I have a problem. Although I didn’t know it was a “problem” until I was told …by my husband. On repeated occasions.

Other women sneak in clothes or makeup or new pieces of jewelry when their husband isn’t around. Not me. I sneak in kids books. It’s a rush…

Picking up a new book, turning the crisp pages and meeting the characters. It’s impossible for me to understand why he doesn’t feel the same. In fact he’s the absolute opposite for him and absolutely hates books. (speechless dry mouth here) I totally don’t get it.

So as I was flipping through my son’s Scholastic Book Order, another guilty pleasure of mine, and selected a few books I wanted to order…but I knew I needed to check his collection to make sure I didn’t already get them. Yes, I have multiple copies of certain books because I don’t remember what I have already added.

Let’s just say I need a better way to organize his books.

I sat down in front of his shelves and started digging through. It was the perfect opportunity to get out all of the books I wanted to transition to my younger son’s room. Cue the Board Book pile…

Hucklebaby and I were a great team going through the books and deciding which ones he wanted to move to the baby’s room. I wanted him to make the choice on which ones he was ready to share. He was as ready for this project as I was.

I had a revelation this year when it comes to books … and that is you have to let them go!!! Get rid of them!!! Yes…YOU…book hoarder… get rid of them.

So think about it this way – you go into a thrift store packed with stuff – how much of that is actually quality? Just because it’s there doesn’t mean it’s good, that you will want it or that you will ever use it. It’s just taking up space.

The same with books.

If you aren’t going to read it, it’s old (and not in a good way), or you haven’t touched it in years for whatever reason…let it GO! All of that old stuff is just getting in the way of the quality material you have.

We started small with this pile. The get rid of pile.

Yep. I remember those books from when I was a kid. Yes, these were my actual books. It’s time I let them go. I can build better memories with books that are actually of interest to my kids. I can’t force my old books on them just because they are my old books. At the end of the day they are still ratty old books.

Goodbye Old Mother Hubbard.

If this is what the spines of your books look like — get rid of them! Make room for others. These have lived a good life, it’s OK…it’s time…

I made three piles. One to donate, one that are past the point of donation and can be used for some sort of craft and books to give to Hucklebaby’s teacher.

His book shelf still has a good amount of work that needs to be done, but I made enough room to order my handful of books from Scholastic…and isn’t that the whole reason I started the clean out. (Wink, wink)

I’m on the lookout for cheap shelving for books for the baby’s room to keep this project going and organize them so they don’t look so Hoarder-esk. But in all seriousness I think the only way I can organize all of the books is to get a bigger house.