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IT WOULD BE GREAT if my wife and I could stay indefinitely in the two-story colonial-style home where we raised our two children.
Right now, in our early 60s, taking care of the place doesn’t seem like a huge burden. The lawn is only a third of an acre and mowing it helps me stay in shape. Before I retired, we updated the kitchen and had a new roof installed. In the near term, we shouldn’t have any major maintenance issues to deal with. Still, I realize that someday—hopefully in the distant future—one or both of us might need to move to a smaller, more manageable living arrangement.
One aspect of downsizing would be particularly painful. In our family, we’re all readers and we’ve accumulated a lot of books. I count 10 bookcases scattered around the house, not including my daughter’s bedroom. She was a voracious reader in childhood and an English major in college. Her room is essentially a repository for hundreds of books, with some space left for a bed and a desk.
Sometimes, I run thought experiments about which books I’d take with me if, in later years, we had to move to a small apartment in a retirement community. It’s a tough exercise. I occasionally reread books and have a number of tomes that I use as reference works. Parting with a significant portion of my library would feel like losing part of my memory and shedding a piece of myself.
I was a reader from a young age, thanks to the encouragement of my parents, and I started taking out books from the local library when I was a wee lad. One quirky thing I’ve done over my adult years has been to collect books that were childhood favorites. I have titles such as The City Under the Back Steps, The Forgotten Door, Strange But True Baseball Stories and Ever Ride a Dinosaur? I’ve reread them all as a grownup. I don’t know if I’ll ever read them again, but having them reconnects me to some of the best days of my childhood. Would they make the cut in the great downsizing?
In my office, I have a bookcase dedicated to my theological library. In addition to various Bible commentaries and reference works, I have books that have significantly influenced my life. Some of the most transformational are Knowing God, Mere Christianity and The Fight. I would want to take many of these books if possible.
How about my financial library? I’ve assembled a set of classic books that includes titles such as The Millionaire Next Door, The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need, The Black Swan and Where Are the Customers’ Yachts? Most of these would probably be left behind. One caveat: In the unlikely event I’m still writing about personal finance at that point, I might want them for reference.
Using Shutterfly, I’ve put together several photobooks devoted to major vacations that my wife Lisa and I have taken. They don’t take up a lot of room and would need to go with me. The 20 or so thick photo albums from my children’s early years are more problematic. A proud dad, I went overboard documenting their lives. Hopefully my kids would take some if there’s no room for all of them in my new abode. I probably should consolidate the best of these albums into a greatest pics volume, but that’s easier said than done.
My classic literature and drama books don’t have to come with me. Most of them could be easily obtained from a library if desired.
I would have to pick and choose from my extensive collection of non-fiction general interest volumes. Would I want to read Freakonomics again in the retirement home? I doubt it, but books like The Forgetting or The Owner’s Manual for the Brain might continue to be of interest.
Among my history books, I’d choose a small number of my favorites that I’d be likely to reread. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England, The Endurance and A Distant Mirror would be in that select group.
Every year since Lisa and I got married, I’ve composed a Christmas letter sent to friends and family. We’re up to 32 Christmases together. I maintain a festive-looking looseleaf notebook containing all 32 letters in plastic sleeves. This volume serves as a brief family history. It’s definitely coming with me, and I would want to make sure members of my immediate family also had copies.
Another difficult downsizing thought experiment: What to do with all our fine furniture pieces handcrafted by either my father or my father-in-law? Conveniently, there are several bookcases in that set.
Ken Cutler lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and has worked as an electrical engineer in the nuclear power industry for more than 38 years. There, he has become an informal financial advisor for many of his coworkers. Ken is involved in his church, enjoys traveling and hiking with his wife Lisa, is a shortwave radio hobbyist, and has a soft spot for cats and dogs. Follow Ken on X @Nuke_Ken and check out his earlier articles.
