Hi Crystal! I wondered if I could get your insight about children’s books…namely what to do when they are taking over your house! We have SO many books that our kids’ bookshelves are completely full…But we LOVE to read and I would say that we read and love just about every one we have. However, I just feel like the books are taking over their rooms. It’s much better than toys, but still…what to do!? Thanks for your advice -Courtney
I love books, as you probably well know. 🙂 But we actually don’t have shelves and shelves and shelves of them at our house. Why? Because I can’t stand clutter — even book clutter.
I’ve had to be really intentional with this, because otherwise our rooms would be overrun with books, too. Here are some things that help:
1. Define Your Book Boundaries
We have a shelf in the living room where we keep our very favorite books. I have books I’m currently reading in my bedside table drawer. The kids can keep a small stack of books in their room. And we have two large bookshelves in our basement that hold books we haven’t read yet.
Keeping our book boundaries to about three shelves total has really forced me to not collect or hang onto to books we didn’t absolutely love.
2. Only Keep Your Absolute Favorites
I know, I know, this is so hard to do. But if you love books as much as our family does, you have to draw a line somewhere. If a book didn’t radically impact me in some way or just seem overall amazing, I don’t keep it. I just can’t — unless I wanted to have all our walls lined with books. 🙂
3. Swap/Sell or Bless Someone With Your Extras
I love PaperBackSwap — not only because it saves money, but also because it’s a great way to keep your book collection under control. Why? Because you can’t earn book credits unless you get rid of some of your books.
You can also sell your books, though you often won’t make a lot on them. My favorite way to get rid of books is to share them with others. In fact, even if I loved a book and it’s one I’m planning to hang onto, I’d rather loan it out or pass it on to someone else and let them enjoy and be inspired be them than have them sit on my shelf collecting dust.
4. Become Best Friends With the Library
The library is a frugal, minimalist mom’s best friend. 🙂 My kids can check out stacks of books each week and then we can return them all the next week. And provided you return them on time, in the same condition you checked them out in, it’s 100% free.
If your library doesn’t have a great selection, check Inter-Library Loan to see if you can get the titles you’d like through there. It seems they have (or can get) just about any book under the sun.
What are your suggestions for Courtney? I’d love to hear!
Leighann says
Ereaders! You can have as many books as you want. I never have to worry about not having enough room.
WilliamB says
Full disclosure: I own several thousand books. Physical, dead-tree books. I reread them, and write notes in them, and loan them out, and refer back to them often. My bias is definitely for keeping books.
Even so, some hints for keeping and sorting books:
– Keep the books your kids read repeatedly.
– Donate books that your kids don’t notice much but that you despise.
– Donate most of the books that are no longer a challenge for you kids, but keep a few favorites.
– Keep books your kids don’t read repeatedly, so they have new ones to move on to.
– If putting books on shelves is still a challenge for your kids, try a different method that makes it easier for them to clean up. For example, my friend the children’s librarian suggests labeling books (with words or pictures) and having a basket or box for each category.
– To use space efficiently, shelve by size. You needn’t be obsessive with this, but if you put all the really tall books together and all the really short books together, you can get more shelves in a bookcase. (This is why I keep all my mass market paperbacks together.)
Dominique says
Hi Courtney – after you’ve decided which ones you just CAN’T live without (I’m a book addict too, so I feel your pain!), take the rest to a secondhand bookstore. Most of those stores have two trade options – you can sell the books for cash, or (BEST OPTION) get store credit instead. They typically give 50% or so of the resell value in credit, but usually only 10% or so for cash.
I’ve done this many times over the years – at one time, I had a $200 in-store credit at my local secondhand store. :O
The owner knew my favourite genres/authors, and would set aside those books for me to check out on my weekly visits. I had or read most of them already, but it was amazing to get “first crack” at all my favs.
Good luck, and happy reading!
Sylvia Nelson-Campbell says
GET LOTS OF BOOKCASES AND ENJOY HAVING THEM. I COULD NEVER INCLUDE BOOKS IN CLUTTER IF THEY ARE HOUSED IN SHELVES.
Mike says
Love it! This is good stuff. We also love reading, but have struggled with how many to keep and what to do with them when we’re finished. A while back, I whittled my collection down from hundreds to 18. Here’s what we did: http://theothersideofcomplexity.com/tips-things-to-remember-when-getting-rid-of-books/
Cori says
My kids regularly bring home book order forms from school, and it is tempting to buy the good ones. We use them as library lists sometimes, since our shelves are full, too.
