#Microblog Monday 478: Acquiring
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Here’s a morbid question: I do a big book-buying spree every few months. These are the books I want to own and not borrow from the library. I intend to reread them (fully or partially) or loan them to family members to try.
But it occurred to me when someone mentioned Swedish Death Cleaning that there will come a time when I will not buy books without a plan for how I will release said book when I’m done reading it. If not, I’m leaving my clutter for someone else to deal with. And added to the idea of books are all the things you purchase as souvenirs as you go through life that only hold meaning for you. It’s not that someone else won’t appreciate those items, but they are purchased with only my enjoyment in mind.
But what is that age? How do you know when you should slow down on acquiring and start thinking about tidying things up? I am (hopefully) decades away, but the question occurred to me now.
What do you think?
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5 comments
I looked at the list of episodes on Peacock of SDC, love that Amy Pohler is the narrator. This is one random take but for your consideration: my uncle loved reading and amassed a sizable collection of books. My parents gave them all to a locksmith who helped them. The clearing process could not have been easier. So I’m so glad that he kept his 500 or so books. I think the key here was that we felt no guilt in giving away the collection and no attachment to his books. On the other hand, I would struggle parting with items belonging to my mom, even if she gave me the green light to donate anything, since we are so close.
I suppose everyone is different — but for me, I reached that point at age 55, when we made the decision to sell our house and downsize into a condo. I didn’t and don’t think of it as “Swedish Death Cleaning” but needless to say, when you’re moving from 1400 square feet, not including basement, garage and garden shed, into 875 square feet plus a storage locker the size of a large closet or small powder room, you quickly realize you need to start getting rid of extraneous stuff. I had to shed still more stuff after we moved and it became evident it wasn’t all going to fit, and I’ve continued to send things to the thrift store now & then. I did keep my wedding china & some of the crystal, and some little knick-knacks that I’ve collected over the years, but I got a nice (small) china cabinet to keep & display them in, and I got rid of a lot too. I had an amazing amount of dishes and mugs and got rid of all but one set of dishes (plus the china) and a lot of the mugs I’d collected over the years. Also some of the small appliances I’d collected over the years but rarely used (like the electric wok and immersion blender).
Being retired, I don’t have the need for all the clothes and makeup that I did when I was working; I’m not around stores as much as I once was (so the temptation to buy is less). I’m buying less stuff, and when I do, I try to question whether I really need it, if I have room for it, and (especially if space is limited) what I’m willing to get rid of in order to bring this into the house. I only have so many spare hangers in my closet; when I start running out of spare hangers, I know I need to go through my closet and weed out some things that no longer fit or that I don’t wear much anymore.
Books were the hardest thing to downsize. Dh said I could bring as many books with us as would fit in as many shelves as would fit along one wall in the second bedroom (which we use as an office). That’s three large IKEA Billy bookcases and one smaller one (plus, I will admit, a couple of plastic bins in the corner, lol). I still had to get rid of a LOT of books — I lost count at 60 liquor store-sized cartons full. I generally hung on to almost every book I ever bought; I just can’t do that anymore. There were/are exceptions to the rules, but here are some of the ones I followed:
If I’d had it for years & still hadn’t read it, it went into the giveaway pile. If I had or could find a cheap e-copy for my e-reader, it generally went into the pile (and I still keep an eye out for cheap e-copies of books I already have that I might be willing to give up in paper). If it was dated or something I no longer was that interested in, out it went. (e.g., I had books of political cartoons from the 1980s that I hadn’t looked at in years.) If I had 10 books on the same subject — home organization, for example (lol), I’d keep the one or two best books on the subject and get rid of the rest. I decided that if I really, really regretted getting rid of a book, I could buy another copy. There are only a few cases so far where I’ve done that.
There are some books I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of — old favourites, my boxed sets of Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables books, etc. And the ridiculous price of paper books these days has me thinking twice about whether I really want a paper copy. (E-books are cheaper, albeit not always cheap, unless you can get a good sale — and they obviously take up far less space…!) But obviously, my shelf space is not unlimited, and it starts getting too crowded & double-stacked, I know it’s time to have a look & see what I can cull again.
OK, I wrote an absolute screed on this, deleted it, and will just say this.
At a certain stage, decluttering/downsizing/Swedish Death Cleaning, or whatever you want to call it, ultimately becomes too hard to contemplate, let alone actually do. Which is why, in my 60s (ouch), I’m starting to think about decluttering/downsizing, and need to do more of it. But I slowed down acquiring things years and years ago, once we had our house “set up.” Getting enjoyment from my “things” is more important to me now than acquiring new ones, though I’m still happy to acquire if it is something I need or love. Fortunately, in terms of books, ebooks make it easy. I can buy as many as I like! So can you.
In terms of deadlines, decluttering/downsizing/SDC definitely needs to be done in my 70s (hopefully before) – that’s the crunch time I think, based on my observations of mental/physical deterioration. By the time someone is in their 80s, the decisions become too hard, and it is too late to do it without help, I think.
In other words – you’ve got plenty of time! And the reality is, you have kids who will have memories of everything you value, and will value many of those things as a result.
It helps to have a small house. I read a lot of mysteries series with many books in the series (well, I’ve outread many over the years). So I had a lot of paperback series taking up the shelves. When my kids were very little I realized I could not keep them (plus, I don’t ever reread mysteries. It made no sense to keep them). Years later, I wish I had kept some. My oldest is just getting into mysteries and loves cats like I do and I think she would have enjoyed some of the series some of which featured cats. But, alas. I’m also rethinking my stance-if I read something 20 years ago, would it really be so bad to reread?
You sound like someone who has never had to move a lot of books. Once I took my books from my condo to my house to the rental unit to my current house, I was pretty well done buying books forever. I think I’ve bought maybe 10 in the last 20 years. I have a great library though.
I do need to get rid of more stuff though…