As for books and bookshelves—
I have built-in shelving in my family room. There is a space for our 70-inch flat screen (yes, I realize this is strange since I’m not much of a TV person, but hubby likes it) and it is surrounded by shelves.
I have two shelves with old books that I have collected. Some were my grandfather’s.
Two shelves consists of books written by people I know (I had a father in law that was a published author) or have someone I know in them (I have family history that was published, and my older daughters have some poetry that was published, and one has research that was published). Also, old family Bibles and such from both hubby and I, plus an old family cookbook from hubby’s great-grandmother (with some interesting and sometimes slightly racy comments from his great-grandfather).
Then, there are a few hardback books on various shelves that I just love and won’t part with.
Only one shelf is “full”. The others are half full/only have a few volumes in them, as well as a few decorations, mostly small items from my grandmother, great-grandmothers, and great-great grandmothers.
In my bedroom, I have this ottoman that I use to get on and off the bed (its an unusually high bed). I keep some old paperbacks in it that I enjoy and can’t part with (and don’t want the whole world to know that I own. Or anyone, actually). Could this be a guilty pleasure?
This brings me to the current bane of my existence: the two rooms formerly known as the “formal living room/dining rooms”.
These two rooms are, thankfully, closed off from view. They used to be my school rooms when my daughter was younger, but as of recently, schooling looks different. I used to have need for lots of space for projects and books and “centers” for different subjects, but now she does more and more classes online and we just work in the kitchen.
Now, there are four bookshelves with various books on them that should be gone through again. The mice still occupy the room, as do the aquatic frogs and such. We use to have several fish tanks there, but only one, now.
I cleaned out tons of books from that room. Many are still in boxes in the basement. Many I have donated for the tax write-off. I want to go through the rest and get rid of a bunch more. The tax write-off is really good for books, surprisingly. Beats on-line selling, though I still sell the homeschool books online.
Summary:
So, I’m sure no one wants to read all of that, but I’m not erasing it because it took me a while to write!
To summarize, I donate books for the tax write-off and keep only what is important or a few guilty pleasure paperbacks.
I have way too many kids books still, that I need to go through and donate.
I have bookshelves in the family room for the good stuff, and bookshelves in the old school room for kids books.
I have five or six boxes in the basement that still need to be gone through.
Edited to add: I buy generally from used book stores of the used books on Amazon.