Emi says
Ah, the library. At 10 cents per day, the fines add up. Sometimes I have been better off purchasing the book new. I think that I pay about $50 per year in fines at 10 cents each. This is because of kids. Before kids – no fines.
ClareC. says
I do sort our books every year but still we have 6 bookcases full. I remember as a child visiting a friend who had a huge bookcase in her living room filled with the most interesting books and I told myself that’s what I wanted to have in my house one day. Whenever I visit my children’s elementary school to read to the kids, I tell them that we have bookshelves in every living and bed room of our house. My mom always used to say that it was impossible to spoil children with too many good books. She’s an elementary school librarian and I guess that quote rubbed off on me. 🙂
Wendy Klik says
I always used the library because I felt like not only was it a waste of space to stack up all those books but also a waste of money because rarely do you go back to reread a book. If it is one that you will read over and over again then it deserves a place of honor on your bookshelf but most books get read once and then become dust collectors. Last year my husband got me a nook and that took care of a years worth of books that would have been lying around my house.
Stephanie says
Would anyone here have any idea on how to sell an antique book? I found one at a yard sale years ago and I know it has to be worth something, but I don’t know where to find out what and how to sell it?
Dominique says
Stephanie – find a local antique shop. The owner will very likely know who to get in touch with to value your book. OR, if you’re lucky, you have a bookstore in town that specializes in older/antique books.
You could also try the head librarian at your local library or university.
Jen says
We love, love, love books, but have moved several times and they became a burden to pack up over and over. We also lack the space for them. We keep the books that we love only if the library doesn’t have them. When the kids bring home a new scholastic book order form, we all pour over it to see what the latest kids books are that we’re interested in and we order them from the library. I repeatedly marvel (in front of the kids) about how amazing it is that the library cares for so many books we love, while we get to check them out whenever we want for free! We also talk about how great it is that really great books can be shared with many people instead of just kept for our family. The library is one of our favorite places!
Cynthia H says
Some areas have book resale shops like Half Price Books http://www.hpb.com/. Also, Amazon handles used books.
Erin @ My Mommy World says
Oh, do I ever suffer from this problem! Ha! Both my husband and I adore books, and we are hoping to turn our kids into book lovers, so we have tons of them in the house. When my husband was in the military, we had to move to a very small house, and there was no way that we could take all of our books, so we sold them to a used book store. It just about broke my heart!
Now, I make a point to only check out books that we are interested in at the library, but I do make allowance for certain books that I want to read but aren’t available there (my library doesn’t carry a lot of Christian books). My kids have a basket in each of their rooms for their books, plus a bookshelf in their play room. My husband and I have books we are currently reading on both our bedside tables, and I may or may not have a stack of them in the kitchen…. 🙂 Oh, and there are many, many free ebooks on my iPhone’s Kindle app.
Rachel says
Does anyone have any ideas on selling books? I have about 500 hardcover almost all fiction and about the same in paperback. I have donated quite a few to the VA Hospital in my area but could really use the extra cash right now. I have tried Cash4books and Amazon but have had no luck (they are not currently buying the Titles I have) . Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks so much and on a side note I really love this site. I used coupons in the past to save money but more recently started couponing a little more and this site has been a huge help!
Cynthia says
Try Powells.com
Look for the sell books option at the top.
Enter ISBN’s and they will tell you if they are interested in purchasing and for how much. You can either get paid through paypal or credit to use on their site. They even pay for shipping. Make sure you read the FAQ’s because they are very picky about condition. With that many books they are bound to be interested in something you have.
Guest says
I also detest clutter but we have a ton of books. I’m passionate about reading and fostering a love of reading in my children and our friends. We have beautiful bookcases and are thinking of turning one of the bedrooms into a “library” of sorts. Each of our children has a bookcase in their room as well.
Jenny says
I think physical books are really important for kids but as an adult I don’t need to see physical books to get excited about reading. I have one shelf in my kitchen for cookbooks, reference books, etc. and I use the library and kindle for everything else.
Each of my kids have a bookshelf and they frequently trade books. Plus they are usually happy to part with a couple when their room becomes too hard for them to clean up on their own.