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I was an English professor for 40 years, my wife for 30 years, so our home and our university offices were filled with thousands of books. Over the years, we tried to keep the collection under control by donating to a local charity book sale. But when we retired from Texas to Chicago in 2017 (2,000 sf house to a 1,200 sf apartment), cutting our library by half or more was one of our biggest downsizing challenges. Here are few things we learned:
1. It’s very expensive to move books. They are heavy, and movers charge by the pound. Mailing them is also costly.
2. Nobody loves your books as much as you do. Not even your heirs. I learned this when I agreed to help the families of two deceased colleagues sell or give away large book collection. No faculty members wanted the books (their offices were already crammed). And used booksellers offered such a pittance that is was not worth the work of packing up the books and transporting them to the sellers.
3. Once the books are out of sight, you may not miss them as much as you think you will. A friend told me this, and he was right. Parting with particular titles pained me at the moment, but once they were out of sight, they were largely out of mind.
4. If you need a book you left behind, get it from your local library. At least in our case, this has been easy. We live 3 blocks from a branch library, and on short notice, we can get any book in the entire Chicago Public Library system delivered there for easy pick up.
5. Once you’re retired and have trimmed your collection, don’t let it re-grow. We still buy books and get them as gifts, but we have a policy: for each new book we acquire, we get rid of an old one (donate it to a local charity that operates a free library)
6. Don’t overdo it. If your books are as precious to you, as ours were to us, don’t leave them behind haphazardly or indiscriminately. Downsize thoughtfully. We installed two large book cases–nearly 70 linear feet of shelf space in our Chicago apartment, so we still have plenty of books–the ones that mean most to us and that we read and consult most often.
Great post and we share some of the same titles as favorites. But Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis ranks up there with the best. An easy read but still a deep, thought provoking discourse on religion by a man who had formerly been agnostic.
This is a great article for many reasons, not the least, of which was that Strange, But True Baseball Stories was one of my favorite books growing up, and I would love to read it again someday.
I am a natural collector and enjoy the souvenirs of my 58+ year life. I do not enjoy the clutter that the collectibles, including books, and memorabilia create. I frequently visualize moving to smaller space and what I would take with me. In the process, I’ve done my best to sell off collectible books, music, and other items that have value on eBay, even if it’s for a few bucks. I figured that it is someone else’s turn to be a steward of these items.
I have come to the realization that other than perhaps rare coins, bullion, and jewelry, most of what I own eventually will end up in the landfill (even the antique furniture), it’s just a matter of time. When analyzed through that lens, it becomes much easier to get rid of things.
Thank you so much for writing this article and reminding me of one of my favorite books of all time.
I’m happy the article stirred up good memories for you. Baseball was a magical part of my childhood, and that book really captured my imagination. Still a good read, even though I don’t follow baseball any more.
A lady friend has a pastor and his wife that went to Kenya to help out a new church. The wife, Brie was very saddened by the lack of books in the schools. They have almost none. Being a English speaking country, Brie and the fine people of a little country church in Colorado started to gather books to dispatch overseas.
Finding books in America is very easy however, getting them in the hands of African school children is ever so daunting! They had to abandon the project which is so sad.
I shed several thousand books a few years ago after visiting our new local library. Not only will they accept as many books as you wish to donate but they have tens of thousands of books to check out and a multiple of that by interlibrary loan. The floor and joists of my old house heaved a collective sigh of relief. Not to mention the fire hazard of tons and tons of old paper.
Thanks, Ken. I’ll check out some of your favorites from the Library. Four years after we “downsized”, our home is already overflowing. Jack
I didn’t just imagine this. I did it. When we decided to become full-time travelers 4 years ago, what to do with our books and our art was a serious challenge. I have worked in the arts, humanities and history for 43 years, complicating the issue. I curated my extensive collection by imagining what I would like to be surrounded by in my 80s/or when physical frailty forces me to have a “home”
I kept all my books by JRR Tolkien, Colin Wilson, Marilynne Robinson, Jean-Paul Sartre, Shakespeare, Chekhov, Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, Bernard Shaw, Edgar Allen Poe, Margaret Atwood and Nicholson Baker. I kept all books by friends (I ran an artist colony for 10 years) many of them personally inscribed. I kept every FB annual Social Book, all my travel journals and old calendars. I kept 3 travel atlases and map-books. And all my high school diaries. I kept my high school and college yearbooks. I kept a few of my son’s favorite childhood books.
