Lori Talks The Biggest Book Purge of All

I've written numerous times in the past about being completely overwhelmed by the number of books I own.  I've written about doing book purges in the past.  And I've written about doing the KonMari method of clearing out crap.  I got rid of a good 300 books the first go around.  I had so much crap that I actually did the KonMari method a second time to get rid of even more.  Except the second time sort of failed because I still haven't taken the stuff to a place to actually get rid of it...But I won't focus on that.  The stuff has been separated from the main part of my stuff, which is the goal, and when I finally do dispose of the stuff, I will be rid of another 50 plus books.

Anyway, the title of the post is "Biggest Book Purge of All."  I've mentioned getting rid of a good 350 books, which is pretty extreme, so how could I get rid of even more?  I moved.

When I moved back in November, I made the conscious decision to limit the amount of stuff I brought so that I could streamline my life.  I've followed an internet friend's decision of limiting her wardrobe to mostly black, white, and gray because it all goes together and totally streamlines my mornings.  I decided to not bring a bunch of kitchen gadgets because I don't have much time to cook and I hate having a lot of items I rarely, if ever, use just lying around.  We don't keep a ton of food in our fridge or cabinets and the food we buy actually gets eaten instead of becoming a science project!  I didn't bring a bunch of movies because I don't have time to watch movies.  Etc.

I also made the decision to not bring a bunch of books.  I really haven't looked back, to be honest.  I don't spend a lot of my reading time wishing I had this book or that book on hand.  I brought two book cases.  They are comfortably full (as opposed to being crammed full or having piles of books on the floor without a home).  When I have the time and inclination to read, I can quickly find something, instead of spending huge amounts of time having an existential crisis about what I should read next.

The two book cases aren't huge by any means, but they hold the books I want to be reading.  I love the idea that the books we buy are an entryway into who we aspire to be at a given time.  I'm old enough to be comfortable enough to just take myself as I am and not aspire to be too much else or someone vastly different from who I really am.  That's not to say I don't still try to get outside my comfort zones (I recently bought two Philip K. Dick books), but I'm not interested in reading the complete history of every subject I encounter or buying an author's complete backlist.

Without all of the book clutter, I feel like I can take things as they come.  I can read and enjoy myself, or I can watch TV and enjoy myself--all without feeling guilty about what I am or am not reading.  That kind of freedom is priceless.