De-Cluttering Week 15 - Children's Books

There is a big book sale coming up at the Merrickville United Church in May.  I've got way too many books so I thought I'd start weeding them out.  I have a terrible time parting with books though, so when my nine year old grandson came for a visit recently I gave him a job.  I hauled up several armloads of children's books that are stored in an old china cabinet in the basement,  and had him sort them into four piles:  books he liked; books he thought his little brother would like; books that were too young for either of them, but maybe their two year old twin cousins might enjoy; and books to send to the sale. 

He was really good at sorting them, though sometimes I was a bit surprised at which pile he put something into.  Once he got those piles established, I got some boxes and we packaged them up.  The books for the sale were easy enough, as were the books for the twins. 

There is a general rule though, at his house, that he's not supposed to bring things home, as he and his brother both have more books and toys than any kid actually needs.  I figured we could get the books back to his place if we did it a few at a time though. He sorted through his pile again.  There were some books that he had me put back in the basement because he said he really wants to read them but he'd do it later, however, he did manage to fill a small box full to take home with him.  Those were all for him to read now. 

I wanted him to do the same for his brother.  But he had other ideas. He thought those books should all go in the spare bedroom, so they would be there when the little one came for an over night stay.  I didn't think it would go over well if one kid went home with a box full of books and the other kid didn't get anything until his next visit, so I picked out a few to take to him. He was quite happy with the books I chose for him, especially since there was an old colouring book in the pile.  It didn't take him long to discover the colouring book also had a story line at the bottom of each page.  Even though he's still in kindergarten, he can read well enough that he quickly figured out what story it was too.  He ran off got get some art supplies and busied himself colouring in story pages until we went home half an hour later.

While I didn't get that cupboard empty yet, I did get rid of quite a few books, with others already designated to go to a new home sometime in the future.

We'll tackle the bottom part of the cupboard next time my grandson visits. I think there are games and puzzles down there.  I might even get to use the cupboard as my basement pantry if we keep this up.

Meanwhile, if you have any books you want to get rid of, the Merrickville United Church will be happy to accept them.  You can deliver them to the Merrickville Library, or drop them off at the Church  between 10AM and noon, or after 6:30PM on Wednesdays between now and the 1st of May.   Maybe you will even manage to make room to take home a few you haven't read during the sale that takes place during the three middle weekends in May.
 

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