As part of a few weeks’ decluttering effort, I finally sorted out my books and decided on which ones to keep with me.
I have always been a book lover and as much as I like to read them, I also love to buy books (sometimes even more so than reading them).
Buying books at the nearby second-hand bookstore was a regular weekend activity for me for around 6 years. As soon as I got my breakfast, I would run there, often times with my coffee, and forgot everything while browsing the books. It was a pleasurable and meditative activity, I got to discover awesome books and writers, and going back home with books I knew it would be exciting to read the books.
There were times though I could not find something to my likening; infrequently I left the bookstore without buying any book. But in the rest, I had to buy – I could not stand the thought of a weekend without exploring a book, and the relaxation, and excitement coming out of it.
I know that I have many books that I am assuming I bought to satisfy that impulse – they are not great, they are not exciting, and even sometime the topic does not interest me at all. I now dumped these books. Lessons learnt: I should not buy books if I am not sincerely interested in them; instead I should go check out the books I already have at home now- the ones that I decided to keep are all awesome, timeless books.
It is great that I wanted to declutter my house, that I went thru each of my books and now know them better, and that I have a shopping freeze for books till the holiday season. After seeing the amount of books I purchased and dumped today, I felt bad about piling them around my home and wasting money on them. Do net get me wrong; I think any book can be awesome for someone, somewhere, sometime; but the ones I sorted out were not meant for me.
Happy decluttering, happy appreciating what you have and enjoy, and happy saving money 🙂
That just sounds perfect to me.
Life as I interpret it 
Did the same thing. Then I got a kindle. Best cluttering purchase ever.
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I never tried kindle but have seen it around; I love printed books – kindle is not for me. But I am glad it does work for you 🙂
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I’m such an avid reader, but I know that I have too many books. It’s hard for me to get rid of them, I somehow feel an emotional attachment. I did start giving them to family members and donating them to the library to try to create some more space. Decluttering my book shelves (and books stored in the basement) is a project I definitely need to undertake. I’ve been using the library more the past few years, so that’s cut down on my spending in the book buying area. Though, I’m like you, I love printed books.
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I hear you – I do too have emotional attachment to books. Why should not I? they are wonderful, I learn a lot, expand my imagination. They help me with empathy.. so you are right it is hard to let them go. When I started it was so difficult so overwhelming that I had to sop. Then I made my mind – there are books I cannot read anymore but others can. I think books deserve this. This mind=set helped me a lot to let them go. You seem to be doing really well – keep going 🙂
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this is my next step in decluttering. Glad to see it worked for you.
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go ahead! I hope you will have a great experience, too 🙂
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