declutter books

Minimalism: 5 Books

/ rachelgoes262 / 3 Comments

Books can be a contentious topic. There are people who guard their personal libraries fiercely and say that is the one area of their life they will not downsize. I understand that. I felt that way about my CD collection. We all have one area that we won’t touch when it comes to minimalism. That Is okay. Everyone does minimalism differently. 

For me, I was able to downsize my book collection to 5 books. Some of you may consider that extreme, but here are some of my reasons for choosing five books.

When I moved, I used boxes from the local liquor store. If you go by the liquor store in the morning, they put boxes outside for people to take that have been emptied from restocking their shelves. For me personally, empty wine boxes are the perfect size for moving. They are easy for me to carry, and you can fill them up without having them be too heavy to move.

I filled wine boxes with books for moving and the weight was just right to carry. Anyone who has moved can attest to how quickly a box of books can get heavy. While the number of books people enjoy in their personal library varies, I’m sure that everyone will agree that no one likes moving books. They get heavy fast.

For me, downsizing to 5 books is a perfect number because I can fit 5 books in a small boat and tote. I don’t have to worry about packing up boxes of books to move. All I must do is pick up my boat and tote, put the strap on my shoulder and off I go. My collection is curated to ease portability.

How did I decide on five books? For many people, books are like potato chips – there are so many that we like, it’s hard to choose just a few.

For starters, I am a big fan of libraries. I love being able to borrow a book, read it, and then return it for someone else to enjoy. I do not necessarily need to keep every book I read. For many books I read, once is enough. The book can move on to bring someone else enjoyment.

If there is a book that I particularly enjoy so much that I have checked it out of the library to read twice, then it meets my criteria to purchase. If I’ve gotten it out of the library more than once, then it needs to be in my personal library. If you check the same book out of the library multiple times, it’s probably one you should own.

Of all the books I own that meet the “twice out of the library” criteria, how did I decide which ones deserved a permanent place in my set of five? I looked at how many times I have re-read the book once I own it.

If I have re-read the book three or more times, then it earns a spot in my personal curated collection. Really, if you’ve read a book three or more times, you must really enjoy it. Those novels are the keepers.

Books I have gotten rid of have been donated to either Little Free Libraries or library book sales. They can bring someone else joy. I do purchase “new” books. Books I cannot find at the library, I purchase used from a site called Thriftbooks. You can get used books on Thriftbooks for $5 or less. They are in great shape. Purchases often support libraries, as some books are library discards. I typically place an order for 5-10 books at Christmas. 

Once I have read a book, I will donate it. If I decide it is a book I may want to re-read, then I keep it. In this way, books flow in and out of my life. 

My current book collection of 5 books is not a fixed set. Some books come into your life for a season. If there is a book that has particularly resonated with me that I have read more than three times, then I will look at the collection of 5 to decide if I need to add a book and if a book has fallen out of the season of my life. 

It is possible for a book in my collection of 5 to leave. Different books speak to us at different points in life. 

The next time I move, it will be very easy to move the books. I won’t have to worry about wine boxes full of books and how heavy they are to carry. My personal book collection fits in a boat and tote that easily goes on my shoulder, leaving my hands free to carry other things. 

While 5 books may seem extreme to some, it works for me. I get plenty of exposure to books through the library. I do a Thriftbooks order every year for Christmas. I am not in want of reading material, nor am I bored with re-reading the same things. 

What criteria do you have for establishing a favorite book? How many times have you re-read your favorites? 

Minimalism – Entertainment Media

/ rachelgoes262 / 1 Comment

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When it comes to downsizing or decluttering, they say to always leave the most difficult items until last. For many, the most difficult items are sentimental items. For me personally, the most difficult items are CDs and DVDs. I love music. I love CDs. 

Artists create albums as a work of art. It’s not just the music, it’s the cover art and the insert that goes with the disc. In this way, CDs are similar to records for me, only CDs are smaller. The exerience is almost the same. The one key difference is that the sound of a record is vastly different than a CD, but I digress. Everything else is essentially the same.

I am at that point in my minimalist journey where I feel comfortable tackling the hard stuff. I do think that part of this is pandemic related. Part of it just happens to be where I am in my journey not related to the pandemic. I also have goals in life that are causing me to be more ruthless in my decluttering strategy so that I am prepared to meet my future goals with less stuff.

Here is my strategy and how it is going with my some of my most challenging decluttering categories.

Books

Originally, I thought books would be a hard category to downsize. However, when you look at CDs, DVDs and books, I found it very easy to downsize books in comparison to music. I started with close to 1,000 books. I would spend hours cataloging them by various methods – author, title, genre, ISBN. 

I can borrow books from the library and frequently do. In fact, I was borrowing so many books from the library that I was not reading the books in my house. There is no point in keeping all those books if I am not going to read them. It is time to pass them on so they can be read and enjoyed by other people.

Decluttering my books has been a very gradual process over the past decade. When I declutter books, I donate them either to the library book sale or to the Little Free Library cabinets that I tend to find in parks. 

If I enjoy a book so much that I have checked it out of the library at least twice to read it (two different distinct times, not simply renewing a book I did not have enough time to read), then that is a book I need to own. My goal is to only own books I enjoy enough that I read them several times. If I only read a book once and do not have the urge to read it a second time, then it is time for that book to move on to be enjoyed by someone else.

After a decade of going through this process with these perameters, here is my current status. 

There are 8 books on my book shelf that I have identified as books I have read multiple times, intend to read again in the future, or simply cannot part with (books that have special autographed messages from the autthor). 

In addition to the 8 books on my bookshelf, I currently have one reusable shopping bag full of books that I intend to read. As I make my way through this bag of books, I am deciding if I will keep the book or if the book will be donated and move on to be enjoyed by someone else. So it is entirely possible that I will end up with more than 8 books on my bookshelf as I make my way through the bag of books I have.