I let go all the art catalogs, conference proceedings and art history/administration and coffee table books. I let go my history books, random novels and a shelf of plays.
I have not looked at any of these books in 4 years now—but when I do, I expect a rush of pleasure to have them surround me again.
Great article Ken. We went through a major downsizing when we moved to to our beach house. I love books, but there was almost no room for books there. Luckily, we had been cleaning out stuff for a decade as a result of major renovations of each floor of our house, and a new roof and insulation which required clearing out the attic. Sadly, most books aren’t worth much. My sister-in-law was a middle-school librarian for three decades. Each year they had to get rid of some books to add new ones. She said it killed her that there was a glut of new books and no ready market for many old books.
Getting rid of textbooks was tough, but most everything is available online. When I realized I had accumulated 5 undergraduate Thermodynamics textbooks, I knew I need to purge.
My brother -in-law digitized hundreds of photos for my wife and her siblings. We each have copies of them. When my wife retired, her colleagues gave her a high-quality digital frame. They preloaded a number of photos of them, and other colleagues. We have since added hundreds of pictures of family, friends, vacations, and holidays. It is a real treat to have pleasant memories pop of randomly. Our grandsons love watching it and seeing who in the family will pop up. It provides better access to photos that might have been buried in albums in a storage bin or basement.
Thanks Rick, very interesting comments. Managing photos, digital and physical, is a topic worth exploring on its own. I think I need to put a digital frame on my Christmas list.
Our family embraces reading, and the requisite visits to local bookstores whenever we traveled as a family. Yes, we have a couple thousand books, but the tide has turned in our 50s as we see the purging dilemna before us. Library all the way now! Time to stem the flow into the house! Fortunately, our three sons desire our collection, but I will still continue to purge the “Patterson” type books to cull the herd a bit.
Admittedly, we still have a book inflow at Christmas. We don’t go crazy with stacks upon stacks of presents like when the boys were little. Instead we select books for each other, a la our Iceland friends, look up “Jolabokaflod” for fun.
So for those who need purging ideas, here is what I have done:
I’ve sold many books on ebay, once my husband decided he was passing on his dream of owning a used book store. Honestly, it was fun to know who was receiving my Whitman childhood classics or my beloved Dana Girl or Nancy Drew books, but certainly not worth my time photographing and writing descriptions, mailing etc.
Selling at a garage sale nets you a buck if you’re lucky.
I’d inquire at a antiquarian bookseller for anything collectible, but that might number less than a hundred, right?
Donate to Goodwill or a similar thrift store. We unloaded hundreds of my uncle’s books at a VA Goodwill when clearing his condo. When time is of the essence, Goodwill is a great resource! But when you have more time, I prefer to use the avenues below.
Gift to a school, nursing home, prison, or an ESL (English as a second language) school.
Gift your books to a used bookstore and help the proprietor make a living and enjoy knowing your books will be chosen by a fellow fan!
Share via your local Freecycle or FB Buy Nothing Group.
Gift to a friend!
Gift to an artist!
But please, do not throw books in a dumpster!
Thanks Stacy—great ideas.
We downsized last year. I found it to be a very traumatic experience. Over 4 decades in our ‘forever house’ allowed us to renovate/redecorate everything to our and our children’s liking.
I am STILL getting used to our new place.
My wife adjusted quickly.
As to books … Linda Grady is 100% correct.
Gifting a favorite book to someone else who will enjoy it is immensely pleasurable.
