Comments on: How Decluttering My Son’s Books Brought Me to My Knees

By: A Silver Desk Before & After

A Silver Desk Before & After — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:32:05 +0000

[...] project that’s been limping along at my house is the reorganization of my 17-year-old son’s room. It happens in fits and spurts and is motivated more by me than my [...]

By: Monica

Monica — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:19:59 +0000

As a child growing up in the Northeast in the early 70′s, my mom was able to buy beautiful hardcover story books from the Weekly Reader press. I made sure to keep my favorites from then, as I was a sentimenal child, and read them to my little girl now! Glad to see that some favorites that were lost to me can still be purchased used on Amazon from other sentimental people! “Christina Katerina and the Box,”We Were Tired of Living In A House,” “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs,” The Corgiville Fair, “The Secret Garden” and “The Little Princess,” and all the “Little House” books. All these books had wonderful illustrations that inspired my love of drawing. My daughter spends hours looking at the illustrations.

By: Joyfully Green

Joyfully Green — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 22:31:05 +0000

Great topic! After I read a book called Simplicity Parenting, I followed the authors’ suggestions and got rid of all the books that were basically just licensed merchandise/tie-ins from kids’ movies and shows. I donated them, and my kids haven’t even mentioned them since, let alone missed them. They have plenty of wonderful, classic books that are not part of marketing machines from major studios. We also get a lot more of our books from the library now, so that we can test-drive them and only buy our very favorites. That goes for my husband and for me as well–not just the kids!

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 05:52:42 +0000

Yes, the decluttering of my boys’ rooms shatters me.

We hang on to these thins, but they’re just torture to look upon them.

And yet? IT’s the memory of it all.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 17:04:45 +0000

Absolutely spot on to keep the Susan Coopers. I always want to read The Dark is Rising this time of year.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 04:58:03 +0000

Wow, this post really shocked me because my grandmother’s middle name is Zilpha. I’ve never heard of another Zilpha. When I checked out Zilpha Keatly Snyder site you linked to, I was surprised that she wrote The Egypt Game. For some reason, I remember reading that as a child but surprisingly didn’t even remember the author’s name.
I’ll have to call my Grandma. I bet she’ll get a kick out of this.

By: Greenstrivings

Greenstrivings — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 04:54:28 +0000

My mother saved many of our childhood favorites and last year sent them to me for my children, who, unfortunately, have almost zero interest in them. I think #1Child picked up one of the Little House books, but that was about it. I’m keeping the books, though, in hopes that the children come to their senses some day soon.

And yes, even decluttering their board books, chewed upon though they were (literally!), was really difficult for me, despite the fact that we were moving halfway across the country to a smaller home and really needed to purge … It was just too hard to get rid of Jamberry and Jesse Bear.

By: Rachel W.

Rachel W. — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 04:08:44 +0000

My daughter didn’t like to be read to when she was younger so I never had any sentimental associations with her books. She was more of a toy player and tv watcher (yes, at the same time). Over the past three years, she has become a reader with a preference for manga, John Green books, and post-apocalyptic fairy tales. She does her own clutter-purging which saves me both time and emotional energy. I’m grateful she has the ability to declutter at 14. (It is also sometimes surprising considering she was a slob and a pack rat until about age 10.)

By: Katy

Katy — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:45:50 +0000

That is an incredible gift! I wish you were my kids’ aunt!

Katy

By: Aimee

Aimee — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:36:05 +0000

Hi Katy,

First, thanks for the powerful post yesterday…it has made me think all day.
Secondly, I also connected a lot with today’s post because of my Christmas project that I have been working on the past couple months that I thought you would appreciate! My idea started when I saw a pin on pinterest of the 100 Best Children’s Chapter Books. I have a 10 year old nephew who loves to read. I decided to try to collect as many books as possible that were on the list to give to him for Christmas by getting them from used books stores/thrift shops/my own collection, etc. I never thought in a million years that I would have been able to get as many as I have in such a short time. I have 82 of the 100 so far! The cost has averaged about $1/book. I typed up the list with a challenge and I am calling it the 100 Book/100 Buck Challenge. When he has read them all, I am going to give him $100. I think he would do it for free, but I thought this would make it even more exciting. My plan is to continue the challenge down the line to my next nephew, then my son, niece, etc as they get older. It has been so much fun collecting the books so far, I get pretty excited when I can check another one off my list!
Thanks for challenging us, your readers, to think about our purchases and be creative with our gift giving! Sincerely, Aimee