My goal is to make it through this bag of books this calendar year in 2021.

 DVDs

My goal for DVDs is only to have as many as I can fit in the DVD cabinet. Right now, not only is my DVD cabinet full, but I have DVDs that have invaded by bookcase. DVDs have been an escape for me in the pandemic, and I do not have cable to watch TV, so I have more DVDs than space allows.

I have decided that I am definitely keeping all of my TV series and my baseball World Series. I am currently watching all of my movies to decide what is staying and what is going. This has been a challenging exercise. 

I will admit that there are some DVDs where I am on the fence. If I am on the fence, those DVDs are going in a special box. They will not be donated to the library book sale this year. I labelled the box 2023 and am going to put it in a closet. If I don’t feel like watching any of those movies in the next year to the point where I pull them out of the closet, then they will be donated in 2023.

There are some movies where I watch them, and right away, I know that I am done with that movie. Either it has served its purpose – I enjoyed it, but it is not one I reach for on a regular basis, or I have “outgrown” the movie. I am no longer at a point in my life where I feel like I will watch that movie again. I have enjoyed it and it is time to move on.

I am currently working my way through watching my movie DVDs to help everything fit in the space provided. The goal is that the DVDs will all fit in the DVD cabinet and that there will no longer be DVDs invading the bookcase.

Records and CDs

This is probably going to be a shocker for those who know me well, but I have decided my records and the record player will be leaving. I had a record player and records long ago that were lost in a flood. Then, for graduation for one of my four degrees, I was gifted a record player. Over the years, I acquired a milk crate full of records all second hand from either the library book sale or from the used record store in town.

In looking through my records, almost 100% of my record collection is a duplicate of an album I own on CD. I rarely listen to the records. To be frank, it is a pain in the ass to connect the record player, place the vinyl on the turnstyle and line up the needle to play. Sure, I love records. I love the feel, smell, and sound of them. However, I am getting much more enjoyment out of my CDs and they are easier to use. The records and record player are just weighing me down at this point. I have future goals that require me to be as light and nimble as possible.

When it comes to CDs, this is my most challenging category to downsize ever. I love music. I love CDs and my collection. A few years ago, I got rid of a shoebox full of CDs. At the time, it was hard. I was all emotional donating a shoebox of CDs. You know what? I don’t even remember what CDs were in that shoebox. I don’t miss them at all. 

Looking at my CD collection today, I have 700+ CDs. I don’t listen to them a lot. CDs are similar to the 80/20 rule for clothes. I listen to about 20% of my CDs 80% of the time. 

The CDs are also way out of their space. All of the CD cabinets are full. CDs have invaded the bookcase. They have overflowed even the bookcase and are just laying around in boxes on the floor. I have way too many CDs. While CDs are my most favorite form of music, I’m not listening to them as much as I used to.

A few months ago, I stopped listening to radio. I just can’t take news anymore in the pandemic. I had to stop listening to news in order to keep my sanity. I still get news. I do not bury my head in the sand about anything that goes on. Now I go to a few different news source’s websites a few times a day to get my news instead of listening to it on the radio. This way, when I have had enough news, I can stop looking.

I also splurged and put Sirius radio on my phone a few months ago. I now listen to music without commercials and without news. I am thoroughly enjoying a bevy of my favorite music stations. I enjoy satellite radio so much, I am not listening to my CDs as much.

This does not mean I can live without my CDs. I still love them. I still have times when I listen to CDs because I want to hear a certain album or a certain song whenever I want. Although I am enjoying radio on my phone, digital music is my least favorite form of music for listening. My CDs still hold a tremendous amount of value for me.

In 2022 this year, I have embarked on a project to downsize my CDs. I am listening to every single CD.

Yup, that’s right. Every. Single. One. 

As I listen to them, I am deciding which ones I am keeping and which ones I am donating. Sometimes, I am pleasantly surprised. I will pick up a CD and think “this one should be donated,” then I listen to the CD and fall in love with it all over again. It stays. There are other CDs I pick up and think “this one should have a free pass to stay,” but I force myself to go through the listening exercise anyway. Then Ilisten to the CD and think “why was I going to give this one a free pass? I never listen to it and it’s horrible.” 

I have come to realize that just because I enjoy a specific band or musician does not mean I need to own or like every single piece of music they make. There are some bands where I have all of their albums just to have all of their albums because I love the band. But you know what? I may love the band, but some of their records really sucked. And that’s okay.

This year I am enjoying a muscial journey through every single CD I own. Again, the goal of this exercise is for all of the CDs to fit in the CD cabinet. CDs should not be invading the book case and overflowing into boxes of CDs sitting on the floor because there are so many of them. 

I only want to keep what I truly love and enjoy. That is the entire purpose of life. Just because I love a band does not mean I need to keep their one album that sucked. No artist is able to produce albums where every single one is stellar. Some are less than stellar. That’s okay. 

Conclusion

My biggest goal as a minimalist is to only be surrounded by things that are useful and things that I love. Just because a band brings me joy does not mean I need to keep an album that I did not love as much as the others. 

I also now have future plans that are going to require me to be nimble and easy to move. The more I am able to downsize, the easier it will be for me to realize my future goals. Even if I do not realize my future goals, my goal for right now is to only be surrounded by what I love. If I don’t love something, then it needs to leave. 

Yes, I love CDs. I love music. CDs are my favorite form of music. I’m sure I will be just as happy with 300 CDs as I am with 700 CDs. As long as they are all albums I love, that’s the point. I do not have a set number of CDs I want to declutter down to. I just want them all to fit in the CD cabinet and not overflowing and invading other spaces. 

What is your most challenging decluttering category?