Marijo says
Books are more valuable than jewels! Fill your house to bursting with good books! There are definitely some individual books which are not worth keeping, but to willingly discard true riches just to make space is crazy.
Marijo says
In fact, buy more.
Pam says
I love all of the ideas ! I’m a school librarian so it’s very difficult for me to part with a children’s book. My daughter is much better at weeding than I am so we regularly go through her books and some go to various bookcases while others are boxed or donated. I use Paperback Swap too and recently just got 10 required novels for my daughter ( and saved over $100.00). We revisit the boxed books every few months and many more are donated then.
My mother saved every book from my childhood but I realize I grew up in a much different era where our small town didn’t have a target or Wal-Mart or access to a lot of inexpensive books. I treasure all of my books but my daughter has access to so many free and inexpensive books that I realize it is just not possible to hold on to them all.
As our children grow, they age out of certain types of books so weeding becomes easier too. Many of the books that go to the “save” box are not necessarily the books they love but the books I love, with the memories attached.
I also have boxes of books according to holidays and agree that it’s fun to see those once a year.
The time your children get to truly enjoy books is so fleeting; the older they get the more school responsibilities they have. I say enjoy this “season” of reading and books while they are young; designate the spaces for books and enjoy them !
Kari says
Get an e-reader. I know, I know I LOVE the feel of actually holding a book in my hands but I find I read a lot more since I got my Kindle (and I was a BIG reader to begin with!) The reason…the books are cheaper (and a lot of them are FREE!!) and I don’t have to worry about already overflowing bookshelves. My biggest issue with organizing my kids rooms are all their books. Their bookshelves are overflowing! Recently I went through my 9 year old daughters books and purged a lot of them (babyish princess books and such) and took them to Goodwill. I’ve been known to take books I’ve read but that I will never read again and donate them to the library. If you read a book with your kids and they just don’t love it don’t keep it! Donate it to the library or to Goodwill and give children who may not have a lot of access to books the ability to maybe get their hands on a book and discover the love of reading since mom could pick it up for $0.50 and not $9.99! Anyway, back to the e-reader my kids love to read books on my Kindle. And you don’t need the super expensive Kindle Fire HD or iPad. A basic Kindle or Nook have come down a lot in price and actually pretty affordable now. Good luck!
b says
When my kids were younger, they were allowed to check out 4 books or 3 books & 1 video on our (at least) weekly library visits. Mama could check out more books, but having limits on the kids’ choices helped with the overflowing library book problem. We still had many books in our home. For some reason, we never really ended up owning that many books. I did try to save some of my favorites from my youth, but the books were so yellowed and smelly by the time my kids were ready to read them that they much preferred the same title from the library.
Carrie says
Ahhhh! My minimalist tendencies definitely conflict with my bibliophile tendencies! For me, I find this works: keep only books that I KNOW I will read again. For most books, this means I read them once (I always take notes on good books) then sell them on Amazon or yes, Paperbackswap.
For kids books, I make it a point to only have the highest quality. No “twaddle”, no Disney or other licensed character themes, no junk: http://naturalmomstalkradio.com/blog/throw-away-some-books/
Cynthia says
You can sell them to Powells online for cash or a higher amount of credit. You just type the ISBN in their database and they will tell you if they are currently purchasing that item or not and make an offer. This will not be a whole lot of cash but it’s better then letting them collect dust. And this will get them back out into the world where someone else can enjoy them. And if you choose credit you can use this toward the purchase of new titles you are interested in.
The minimum amount to sell is 3 books or $5 worth. They will even give you a prepaid shipping label to send out the books. Just make sure the books are in excellent condition (be sure to check out their book buying FAQs) if they reject a book they will not pay you for it and they will not return it either .
Susan says
I agree with limiting the number of books to only those which are worthwhile and of lasting value, BUT we are a home-schooling, book-loving family! One of the legacies we hope to pass on to our children is quality books. We hope to send each of them out from the home with a good start to their own personal libraries. So we do not ruthlessly clean out books in our home. I also agree with the people who have mentioned pre-reading what you get from the local library. It’s getting harder and harder to find a good book there these days.
Kristen Chapman says
I love this idea in theory, but in practice…well… I have 7 bookshelves :).
We homeschool, and I hate not being able to have the book I need for what I’m teaching. Trying to get them at the library depends on availability and other patrons returning them on time – lol. So many of the books we own are for our own reference in school.
