(no subject)

[adair]

It's late on Friday, but I said it was a day I could post, so here we go.

I did my big declutter on Monday, moving 22 banker's boxes of books from my garage to another way across town for a book pickup by 3 Illinois prison librarians. 3Rs is a local organization that trys to get books for these libraries - Illinois provides them with NO money, and has not since 2001. I had been collecting books from want lists for about 8 months, and Tuesday was pickup day for them. They all took a good many books, but left plenty as well. My friend whose garage we used will need to get someone to haul them to Books to Prisoners, another organization we take part in, so we can possibly sell them at the fall book sale.

For your interest, fantasy series books are very popular. I managed to collect a complete set of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time for one library, and got a lot of other books for the others.

I have a pile of books for B2P and 3Rs in one corner of my living room. My next project is to sort these and get them moved either to a big plastic box in my garage or to the B2P sorting room. This last has to be done in stages, since I will carry them on the bus in big cloth bags and I can only do one or two of these at a time. I have a couple of stacks of the first to go assembled, and will carry them off on Tuesday.

Comments

[tanaqui]

Thanks for posting this - you inspired me to tackle some paperwork that needed sorting through and winnowing.

And thanks for sharing the details of the organisations sourcing books for prisoners - that sounds like a really great way to pass on second-hand books to people who will really appreciate them. But you must be very relieved to have those 22 boxes out of your house!

[adair]

I'm glad it served as inspiration. I think that's why Fred Moustafa wanted more posts. It made me think about more clutter removal and gives other people something to urge them as well.

Clearing paperwork is hard. I have waaaay too much myself, and am reluctant to discard some things that maybe I could let go, like 10 year old tax returns and old bank statements. Congratulations on taking one more step in the never-ending process.

Yes, it is a relief to get the boxes out of my garage and some on to prison libraries. We work hard at getting them books they want, not just anything people discard. Illinois has a fairly active group both for prison libraries and for Books to Prisoners, but it is a lot of work, and people sometimes just want to donate junk. There are other organizations in other states, but some are more successful than others, and all operate with little money and not a lot of public support. This is a college town, which helps, and we have volunteers who promote it.

[fred_mouse]

You are indeed correct that I'm hoping that more posts will motivate me so that I have more to report. My house is very much a work in progress/overcrowded space, and I really need to get moving on that.

[fred_mouse]

That is impressive!

And thank you for posting - I've completely dropped the ball on this week, so I'm glad that at least you had it together

(and yes, I know this is from a week ago).