I realised this month, as I bought so many books, that I was running out of room for my books. I have no idea why it hasn’t hit before but somehow it did this month. I have so many books and I have no idea what to do with them.
But after looking at my shelves for such a long time I thought there are only two ways to get more room, so more books can come in, be pretty and stay with me.
Unhaul?
February was a month for unhauling books for some people and I thought of doing it myself. I have never done an unhaul before, but I know there are books lying around that I will never ever read. They are taking up space that I need and space that I don’t think they deserve to be in.
I know there are some books on my TBR that I want to get rid of I might think about doing an unhaul in the next coming months. I will definitely be posting a post about the books I give away.
Buy more shelves?
Now, this the smarter option out of the two. I would love new shelves but I honestly have no room for them. Should I clear space of things I don’t use in my room and then do it? My room is quite small so maybe getting new ones aren’t a good idea. But the one some of my books are stored isn’t that noticeable so it seems I have less than I actually do.
Book Buying Ban?
Another option instead of unhaul is going on a book buying ban. I have never been able to go on a ban. It has never worked for me. But maybe this year could change that. I have a large TBR (200 ish books unread), so obviously I’m not without books. But how do you decide to go cold turkey on books when there are so many new good ones coming out?!
What do you do when you have no space for any more books? Do you go on a book buying ban, unhaul or buy more shelves? Comment below and let me know what your tips are.
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Till then readers!
ItsCJStark
February 23, 2018 @ 3:52 pm
I used to have a lot of books – about 3500. And then I moved house and never again am I moving 3500 books! It nearly killed me. I also wanted to de-clutter so I simply gave away anything I knew I was not going to read again. I gave to charity shops and community libraries etc.
Now I probably only have about 200 physical books. I bought a kindle and went digital. So much easier. I’m a lover of ‘stories’, rather than ‘books’ so it suits me just fine.
I did impose a book buying ban on myself recently because I was spending too much money on books. One way I found that helped with this was to create tbr-owned and tbr-dno lists on Goodreads. Now, when I see a book that interests me, instead of immediately buying it, I add it to my tbr-dno list. It has helped me get my tbr-owned list down a bit. Every now and then I go onto my tbr-dno list and remove those that no longer appeal to me. 🙂
Amy
February 23, 2018 @ 5:13 pm
Where did you store those book?! Was your walls covered in them?
See I have a kindle but sometimes it doesn’t appeal to me when I read on it. I have no idea but I prefer holding a book. I might try to turn some series into kindle books.
Thanks for tip about Goodreads. I will definitely do that this weekend!
ItsCJStark
February 23, 2018 @ 5:26 pm
Pretty much I just had books everywhere. I lived in an open plan apartment and in the living space I just had a desk with pc, and a chair. Everything else in the room were books and bookshelves! Once I filled the bookshelves I started piling them up, and ended up with a pile 3 books deep, about 8 foot long and about 6 foot high! It was a major fire risk XD
Amy
February 23, 2018 @ 5:27 pm
My God. You had your own book cave.
ItsCJStark
February 23, 2018 @ 5:31 pm
I really did. And dust induced asthma! Now I have empty space, but I can breath. XD
LaRonda @ FlyingPaperbacks
February 23, 2018 @ 7:17 pm
I never know how to go about unhauling books. I’ve never done it before, so every time I look at the clutter I think “where are you supposed to go??” XD
Amy
February 24, 2018 @ 11:05 pm
This is my problem right now 😂😂
Ashley Rae
February 24, 2018 @ 12:13 am
I would buy more shelves. 😂
withloveleighann
February 24, 2018 @ 11:00 pm
Ahh I wish I had that problem! I really need to read more!! I like hard copies!
Lauren (@slayingbooks)
February 26, 2018 @ 5:06 pm
It was hard, but about two years ago I made the brave decision to box up about 70 of my YAS and donate them to my old high school. I remembered being in high school (2004-2008) and hating how my school library didn’t have any good books, they were all like from the 80s. It felt good donating. Looking back now, I can’t even remember the titles of half those books. Apparently I didn’t need them as badly as I thought I did. These days, I only buy books I’ve library loaned and loved, or books that are from all time favorite authors.
Hiro
March 13, 2018 @ 3:48 pm
In my parents’ house, I have so many books that I can’t even keep track of them when they start popping up from random closets, space between couch, shelves, etc. Here, in my small NYC apartment, I made the conscious choice to not buy any more physical books, because I just don’t have enough space for them! I’ve gone fully digital for most things, and haven’t looked back! I have plenty of space, especially because I rent most of the books I read via the library, and when I REALLY like it and want a hard copy, I just buy those. So the only books I have are ones I’ve read and liked enough to want a physical copy. It makes for a much better-curated library!
Or when I read something and I like it, and I happen to have bought a physical copy because they didn’t have a digital copy, I would give it away to a friend who would also benefit from it. It’s worked out great in the past few years. 🙂
I also wrote an article a little while back on how I read most of my books for free, without the space: http://twistedpaths.org/free-books/
Empress DJ
March 29, 2018 @ 4:00 pm
Every time I try to pare down my TBR, I squander hours 😉
Saturday Nite Reader
March 29, 2018 @ 5:30 pm
You can be a book fairy with some of them?! Its super fun: https://www.facebook.com/bookfairiesworldwide/
If you want a few stickers, I can certainly send some to get you started.
bookwormscornerblogspot
March 29, 2018 @ 6:07 pm
I love the Book fairies idea.
Amy
March 29, 2018 @ 7:17 pm
I’ll check that link out tonight. Thanks for the suggestion
Heidi
March 29, 2018 @ 11:41 pm
I get rid of some books time to time- especially ones I don’t get around to reading for over a year.
terriluvsbooks
March 30, 2018 @ 1:45 am
Before I had kids, I had a lot of books. I also had a home office and an office at work. Then I had kids and as they grew so did the amount of stuff we had in the house. I moved from California to NC with fourteen boxes of books. With my first unhaul, I ended up with over 300$ credit at the used bookstore. Which I don’t know why I went there because that’s a place you normally go to trade in books for more. So now I mostly just buy ebooks. I can carry my whole TBR with me all the time if I want.
kisslikeagirl
March 30, 2018 @ 2:04 am
We have a couple Little Free Libraries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Free_Library) near where I live. I always feel good leaving books there.
Megan @ Ginger Mom
April 2, 2018 @ 2:37 am
Oh, what a conundrum 🙂 I faced a similar problem this month. I have about 30 books sitting around that don’t fit on my shelves but the wall space I have doesn’t allow for another shelf where it is without some major moving of furniture. I know I should probably do an unhaul…giving books away is just so HARD! Good luck 🙂