I also have four children who read a LOT for their own pleasure. They all have different tastes and interests, so our shelves are full and varied. Sometimes I think I need to set them up in the Library of Congress style – lol!
While I would love to have a little less book clutter, for now I am content to have a house full of books that are used often 🙂
Kristen Chapman says
Oh, sorry, by “bookshelves” I mean to say “bookcases”. Of the large variety 😀
Susy says
I would find out which ones (not the favorite ones) you can easily get at your library, make a list of those and then donate to a friend. Keeping a list will be the reminder you need for future decisions on what to read.
If you are really visual, then take a picture of the books in a alphabetical stack or individually and keep in a book card box or make a document for your computer. You can notate which ones you have at home, and which ones you can get at the library. This is great to use when you have loaned out one of your favorite books…take a picture of the person with the book and store in a file like a library or just list their name on the picture card you have already made.
Courtney says
I hate clutter and keep our home as simple and pared-down as possible, but I make an exception for books. We only keep much-loved books, but we have many shelves of them! My kids each have a bookcase in their bedrooms and we have built-in bookshelves lining the hallways of our main floor and upstairs.
I go through our books every few months and ask the kids, “Are you ever going to read this again?” If they say no, we get rid of the book.
I agree with the previous poster who said that a house full of books is a huge gift to your kids. My kids are all voracious readers, and I know it’s because they have a wide variety of reading material available to them. This definitely isn’t frugal, but once a month or so we take our kids to the bookstore or let them browse on Amazon and select a few new books apiece. To us, it is money well spent.
I’ve become leery of library books and used books ever since a librarian told me that bedbug infestations in library books are becoming very common. I didn’t want to believe it, but I googled and yes, it is true. Ugh!
Gina says
I boxed my daughter’s favorite books. You have to pick and choose because you can’t save them all.. My suggestion for donating them: My daughter is an elementary education major. They have had to buy probably 100 different kids books for college. The idea is that when they graduate from college they will have books for the classroom but, it is a lot of money to spend for a college student.. so.. find a local college and help out an education major. They will be forever grateful and so will all their future students.
ClareC. says
I have an early childhood education degree and this is so true. I don’t know exactly how you could get books into the hands of education majors but what a wonderful idea! My student teaching semester was the one time in college I had to ask my parents for extra money and it went mostly towards books and supplies for my classroom.
Mari says
Have your family share their love of reading with the neighborhood. Google little corner libraries they are popping up all over the country. Kind of like a giant bird house on the small edge of your yard but it stores books. Anyone can take a book and anyone can add books. Good way to meet your neighbors and foster community.
Lisa says
I have not heard of this! Going right now to check it out!
amber says
We sort our books every few months. Our local goodwill sales all books for only 50 cents. When we are ready to part with our books I will give the very loved ones away (usually on craigslist for free) the books still in good shape I take to half priced books. They give you cash in hand. I have a huge pile I need to take up there now sitting in my bedroom. With the cash I will buy ”new” books to give Christmas gifts to my children. When asked what they wanted for Christmas that was the first thing they both asked for!
Kellie says
I love this <3 Im not going to lie I have a serious problem when it comes to books….they are taking over my life and sadly I have no room for bookshelves in my house its so tiny. So I have a platform Pottery Barn bed that has these huge baskets underneath, one of those baskets is filled to the top with books that I havent read. Anytime I need a new book I go to my book basket, the books I love I keep and put in a cubed shelf in my closet and the books that i liked but I know I just will never touch again i make a pile and plan to see if friends and family would like them. What gets me is I live in Cincinnati, my local Library is Clermont but I do have a Cincinnati Public Library card, every year right down the road from me they have a HUGE book sale, and on the last day you pay $10 and get a brown paper bag to just fill to the gill with books… thats how my book basket came along but I have to regulate what comes in and out all the time to make sure I dont get to cluttered.
Lee Privette says
I am a reader and a book lover, but I am ruthless with my own collection of books – it has to be something that I want to keep for my daughter, something that I will reread over and over again, or a reference book for something I need. My daughter’s collection (she’s 5) is another story. I figure she reads and rereads all the time. We also homeschool so I buy a lot of nonfiction books related to what we are studying – if she doesn’t love something we immediately donate it, but she is a book lover as well. I use milk crates stuck in places all over her room to store books. By the way I found it much easier to give my books away when I sent them to a good home, so I either think of friends that would love it, or donate to our church library. That way I know they get good use, plus – with the library, if I want to read it again, I check it out 🙂
Adopt a Book says
Once you are ready to part with any gently used books, Adopt a Book is a local 501c3 that is dedicated to collecting new and gently used children’s books for distributing to kids in need. This organization was started by 10 year old twins who love to read and want to ensure other kids have the same access to books as they do. Check them out on facebook too!
