How to Clear Out Your Book Collection

What Should I Ask Myself When I’m Moving Books?

1. Take a good hard look at every book you own. Be critical with yourself.
2. Do you still need those college textbooks more three editions old? Heck, we know you’re done with all that rote memorization and learning.
3. Are you really going to reread Fifty Shades of Grey or Twilight ever again? Think about whether or not you can stand to put yourself through such boredom and discomfort a second time.
4. Are you ever going to get through War and Peace? If you’ve picked it up before and put it right back down, maybe now is the opportunity to ditch it.
5. After you’ve pared down your collection, pat yourself on the back!
6. You can try selling books through Amazon, especially college textbooks that have kept their value.
7. Everything else, such as classic literature or paperback novels, can be a lot harder to unload. They usually sell for a cent plus shipping on websites like Amazon because there are so many of them floating around the market. Additionally, they’re easier to just pick up at the local library, so the incentive to buy is very low.
8. Consider donating some of your books to a homeless shelter or underprivileged school—make sure to weed out Fifty Shades of Grey first, though!
9. If you’re a big supporter of your local library, you can definitely donate to them as well. Depending on their current collection, they might decide to either add your materials to their catalogue or save them for an upcoming book sale that they organize.
10. With the books that you have left, try organizing them by length and width to make packing easier.
11. Stack them in your book boxes.

Voila! You’ve hopefully shrunken a huge stash of books down to something manageable. Your move will be a lot easier now, and your new home won’t be anywhere near as cluttered as your old home was!

Learn more about the different types of moving boxes.