Wednesday, February 22, 2012

"Keeping Life Simple"

Last month, I went home for a brief vacation. I caught up with old friends, ran errands, refilled prescriptions, visited the dentist--and, as always when I am able to come home, I sorted through my books and got rid of a bunch.

I go through my belongings and purge on a fairly regular basis. At least once a year, I take out all the clothes I own and fill several department store bags' worth of clothes to give away. When I was still in school, I used to go through all my previous class notes annually, throwing away a little more each year until, now, all of my schoolwork from middle school fits comfortably in a 2-inch binder.

I may have once briefly considered keeping all books that passed through my hands ever: ARCs of books for which I own a finished copy, books that were pleasant enough during reading for me to want to hang on to them a little longer, and so on. But ever since I discovered the used bookstores near my house, started blogging, and ballooned my TBR pile from the single digits to the triple digits, I have been getting rid of as many books as I seem to acquire during my time away.

When I was home, I sorted through all the books that had arrived for me in the 8 months I had been gone, and the result looked like this:
It's impressive, but not that intimidating. Because most of that pile didn't stay in my house: I donated and swapped a lot of them away. Such is me.

Anyway, I was walking downstairs with armfuls of packages that I was going to take to the post office, when my mom passed me and stared at my cargo.

"You have soooo many books," my mom said. "I always see you carrying books around." It's true. I'm in a state of perpetual book-sorting. There may be a lot of stuff in my room, but I'm always moving stuff out of my room, out of the house. No one in my immediate family sort their belongings on as regular a basis as I do.

"Don't worry. These are going to the post office," I said in my usual half-bemused, half-defensive way. For, no matter how thoroughly I've admitted to myself that I am a complete and utter bookworm, seeing the astonishment--and, sometimes, judgment--in others' eyes still makes me raise my armor.

"Oh, great!" my mom replied. "You're keeping your life simple. That's really good."

It's sort of funny, her using that phrase--"keeping your life simple"--to describe what I do. It's not the way I would describe myself. But, the more I think about it, the more I can see that being me, of a sorts. At least materialistically. I think it's because I usually have so much going on in my head that, out of conservation of mental energy, I need to keep my physical and informational surroundings as organized and manageable as possible.

Over the course of this past week, whenever I found myself at the computer, wondering what I should do, I have been going through my Google Reader and cleaning out my feed subscriptions. I cleaned out over two-thirds worth of feed material. Over half of the blogs I had been subscribed had not been updated in over a year. That's ridiculous! I can't believe I left them in my Reader for so long. I cleaned out feeds that I generally skip over on the now-rare times I look through my Reader. I want a Reader where I'll read every post that comes up, you know? Quality. Information. Entertainment. Inspiration. All not tied down by half-mumbled promises of checking out each other's blogs we made in rushed moments at packed book events. I find temporary moments of tranquility when I get rid of clutter in my life. I rarely miss the things when they're gone.

How do you organize the "information" in your life?

19 comments:

  1. I would love to clean out my google reader - but I haven't found a simple way to do it yet. Maybe I just need to get a different reader and start over!

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    1. Lenore, I have no idea if there's an easy way to clean out the Google Reader or not. I spent days painstakingly review each blog I was following through Blogger, and THEN I realized I had to further unsubscribe from their feeds through Google Reader. A pain that will deter many less determined, I tell you!

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  2. I've been doing a HUGE purge. Maybe it's the impending wedding and the need to get rid of stuff and mind clutter but I've been getting rid of books by doing the same as you and handing them off to my sister and her boyfriend's 14 year old daughter, clothes, old college notebooks...everything. I've also been going through my Google Reader and clearing out the blogs that don't update and those whom just don't stand out to me anymore. I have limited time and I need to be wise with it. YAY for simple living. I have a ways to go but it's a start!

    PS. I MISS YOUUUU

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    1. You go, Jamie! I love the feeling of (relative) cleanliness and organization after I'm done purging, sorting, and giving things away.

      P.S. MISS YOU TOO!

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  3. This is such a beautiful post! And we're very much alike when it comes to the sorting, organizing and purging of stuff. I tend to clean out my closets, papers and books two to three times a year. The people around me who see the huge bags of stuff I have to give away always give me funny looks or ask me if I'm really going to give it all - and my answer is always one big firm YES. It just always feels great to "lighten the load".