Donna says
While local libraries have many books, the quality of many of them are becoming questionable. Many libraries are getting rid of the old books that have stories worthy of reading, instead filling the shelves with books of more questionable morals, beliefs, etc. Be careful to preread what your children pick. I like my collection of books, mostly what libraries have discarded, because I know I have good quality material for future generations.
Bobbie says
I concur with some of the ideas above:
1. Only keep children’s books/books you LOVE. Have you ever noticed even with tons of books that your children love to read the same ones over and over! Library books are a good test drive for books – if your children (or you) love it – find ones to add to your collection.
2. Best thing I ever did was get my 12 year old a cheap kindle. He LOVES to read and hasn’t developed an emotional attachment to hardcopies (like his mom). This has saved a LOT of space – and most classics are free on Amazon! So its saved $$$ too!
3. Purge often – if it never gets read, or if half of its missing, or if you have an adult book that you have never read – and realistically probably won’t – or if you’ve read it once and if you are honest with yourself probably will never read it again – purge 🙂
I have moved three times in the past couple of years which has really helped me purge…..ask yourself if I had to move across the country and could only take a minimal amount with me – what would I HAVE to keep…and what could I live without? 🙂
Bobbie says
I concur!! These are the books I tend to keep. I am a Christian – and good Christian books (especially biographies!) are getting increasingly challenging to find in the library – at least in my area! And pre-reading is SOO necessary – I can’t believe some of the children’s books at the library these days :/
Ashley P says
If you like the books that libraries seem to be getting rid of, keep your eyes out for fliers advertising library sales next time you visit. I picked up a beaten-up copy of the Count of Monte Cristo when I was 16 for a nickel. The cover was half missing, but that book kept me occupied for an entire summer. Best 5 cents I spent that year. I used to work in a library in college, so I know they have purge sales 2 or 3 times a year. Save your pennies, and wait for a good sale. You’ll be able to pick up books for pennies on the dollar. I guarantee.
Luba says
Donna, I totally agree with you about the books in the library! Our library has a volunteer go through the books to see which new ones will go into the library and which current books are purged. The patriotic books are going, and I also found William Bennett’s The Book of Virtues – hardback for $1!
Also, when I took Children’s literature in college, we had to evaluate sixty children’s picture books. I tried to pick ones that were interesting (rain forest, how bread is made, etc.) and very few fiction (sorry, I prefer non-fiction). However, out of those 60, I would not allow my children to read more than twenty of them probably!
For the above reasons, I want to visit my library more often (they have an ongoing book sale) to buy books they no longer want. Also, I want to have a good collection of books that I have read now that are suitable for my children (when I have them). 🙂
I understand that books can take up a lot of space, but when I was growing up, I had probably 1% of the toys some children have now (a few dolls, a few tea sets). I do not mind books taking up space in my house, and I love the rotation idea. 🙂
Ann says
I concur about the “style” of books in today’s libraries. Many books written recently just seem so….frivilous….Pete the Cat, FlyGuy, Diary of a Wimpy Kid etc. My boys love BoxCar Kids, and it seems that any book written over 20 years ago has kids more taking reponsibility and just doing more worthwhile pasttimes in the books. I snatch up every oldie I can!
Anne Marie @ The Oklahoma Texan says
My degree is in English, I taught high school English, and of course, I’m a voracious reader. But my personal book collection is somewhat limited. I don’t like too much clutter, and I really dislike cluttery, disheveled-looking bookshelves. I still have a large number of my childhood favorites. They take up one bookcase and are neatly arranged. I have another bookcase with other books. A few more books are here and there in the house, but that’s pretty much it. My son also has a small bookcase in his room. The biggest way I cut down on book clutter was to get rid of anything that wasn’t an absolute favorite, yet I could still get it at my local library. Also, my Kindle has also cut down considerably on the clutter. I pay for some books, I borrow some books through Amazon Prime’s lending library or the public library, and I get a lot of books free on my Kindle. When my son is old enough to have a Kindle (and read, for that matter!), he’ll be given one to help reduce some of the clutter. And of course, he’ll be taught to use the town library. It’s one thing to collect a favorite series that is read over and over, and it’s another to just pile up every book ever read. It comes down to figuring out which ones are important enough to keep.
