Letting Go: Decluttering of My Books

I’m an avid reader.  As a child, it was so bad that my mom would bribe me with free and uninterrupted reading time if I would do an extra chore or whatever she was convincing me to do.  I can’t ever remember not loving to read.  There’s only two problems with this – I have TONS of books. They are everywhere.  And I spend some $$$ on books.  Cameron doesn’t enjoy reading as much as I do (ok so not many people do), but she does like to read and learned early in life that it is rare that I tell her she can’t have a book while we are out shopping.  So she’s got so many books that she has an entire 5 shelf bookshelf taken up herself.

But I’ve had enough.  I’m hoping for a Kindle for Christmas.  And if I don’t get it, I’ll be buying myself one the day after Christmas.  Yes, I’m that serious about this.  I think this will it a lot easier to feed my addiction at least without cluttering the house.

But I’ve decided as hard as it is that I’m also going to start getting rid of some of my books.  I mean really except for the favorites or the ones that are a series, I rarely read them again.  I just grow attached and can’t get rid of them.  Or maybe I should say I COULDN’T get rid of them. I thought about listing on ebay, but when I went to look up some of them, I realized there are a ton of most of them already listed and not selling so it didn’t seem worth the effort.  And then I remembered someone once telling me about a site they had used and I went to check it out.  I think I’ve found a solution for both the clutter and the expense – Paperback Swap.

This is a great idea (Why don’t I ever think of these?).  Everyone lists the books they don’t want anymore.  If someone wants one of your books, you send it to them.  If you want one listed on the site, you request it and they send it to you.  You earn credits for sending out your books that you use for requesting those of others.  I don’t know if it’s always this way, but today when I signed up, if you listed at least 10 books, you earned an instant 2 credits.

They don’t just have paperbacks as the name implies either.  They also have hardbacks and audio books. I used my first two credits for the first two books in the Stephanie Plum series in hardback form.  This is one set I’d never trade off, but every other book in the series (that I won) are hardbacks.  And once I receive them, I’ll list my paperback versions for 2 more credits.

And boy did I list some books.  I listed 35 books last night (and would you believe that my shelves don’t even look less crowded?).  Ten were claimed before I went to bed. I mailed them today and so soon will have 10 more credits to start requesting books.

Paperback provides you with a mailing label where that you just take it to the post office, pay for postage of media mail (which is pretty cheap), and send them on their way.  There are instructions for mailing straight from your house and not going to the post office, but since I’m out every day to go to work, I didn’t read those as I decided it would be just as easy for me to mail them at the post office.

NOTE: I did not post for referrals. I’m just truly impressed and wanted to share.  However, if you decide to sign up,  I think I can get one extra credit when you sign up and list your first 10 books so please consider listing me by email (allaboutkimberly@gmail.com) as your referrer!  Thanks!

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