photo credit: Elsie esq.
The first batch of auctions for my book collection ended. The entire library is in stacks on the table in front of me. Books I’ve been carrying around for decades and read only once when new. Even the rare and autographed versions are going.
Books have always been important to me. A lot of effort went into dealing with them, whether moving them or paying to store them. I am not attached to them anymore, though they used to be my most prized possessions. After moving boxes of books over the years, I have come to despise the keeping of any “stuff” I don’t need. With books I havn’t read in 20 years, and have no desire to read again, it just seems silly to have so many here. I know I’ll just have to do something with them again.
The longest period I have ever held the same address is 4 years, and only that long on 2 occasions in 40 years. I have always thought of myself pretty Spartan with my possessions. I have never owned a huge amount of stuff, though each time I move I am amazed at what I have collected in such a short time. Reading blogs for several years from truly minimalist people like Leo Babauta and Tammy Strobel have really opened my eyes up to the realization that I was nowhere near living the spartan life.
Countless times, I have looked at a book, had fond memories of it, and put it back on the shelf. Planning to someday read it again and mine the valuable information out of it that I know is in there. I don’t remember ever reading two books more than once. I realized with some books, I had moved 7 or 8 times since reading them. I had dragged them around from California to Florida. What a waste of energy.
Books should be in a place where they can be used and appreciated, so they will all go. Whether I can sell them or donate them, I’ll be free of them soon. From now on, a book moves along after I read it, so someone else can enjoy it.
I enjoy reading ebooks, both on the laptop and even on my iPod Touch. Laying in bed unable to sleep is an occasional problem. Being able to read with the light out has been fantastic, but not having to store and deal with a pile of books will be even better. There is too much of the world out there to see, and the load needs to be lightened. I still travel out of a home base where I can store things, but I’m working to spend less time here, and book storage is an issue for most Location Independent People.
After starting with tips I found at Organize IT I already digitized my small CD collection. My movie collection is either getting digitized and sold/donated. As soon as I can digitize my old photos, many of those will get recycled or given to interested parties. A few weeks ago, I shredded all old paperwork I had also been dragging around with me for years. I didn’t go as far as Colin Wright with his shred party.
There are a few exceptions for items I’m still attached to or have to keep for records, but most of my stuff is going. I feel lighter already.
What are some of the ways you have dealt with clutter or minimizing your life?
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I strongly believe in minimalism myself. But I must say, I’m FAR from a minimalist right now. I’m just about to move from my current apartment to another here at Oulu and oh boy.. where does this all this stuff emerge? Books and movies are one thing. Fortunately, I don’t have any CD’s left anymore (sold every single one of them). I have a similar problem with books that you seem to have. I don’t know how to let them go. I don’t have a huge book collection, but there are only a very few books that I have sold or given onwards. It’s great to be able to purchase or download e-books. But there’s just something about the hard cover ones..
But maybe I’m just fighting the inevitable.. few years from now – no more DVD’s or hard cover books.. Well, at least then there should be less clutter! 
I was the same way. Have been for years. I don’t keep many things around but books. Everything else was easy to replace. I know how much good information was in them! Surely I’ll go back and read them again? I never have. Music and movies to a lesser degree, but I got over those already.
Manjushri.
Good for you James.
I still have a long way to go, Brian. Thanks for stopping by.
My pleasure James. Putting final touches on my version of “Live Collar Free” this week.
It is fantastically reassuring to know someone else is going through the book withdrawal.
Getting rid of books was hard for me at first. I too love them and had kept many for years. But in the end it wasn’t worth the expense or the trouble to bring them with me when I started moving around a lot. I read a lot so I realized there are options like ebooks or libraries. Similar with movies and any other form of entertainment.
Mary´s last blog ..Crafty, Crafty, Handmade Nation
How hard is it to get access to library books when moving around? I know it’s easy to read them there, but with no fixed local address, I would think borrowing would be difficult. Buying ebooks is an easy one, but libraries are still good for a read and return with no cost. But I hadn’t looked at that aspect, yet.
