Now that you have completed your book de-cluttering, what can you do with all of those books you are no longer keeping? (I have 27.) Here are some ideas.
Find a new reader in a friend when you pass on your old treasures to be enjoyed by someone else. You can have a special box of books that friends can browse through when they visit, or simply e-mail them with the titles. Since books are inexpensive to mail by media rate, consider sending some to long distance friends as well.
If you don’t have many friends with the same taste as you do, consider passing your books along through Freecycle.org.
Make some money for new books by selling them to a local used book store. No, you won’t get what you paid for them new, but you’ll probably get enough cash or credits to pick up a bunch of new titles. Supporting local bookstores is a great thing to do.
You can also sell books online, through Amazon.com or Half.com. Check out these sites to see if your books are in demand.
If you are into the thrill of swapping books and have the room for new books, consider a book swapping site, such as PaperBackSwap.com or BookCrossing.com. These sites allow you to get credits for mailing books to others and then use those credits to request books of your own.
Donating books is a great option. They are sure to get new life that way and brighten someone’s day. Some good places to donate include thrift stores, the library (even if the library already has copies of your books, they can sell the extras in a library book sale that will still benefit the library and allow it to pay for services such as story times, or the latest new books).
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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