Today I took on our biggest bookcase of 439 books. (One whole shelf contained sort of sorted Legos. I wouldn’t dare give those away.) I chose 193 books to give away which are pictured at right. Probably it’s more instructive to discuss what I decided to keep.

  • A few old college text books: I thought this would be an easy purge. I am giving away most of them but saved a few counseling classics and 8 books on sex – all for professional purposes of course.
  • High school yearbooks: I saved all our kids high school year books (even though my mom had discarded mine years ago. “Take THAT, Mom!”)
  • Bibles: You’d think one would be enough but I had 6 (5 were different translations so I’m giving away the duplicate one.) There were also 5 children’s Bibles. I kept 4 since they covered different age ranges and styles. I justify both kinds of Bibles because I sometimes write Bible studies and often give talks to parents about children’s faith development. I also kept some saint books for the same purpose.
  • Baby books: This is probably silly since I’m way past childbearing age but there’s no statute of limitations on grandparenting or visiting kids. I kept the Baby Names book because I sometimes like to know the meaning of names. I know, I know, I could find it online, but this is the first run through.
  • Much loved children’s books: I kept these because I was directed by our daughter to do so. (I probably would have kept them anyway, Heidi.)
  • Creative children’s activities. In addition to the Legos, we have “Gears-Go-Round,” a magnetic game, a rock collection, and a few other things that aren’t books but were kept near the children’s books section. Kids haven’t used them in awhile, but they are quality activities, and you never know…