Last week we went through our two Ikea Expedit bookcases. Our goal is to move the larger 4x4 in to the kids room and keep enough books to fill the smaller 2x4. This will free up the long hallway wall for C's collection of model cars and a few movie posters.
Picture the larger one below completely empty. It's almost ready to go in the kids room. The angle is kind of weird due to the other hallway wall and the living room.
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And what we have left is the smaller one which will be placed on its long side behind our couch and used as a sofa table. We literally went from 18 of 24 cubes full of books to 8 cubes full of books. The brown tubs you see in the above photo hold some household files and scrapbooking supplies. I will reserve one or two tubs for household files and go through all the rest to be stored in another space.
Scrapbooking was a hobby that I started after so many of my friends got in to it. I was never organized enough to get much accomplished and made my best effort. However, the way I do scrapbook pages I just spent way to much money for something that is going to sit in a book on a shelf for most of its life. I would rather have a digital photo frame where I can see photos all the time. The hobies I have decided to stick with are knitting, sewing and gardening.
What we have left is this tower of books to be sent to Amazon so they can post and sell them for us. Anything that hits our PayPal account we will put on our credit card debt.
It's hard for me to get rid of books. The criteria for me to keep books was even harder to come up with. I have "pretty books" that are really just full of photos of great decorating ideas that I am getting rid of. I took a few photos of some ideas I want to remember but the are going. Some books I have re read and will again that I am keeping.
C here: While K has a hard time of getting rid of books it's a bit easier for me. I'm not the reader that she is. Not that I don't like to read. I just can't concentrate. Very difficult for me to stay focused.
It is hard for me to get rid of books (and other personal belongings) for the fact that they are mine. What if I need to refer to them one day? What if there is some amazing fact that is in those books that I know that helps me win a radio contest or a game show? What if I need what's in those books as a conversation filler at a cocktail party?
None of things are going to happen. I'm not likely to be on a game show anytime. I could win if it came down to useless knowledge though.
This is a pretty big step though. This means not only reducing the amount of clutter, but it means gaining some space in our place which is the most important thing to us.
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