Ken, I found this article a very pleasant read. A nice way to start the day; thanks. I can appreciate the angst of trying to part with books and pic’s from one’s past. But if you never address them, you’re just leaving that task to your heirs, which may be neither painless nor easy for them. I have a gentle suggestion to help ease the transition. If you digitize the pic’s (and home movies if you have any) and start building a digital collection of some of your favorite old books, you might eventually find the digital versions make it easier to part with the physical versions. It also might afford better access in the here and now. I’ve had some pleasant moments passing the time on long flights reminiscing by going through old photo’s and home movies on my laptop from when my kids were young. Also, digital copies making sharing with family so much easier.
Thanks for the comments, OITG. We have about 10,000 digital photos in addition to the physical ones. I did digitize (via DVD) our home movies long ago. Just thinking about how to manage and downsize our media footprint makes me tired.
Ken, I think I have read more books about downsizing and decluttering than time spent in actually engaging in that activity. The one book I till turn to for inspiration and motivation is one called “Clutters Last Stand”by Don Aslett—thoroughly readable and written with humor and some pathos.He leaves no stone unturned.
Good luck with weeding out. Sometimes all it takes is a little courage.
Marjorie, thanks for the book suggestion. I’ll see if I can get it from the library or add it to my Kindle so I don’t have to make space on a bookshelf.
Ken..you’re welcome. The book also has numerous hilarious illustrations throughout, making it all the more enjoyable.
Ken Thanks for your article that once again hit home. Just last week I tossed out a crankshaft from my 1962 Corvair and two boxes of assorted parts with a mouse nest in the exhaust manifold. Ken, I feel your discomfort loud and clear in your message. Good to have the push to continue on the de accumulation phase of the last chapter.
Somewhere a car restorer covets those parts! Think about using ebay or FB Marketplace, if there is a next time.
Ken, you may find (as I have) a new joy in your books — by giving them away as individual gifts.
We also had a large book collection, but downsizing a few times and having to pay for a storage facility and then professional movers to our retirement location was a big incentive to get rid of many heavy books (movers charging by estimated weight). We kept some classics, a few of those precious books from our own childhoods, as well as some of our personal favorites. Books (and toys) from our children’s childhoods we mostly offered to them and sold at yard sales what they didn’t want. Doug used our local library as a way to enjoy books without storing them himself: each week when he volunteered for the “Friends of the Library,” he would bring home a shopping bag of old books sold steeply discounted. The following week, he would re-donate the ones he had finished reading: Re-read, re-give, recycle. 📖📚📚
You know those 30’L x 8’H x 12’W dumpsters that are delivered on the back of a very large truck? My sister and I (well into our 60s) filled up FOUR of them when downsizing my mother’s house following her death.
National Geographic magazines going back 55 years!!! Not to mention all the other mags and books and…
Do your heirs a favor, now. Virtually everything worth reading is available in bytes.
I would recommend bringing in a serious book/magazine reseller to vet the items before dumping them. Yes, National Geographics are worthless, but if you have something like Life magazines from the WWII era you might have something. Pre-1950 letters, personal photos, and diaries can also have a market if they are of historical interest.
I was going to post a similar comment.
I worked with someone who had to make multiple cross-country trips to clean out the house of a relative who had passed away. The relative had lived in the home for over forty years. Every square inch of the basement, main level and attic was filled with ‘stuff’. The person who inherited the house spent weeks trying to clean it out. They brought in someone to do an estate sale, but there weren’t enough valuable items to make a sale worth it.
Dumpsters were rented. Junk haulers were paid. Emotionally, it took quite a toll on the person who had to deal with all of it.
Books are wonderful. But they are heavy and–sadly–rarely worth much money. If you truly think you have ones of value that you plan to pass on to someone, please make sure they are worth something. It takes a lot of sleuthing–and time–to determine the value of each book. And even then, they are only worth money if you can find someone willing to buy them.
Here’s a good summary of how to determine a book’s value: https://www.biblio.com/book-value
Ken, Your article hit home with me. When I officially gave up my academic office a few months ago, my chair said I could keep any texts I accumulated over the years. I only kept half of them, yet still had to purchase a floor to ceiling bookcase to accommodate them in my home office! But how many will I ever open again? Sentimental value only.
