2026 OneThing #3 - Downsize Boxes of Books 2 to 1

I actually started with "Read & Pack Away 2025 Christmas Cards," but I just did it on Sunday afternoon last week, so I picked this one.

Louie had gotten two boxes of books out of the garage attic and I thought it would be easy to downsize them. It wasn't. I love books and I love to read! But I made this my goal and I don't read as many hours a week as I used to (and I get things from the library often). To read every book in my house would take a really, really long time.

So I took books out and put them in piles: ones I really want to read, ones I want to read but may watch the movie instead, ones I want to read but if they're still sitting around in two years I can donate, and a few that I definitely wanted to keep so I removed books from my bookshelf to donate instead.

Here's what I had to bring to Half Price Books:

Some of these books are ones I had on my bookshelf when I taught English in the 1990s. Others were ones I had rescued from library weedings. Some I don't even know where they came from but I just don't need to keep every book I've ever encountered!

After I was done with that, Louie brought a third box down from the attic rafters. I may need to get really vicious about what I keep and what goes. Last night, I offered my son and grandsons first pick on Captain Underpants and similar type books and Great Illustrated Classics. There are still plenty left. I plan to finish box #3 and perhaps remove some more from my bookshelves. I have a lot of books!

Louie retrieved three or four books from my box of rejects. Bird books and SciFi / fantasy still call to him. I also have three stacks of books for other people in my life to consider.

I helped a friend last week and got two bags of books from her to donate to Half Price Books. Between those and my box, I got about $32 and quite a few books they wouldn't take! 

 

I'll probably drop the rest off at a Better World Books dropbox. I had thought about putting them in Little Free Libraries, but there are too many to get rid of.

Declutter #39 - Random Stuff

This was not a stellar week for getting rid of stuff. And no photos. I'm writing on Wednesday instead of Sunday. I am NOT in top form!

 

This past week, I removed some people from my contacts list. (eContent counts toward decluttering!) I don't often go through my contacts list and remove people unless they've died and their info is no longer useful on this side of eternity. But sometimes I realize that I keep people's info even though we haven't been in contact in a long time. "Just in case." 

 

But really, how likely am I to need to contact someone with whom I've not spoken in several years? And if I really did want to contact them for some reason, couldn't I reach out to a mutual friend with whom I'm still in contact? Not likely, and yes. So I've deleted a few people from my contacts list. (As of this writing, I have 408 people in my Google Contacts.)

 

I hope that doesn't sound too callous! But communication is a two-way street. I simply don't have the time and energy to reach out to and connect with everyone I've ever known.

 

I also had some books and intended to drop them off at the Better World Books drop box in New Prague. When I went to Coborn's today, I realized that their dropbox is gone! So I put them in a fairly full Little Free Library near my house. (I was tempted to take a book out, but I have a LOT of books right now!) I just checked and my closest BWB dropbox is in Shakopee.

I had some beads that had fallen off some bracelets. It's hard for me to throw things in the garbage if they could possibly find another purpose. A friend at church enjoys making bracelets (and donated lots of them for our Operation Christmas Child box packing). I asked her if I could give her random beads and she said yes!

I try to ask people if they want things instead of just giving them items because I want to get rid of them. Like I said, it wasn't a super declutter week, but I did make small progress.

 

 

Declutter #37 - books and gifts

 I'm actually doing a blog entry early! This is intended for October 22, but I have a "home" day and I'm trying to get lots of stuff done. Sometimes I think this is less about decluttering and more about just plain old getting rid of stuff. We have a LOT of stuff.

My husband claims I have many more books than he has. I don't plan on counting all of "his" and "mine" to see who has more . . . but I disagree with him. And I read a lot more than he does! Anyhow, we own a LOT of books. A box recently came out of the garage attic and I was excited to dig in. But they were almost all his SciFi / Fantasy books. Sigh. We currently have SIX boxes of his books in the basement. And a full bookcase upstairs. And books at the lake. And more in the garage attic. And . . . what can I say? We like books!

But as I put HIS books in HIS book boxes, I pulled out some I had rescued from library weedings. I've not read these, but I am trying to remove things from my house that I no longer want. If I ever want to read these, I can get them from the library! (BTW, if you do not know me or my sweetheart, we get along great and tease one another about things like this.)

The other AHA! that I had this week was as I was ordering things to pack into Operation Christmas Child boxes. I ordered a few soccer balls with inflators. But I was using my spending money, because that was what I wanted to buy. I'd love to go shopping for lots of gifts for lots of kiddos! But we're trying to live within our means . . . and only brand new things are supposed to go into the boxes . . . and then I remembered! 

Many, many years ago, I bought a bunch of these little Beanie Baby roosters. The intention was to gift them at a United Cursillo event (now called Unidos en Christo). They are new, they are cute, and they are now going to church for our OCC packing event!

 

I will probably use my next week's spending money to buy more little things . . . I'm so blessed and I want to bless others.

Declutter #21 - books

I love books, but I have too many of them! It's getting easier to say goodbye to them - which is part of why I'm pushing myself to do these declutter blog entries. Motivation!

I've had the first book for several years. I used it on 5/21/23 as part of an illustration in church about missions. After church, I did a skim read. There's some good stuff in there, but I no longer identify with being "crazy busy." That isn't my life anymore!

I had started reading the Chabon book a long time ago. Seemed interesting and has great reviews. But only on page 48, I realized that I don't want to invest my time in reading it. Away it goes!

The third book is one I started to read several years ago. Besides being an award winner, it is compared to Shakespeare's King Lear thematically. But . . . I just didn't like it. I've thought about putting it on the top of my reading pile several times, but I decided to just donate it. Yay! All three of these will get dropped off at either a Better World Books drop or put into a Little Free Library.

The first three books are ones that have occupied space on my shelf for quite a while, but I've rarely ever accessed them. The fourth one I read and blogged about, so all of these were ready to find a new home. I brought them to The Recovery Church in St. Paul when I went for a Minnesota Quilters meeting. I want to be a blessing to others, not just get rid of my stuff! I hope someone digs deeper into God's Word or is inspired anew to build their relationship with the Lord.

Donating Books

As I was clearing out old newspapers today, one article caught my eye. (Okay, lots of them did. But I want to make note of this one!) A woman named Lenore Gendron has donated tens of thousands of books to Hennepin County Medical Center for their Children's Literacy Program. Books are for patients and family members to enjoy while they are at the hospital and to take home if they wish. For people who have few books, this is a great way to promote literacy. The coordinator of the literacy program is Lynne Burke.

I am not currently getting rid of books, but I'll try connecting with this program when I go through the children's books that we are storing out in the garage.