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    1. Haha, that's how my brothers react to my constantly sorting! :P But yes, I always feel so good after getting rid of stuff. I don't think I could ever be a packrat--and I'm glad for it!

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  4. Ditto on the perpetual state of sorting...Every spring we have a yard sale in which my husband and I get rid of old books, clothes, small appliances, etc. Whatever doesn't sell goes to The Salvation Army and once it's all gone we can breathe again! Somehow there is still a ton of stuff to go through the following year...

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    1. I have always wanted to hold a yard sale! But somehow that never happened. :/ Oh well! And yes, I know exactly what you mean. Somehow I continue to acquire things almost as fast as I give them away. It's mind-boggling!

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  5. I Loooove getting rid of stuff. I don't do it nearly often enough, but it always feels so good to get rid of bags of STUFF, whatever the stuff may be. Good work keeping your life simple :) I bet the recipients of your book stacks are in 7th heaven right now!

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    1. Yes, my librarian friends are always pretty ecstatic to receive bags of brand-new YA books from me. :)

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  6. I just finished a book purge. We thought we were moving in two months. Now it looks like it will take longer and I am so happy to have the space.

    I have been unsubscribing some feeds. Otherwise, I am going to spend the whole day on the computer. Yikes!

    Thank you so much for this post.

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    1. The "spending the whole day on the computer" thing was definitely one of the biggest reasons I finally cleaned out my Reader. I used to have to spend more time reading the feeds than I did on other stuff!

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  7. I am terrible at book purging. I just took a box to the USB, but I need to get rid of more.

    And I should def clear out my feed.

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  8. Ah, I am bad at this. I think what I'm good at staying on top of is organizing stuff to go out to be recycled, but the book purging goes in a small trickle rather than a purge. And I know I need to go through some things (clothes, magazines) and do a purge, but thinking about it makes me tired! I also don't do the google reader purges. I just add, but I put things in folders so that I can go through things faster. I have a favorites folder that I go through everything in there, and then other folders based on genre or interest that I look at periodically (I read the subjects and visit what interests me, but not everything) and then hit "mark all as read". Yup, I hit that button.

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  9. This is amazing! I wish I had your organizational impulse. That and I wish I weren't so sentimental! I'm getting better about just getting rid of things I don't use/wear/etc., but it always takes me a long time to clean because I hem and haw over stuff. I find books the hardest to let go, but I think if I received as many books as you seem to, I'd be forced to purge. Haha.

    What I do need to do is clean my reader feeds!

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  10. I am in the process of cleaning out my room! I am quite impressed that you have cleaned out your schoolwork into a 2-inch binder - is that everything? Or only middle school? I have binders upon binders of my college work :/

    The books have been stacking up, and I have finally reached a point in my TBR pile where I must admit when I will probably never read this book or that - and so should probably give it away. PBS isn't too bad, but I feel like they never give you enough time - especially if you have 20+ books to send out ASAP! Otherwise, off to the library they go!

    I went through my reader feeds recently and cleared out some that haven't posted for a year or so. As a person who used to post every 3 months in 2010 and now has returned somewhat more frequently, I appreciate those who left me on their feeds.

    Anyhow, you rock, Steph, and I always enjoy your "non-book" posts :)

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  11. Oh, honey. I hear ya on Google Reader. Earlier this year I deleted 10 blogs, and the sad thing is I'm not even subscribed to all that many. Also been a bit busy at work over the past two days...and not been on Twitter as much. And realizing perhaps I'm not as obsessed with Twitter as I previously thought...hmm.

    Also if you gave away Edward Tulane I will CUT YOU.

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    1. Are you kidding? As if I would give away a present from you! No, rest assured that book is firmly somewhere in my TBR pile.

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  12. I love this post even though, unlike you, I lead a very cluttered life. I can't get rid of books unless they are ARCs. I just don't care to keep those.

    It's cool that you aren't as encumbered by physical objects -- I mean that you don't feel the need to hang onto a book just in case, even if it doesn't really interest you.

    Also, for the google reader -- cleaning that out is such a sigh of relief. I know as I scroll through mine when I find myself constantly skipping past a blog's post I just unsubscribe from their feed. It's nice to not spend all day on google reader.

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