Question for those that are converting office to nursery - updatedonating my books today!!!!

Ok I've started cleaning out and sorting through all my crap BUT i have a hard time throwing things out.
For ex: I have a lot of my college books (busines books) left, notebooks and all these other books, ravel guides, crap that I havent looked at in sooo long and I doubt I will ever need it but I am the kind of person that always thinks WHAT IF MAYBE ONE DAY I WANT TO READ THAT or bla bla bla....
Should I just say goodbye and throw it in the trash or try to give it away somewhere? I was thinking of putting some books away in my parents garage but is there a point?
What are you ladies doing ?

UPDATE: I called my local library and im going today to make a donation with all my textbooks and other books (maybe ill leave a book or two )

Message edited 4/1/2009 3:55:09 PM.

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

I think if you haven't read them in X amount of years, are you really going to read them all again? Maybe keep one or two of your favorites and get rid of the rest?

I do keep a ton of baby stuff stored in my parents basement so if they don't mind then just ship them off there.

Whenever it comes time to empty or reorganize a room I love it because it gives me an excuse to throw things out!

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

i know I already threw out 2 huge black gargbage bags good thing i started now ;)

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

How about donating the books? Maybe you won't feel that tinge of actually throwing things out but at least your making room?

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

We converted our office into the nursery. We had two bookshelves full of books that were mostly all DH's and almost all of them were his books from college. Problem is, he has trouble getting rid of things like that, just like you.

We ended up compromising. We moved one book shelf into the spare bedroom/new office, and he filled that book shelf with the books he really wanted to keep. The rest of the books he had to get rid of. We ended up selling the leftover books to a used book store. Don't just throw them away. See if you can sell them first, and if not, donate them.

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

It's so funny that you posted this because DH and I are having the same problem. I am the type that will throw anything away that isn't nailed down or used on a daily basis. DH will save every single piece of paper for "memories".

This past weekend I went through the office and threw a bunch of old bills/school papers/crap out when he wasn't home bc I know how difficult it is for him. Now we have a bunch of school books/binders and a ton of souvenirs from various trips that DH picked up.

For us, I liked having this stuff in the office bc then I didn't have to deal with the clutter in our main living area...now I feel like DH is never going to be able to part with these things and there isn't really anywhere else to put them...

I agree that you/we should probably donate the books...I'm sure you can find somewhere if you google it.

As for the other stuff, I think we are going to compromise and buy one plastic tote and put everything that he/I want to keep in that tote. Anything that doesn't fit will be thrown out...there's just no room for all of this stuff.

Just curious, how does your DH feel about the stuff in your office?

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

We boxed a lot of stuff we use once in a while and put it in the attic. Tossed a lot of stuff too. Now there's a desk in the guest room on our first floor. Not loving it there, but still need a desk, fax and all... especially if I want to work from home once in a while.

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

It's so funny you posted this because I am also in the process of cleaning out garage & closets getting ready for the changes happening here. I have tons of pharmacy textbooks, references, and notes from college explaining different disease states and their treatments. I just can't seem to part with them. I feel like if I ever need to look something up I won't have this stuff and then I'll be totally lost. Now mind you, in the 8 years I've been out of school, I think I've referenced some of these things twice! But I just can't let go of the what ifs. I'm just going to have to find a way to condense it and keep only the bare essentials.

Message edited 4/1/2009 10:40:43 AM.

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

I had so many book, textbooks and binders from dental assisting school. I didn't want to throw them out in case i ever needed them as a reference. I went out and bought the biggest binder i could find and dividers. I combined all the binder into one big binder with dividers for each class.

The books that i haven't read in years went to goodwill along with the computer desk and we sold the huge desktop and got a laptop so we would have more space. What a difference having a laptop instead of a desktop does for space!!

We had such a cluttered little office that petty much doubled as storage since we do not have a basement ot an attic, i can't believe the difference. I think i gave Goodwill $1,000 worth of stuff the last 2 weeks.

I was the queen of being a packrat and keeping things even if i hadn't used them in years. I just told myself that getting rid of it was for a good cause and the baby would need the room, if i hadn't used it in the last 6 months--out the door it went! Good luck!!

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery

Just curious, how does your DH feel about the stuff in your office?


he says that if i havent looked through some things in 2 yrs then i dont need it.
i am going to put somethings in like a clear plastic bin and keep that in the basement

Re: Question for those that are converting office to nursery - donating my books today!!!!

thanks for the idea ladies!!!