Donation is supposed to be a magic word when you are moving as things disappear when you mutter it. Be advised it ain’t that magical because institutions that accept donations are (rightfully so) picky. I am amazed that most of them do not accept books and I guess they get a lot of crap any decent bibliophile would not touch and rather Fahrenheit 451 because of deteriorated conditions and even bugs.
The first thing I did when we pulled the move trigger was go through my book collection and figure what was coming with us and what was to be donated. To make it fast, I decided that if I had not read it in more than 5 years, it should be gone unless something else mattered. That has been my practice since I moved to the US hand having to leave about 2,000 volumes back in Venezuela, mostly things I read once and did not care to read ever again. Yes, I was a book hoarder but I am much better now and the Miami Dade Public Libraries have benefited.
Local Vet organization got almost 400 books, 95% of them in pristine condition which I hope it brings them a tidy sum. Average tax deduction is supposed to be $2.
And no, I did not count how many books end up going, but the pile was bigger the donations.
PS: If you are wondering if I will talk about moving guns and ammo, don’t . For obvious reasons, I ain’t sharing that till everything is fully secured at the destination.
Careful, moving companies will not move guns or ammo. I just went through that and had to load up the car and move it ahead of time.
We’re in North Middle Tennessee if y’all need help.
Every time we move and donate books it feels like selling the children.
Re moving guns and ammo, even if the moving company would do it, I would prefer to do it myself.
The last move, also, I really appreciated the Zanotti Armor safe. (Well, more of a security container.) Being able to break it down and reassemble it helped on multiple fronts.
In my first house I had a library of sorts in my basement. I had at least a dozen huge bookcases filled as well as books all over the house. When I moved to my second house I donated about 5 bookshelves worth and turned another 2 into the used book store. When I moved here to SC, we downsized so I no longer have a mancave room, I am down to just one large bookshelf. I seriously feel your pain.