What to do with all those books?

[Yorio]

We'll definitely have to down size when we move full time to TV. If you love books, this is a very hard decision. There was a time when I kept all the Life issues. There was a time when I kept all the National Geographic issues. In recent, I kept all the Wine Spectator issues. I did overcome anxiety attacks and there are none left of those magazines, I think. I am o.k with that but books are more difficult. To the book lovers out there, how did you handle this situation? Practically all of my books are non-fiction so I can't just go to Kindle. If I bring all the books, would I be able to donate to TV Library? At least, then I can get access. :cryin2:

[skyc6]

I decided to donate many of my books to the Friends of the Library, which supports the purchase of books for the library. Those in good shape can be put into circulation.
They are heavy and costly to move, if the weight of the household enters into the move cost. I have read them, so except for a small collection for book shelves, I decided to extend their life and share them with others.
After I was done, it was a good feeling!:thumbup:

[elevatorman]

Try Ebay or Amazon. People will buy anything.

[Yorio]

Thanks. Guess you are right. They would be too heavy and costly to move. Have started to give away gradually to churches, charity organizations and schools but it is taking me forever and breaking my back lugging them and donating. Thought perhaps library will come and pick them up.

[getdul981]

We had several yard/garage sales before we moved. Lots of books were sold. One day in particular, a storm came up all of a sudden and everything got wet. As a result lots of books and some clothes and other things had to be trashed.

[cybermuda]

My favorite library in TV is the Mark Twain one in Paradise, and they are always grateful for donated books, DVDs etc.


Well, I say "always", but they are getting ready to replace the carpets and will have to move everything into storage, so if you can hold off for a couple of months...

[dfn8tly]

I understand your predicament completely. When I moved from California to Illinois I had every issue of National Geographic for the last 35 years! Those I gave to a neighbor. When I moved from Illinois to TV I gave several collections to my local library, about 300 volumes. The rest, about 2,000 came with me. I arranged a deal with United Van Lines that had me paying by volume instead of weight. This saved a lot of money.

Try a variety of things if you must part with your collection and good luck!

[red tail]

try craigslist....flea markets buy all sorts of that kinda stuff !

[Yorio]

Thanks for all the advice. If I can't fit all the books reasonably well in our TV home, then I'll donate to Mark Twain library. Making a deal based on volume rather than weight makes sense as delivery people were definitely complaining when they had to carry so many cartons of books to our place in VA. Don't know about E-bay, Amazon or Craiglists. Was told I have to be savvy regarding pay pal, etc. We thought of checking those groups to get rid of dining sets, living room items etc. But don't know. I put all my music into my I-pod so technically I don't need all those CDs and LPs. Thankfully, no 78s. I wish I had Alladin or a magic wand to clear them. I know of a friend who had to purchase a bigger home in TV just for the sake of the furnitures. We don't want to do that. Isn't the whole purpose of moving to TV to start a new life with a carefree lifestyle?:smiley:

[swrinfla]

Yorio:

If there's a fund-raising book fair or similar activity in your area, consider donating your library to them. I packed up 15-20 boxes of my late wife's collection for the same book fair at which she'd bought most of them (usually at less than 50 cents a book), and they were thrilled.

I kept only those which appealed to me.

I admit, though, to saving the National Geographic despite knowing that it is one of the hardest magazines to pass on to someone/something else!

I recall when the advertising agency for which I worked back in the
mid-1960's wanted to get rid of some 30 years worth of NG when moving to new office quarters, we managed to find a small community ("junior") college which took them, gleefully.

Had my late wife been alive to move to TV with me, I know that we'd have brought all the books along with us!

SWR
:beer3:

[John_W]

We had a similar problem but with record albums. I started collecting in the 60's and had over 3,000 and had moved those heavy things many, many times.

This time since we were downsizing to a courtyard villa, I knew it was finally time to get rid of them. I cherry picked 350 of them and took them to a local record/CD/DVD store and they gave me $300. I sold another 200 in a yard sale for about $100. The remaining 2500 or so, I had to just discard in a dumpster we rented to throw out a lot of accumulated stuff from over the years.