Ana L. says
My daughter has two or three hundred books, and she’s still a toddler. I tried rotating books in and out when she was younger, but she would hunt through the house, discover a box full of her books, and immediately start emptying it and surrounding herself with a pile of favorites she hadn’t seen in a couple weeks. Her love of books was so keen and obvious, I couldn’t resist buying her more and more books, and we quickly outstripped her bookshelves. My solution: more bookshelves.
When she is older and able to be 100% trusted with a library book, we’ll slow down, but by then she will also have access to our large library downstairs. In the meantime, nothing was more important to me than feeding her love of reading, by having all the books she could handle, very close at hand, with no limits or need for supervision. So we moved things around and into other rooms to make space for a larger bookshelf we got for free. It’s full now, and I am looking at where I can add wall shelves and other places to store more for her. If she didn’t go through her whole collection constantly, it might be different, but she needs these books, and she’s going to need more soon.
The only thing I do is periodically go through and prune. Books that aren’t quite up to snuff do sneak in. Books that she loves, but aren’t really challenges
Ana L. says
oops… Books that aren’t really challenges anymore we either donate, or if they are still loved or we’d like to keep them just because they’re that good, I move them to the boxes where we keep favorite outgrown toys for younger visitors. They get pulled out for company or nostalgia, but make room for new books on the shelves.
Another way we save space is by grouping series together, often in a different place from the main jumble of books. It is easier to remember that the whole series is together, and where it is, when it would be hard to remember which individual books were in which shelf if they were scattered about.
NaDell says
We have a large shelf cabinet with glass shelves on the top with cabinets underneath with closed doors. There are three sections of it and it takes up most of a small wall in our house, but I put a couch in front of it and it makes the three cupboards with the doors more inaccessible. I use one for stuffed animals, one for puzzles and games I don’t want out without my permission, and the last one for books. Then I rotate out the books that are seasonal and shift them around when they get bored of some of them. I also have a piano with plenty of library books for the kids to read.
Kristi says
Kindle. Seriously, I didn’t think I’d like it, EVER. There’s nothing like curling up with a good book, right? But the more I use it, the more I love it. Now, I don’t know what I’d do without it.
Now, that said… I’m not parting with any of my books, much to my husband’s misfortune. I just need more bookshelves… And a bigger house…
Ashley P says
Same here. Don’t get me wrong. NOTHING can replace the smell of a much loved paper book, and I have all of my absolute favorites in hard copy. But I currently have over 9,000 books on Kindle (none of which I have paid a cent for, by the way) and I would NEVER be able to fit that many in my tiny house! I don’t even own a Kindle. I use the app on my phone. I take my books with me to work and read them on me break or on my commute on the train. If I finish a book early, I don’t have to wait until I get home to start another. Just pick the next one on the list.
Stephanie says
9,000! WOW! I wish there was a way to organize my kindle books though. It bugs me that they are all just “there”. Although I don’t have anywhere close to 9000!
Kathy says
It’s so funny to hear someone else say that! I used to work across the street from a library, so I was always checking out tons of books. I thought ‘why on earth would anyone need a Kindle?’ Then I changed jobs. No more easy access to books! I got a Kindle for Christmas that year and LOVE all the free books I get on it. And no worries about storage!
Katie says
start collecting certain ones on Ebooks, so you have them handy when you want them, but they won’t take up space.
Amy says
I just saw this on Pinterest for displaying and storing books:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/252764597809836812/
Hope that helps,
Amy
Jenny says
That’s so pretty! Children’s books have some amazing covers.
Denise Bertacchi says
Whoa, you have one shelf, or one BOOK shelf? Each of my kids has a book case in their rooms. The youngest has stuffed animals mixed in with his to break it up, and the oldest has book shelves over his desk and dresser.
Any way, age of the kids has a lot to do with how you handle books. With kids you need to go through and weed out the books they are too old for. I’ve kept a big box of books in a basement closet waiting for kids to get old enough to read from my own childhood. But when I realized I wasn’t getting any daughters, I donated my “girl” books– hardback Nancy Drews went to the school library, paperbacks went to a charity book sale. I hung to my sci-fi and my teen is reading some of it now.
