I wrote at the end of January that I needed to work on decluttering my books.
My updated goal was to remove 180 books by the end of May. This should, in theory, clear up enough space that I would no longer need my tall bookshelf, and could make more room in my home office.
As we left the last count in January, I had just pulled 26 more books (they were all distributed to/foisted on friends), plus my MKSAP (given to the residency program). My total at that time was 89 books out of the house since I first started working on this challenge.
How have I been doing since?
I had 3 runs to the library to donate books:
- Once for 6 books of mine and 17 of my husband’s (I’m not counting these in the total, but I am so excited to have inspired him to get rid of unwanted items!).
- Once for 11 books and 1 audiobook (plus 1 of my husband’s books that got left at home by accident).
- Once again for 29 books of mine.
I also put 2 books in the local Little Free Libraries; I might check on them in another week or two to see if they’ve moved on to a new home.
That’s a total of 49 of my books leaving the house.
There have been a few setbacks: I kept one of my husband’s books. He asked me to keep 4 of mine that were on the chopping block. I read a book from my TBR (to be read) pile that I figured I should give away, and now I’m keeping it for a bit longer. I brought home 2 books from the library sale. But overall, I’d say I’ve been making progress on clearing out books.
So far, by the end of March, I’m up to 138 books out of the house, with 42 more to go. I’m not 100% positive I’ll make the count–after all, I’ve already gone through my stash a few times–but with only 42 to go, I feel that’s a number I could manage.