For those who are book lovers, letting go of books is somewhat of a Sophie\’s Choice.
However, you would be surprised by how many books you could let go of, if you\’re brave enough, and besides, you will now have room for more books.
Depending on how you organise your bookshelves, and that is entirely personal, the way to decide which books to let go of is easier than you think. Here is my tip for choosing which books to send off to the charity store.
1) Lose the double ups
Perhaps you have two copies of Death of a Salesman? Or several copies of Macbeth. It often happens with classics. Keep the best version either by translation or condition and then let the others find their new home.
2) Let go of books that are no longer relevant to your life
Perhaps there are books that relate to your life when you were a business person, and now you\’re an artist, and the books give you the heebie-jeebies. Dump them. Stat.
3) Say goodbye to the outdated
The best interior design annual of 2001? Or a book of new website designs from 2004? You don\’t need these. No, not even for nostalgia. The same goes for old recipe books that you haven\’t cooked from in ten years.
4) Ripped? It\’s gone.
That yellowed, tatty old version of whatever paperback you once read but can\’t really remember it, probably isn\’t worth keeping. It\’s also not suitable for the charity shop, so recycle, please.
5) Hate it? Heave it
Sometimes we have books we know are important literary works, but we hated them. We couldn\’t finish them. They diminished us in some way or upset us or troubled us. You don\’t need to keep it. There are no rules that say you MUST keep any book you loathe.
6) Reorganise
How do you organise your shelves? Alphabetical by author or title? Genre? Colour? Chronological? However you like to order your books, now is the time to do another cull.
7) Create a to-be-read section
I am sure that you have books you want to read on your bookshelf. Take them out and put them on a particular shelf and start to read through them.
9) Share the love
If you have some books you think a friend or family member might like, then put them aside to loan to others, just remember to write down who and when you loaned it to.
10) Get a library card
If you need to detox from buying books, then get a library card. You can order books in, you can not finish them and not care, just return them on time. No guilt, no fuss.