Jeff, I still have many of my college textbooks. As you say, sentimental value only and they take up a lot of room. They won’t make the cut in the future great downsizing, but I’ll keep them around for a while longer since we have the room.
Ken, I’m a retired engineer like you. I still have my old calculus textbook (good for three semesters!), Theory of Elasticity, Theory of Vibrations, Structures, Advanced Machine Design, and others. They won’t make the next cut, but I like having them even though I only very rarely use them anymore.
We are in a similar situation. We are in our mid-sixties and still in the house where we raised our family. We really like the house, its location with lots of wildlife and good neighbors. Maintenance is not an issue yet. I bought a riding lawn mower last year to help with the half acre yard. I am a book lover too. I have around 2,000 or so. Many of mine are out of print or had a limited run and would be desirable to the right set of folks. I have polled my kids to see which of them would want my books when I am gone. I think our son and his wife will take them. It’s funny, we have lots of other items we have accumulated over the years, but my books have a special value for me. Even though I won’t be around I don’t want them to just be given away or sold for a pittance. I want someone with similar interests to value them as much as I do.
Doug, your dilemma is even more complex than mine as you have a larger and more valuable collection. Hopefully your son and his wife will have the interest and storage space when the time comes.
Oh no, you are one of those people who send a Christmas letter about nothing of interest to anyone but you and your family? Just kidding, Ken. We receive one of those letters from a cousin in each year and I still have no idea who the people are that star in the missive.
Books, you say, my wife brought a dozen with her to Florida. When we downsized we gave dozens of books to the local library and thrift shop. Still what is supposed to be our second bedroom is consumed by four bookcases, the floor and every open space with books.
I finally realized once read I was not going to need them and gave many of mine away. I will not part with my collection of all David McCulloughs books though. I just paid $100 for a used copy of his Johnstown Flood fro 1966.
If you need tips on downsizing let me know. It’s a long and painful story though.
Ha ha Dick, I’ve read ‘Dear Abby’ columns where people complain about getting those Christmas letters. I try not to brag about the kids too much. We still get about 8 or 10 a year and I always like reading them. Johnstown Flood is on my reading list- I saw my local library has it. But why would you pay $100 for a copy?
Im going to write one next year and make sure you are on the list. By the time you finish reading you will know where my fifth cousin once removed went on vacation.
Wanted to complete my collection of his books. Its long been out of print.
https://www.amazon.com/Johnstown-Flood-David-McCullough/dp/0671207148/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2U24Y7U464RI4&keywords=johnstown+flood+david+mccullough&qid=1708013320&sprefix=johnstown%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1
Ken, we just completed such a move, so I was thinking about that while reading this. I was lucky in that our new place came with a loft room that accommodates my record collection that goes all the way back to childhood. That room would also make a killer library for a bookworm like yourself. Furniture, on the other hand would be much harder to deal with. Hopefully you can work all this out while you can still move on your own terms rather than when physical catastrophe forces a decision.
Dan..you still have all your vinyl? I have a box in the basement with about 60 albums. I haven’t opened it in decades. Don’t think that would make the move. I have 300 or 400 music CDs…not sure what I would do about them in the great downsizing given streaming availability these days. I’m glad downsizing is just a mental exercise at this point. Thanks for your comments.
Our daughters share an interest, and a bedroom decor. A regular family trip is an overnighter to Chantanooga to the big used book store, mostly for her to fill up a couple of boxes of new (used) treasures. I like your reading list. Packer is an adult treasure, and Lewis has something for all ages. I’m currently helping my daughter on a project to show Milton’s influence on Lewis’s space trilogy. My daughter has also added HumbleDollar to her reading list. I know she’ll applaud this article.
Ed, thanks for your comments. I’d love to hear what your daughter thinks of this article. I’m impressed by the subject of her project. In high school, I wrote a term paper on Lewis’s use of metaphors and similes in the space trilogy. Probably not the most exciting read, but my teacher seemed to like it.