So tell me, now that it’s February, how are all of those New Year’s resolutions going?  You know, the vows you made to declutter and get organized this year?  My husband and I hit the ground running New Year’s weekend and let me just say, it’s been riveting!

It’s not that we are hoarders or disorganized people in general, but until we moved into our current house, we had relocated several times.  As a result, there were a large number of boxes that just never got unpacked, and just kept moving with us from home to home.  And since we are fortunate to have more than ample storage in our house, tackling what I like to call the “black hole” never was much of an issue.  We’ve still got a long way to go, but I am confident THIS IS THE YEAR!

One item that was contained in many of our boxes, was an (over) abundance of books.  My husband’s plan was to build a huge bookshelf to house these on.  This would have been a fine idea, but as we were going through these boxes and I saw with my own eyes how many books were actually there, (mostly his) I was like, “SERIOULSY????  “When in your lifetime are you ever going to read all of these books, and more importantly, why?  I get why you’d want to keep some, but in the interest of being reasonable, let’s be selective here.”  He ultimately agreed that I had a point (of course, he did!) and this brings me to my latest “jem.”  Oh, you’ve missed the jems, haven’t you?

I was recently told about a site called Cash 4 Books.  Here’s the 411 on that.  You go to the site and enter the books you have, by their ISBN number.  The title of the book comes up, and it tells you if they are currently buying that book, or not. If they are, it goes into your cart.  You can add as many books as you like.  At the end, you checkout, and print out a mailing label.  You package the books up, and take them to be shipped.  Cash 4 Books pays for the shipping, and then sends you a check for the books.  Win – Win!!!

Other than a little time, it costs you NOTHING!  Now realistically speaking, depending on what books you have, they do not buy everything, and when they do, it may not be much money.  But a few bucks here and there adds up, and could be worth it because it again, costs you NOTHING!  You have already sorted through them and decided to part with them, so the leftover books that are not bought by them, can be donated to libraries, charities, etc.

Worth a shot?  Here’s one example I just had to share.  I recently told my sister in law about this site.  The next week she was over my house and told me she had gotten rid of a bunch of books on my recommendation, some textbooks she had, and a few others as well.  She made well over 100 bucks, which she in turn used to buy a NOOK.  How’s that for a double score????  Talk about a WIN!  Not only did she get the books out of her house, she bought a device that allows her to never have to have them enter her home again!  Ahh, technology today!  If I had more time to actually read, I would totally invest in one of those bad boys.

Now, go clean out your book shelves!  You know you are never going to read that Philosophy text book again ~ be honest, you didn’t even read it when you took the class that required you buy it in the first place!!!