Very Busy Culling Everything I Own

I said in an earlier post I had thought about what I would do when I returned from holiday.  My book collection was out of control.  After reading Marie Kondo's book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A Simple, Effective Way to Banish Clutter Forever, I really got carried away. In fact I am still working my way through it but I have managed to get through the first two items of the checklist:    Clothes and Books.

My good friend Frances put me onto this book. I really thought it would just be another tidying up, move things around and create more storage type of book. But it is a change in attitude I hadn't thought of before. And it works!  Enough of the sales pitch.

Most of the book is extremely helpful. For example beginning with clothes, you are to get every piece of clothing in your entire house and put it in the middle of the floor. Yes, I did this. However she does allow you to categorise things and I started with tops.  I put every top I own in the middle of the floor. Then you hold up each piece and ask yourself if you really love it.  Most of the old shirts I had hanging around I didn't love at all. If the answer is "no" you toss it. If it is "yes" then you keep it.
Then the process continues with the rest of your clothes category by category.  It was kind of hard to hold up my old knickers and say "Do I love you?"  "Nope, I don't feel anything for you."  However I did quite like the newer ones so I  kept those.

I finished with the clothes and took several garbage bags of clothes to Vinnies.  Then I had to do the books.  The only thing I found really hard with this whole process is her advice to thank the items that had served their purpose and move them on.  I just couldn't bear to say "Thank you jacket, you served me well when I was working but your time has come."  I just stuffed it in the bag.

The whole idea  is you end up living in a house with only the things you really love. That evidently is supposed to cause untold happiness.

Only a few of the books I got rid of.

The books were hard. I had over 3000 books easily.  Mind you 2000 of them are vintage Penguin books.  Once Karyn of apenguinaweek organised her books into bookshelves I decided it was time to get serious with the storage of mine. Her shelves were an inspiration.

I have a front room full of books. The right wall was shelves and shelves of Penguins crowded together everywhere. The left wall was shelves and shelves of non-Penguins.  My goal was to get rid of the non-Penguins.  Taking a big breath I dumped all the non-Penguins onto the floor.  I started to cull.  One book for the bag, three books for me. Okay, it didn't go so well. But I continued.  Once all the bags of books were full I put them aside to move them on.

The next day was much better. I went through the pile of books left for me and ended up getting rid of a lot of them.

I sold some to a bookseller in Hobart.  I donated many to Vinnies and the Red Cross book store. I have three boxes of duplicate Penguins that are going to the auction house on Monday.

All in all I culled over 1000 books.  Yes, that is One Thousand.  Then I sorted all of the Penguins into the various series categories. Then I reshelved them.  When I walk into the front room now I have one wall of Penguin and the other wall is also full of Penguins except one book case that has the non- Penguins I chose to keep.  I put some of my paperbacks under the bed. I have two large drawers under the bed. None of those books are in any order.  My rule is to pick a book out of the drawer and read it. If I don't want to or I am not in the mood then it leaves the house. Otherwise I read it and then it leaves the house.

The hallway bookcase has my valuable books of Jack London, William Horwood and John Steinbeck plus my old Dog books collection.  They will stay there until we all leave the house together. The same with the Penguin collection.  The front room is well and truly my Penguin library and once it is cleaned up and the table cleared and dusted I will post up photos of the whole thing.

I have listed the entire inventory of each series on my main blog page in the categories. It is easy to refer to the list and see what I have and what I still need. It transfers easily to my smart phone and comes in handy when I find a new Penguin and I am not sure I have it. I can look it up on my phone at the time. This should prevent anymore duplicates coming into the house. From now on I will only collect first published Penguins. Reprints stay behind.

Only another few books I got rid of.

I am still working my way through the Marie Kondo book checklist but the rest will be easy. I have yet to do the kitchen cupboards, the papers, the momentos.  It will be entirely completed by the end of August. That is the time frame I gave myself.  The house will be clear. If I get hit by the bus next week no one will have to struggle with the clutter. Just box up those Penguins and send them to auction.

I am looking forward to finishing because in September I begin on the Garden Project. Now that will be a big job. Stay tuned.