Now that my youngest is 6 I need to start pulling baby books that have no use as easy readers. Anything cool enough to hang onto will go into storage for grand kids. The rest will go to book swaps at school or the scout yard sale.
WilliamB says
Hey – boys like “girl” books, too!
becomingfrugal says
I agree about the space but please don’t limit your children’s books. It may take up space, but it’s space better used!! As a child, I escaped in books, I got them on sale, at library sales, for a nickel, etc. I LOVEd my books. If someone, including my parents took them away I would have mourned them and been upset with my parents. some things are worth removing from your life, but books are not, please let your kiddos keep the books!!
becomingfrugal says
I agree about the space but please don’t limit your children’s books. It may take up space, but it’s space better used!! As a child, I escaped in books, I got them on sale, at library sales, for a nickel, etc. I LOVEd my books. If someone, including my parents took them away I would have mourned them and been upset with my parents. some things are worth removing from your life, but books are not, please let your kiddos keep the books!! You are better served getting rid of toys. Encourage reading, encourage the value of books.
Lacey says
If they really are much-loved and re-read books, why not do some Pinterest searches for creative and decorative ways to keep and display them? Bookshelves lining the ceiling, books arranged by spine color in a rainbow, floating bookshelves, book stack end tables, etc. Of course purges will still be necessary, but if you really love and want and use something, maybe it’s better to keep it if you can achieve a practical space solution. 🙂
Lisa says
I agree with these two ladies! Speaking as a elementary teacher with a graduate degree in reading, one of the best things parents can do is fill their homes with books! Children need to see reading as something highly valued, especially by the adults they desire to emulate. We have books shelves that sit flush against the wall. They only stand out a few inches AND they allow the books to be facing forward (which is highly recommended for younger readers). We got them on a great deal at Pottery Barn but I have seen similar DIY ideas on Pinterest. I agree with trying to limit clutter, but books are the last thing I would suggest limiting in home. 🙂
Deb says
Great suggestions here — I too was a voracious reader as I grew up (still am). The only other suggestion I have to is to rotate them. Divide them up into 4 seasons….evenly divide/sort them into 4 totes — (Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall) — they don’t have to be seasonal books – but it is a helpful way to have 4 ‘labels’…Then on the 1st day of Spring – take them out — and put winter away, then on the 1st day of summer, pack the Spring away and take out summer. It seems like a brand new book all over again — we used to do this with toys and puzzles also when I worked in a daycare with my mom 🙂 It is easier to have 3 totes in storage and taking up less room in your active living area (overflowing bookshelves). Keep reading!!
Lisa says
That is funny Deb!! Guess it must really work of 2 of us are posting at the same time!! And I really need to do it with toys too!!! 🙂
Lisa says
We too have a lot of books!! HUNDREDS of them!!! What I had to do was box them up into boxes, then only keep one box out at a time. Every couple months, I switch to a different box and put the current ones away in the box. Rotation. For holidays I always pack those holiday books with the holiday they go with. So when I change the decor, I bring out some new holiday themed books. The Christmas books almost have a whole tote to themselves!!
Deb says
too funny — great minds think alike — we must have been typing at the same time Lisa!
Bobbi says
What a great idea! I did put all the fall and Christmas books together, but didn’t really divide all our books up into boxes. My oldest is 2 and just starting to like the more complex stories and we read a few books almost every night and throughout the day, but haven’t really been using a lot of the books because there are too many! I think we’d get more use out of the books by rotating them, even though they (almost) all fit on the bookshelf, it’s too full for us to really use all the books on a regular basis. (I have an intense love of children’s books and have been ordering from Scholastic since before I had kids so our book collection is a little excessive, but I haven’t yet figured out how to get rid of books since my kids are too little to know which ones they will really like and I grew up believing you can never have too many books and I still think that’s true to a certain degree!) Another project to add to my list of things to do while on maternity leave! (o:
MaryEllen@ImperfectHomemaker says
We do the same thing, Lisa. I can’t bear to get rid of them – I’ve just found so many irreplaceable ones at thrift stores. They stay in the attic boxed up, and every once in a while I’ll make a trip up there and pull out a few to read aloud to the kids.
hannah says
I really like the idea of keeping holiday themed ones with the holiday decor – great idea