I know – it probably seems counterintuitive to start a clean-out project with the category that you are naturally inclined to hoard but nonetheless it's where I've decided to begin. I've been feeling a little penned in lately by the amount of STUFF in our house which I have decided is not an altogether random feeling. Part of it has to do, I know, with the arrival of the latest issue of O Magazine on my Nook (the annual de-clutter issue, naturally). Another part of it has to do with our current housing debate – to own or to continue renting, to go bigger or smaller… how to redefine our living space for our newly expanded family.
If you spend a lot of time thinking about what your living space needs to be like, it naturally leads to considerations about the stuff you own – because that's the stuff the space has to accommodate. And I can't help but look around and think 'what even IS all this junk?!?'
For a pair of natural pack-rats, Colin and I have actually done a really good job in recent years of culling through the junk and giving/throwing away the excess. At one point last year I was certain the Goodwill folks knew our car before we ever turned in. But we still have loads more than we need and there are times when it weighs me down – and most often when we're talking minimum square footage of the new digs.
So it seems to me that another massive overhaul is necessary in the crap-we-keep department and I've decided to start with the hardest stuff first – because usually those are the items that you never get to because you burn out on cleaning before you get to them. For me, as most of you are no doubt aware, this inevitably leaves me standing in front of my book shelves.
I love books. I love shopping in bookstores and trucking home with arms full of unopened possibilities. When I first heard that Borders was going out of business I thought, how could that possibly be when they get so much of my paycheck?
Which means, of course, that I have lots of books; admittedly, lots of books I've never read, or will never read again and only a small number of books that fall into the 'lifelong keeper' category. But I've decided that's what I need to narrow it down to. I'm going to give myself two categories of keepers – 'haven't read yet, but still want to' and 'favorites – not to be touched under penalty of death.' The rest will go into a pile to be sold or donated – I haven't determined yet which.
The interesting thing about this is that it affords me an opportunity to dig through the books I own and rediscover them to a certain extent. I then have to cast a critical eye at them and mentally place them into the appropriate category. The Rushdie shelf I just skip – all keepers. Same with the Knapp and the Murakami. My Nick Hornby books… hmm… split between the two categories of keepers – High Fidelity (favorite), Juliet, Naked (not yet read, but want to), but all of the collections of his old columns… hmmm… I finally decide are keepers (favorites, but part of me feels like I'm pushing the definition a tad).
But what about Wicked? Hmm… read it but definitely not a favorite – first addition to the sell/donate box. Followed quickly by Joy Luck Club (loved it – but not a keeper), then the Proust and several non-fiction books on running, exercising and serial killers. My tattered version of All the King's Men – definitely a keeper. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle… ugh… sell/donate… a wonderful story but I never could get past the page near the middle where my heart broke (still so carefully marked by the receipt I was using as a bookmark and never removed).
As I work my way around the room and through the bookshelves, it actually starts to feel pretty good. I find myself enjoying the process of whittling down to just those books that either still hold my interest (Atwood's The Blind Assassin) or which I know always will (Sontag's The Volcano Lover, my first print edition of The Silence of the Lambs, Stephen King's On Writing). It's an interesting way to look at myself – how I've evolved based on the purchases I've made over the years and the much smaller subset that I still intend to keep.
And, let's be honest, the other benefit is that all of this cleaning and clearing out makes me feel productive without forcing me to face any of the housing questions that actually prompted it.
Next week – twofold tackle I think. The guest room closet and… my purse collection… yipes.
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