Five Ideas of What to do with unwanted books?

Introduction on what to do with unwanted books

A few months back, I wrote a blog post about how to part with books. Below is a blog post about what to do with books once you’ve decided you no longer wish to keep them.

Many people struggle to part with books but knowing they will go to a good home and not to a landfill will make it easier to part with books.

Sell your unwanted books.

The first thing you could do with unwanted books is to sell them. This won’t make you rich but might give you a small amount of cash you could invest in any future book purchases or donate to a charity of your choice.

One place to sell books is your local second-hand bookshop. They are always on the lookout for high-quality books in good condition. Beware, however, that they will only take what they can sell.

Another way to sell books could be through Facebook Marketplace, Amazon or eBay. Keep in mind that it might take some work to upload the book information and take books to the post office once sold. Think about whether it is worth the hassle.

A third way to sell books is markets or car boot sales, especially if you have many. You might have to pay rent for a table or spot, but you will get loads of footfall and sell many in one day.

A different way to sell books is through online services such as We Buy Books. We Buy Books is an ethical and environmentally friendly business with an easy-to-use website for uploading books. According to their website, you must input the book’s ISBN number into their online calculator. Then, after scanning all the books, request free postage and packaging from them and send your readers off.

Ziffit is another online place to sell books. Their website states: “Doing good through business is at our very core; it’s what drives us to grow.” Ziffit says it sends none of its products to landfills but resells or recycles everything. It works similar to We Buy books in that you need to scan the barcode and send it to them for reselling.

Little Free Library

If you don’t want to sell your books, you could give them to a little free library. Little free libraries are scattered all over the towns and cities in the UK. I am sure they exist elsewhere in the world too. They can be found on the side of the road or in people’s front gardens and usually consist of small cabinets where anyone can leave books or take books they like.

However, many of these free libraries are pretty small, so it won’t work if you have many books.

Sometimes local libraries, cafes and pubs will also have places to leave books for people to take home or enjoy over a coffee.

Donating your unwanted books to charity

Donating your books to charity is a further option. Many of the UK’s charity shops are looking for good-quality books. If you have many books, it might be sensible to ring your local charity shop to check whether they take books before carting them all there.

Libraries, schools, nursing homes or prisons are other places that might take your unwanted books, but again check before making a trip out. I’ve found that libraries are very picky as to what they accept.

Also, make sure books are appropriate to where you are donating. For example, a nursing home will not likely want children’s books, nor will a prison.

Give Away your unwanted books

If you don’t want your books to go to strangers, you could think about giving books to family and friends. Books in good condition make excellent, low-impact presents. Perhaps your cousin is going to university and could go with your old history books, or your nephew has started cooking and needs books on baking.

Why not create a list of your books and send it around via email or WhatsApp and let friends pick what they want?

You could also swap books with someone you know. Why do we all need to own an individual copy of everything we read when we can share them with friends? Also, a fun way to discuss the book after both of you has read it.

Recycle

As a last resort, when you can’t sell books or donate them take them to your local tip; they will know how to recycle them. But, unfortunately, books can’t just be put in household recycling.

To get further ideas on how to get organised and more productive, check out my other posts here.

Need help with getting organised, contact me here, and I’d be delighted to work with you.

trabantbettina

Bettina Anna Trabant, Founder of Life Organised, your professional organising and decluttering service in East London. Eco-conscious minimalist and avid tea drinker,