Paperbackswap.com

I've been reading lots of other websites and blogs of fellow minimalist and aspiring minimalist, and I've noticed that many of the non-purists allow themselves exceptions: books, collections, shoes. I'm on the fence about this--on one hand, the thought of having "exceptions" will make my task a lot easier. On the other hand, it's all these exceptions that got me here in the first place!

I mean, really....if I didn't have "collections" of things, I wouldn't have any clutter!

One minimalist made an exception for books: that seemed like a dandy of an idea. Keep my books--I had about 300 of them. But then I had a collection of gear. A collection of 'zines. A collection of fiestaware. A collection of records. You get the picture. The collection of books had to go. No exceptions.

I applied the same principle to books as I did clothes:

• When was the last time I read it?
• Why was I really keeping it?
• What condition was it in?
• What memory did it invoke? positive, negative or neutral?

Now of course, the irony with books--the ones you love and adore are the ones with the most wear and tear, so I wasn't about to part with my copy of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment--it was one of my faves--even if it did look like a terrier used it as a chew toy. But I did have oodles and oodles of other books that I just weren't reading, or had a total indifference to them.

Along came www.paperbackswap.com

I registered 12 books--all free--just listed them online to see what would happen. Within 48 hours, someone requested one of the books I had listed. It gave me a way out--I had 3 days to decide if I REALLY wanted to give up the book.

I did.

I printed off the label, sent it book rate...and voila! one book gone to a good home. Two months later, almost all 12 books had been adopted. I was able to easily let go of the books, knowing that the person who requested them really wanted to read them. In some cases, the requesting person had been waiting for months for that very book to appear!

My collection of 300 has dwindled down to about 50. I have one stack of hard cover that I plan to sell at a flea market or on Craigslist--and I've got big plans for those 50 books. If I can meet my goal, I'd eventually like to hone it down to 25. If nothing else, my first goal is trim the "collection" so that when I move again, all of my books will fit into one box.

Now I've got 5 holders of 'zines...those are going to be significantly harder to part with, but then again.... I think of those concert tees. If I can find them a home.... I can part with just about anything else.

My bookshelves are now almost completely vacant of books. The children's books take up just a small little corner of one shelf... my 12-step books another small spot. A few fire department text books on another shelf (just 4--not too bad). I've got a few special poetry books (signed and personalized--all have meaning to me) and a few miscellaneous "others." One shelf is completely bare. I'm leaving it that way, just to try on for size how that feels.

I've used some archival/organizational boxes and placed some of the books in there--out of sight for now, and the look is a lot cleaner. After six months, I'll open them up and see if I still want to keep the contents. Or who knows...maybe if I can't guess what's inside, the whole box and contents will disappear into the "donate" pile.

Funny thing: it's been about 8 or 9 months since I started culling the books and I don't miss a single one. I can't even recall what some of them were now!