We have shed so much stuff in preparation for this house move. A big one for me was thinning out my book collection. Over the last few months, I have sold or given away heaps of paperbacks, mostly fiction. The photo is just a tiny sampling of what went out the door.
It was bittersweet. One of my dreams for our new home is to have a reading corner with full bookshelves and a comfy reading chair. Another is to put a Little Free Library out the front. So to be shedding the same items I was planning on collecting for these two projects was hard. I had to keep reminding myself that every extra box full of books was an additional box I had to shift to the new house or possibly store if we didn't find somewhere to move to straight away.
My criteria for letting the books go was a little bit Marie Kondo and a little bit The Minimalists. I asked myself the following questions for each book:
- Does it spark joy? This is a surprisingly good question to ask yourself about many things, from personal belongings to relationships and time commitments.
- Would I ever read it again? My TBR pile is so high it's doubtful I'll ever have time to re-read something.
- Is it easily replaceable? Based on The Minimalist's "can you replace it in under 20 minutes for under $20?"
For me, paperback fiction books may pass the first criteria but rarely pass the second two. On the other hand, my collection of books about journaling easily pass all three and are definitely keepers. So the paperbacks have all gone to new homes, and the journaling books are all safely boxed up and ready for our future move. One bonus is that I know that every title going onto those future bookshelves will be meaningful or important to me and not just sitting there gathering dust.
Do you find it hard to let go of books?
Until next time,
@Sammie
