Hoarding...not just on TV

lostinrates

Haha, old tractor, i put some the lost at the bottom of a box flambards books on the groaning book shelf w have here yesterday.

blossomhill_2

oldtractor wrote: »

Books are a problem

I can see why - but some books, e.g. like dictionaries, atlases etc, are almost obsolete now so you can use the shelf space saved by putting them out for the irreplaceable favourites

PS - are you J.R. Hartley?

Recycling a hoard


Personally I think recycling should be suspended during a

de-clutter – controversial I guess but here is my reasoning

· Recycling is something some people do in a normal situation.

· If you are trying to convince someone else (who is disappearing under a hoard) or even yourself that something is rubbish then it goes in the bin – finish!

· If you strip it down (cardboard sleeve,goes out as card, paper instructions go out as paper, plastic packaging goes out as plastic) you are in fact turning it into 3 or 4 things – and reinforcing the idea that it has a value – no, it doesn’t, it is rubbish!

· Yes landfill costs the taxpayer – but so do people with mental health problems or homelessness problems, vermin problems, so the aim is to get the clutter thrown out asap, not triple it

· Stripping it down to recycle can also be a delaying tactic, time taken sorting it could be more fruitfully be spent on more de-cluttering

So personally I think suspend it until situation normal and then recycle if and when you see the wood for the trees

Cat501

I wouldn't get rid of an atlas, I like browsing through them! It's just not the same on a computer screen

Then again I find it almost impossible to get rid of any book....:o

lostinrates

I don't consider my reference books obsolete...ok, i accept this might be a symptom of the hanging on top things. E.g. My french dictionary was my fathers, i have a family set of childrens encyclopedias..... They are beautiful pieces of history even where the knowledge is superceded their value to me is not..

Byatt

Wouldn't it be nice for others to enjoy them though? I totally appreciate the attachment to books, books are a great joy to me and always have been.

It was a huge leap for me to actually pass on books that I had loved and had many memories attached to them, but now they are gone, they I still have the memories and fondness for the book, but books which I hardly looked at in the last 20 or so years.

Having said that, I just don't have the room for books, truly, but if you do and it's something you love, then why not keep them.

Blossom you make a very good point about the recycling. I know when my head is clearer I have made the decision to throw away stuff rather than spend the time and energy recycling it.

blossomhill_2

I have found that since I have decluttered I feel free to go away more often as the hoard isn't dragging me down ... so I am more likely to explore real places instead of reading about them

My home has become less important now, in some ways, but in other ways it is now somewhere I can bring friends so it has a wider role too

lostinrates

Byatt wrote: »

Wouldn't it be nice for others to enjoy them though? I totally appreciate the attachment to books, books are a great joy to me and always have been.

It was a huge leap for me to actually pass on books that I had loved and had many memories attached to them, but now they are gone, they I still have the memories and fondness for the book, but books which I hardly looked at in the last 20 or so years.

Having said that, I just don't have the room for books, truly, but if you do and it's something you love, then why not keep them.

Blossom you make a very good point about the recycling. I know when my head is clearer I have made the decision to throw away stuff rather than spend the time and energy recycling it.

Its lovely for others to enjoy them....and often people do when they peruse the books.:D


I also tell girlfriends to grab whatever they want of the paperback pile when they visit. And my old cjoldrens books were great when my nieces lived with me and now for friends children:o

Cat501

blossomhill wrote: »

I have found that since I have decluttered I feel free to go away more often as the hoard isn't dragging me down ... so I am more likely to explore real places instead of reading about them

My home has become less important now, in some ways, but in other ways it is now somewhere I can bring friends so it has a wider role too

Interesting point - I've got a fairly big collection of travel writing, with another 16 books on an Amazon wish list, and I do tend to reread some of them over and over again. I don't see me ever getting rid of any of them though, except perhaps "Narrow Dog to Carcassonne" which I hated - but it's part of a collection.....aargh ....I know I do have a bit of an attachment problem:o

lostinrates wrote: »

Its lovely for others to enjoy them....and often people do when they peruse the books.:D


I also tell girlfriends to grab whatever they want of the paperback pile when they visit. And my old cjoldrens books were great when my nieces lived with me and now for friends children:o

:)I do that too - but I only give them to a very, very select few after not getting some back:mad:

Byatt

lostinrates wrote: »

Its lovely for others to enjoy them....and often people do when they peruse the books.:D


I also tell girlfriends to grab whatever they want of the paperback pile when they visit. And my old cjoldrens books were great when my nieces lived with me and now for friends children:o

I am secretly jealous. I've never not had loads of books in my house, until now, another thing to blame ex for! :rotfl::rotfl:

Blossom, I hope I can feel that way too one day. It would be nice to be able to invite people in when they call...as it is, I half close the door, and seem very rude at times.

edit, Cat, I have a friend who keeps a small notebook with the names of people she has loaned books to!

wannabe_sybil

Re books - I don't read much fiction, the bits I do read get read again and again and again - I have had to replace worn out Terry Pratchett books! However I don't really want to get rid of a lot of the ones I do keep, as I like a lot of non fiction that can be hard to get hold of. For example, 'Farming in the First Millenium' by Fowler isn't on kindle and is expensive to replace. I don't want to get rid, as I do dip into those books again and again. Some of them are quite expensive. I have more or less broken my habit of buying modern day cookbooks, as I have a lot, though less than I once did, and I know that I can get the recipes from the internet.

As an aspiring writer who is likely to extensively loot historical material, there are no such things as out of date atlases, and I actually have a modern day reprint of Victorian and Edwardian road systems.

So with books I am stuffed, basically. However I do regularly go through them with OH and get rid of all that have lost their purpose, either superseded or that I know the information well enough or that I have other and better sources.

I have found that the two things that help me get rid of books are knowing they are going somewhere and knowing that I can get the information elsewhere or that it is relatively easy to pick up another copy. It is surprising what you can find for sources, however, so I am getting more confident of getting rid of things, the Google books and kindle are both a good resource.

Also - did you know that you can download a free kindle app to use on a pc or mac and that there are free books on kindle, mainly the ones out of copyright but I seem to remember books by Conan Doyle and Jane Austen on the list, and you can 'borrow' kindle books like a library book (though not exactly sure how). The info is on Amazon. This may help.