Dust Collecting Cookbooks

Org Junkie had a post last week about clearing out your old cookbooks. I used to collect cookbooks so I previously had about 7 shelves full of them. About two years ago I decided it was time to get rid of a bunch of them. At that point we had been in our house three years and I hadn't touched most of them since I put them on the shelf when we moved in. I got down to about a shelf and a half.

After reading the post I got to thinking that it may be time to clear out some more of my cookbooks. I really don't use them. Ever since I found the Menu Planning Monday roundup I've been get most of my recipes from the Internet. It's just so much easier to find recipes on the Internet. If I find something we really like I do save it. I have a notebook full of our family favorite recipes. That I will obviously never part with.

My plan for cleaning out my cookbooks is this. I will go through in one round and pull out all the cookbooks I don't see myself using in the next six months. Those will all go either to the used book store or be donated. Out of the cookbooks that are left, if I don't use them in the next six months, they will go too. That said, I do have one basic cookbook that I will be keeping just because it is the one I go to when I don't have time to look up a recipe on the Internet. Hey, I figure every house needs at least one basic cookbook.

So, what about you? Do you have a pile of cookbooks that you never look at? Why not commit yourself to either starting to use them or clearing them out? If you're not using them, you might as well find a way to get them out to someone who will use them.