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My Huge Book Storage Dilemma
Today is Backwards Day at Works-For-Me Wednesday. Instead of sharing a tip that has worked for me I get to ask you to help me solve a problem.
I am asking you to help me by enabling my addiction.
I am a book addict, a bibliophile. I’ll share this quote to express how I feel about my books.
Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity… we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance. –A. E. Newton (1863-1940)
I have thousands of books in boxes from our recent move. I recently shared in another post that our home in VA had a full basement with wall-to-wall bookshelves. I had many more bookshelf areas in my office, bedrooms, etc. It was great. They were sorted by subject and easy to find. Sigh…
Now here I am in TN with a lot of unpacked boxes full of books! I have space for shelves in my family room, office and living room but no funds at the moment (our home didn’t sell and we are paying two mortgage payments–HA–maybe that should be the problem I should ask you to help me solve!)
So what do you suggest for an inexpensive book storage solution? If you don’t have a solution comment anyway, tell me about your love of books.
The current cardboard box solution–not working. Can you imagine needing a phonics book? I need to be able to see the book titles. I look forward to your suggestions in the comments below.
If you are curious, you can peek at a list of some of the books in the boxes via LibraryThing:
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Ohhh it’s so hard.
One thing I decided to do last time we moved was to go through my books and get rid of any reference books that were out of date or that I could find the info on the Internet…like ” A mortgage rate book” and “guide to California Real estate law circa 1980″; old atlases, etc.
I also ditched “mind candy” books- airport reads, romance novels, etc. This helped a lot!
Donate them to a good cause so you can feel good about it. I think that’s really the first step. It’s amazing when you realize that many of the books you bought pre-internet aren’t really needed now!
For the balance…visit your Goodwill store for bookshelves or better - Check out Freecycle..they often have book shelves for free
http://www.freecycle.org/
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March 5th, 2008 at 7:00 am
I basically have the same thing going as you do… lots of books stored in boxes due to limited space.
I am in the process of putting them in librarything.com and tagging them both in librarything and with a sticker on the book itself. For books I am storing in boxes, I tag them with a number like “bb01″ “bb02″ etc..). They are semi-organized by time period (bb01 filled with books on the civil war) or subject like ‘christian living - prayer’.
These boxes are in my attic which is pretty accessible so when I do need a book I can look it up on librarything and know what box to look in. I have tried to keep out any books that I think we might read in the next year, however. I have 24 boxes so far and I am not done yet.
As for books that I am keeping out…
I have 2 book shelves in my living room for books pertaining to the Bible like character studies, children’s Bible story books, missionary stories, and concordances as well as our Bibles themselves. These have not been put in librarything yet.
In my school room I have a storage cabinet where I keep all my math and language arts resources — also not in librarything yet.
I have 2 shelf units (each with 5 shelves) where I keep picture books, art, poetry, children’s literature, music, foreign language, science, history (only for the time period we are studying) and readers (all labeled with tags/stickers like “wh” for world history, “sci” for science, “per” for phonics/easy reader, etc.. These are all in librarything now!
Each of my children have their own shelf to keep any current workbooks (vocab, phonics, math) they are working on, binders for each subject, and a container for school supplies.
I have some built-in bookshelves as well in my school room where I keep our encyclopedias, writing handbooks, almanac, dictionaries and thesaurus (all with “ref” so I know they belong on the reference shelves). These are all in librarything.
In my kitchen I have built-in shelves where I keep all my cookbooks, home-keeping/organizing, and healthy living books (all in librarything.com with a “kit” tag so I know they belong in the kit). These are now in librarything as well.
This is not the best system by any means.. but I do like the fact that even though my beloved books are mostly in boxes, I can at least look them up and know exactly where to find them.
Sorry so long! It’s hard to describe and I hope I didn’t just make things more confusing.
Sheri
March 5th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Love that quote, Robin. We are definitely kindred spirits :-). As far as the book problem goes - I dunno. The only idea I can think of is for me send you pre-addressed labels for the boxes and then you could mail them all to me! OK, not really.
Have you checked to see if there is a freecycle group near you? (www.freecycle.org) I belong to the one here in Virginia and I see people giving away free bookcases all the time. I got one from someone a few years ago this way and it is one of my nicest bookcases. I got it from a homeschooler who’s hubby lined their family room walls with custom-made shelves - nice, huh? How about thrift stores, yard sales, etc.?
Then there’s always the egg/vegetable/fruit crate idea. I don’t know if grocery stores still give these away, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
HTH,
Kathleen
March 5th, 2008 at 8:02 am
I tend to store my books at a place called “the library”
Having moved into a small house with a damp basement and NO storage space, I had to make some concessions. I have boxed books that are now for sale (effortlessly) at Half.com and then only my most cherished are on our bookshelves. Homeschool books are kind of in a pile, but I do try to pass them on to others as quickly as possible when it is clear I’m not using them. I can always get more books at the library or read up on things on-line. Of course, I am not completely broken of my book buying addiction. We aren’t far from the Green Valley Book Fair which is open off and on throughout the year in two week spurts. When they are open, all those beautiful tempting books are 75% - 90% off!! I try to set a budget going in and have a list of what I need (a SHORT list!).
March 5th, 2008 at 8:03 am
I forgot to mention that on freecycle.org you can also post for items you want. They usually require that you offer something to the group first before you ask for anything (a significant item such as a piece of furniture, an appliance, or a box of books
- as opposed to, say, a box of unused toothpicks or a pair of old sneakers 
), but for most of us it is not difficult to find something worthwhile to give away.
