How to declutter your house (part three- books)
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Ok so if you’ve read parts one and two, you should be getting the hang of it by now. Get every single item in that category, pile it on the floor, hold each one and see if it sparks joy. So next up is books.
This was going to be easy, because I wasn’t going to get rid of a single book. We didn’t have that many books, probably five or six shelves worth (some fuller than others due to my husband’s valiant if maverick attempts at shelf building). The book shelves are the first thing you see as you walk in the house, and I thought their presence
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gave an assurance to the visitor that they were entering the house of someone clever and well read.
I soon realised that actually, you only need to speak to me briefly to realise that I’m not well read, and in fact it was more of a disappointment, as I’d have built up your hopes with a well-furnished bookcase.
So, to the ‘joy sparking’ bit. When I began to hold each book and look at it, I realised that there were quite a few that did not bring me joy, books such as The Lovely Bones, Lolita, and the Virgin Suicides actively made me miserable
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to think about, and I was walking past them every day. Books that were unread made me feel guilty; Marie Kondo says sensibly that books are meant to be read, and the time for reading books is when you first buy them, so let unread books go.
How many books do you own that you’re honestly likely to re-read, or truly bring you joy to own? We got it down to one shelf.
Our remaining books, arranged (as everything has to be in Konmari) from dark to light.
Anyway everything I read now ( which is nothing, as I just read trash on the internet) is
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on the Kindle, and I only bought that so I could read Tony Blair’s autobiography with no-one knowing.
***For part four head on over to careerspacer.com ****
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Career spacer - 5 Jul 17
Ok so if you’ve read parts one and two, you should be getting the hang of it by now. Get every single item in that category, pile it on the floor, hold each one and see if it sparks joy. So next up is books.
This was going to be easy, because I wasn’t going to get rid of a single book. We didn’t have that many books, probably five or six shelves worth (some fuller than others due to my husband’s valiant if maverick attempts at shelf building). The book shelves are the first thing you see as you walk in the house, and I thought their presence gave an assurance to the visitor that they were entering the house of someone clever and well read.
I soon realised that actually, you only need to speak to me briefly to realise that I’m not well read, and in fact it was more of a disappointment, as I’d have built up your hopes with a well-furnished bookcase.
So, to the ‘joy sparking’ bit. When I began to hold each book and look at it, I realised that there were quite a few that did not bring me joy, books such as The Lovely Bones, Lolita, and the Virgin Suicides actively made me miserable to think about, and I was walking past them every day. Books that were unread made me feel guilty; Marie Kondo says sensibly that books are meant to be read, and the time for reading books is when you first buy them, so let unread books go.
How many books do you own that you’re honestly likely to re-read, or truly bring you joy to own? We got it down to one shelf.
Our remaining books, arranged (as everything has to be in Konmari) from dark to light.
Anyway everything I read now ( which is nothing, as I just read trash on the internet) is on the Kindle, and I only bought that so I could read Tony Blair’s autobiography with no-one knowing.
***For part four head on over to careerspacer.com ****
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Hi I'm Anna, I left my career of 10 years to pursue my dreams of sitting on the sofa a bit more. I have two beautiful little girls aged 3 and 1. Blogging at careerspacer.com
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