Since I’m moving I’ve been trying to weed through the items I truly need and those which are dispensable. Pretty much everything I own can be replaced but should it? I had a conversation last night that convinced my husband that some items aren’t worth the cost of moving. Although after discussing the two tall lamps we have in the living room, we decided to keep them. One issue we have is that we don’t have jobs yet and don’t feel we will have a disposable income to repurchased everything. What if we will need light in the new house :)
The second issue is that we don’t know where we will be living. Will there be room for both futons and our new, huge, sectional couch? Should I keep my two desks? They are great now for my home office but will I have a home office at new location? I have to give back my desktop to my department and will only have my laptop so do I need two desks? One desk was a gift for my high school graduation, it’s had lots of drawers but it is big and bulky although not very roomy. The second desk was $60 at Ikea with no drawers but is so roomy, one can really spread out and work on it, even with my printer and desktop taking up space.
To address the title of the post; I have books that I keep meaning to reread that I’ve had since high school and college. How does one decided to keep a book or not? My husband and I have decided to get rid of our textbooks from undergrad. We use the internet to look up items more than these books and if we were to ever teach a course in them we would just get the newest book (I’m keeping all my notes and assignments from college). In addition, I’m keeping all my graduate school text books.
I have a lot of social studies, women studies and humanity text books from my undergrad education that I loved and were thought provoking. In addition I have this great environmental ethics book and a science theory book, not written by scientists but by theologians. I also have books that were given to me as gifts, it seems wrong to get rid of them.
Did you know that I own four bibles! Four! One was given to me by my grandma haphazardly. She said she bought it for my cousin but bought her a different one instead. So I took it, and it was right when I started going back to church in college. I have a one a day bible. It divides the bible into short passages that if one reads a passage everyday you can read the whole bible in a year. I have a marriage devotional bible that my husband’s uncle gave us (never read). I also have a living bible that has commentaries and historical information about most passages. It has been at least one year since I’ve read any of these. Do I need four bibles? NO! but I just can’t seem to part with any of these.
What I’m looking for here is some support. Why should I or shouldn’t I keep a book?
4 comments:
I got rid of most undergrad books when I moved to grad school (in my small car). Husband and I decided on a no more than one copy per household rule on grad school books (we are in the same field). I've been tempted to buy some classics, but I am making a conscious decision to wait till we are in a more permanent place.
It's the "reading for fun" books that are trouble - we seem to be accumulating them, which is an anticipated problem for the next move. We are trying to not acquire new ones if there are still books laying around that haven't been read... I think most of the ones we have read will not be moving with us.
I think that if you are not likely to (re)read the books, leave them behind (except the ones with sentiments attached). There will always be new books to read!
I have a hard time getting rid of books too. I think I would end up keeping all four bibles even though I didn't need them! Clearly I am not the one to turn to for book decluttering. As for the furniture, I'd say sell most of it, unless it is really nice. You can get really good used stuff for cheap on Craigslist.
umm, i am in the never throw books away camp. unless they are dumb books from childhood that you'll never read again, like i went through a horror reading phase that now, the covers alone make me scared. i would say to get rid of textbooks from undergrad in fields you are no longer interested in, and keep stuff that you really like. like if you like womens studies and the other stuff keep it. why not? if you ever feel bad about keeping too many books, well then you can tell yourself what i always do, you can't throw away knowledge, so you should keep it.
I'm also in the book-keeping camp. My husband and I have many book shelves, and sometimes I wonder if it's been worth it to move boxes of beat up paperbacks. But then I find comfort and happiness in rereading old favorites. I'd actually rather read than go to to the movies, so they function as entertainment too. So if think you'll read them again or, as sciencegirl says, if they have sentiment attached, I'd say move them.
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