March 5th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I am also a bookoholic, and I share your pain. I have a small apartment, but I can’t bear to let any of my books go, nor can I refrain from buying more books. I used to have all my books alphabetized by author, but last time I moved the system was lost (I had to carry all my books up three flights of stairs, no elevator, so I didn’t want to look at them for awhile, we later made-up though).
My advice might to first go through your books and decide if there’s anything you can part with (I know this is hard, but it must be done). If you don’t have bookshelf room, you can at least try to put the boxes in some sort of order with labels (i.e. autobiographies in this box, grammar books in that box).
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March 5th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I bow down to your library. It is sooo much bigger than mine and I am sooo jealous. If you are willing to part with any, try paperbackswap.com or Half Price Books. You do tend to end up with more books that way though.
You could try under bed storage boxes for some. Loan some out - think big here. Just make sure that if you want them back, that you put your name in them. Address labels work great for this. Hide them under tables and put table clothes over them. 
Book baskets in every room. Donate some to your church or library.
Hmmm. Time to hit some garage sales and Goodwill for some bookshelves. You can always use paint, fabric or contact paper to make them match.
Good luck from a fellow book lover.
Ellen
March 5th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I probably can’t help much… I’ve been trying to get rid of most of my books, only holding on to my very favorites. (I’m on a decluttering/ simplifying journey.) That said, though, I am a little jealous of your wonderful collection, and those gorgeous rooms in your former home!
Could you do a catalog and number system? List all your book titles in the computer, then put the box number for where to find that title. Time consuming, I know, but maybe a temporary solution until you can get the shelving you want.
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March 5th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I’m sorry I don’t have any advice for storage. But that is quite the collection you have. Very impressive.
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March 5th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Unfortunately, I don’t have any good advice. But, I had to say that I really love that quote!
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March 5th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
My mouth watered when I saw the shelves at your old place.
If you don’t have money for shelves, you don’t. You could always try the college dorm room method of cinder blocks and planks, or milk crates, but those aren’t very kid safe. You could also look for and renovations going on in town that might be tossing shelves.
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March 6th, 2008 at 5:41 am
uummm…you can give them all to me
hehe…I LOVE books too..I am quite addicted. I learned how to read when I was 3 ..I soon ran out of childrens books and proceeded to read all my mom’s books..I was reading Shakespeare, childbirth books, nutrition books and more at 3. Right now I have books shelves randomly scattered everywhere. If I ever have a house that is a lilttle bigger than we have now I hope to have a room with wall to wall book cases. Sorry I don’t have any great suggestions ..just wanted to share 
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March 6th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Hi Mom
Think outside the box. What are some areas in the house with a little extra space that you could utilize?
Books are classic. They look much better outside of a storage box! I’m sure you could find some spaces even in the bathroom or on the sill of a window.
From what I remember there is an empty closet across from the boys room upstairs that had empty cabinets? You could put some books in there.
Thats really the only suggestion I can think of. Or now that you have a kindle you could just switch to all e-books!
Love you,
Regina
March 6th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Another suggestion - is there space above your kitchen cabinets? You may be able to utilize that for book storage!
I’ll have to look next time I come over. We’ll figure out something!
March 6th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
We have a single shelf that goes around the entire room about a foot from the ceiling just above the door frames. Furniture does not interfere with it because it is so high up. We keep books we are not currently using up there.
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March 9th, 2008 at 5:31 am
WOW, someone else who has books! When I remarried a bit over 3 years ago, I had boxes of books. I moved into my husbands home, where he had shelves of books as well as boxes and piles. We share the same as you, little space. First, we went through the books and got rid of duplicates. Then he got rid of a bunch of junky books he had and I got rid of ones I had not had an interest in. We had quite a few and I thought it would help a lot. It helped some, but not enough.
I asked on freecycle and got a bookshelf, found two at a yard sale for 5 and 10 dollars, one in a thrift store and let people know we needed them and have been given a few. I still have books in boxes!
If you can find sturdy boxes, like fruit boxes, turn them on their side and use as temporary book shelves. Tops of dressers work for some too. I am not saying clutter them, just some books and stack some on the ends for book ends to hold the others up.
If you are like my husband, even though there is no room, he keeps going to half-price books and getting more. Right now it is computer books. everywhere!
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March 10th, 2008 at 2:43 am
I had to respond. I was just googling “book storage” and got your site. LOVE the quote. It’s like someone knows my soul! The suggestions of getting rid of books - well, I get those, too, but… well, no. I derive great pleasure from my books. Not just from reading them, but from looking at them, rearranging them, and from just knowing they are there.
I just moved. The only time I don’t love how many books I own is when I’m moving. We ran out of boxes and had to come to the new house, stack books behind the woodburning stove in the dining room (so they’d be out of the way), and take the boxes to the old house and re-pack them. 120 boxes of books. And I’ve got a bad back.
I’m trying to find places in my new (smaller) home to put more bookshelves. But it sounds like you’re having the opposite problem. I want to second Veronica’s suggestion of planks and cinder blocks. My mom had a huge “board and brick” shelf set up in her living room for years - through all of my kids being babies and toddlers, and we never had any safety problems. I think the cinder blocks are heavy enough and sturdy enough to make it really non-tippable. I actually think it’s more sturdy and safer than the $29 shelves from Wal-mart.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:15 pm