Do you watch that show Hoarders? Chuk and I usually watch every week. Though we both enjoy having a clean home, neither of us has that innate drive to clean that some people have. Though we aren't hoarders, Hoarders the show is motivation to declutter and clean like nothing else.
We watched last week's episode on Friday (they air on Monday though.) The program featured a couple who had more than half a million books in their home. I've always been pretty good about not keeping too many books, but this show sent me straight to my bookshelves to see if there were any more I could get rid of. I found ten I was willing to part with and Chuk decided to get rid of four of his books.
My philosophy on books had been to only keep the ones I wanted to read again. This go around I shifted my thinking little and got rid of books that I could easily get again at the library. No need for me to store them if the library is willing to store them for me, right?
The other tip that has kept my bookshelves from ever getting too overcrowded is that I don't buy books. I enjoy reading, but I find that between the library, what friends lend me and gifts, I'm never at a shortage for reading material. With this newest round of giveaways, I emailed a list of the books we are getting rid of to my reading friends and gave them right of first refusal. Paying it forward like this (and always returning their books) is what keeps people lending to me, I think. The books they don't want will be donated to the library or thrift store.
We watched last week's episode on Friday (they air on Monday though.) The program featured a couple who had more than half a million books in their home. I've always been pretty good about not keeping too many books, but this show sent me straight to my bookshelves to see if there were any more I could get rid of. I found ten I was willing to part with and Chuk decided to get rid of four of his books.
My philosophy on books had been to only keep the ones I wanted to read again. This go around I shifted my thinking little and got rid of books that I could easily get again at the library. No need for me to store them if the library is willing to store them for me, right?
The other tip that has kept my bookshelves from ever getting too overcrowded is that I don't buy books. I enjoy reading, but I find that between the library, what friends lend me and gifts, I'm never at a shortage for reading material. With this newest round of giveaways, I emailed a list of the books we are getting rid of to my reading friends and gave them right of first refusal. Paying it forward like this (and always returning their books) is what keeps people lending to me, I think. The books they don't want will be donated to the library or thrift store.
I love books. My husband does too. We have tons! I was actually thinking that the ones that aren't on the shelves right now need to be boxed up until we can find room for them, rather than have them live on the floor of our bedrooms!
ReplyDelete