what I’m working on: culling my books. Now, I know my fellow book lovers are saying, “Wait, there is no such thing as too many books!” But really, do I need three copies of Anne of Green Gables? I have more books than I have bookshelves, this cannot be good.
So I’m going through my books, one shelf at a time and getting rid of books I have more than one copy of, books I have never read and will never read and books I’ve read but don’t dig enough to read more than once. There are all sorts of neat things I could do with the books like PaperbackSwap.com, but I’ll probably be taking them to my favorite local thrift store. I need tax writeoffs, yo!
So, what do you do with your extra books, Home Eccers? And what project will you be working on this week?
I have some friends that I share them with and when the “cycle” comes back to me I give them to the local Homeless Center or women’s shelter for their library.
I tend to take them to food bank. They have a small library there.
I swap with a girlfriend to cut down on buying books or go to the library now, but before I started doing that and had too many books, I took a bunch to Half Price Books where they will buy the books off of you usually at a few dollars a piece – depends on the books. They are smattered around the country so perhaps there is one near you. I’m in Chicago and there are a few in the surrounding suburbs I can go to.
If you need to make a small profit on the books, you can sell book collections on craigslist. I’ve sold a set of self-help books and a set of cookbooks.
Some textbooks are actually quite profitable to sell via amazon or half.com.
But if a book will only bring $2, I’d much rather have the pleasure of giving it away – to a homeless shelter (as Pam said), a teen center, a Ronald McDonald House, or a public library.
FYI since there are so many Home Ec readers in Tennessee… Chattanooga and Knoxville both have fab used book stores that will buy your used books.
Who has extra books? – she says as she sits in a house with 1000+ books? Shakes head in shame. — lol 🙂
We have a local used book store, or they go to the goodwill. Our local library doesn’t really take used books – they simply re-sell them in their second hand store — which is where I get most of my books. I’ve walked in and found whole sets of some of the American Girl series.
extra..books?
That said, in the words of John Waters- If someone takes you home with them and they don’t have any books, don’t sleep with them!
Some get sold on half.com, some get traded at the local book traders, some get donated to the library. Most of the library donations end up in the library bookshop rather than on the shelves, but the profits are used to buy current books, so I figure it’s worth it.
I also give mine to the library book store. It’s a great place to buy books, take them on vacation and leave them there!
I’m a book-ho, I had thousands of them until last year,
Then I decluttered. The first bags were painful, then it felt goooood.
I took mine to the library as well. Living in South Podunk, we have a teeny library with a teeny budget. What doesn’t go on the shelves is sold at the yearly sale – then they buy more.
I also take videos, dvd’s and books on tape.
http://www.booksforsoldiers.com/ is another place you can donate.
Tax write off, it helps the community, and I have less to crud to dust and much more space in my home.
Connie, we have a McKay in Nashville now, too. 😉
“extra books” – what’s that? (asks the librarian…)
I put all my books on http://www.swaptree.com . I LOVE it. With this site you get to pick from games, dvds, and cds as well as books. It’s great. I have even gotten birthday presents from there.
For Home-Eccers in the central Illinois area, we have a great program here called books for prisoners. They have drop boxes all over my town, and they take any books you may have. Whatever they can’t donate to Illinois prison libraries, they sell to help with the costs of the organization. I’m getting ready to move, and every time I move (which is a lot) I always end up pledging to get rid of some of my collection while hauling box after box of books. This time I’m actually doing it and getting that nice feeling of helping out a great program at the same time!
I hoard!! I’m a hoarder though I have found out about these book swapping sites…it would be easier to just swap with your friends