Culling Your Home Library

Let’s take some time to talk about your home library.

• Do you have so many books you no longer have shelf space for all of them?
• Have they spilled over onto chairs and tables, or in piles on the floor?

Too many books create a great deal of visual clutter. It’s time to assess.

This particular project may take awhile, so set aside the time. It will be worth it.

First, I suggest that you gather all the books together in one place. Then begin with a pile system sorting the books by category: fiction, reference, non-fiction, biographies, cookbooks, etc.

Wow, that was a big job in itself!

Every bibliophile thinks that all books are sacred. However, you don’t have to own every tome you have ever read.

Start with the reference books. I’m sure some of them are obsolete, technology has changed so much that any reference book older than five years is probably out-of-date. Recycle them. If they are hardback remove cover and recycle pages with regular paper. If they are paperback they can go just as they are.

Move on to the fiction pile.

Are any of the books “comfort” books, books you’ve read over and over?

You can keep those. Evaluate the rest, maybe you didn’t even like it that much. Nursing homes, senior centers and some retirement communities would be delighted to have them, donating is a good way to recycle books.

This same process should be applied to all the piles.

If you have never and probably will never make a single recipe from a cookbook, give it away. When this culling process is done you will have more shelf space, dusting will be easier and you will have room for the purchase of a new book you can’t live without.

Recycle or Give Away!

Another resource you can use is The Baltimore Book Thing, Inc., website http://bookthing.org, they accept books, stamp them not for sale and anyone can go in and get a book for free.

Sorting Through a Lifetime of Stuff

Are you trying to deal with an inheritance?

Have you inherited a house full of a lifetime of furniture, memorabilia, collections and general household items. As a personal organizer I have helped many people with this problem. The process of going through the accumulations of a loved one can be daunting. It’s a vast, time-consuming and heart-wrenching thing to have to do. You can’t take it all home with you, you probably already have a house that is well-outfitted and probably full anyway.

What do you do with all this stuff?

After the initial process of discarding items that you know are not saleable, then what about all the rest. There are many charitable organizations (Good Will, Disabled Veterans or The Salvation Army) that will accept donations which will then be tax deductible.

What remains are the things that meant something to your family member. That is really the problem area. If you don’t want to keep them yourself or give them to someone else in the family there are resources you can use. There are auction houses in the Baltimore area that will come to the home and evaluate the value of these things. They can then schedule a home auction to sell large pieces of furniture, china, silver, stemware and collectibles. They do the advertising and handle the actual auction. For this help they will take a percentage of the profits of the sales.

Another alternative is to try to sell them yourself on ebay or Craigslist. The profit will be yours but shipping headaches should be considered in the actual profit margin.

Whatever you choose to do, it won’t be easy and you may find that you need the emotional and physical support of someone else to help you make the best decisions.

Remember, help is out there.