It’s hard. Generally they won’t let you check them out/get a card without a local address. I generally know people everywhere I travel so I haven’t had a problem because I just borrow their cards to check out books. I suppose that wouldn’t work so well for someone traveling to completely new places where they don’t know anyone.
Mary´s last blog ..Inspiration
I could have written this post. Absolutely spot-on capturing how books once were so important and now have faded to mostly just another bit of stuff.
One of the things that helped me cross the threshold from book storage to book purgage (yeah, I made that word up) was honestly answering this question: “Who am I trying to impress with my full bookcases?” I saw myself as a reader, an intellectual, and of course that type of person owns lots of interesting books! Um, yeah. Actually, intellectuals and readers READ books, not store them.
Now that I live on the road, I read more than I ever did because I have the time to do so. But I don’t keep books anymore.
Oh I was even worse than that. Most of mine are technical or how-to type books, with a few novels thrown in when I found authors I liked. Since I have always moved and never felt “permanent” other than the one house I bought long ago, most of my books stayed in boxes in closets. So I wasn’t even impressing anyone
I knew I’d have to pack them all up again someday, so I’d just pull them out if I needed them.
Guess how often that happened?
I dealt with this very same issue, being someone who reads 6-10 books per month, and I finally settled on ebooks as the solution to my problem (and now my preferred method of reading!).
Speaking of which, I just launched a new site that brings in independent ebooks from all over the web. I won’t link to it here (seems rude), but here’s the URL in case you get the inclination: ebookling.com
Colin Wright´s last blog ..Buses, Dating and Coming Full Circle in Christchurch
Colin, I already knew about that site, but you’re welcome to link your stuff here. I’m going to spend a little time checking it out. As I said in the post, I wasn’t quite going as far as you, though the records I kept are mostly business records I have to keep. And I don’t know what I’ll do with my paper photos once I get them all scanned. Fortunately I don’t have a whole lot of pictures besides a shoe box and a few albums I can make much smaller.
See you in Orlando in July.
Ah, books! This was a huge challenge for me when we sold/packed up our belongings. I love books. And, I do the same thing: save a book that brings back fond memories and say I will read it again. Yet, I never read any of them again. I did manage to get rid of most of my books though I do confess to keeping some which remain in storage. For Christmas, I received the Kindle. While I was resistant to it at first, I do love it now. It’s great for the full-time traveler!
I am trying to stay away from storage because it is too tempting for me to keep things I am on the fence about. So far I have only a handful of books I am not ready to give up. When I manage to go ebook only, I should probably look at something with a bigger screen.
I can totally relate. When I began my nomadic journey with nothing but a small backpack three months ago, I knew it wasn’t possible to carry several books, let alone my entire library. I was forced to sell or give away as many books as possible.
Now I use eBooks almost exclusively. I’ve also discovered that carrying a single paperback with me during my travels ensures that I read the book until I’m done (or even better, read it several times!). Then, when it comes time to get a new book, I look forward to donating or giving away the book I’ve read.
Raam Dev´s last blog ..Sustainable Distribution of Abundance or Why I Don’t Haggle in the Third World
I have been going through the exact same process as you with my own book collection. I have moved five times within the last five years and they have really become a huge burden in my journey towards complete location independence. In fact, i just moved three weeks ago. I moved a couch, a loveseat, a bed, two chairs, two suitcases of clothing, some silverware, and then …. ten large bookshelves and fifteen über-heavy boxes of books. I have read most of them, some even years ago, but have raaarely looked at any of them more than twice.
I couldn’t agree more. I struggled with it for a while, but I’ve made my decision: they gotta go.
Gianpaolo Pietri´s last blog ..‘Shocking’ Lessons in Opti(Mini)malism | As Taught By the Lightning Storm Outside My Window
My books are almost done and gone. It’s tough when I attach so much value to them. They don’t make much money selling them, but I have donated quite a few to people who wanted them.
Next to tackle her furniture collection…