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What criteria did you use when deciding which books to take with you to you moved to your retirement home, or when you decided that it was time to seriously 'downsize' and/or get rid of excess "stuff"? And are you happy with your decision?
What I have done up to now is to "collect" books for a while and then, about every three years or so, I donate the ones I know I won't read again, but now I am hesitating about the 50 or so books that I haven't read in at least ten years, but that I enjoyed very much the last time I read them. (Most of these I have read at least three times.) My husband has about the same number of books I do, plus we have also collected about 50 or so cookbooks that we now very seldom use, thanks to the Internet. plus we also have a set of encyclopedias published in the early 80's that I think might come in useful if the Internet ever goes down for a long time, so we are looking at possibly moving about 200 books altogether. This is a long distance move, so I don't want to take any books that we probably will never read again.
(But, please, no suggestions about E-books, Kindles, etc. I know that many people love them, and they definitely save space, but I hate them and would never consider buying one for myself. To emphasize, I know they are GREAT for some people, but not for me.)
Thanks in advance!
P.S. I am putting this in the Retirement forum rather than the General Moving forum because 20 years ago, I would have taken all my books without even thinking about it. But now, as a senior, I don't want to have any more "stuff" than I actually want or need.
How much will it cost you to move them, and are they worth it to you?
I ended up keeping about 20-30 because I was able to take them in my car, and they were sentimentally important to me. I thought I might want to to read them at times when I was stuck on a couch all day (like I am now, recovering from surgery). But, if I had to pay a high amount for moveers to bring them, I might not have brought all of them.
Although we downsized a LOT, we decided to bring a lot of the items that we really felt torn over. On the theory that we could always give them away from here, if we decided to do that. We have some things in a box in the closet, and if they are still in that box after a year, out they go.
But there is also something to be said for using a move to get rid of things that you've been on a fence about, but that you probably won't ever use again.
ALL! I always take them ALL! Last time I boxed them up I had over 40 boxes just of books. I DO NOT ABANDON MY BOOKS!
I'm 60 and disabled. You can have my books when you pry them from my cold dead hands!
This,
My biggest trouble now is I cannot read them without a magnifying glass, but I keep them anyway. When I read I do so on a Nook where I can make the type bigger.
But I think it is important to hang onto books, both regular and instructive, such as how to do something books.
IF there ever comes a time of disaster when electronics are not available books will be in high demand.
Wow, that was the quickest I have ever had any replies from one of my posts, I think! Thanks!
About the cost of the move, we will be using U-Pack, and so cost will not be much of a consideration. A bigger consideration will be that we are moving to a smaller home without much storage space, and although we will have several bookshelf-lined walls, we will not have as much space for books (or anything else) as we do in our current home. However, I am sure that we could manage to find space for as many books as we do decide to keep.
Last edited by katharsis; 01-30-2019 at 11:30 AM..
When we moved, I only brought treasured cookbooks with me. I like novels etc, but get them from the library. I do not want to give them shelf space, but of course we are all different. If it costs more to move them, than to replace when in new location, I would get rid of them now.
I sell some of my kid’s books on Amazon recently, but when I moved, I donated lots of them. Right now, I keep about 50-100 books max. I tend to borrow from the library, if they don’t have it then I buy.
We did go through our books and deleted some-but we still have quite a library. We also use the Kindle for general reading now, but for art books and “coffee table” books that is a no go. We did eliminate many cookbooks. We did not downsize our living space- so that wasn’t a consideration in going through our books. We only wanted to move what we truly wanted to keep. If you can afford to move them and really love them-keep them.
I have a hard time getting rid of books and have them in bookcases all over my house. I couldn't get through them all if I started reading frantically today. I moved 1,000 miles and had to dispose of some but it was very difficult. Later, I went to the Am. Library Assoc. convention and came home with 65 books. I have a haunting feeling that somewhere in my house or garage or storage shed there is another box of books that I haven't unpacked becuse some are missing, When I keel over there will be a huge book sale at my house.
I disposed of any books that pertained to my former home state that were reference books (trees, birds, etc.) and some self-help and fiction books (I'm bayond help, anyway). I'm considering making one of those "little libraries" out by the road where neighbors can borrow or exchange books.
My daughter actually mailed five boxes of books through the postal service when she moved here long distance in her car and trailer. The mailman had a problem delivering the boxes in his little jeep but it worked.
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