Carla (a reader from S. Florida) wrote us the following inquiry:
"Back when my kids were young we purchased a set of beautiful encyclopedias. They really are nice. Color photos and gold leafing...
Anyway, our kids are grown and have moved out of the house and these beautiful books take up 4 feet of space in my office.
I have tried to get rid of them in many ways:
-- The used book store did not want them. They said they would not sell.
-- They did not sell on E-Bay or www.CraigsList.com (my daughter laughed and asked me who would want outdated reference material from 1967?)
-- I tried my local library and grade schools and they did not want them.
-- Heck! I even put listings on www.FreeCycle.com just asking someone to come get them for nothing. That did not work.
I can't throw them away - We spent a lot of money on them and they are beautiful books. Any ideas?
Well Carla, have hope! You can recycle those books. Here are 2 possibilities:
Organizer Judith Kolberg suggests donating to the Salvation Army:"They in turn will donate the books to a recycler who assures that the entire book gets ground up. The books are recycled into cardboard and other low grade paper and not dumped in the landfill. . . the books are re-born into something useful."
This is fabulous if the Salvation Army in your area will play the go-between. Call your local chapter to find out before you take them.
Donate to a Local Day Care Facility
Grade schools will not take the encyclopedias because they are no longer valuable or useful as a reference book. (The information in them is partially accurate, but we learn and correct our reference information on an ongoing basis -- for example, I grew up learning that Pluto was a planet, but my son is taught that it is not...)
Day Cares or Pre-Schools don't use your old reference materal for reading. Instead, they take the books and alow the children to practice cutting or pretend reading. (This is a great place for your used family-oriented magazines too.)
What have you done with your used reference books? What de-cluttering questions do you have? Share below!
To your success!
@StephCalahan
