uncluttering one day and one thing at a time

A couple of people have posted about purging books from the To Read pile or shelf. So tonight, I took a deep breath and went to the bookshelves.

IN: a new fuel pump for my car, and lots o' snow
OUT: 15 novels - either read once a long time ago, or never read and owned for years and years 

IN

• magazine (subscription)

OUT

• a couple of bottles of stuff I threw out rather than guess their age and put in the bathroom 
• an LED stick on light
• small stack of papers
• whatever was left on the kitchen table when I rescued (and put away!) all the "to keep" items
• the big cardboard box from my new (pink!) filing cabinet
• knifeblock

FOUND

• some yen and toonies
• 2 letters I thought I'd mailed two weeks ago *facepalm*

CLEARED OFF

• dining room table
• kitchen table (I don't even know when I had it last cleaned off)
• telephone stand
• kitchen counters
• kitchen shelving unit

CLEARING OUT

• the kids' books, cds and knife block are going into the car to go to the thrift shop on my way to yoga class
• empty wine bottles will be returned
• recycling and garbage got put out this morning

Oomph.  All my routines thrown off by a spate of meetings and my girl's whirlwind visit. 

Today I managed some tidying.

In - the remnants of her luggage, a really lovely pair of shoes she bought me in the city
Out - a handknit pair of fingerless gloves that the dog chewed :(

Out: socks

:(

I love that pair, but they have a hole in the toe. 

So.... books.

I've made an executive decision that in our house we actually have enough bookshelves. There's pretty much one in every room, including the upstairs hall, and some are floor to ceiling and take up the entire wall. And I have two floor to ceiling bookshelves in my office at work, so my work related books live there. I've always done some trading in/out with my local used bookstores, so that has helped, and I've reduced the collection by boxes each time I've moved (about every 3 years for the last 20).

But I still have trouble letting go of them. Especially if it was a book I liked. My credentials as a book hoarder are pretty solid.

And then there was the day that someone shared Peter Walsh's rule of thumb for books (I think the shelving advice is his too)

For every FOUR books you keep, get rid of ONE

What is this madness!?!?! How can I possibly get rid of that many!?!

But it stuck with me, like a burr, and eventually I tried it with my cookbooks. I am astonished that it worked. And I have on occasion tackled the other bookshelves with this rule - although I'm more of a Keep Five, Release One kind of a girl.

I've also given myself permission not to be The Archivist. And to sometimes give books away, rather than lending them out.

It gets easier, is the main thing I've learned. And I've also acquired an e-reader, which is helping quite a bit.

Here's one blog entry, that gives some advice on the voice saying "But I'm going to read/re-read it!"

And another, where they think in terms of categories of books to go.

And my final thought:

Books are an identifier for me. To walk into my house is to visually understand that I am a reader. To come in, and start reading the spines of the books tells someone quite a lot about my identity. There's an expansive and eclectic assortment of fiction mixed in with graphic novels, every book by Malcolm Gladwell and knitting magazines, gardening books, mystery paperbacks and shelves and shelves of children's books. Letting go of a book involves letting go of the idea of my self that is attached to the book. And that can be hard, personal, reflective self-work.

IN: nothing! (Well, a friend brought a jar of homemade dill  pickles, but they certainly won't last!!)
OUT: one more book

Why was I keeping that book? I read half of it, and hated it!

The weekend approaches! Do you have any goals for the weekend?

My challenge is going to be making it into and out of the bookstore to exchange my son's broken e-reader without Oh My Goodness Buying More Books. It helps that I've gotten rid of some books, and shelved others, so I do have a sense that there are lots of books on my shelves that I haven't read yet. I need to keep that in mind when I see all the interesting looking books at the store.

IN: 1 magazine, 2 seed catalogues
OUT: 6 magazines
MOVED: a crate of books back to my office

I have a tendency to bring stacks of books home, and then they pile up here. Quite a lot (books, magazines, instruments, puppets) has migrated to the house over Advent and Christmas, I'm working at moving it back to the office.

In: a pair of grippy yoga socks
Out: 5 dead or dying houseplants *sigh*

To share: A helpful hint fromafuna  - We don't need individual users  tags, and instead can filter to a particular member using this URL: http://unclutter.dreamwidth.org/?poster=beachlass

chomiji posted about throwing away sentimental items. I really struggle with that as well, and when I managed to throw away a childhood item last year, I reflected on it, what it meant to me, how it felt. So I'm reposting that reflection below. 

When I was a very little girl, I had a pink gingham dress that I loved. I loved it so much that when I outgrew it that my mum turned it into a pillow. I couldn't say gingham, and somehow it became known as my prinkle dress and then prinkle pillow. I slept with it every night, wherever we went.

I've been cleaning out stuff from the house; and making a particular effort with a closet in my bedroom, that is largely useless for clothes, because it's spilling out with other things. And making enough progress that this past week, I'd considered a few times some of the things I knew were in there. Thought about the threadbare, stained, lumpen prinkle pillow.

I stood in my bedroom this morning, holding it. One of the pieces of advice for letting go of things is to take photos if they have a sentimental value. But... what would I do with a picture of a bedraggled pillow? I thought about why it was important. It reminds me of my mother; who I love, and is still alive and well. If I want to connect with her, surely picking up the phone is better than holding on to a pillow. And then I remembered the times as a child when I would cry and cry helplessly into the pillow; feeling friendless and miserable. Hardly feelings I want to hold onto.

And then I thought: when I feel like that now, I can call my friends. I'm not alone. I don't need this pillow, because I have far, far better support networks than a worn out child's dress stuffed with polyester.

And with gratitude, put it in the garbage bag, and out to the curb.

I had visions of being Ultra Motivated and Productive today... however, the lure of watching Sleepy Hollow has proven too much.

So I'm reminding myself that I'm working on a practice of uncluttering, rather than Getting Rid of All The Things Right Now.

So... I did some shopping in the city the other day that I'm going to count as "in" items over the next few days, just because I feel like it, because  it was as I was driving home that day that I started considering whether I wanted to try this challenge again.

IN: 6 books

OUT:  6 books, 1 broken teapot

RUNNING TOTAL: 1

Books can be hard for me, I love books, and have a special love for cookbooks. But since I'd bought two new cookbooks with  gluten free focus, I got rid of two older cookbooks that I don't use.  And since I'd far rather sit around reading the books I bought than do home renovation (?!! - Honestly? Never going to happen) - my Sunset home improvement books went in the donate pile too.