What To Do With Too Many Notebooks? My Idea… and Your Feedback, Please!

I’ve been trying to do some spring cleaning lately, as I’ll be moving soon. The size of my notebook collection has grown to daunting levels in the last couple of years, and when I contemplate having to move everything to a new home, it’s a bit scary! I love my notebooks, but even I have to sometimes let some go. I like to do random notebook giveaways from time to time, but they almost don’t make a dent. So here’s an idea– please let me know what you think.

I’m going to put together a good sized collection of notebooks, at least 20 notebooks total. Some will be brand new. Some will be samples where I’ve written on a few pages for use in my reviews. Some will be large, some will be small. There will be popular brands like Moleskine included, as well as obscure no-name notebooks. There will be notebooks from different countries. There will be sketchbooks, lined journals, engineering notebooks– all kinds. It will be a surprise random assortment of notebooks, no two alike. You could say that whoever gets it will be an INSTANT NOTEBOOK ADDICT.

But this is not just going to be a giveaway, as this would be quite a valuable assortment– at least $100 worth at retail, probably more. So I thought I’d auction it off on EBay, and donate the proceeds to a charity that helps provide school supplies to disadvantaged children– the Kids in Need Foundation would be a possible recipient.

What do you think? Would you be willing to bid on an “INSTANT ADDICT” mystery grab bag of notebooks to benefit a good cause? If enough people say yes, stay tuned for more details soon!

21 thoughts on “What To Do With Too Many Notebooks? My Idea… and Your Feedback, Please!”

  1. I would bid for sure even though I have too many notebooks already lol.

    Potential issue – Would the shipping cost be too high to make this a good idea?

  2. I like the idea but I wouldn’t bid on it. I’d much rather purchase a raffle ticket for a chance to win so that the individual contributions are smaller but the final donation has the potential to be much larger. But I understand that PayPal is not okay with lotteries, so you’d probably have to have people submit a donation receipt in order to enter.

    Whatever you choose to do, good luck with the move!

  3. If you don’t want to bother with a ‘sale’ and donation, find a teacher. They will take the notebooks, even partially used ones, to give out to students. I am sure there are ones in a school near you who would love them.

  4. Not that I actually need any more, I can still see myself bidding. I use some of my current inventory. I also give some out to get other people excited. Sometimes I feel like a drug dealer, getting folks hooked :)

  5. Thatsounds fun. The other alternative would be to donate the supplies to a disadvantaged school, or a youth project.

  6. What would be great is if you auctioned it off and then the winner donated them to a school or senior citizens home, their favorite charity and you gave the money away as you planned.

  7. I think this is a great idea. Raffle or auction, people love to help out charities and gain something in return. I prefer the raffle, since you’ll gain more money for the cause that way, but it really is up to you :)

  8. Started and unfinished notebooks. Without meaning and the notebooks never catch the chance to be a part of our life.
    Kind of obesity, hunger for us.
    It takes so long time that I am asking to my self this question.
    Finished or unfinished notebooks.

  9. You could give them as gift and make a note to the recipient that this is part of your collection. It;s nice to put some sentimental value to the gifts :)

  10. That sounds like a great idea! I’m sure there are a lot of notebook lovers out there who will place a bid.
    I know the feeling though…being swamped in notebooks. Last year I gave them to my mother, she occasionally donates stuff to charity. This way I didn’t have the feeling I was just throwing them away.
    A question for you: do you feel that through the years your taste for certain notebooks changes?? I was a huge fan of moleskines and thin notebooks, now they have to be really thick and lush… Perhaps this sounds strange, but as a real notebook addict I think you possibly understand.

  11. As much as I’d love to bid on them, I can’t. :( US$100 is already equivalent to my paycheck in my side of the planet.

    If you’re willing to just plain give some away, I’m a very, very, very willing recipient. Haha!! I hope the bidding idea goes well. :)

  12. I would bid, I’m not so keen on the raffle idea however.

    Or, to avoid ebay fees you could set a price right here on this site and draw the name of one winner from all the responders willing to pay that price. Postage is a bit of a worry though.

  13. THanks for all the feedback everyone. I know a raffle would be better in some ways but it’s harder to do online, so I think I’ll go ahead with the auctiion. A lot of people were concerned about shipping, so I may just limit it to US bidders and offer free shipping within the US.

    And don’t worry, I’ll continue to do giveaways galore!

  14. I like the idea of a raffle. Every $5 is one “ticket” or something like that. The other idea I had was to split it into a couple smaller lots so that you might group the notebooks– small, wire bounds, blanks, by color, etc.

    I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing with all the various supplies I’ve acquired so I’m interested to see how you handle your collection-purging and if it works out well. Keep us posted!

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