January Purge

[frugal-one]

I have number of holistic "medical" books. Many answers cannot be found (or buried very deeply) online. I also have a number of cookbooks that I use regularly and combine recipes sometimes from more than one source to make them healthier. Admittedly, I could cull a few and will when I decide to vacate this abode. I have a number of fiction books that I should either read or part with but am in no hurry. I am with rosarugosa.... I wonder, too, what is with people with no books???

[JaneV2.0]

I culled a lot of my personal collection, but I still have about 500 books in my tiny house (I think that's what I had counted) and I'm comfortable with that amount. When I go into a house and I don't see any books, I wonder what is wrong with the people who live there. I can totally understand why you would always have a substantial book collection.

A friend remarked on this once, and I replied that none of my books were visible to most people that visited, being shelved in more private areas. Maybe visitors would consider me illiterate unless I let them browse my Kindle. I keep cookbooks and various other volumes upstairs, and art and craft books in a downstairs bedroom. I probably have a couple hundred physical books and 2500 digital ones.

[Yppej]

Some clothes. I had them waiting until the trash started to smell but the bag was not full, which rarely happens in winter, but when it did I was prepared.

[iris lilies]

A friend remarked on this once, and I replied that none of my books were visible to most people that visited, being shelved in more private areas. Maybe visitors would consider me illiterate unless I let them browse my Kindle. I keep cookbooks and various other volumes upstairs, and art and craft books in a downstairs bedroom. I probably have a couple hundred physical books and 2500 digital ones.

Yes, our third floor holds the shelving for our library so few books here are visible to visitors. As an exceedingly disciplined buyer of books, I dont stuff every nook and cranny with them.I value their content, not necessarily their physicality. I remember back when I was about 25 I purged a lot of the books I owned then and vowed not to grow my book collection huge since I would be working in libraries. I always have some “reading” books around, but not many. My big collection came in the form of illustrated children’s books which I am now purging.

Funny that the one section of books I was not able to purge until recently were the ones from my childhood. But now they dont hold much meaning to me, I kept 3 and tossed the rest. Only a couple were in good enough shape to send to the local bookstore.

[ejchase]

I gave four packages of juice boxes to a friend with four kids (my kid didn't like them for some reason). New total for month: 35.

[ejchase]

I culled a lot of my personal collection, but I still have about 500 books in my tiny house (I think that's what I had counted) and I'm comfortable with that amount. When I go into a house and I don't see any books, I wonder what is wrong with the people who live there. I can totally understand why you would always have a substantial book collection.

I have gotten rid of a lot of books too, but I probably still have more than 500 (mine and my daughter's), though we did purge about 150 last summer. I'm the daughter of an English professor and a librarian, and for me, books in a home just signal warmth. They are part of what make me feel at home in my home. 500 seems about right to me too, though I have a little ways to go to get there.

[JaneV2.0]

Yes, our third floor holds the shelving for our library so few books here are visible to visitors. As an exceedingly disciplined buyer of books, I dont stuff every nook and cranny with them.I value their content, not necessarily their physicality. I remember back when I was about 25 I purged a lot of the books I owned then and vowed not to grow my book collection huge since I would be working in libraries. I always have some “reading” books around, but not many. My big collection came in the form of illustrated children’s books which I am now purging.

Funny that the one section of books I was not able to purge until recently were the ones from my childhood. But now they dont hold much meaning to me, I kept 3 and tossed the rest. Only a couple were in good enough shape to send to the local bookstore.

I generally don't keep fiction around, but I have bought a few of my childhood books for nostalgia's sake.

[NewGig]

I have friends where both people in the couple were editors. The husband was a book collector and dealer as well. The wife always looks underfed, she's just like that. Her then grade school kid looked the same way. They had new neighbors in their swanky NYC suburb neighborhood who offered the kid food when he'd been playing withe their kid... and reported the couple to the police because obviously, they weren't feeding the kid. (I stayed with them for long periods, that wasn't true.)

When the cops came to talk to them about "starving" their kid, one cop looked around the house and was heard remarking something like, "You can tell these people aren't right -- there's too many books here."

My friends moved.

[Teacher Terry]

There was a time that I couldn’t imagine getting rid of my books. But I never read them more than once. I also had 2 copies each of my dissertation and both thesis so only kept one of each. The only person that read it was my second MIL. I have gotten brutal in regard to things and am so happy since I am downsizing. The kitchen has more cabinets than I need so can use the high ones to hold other things. I don’t miss my bookcase or dusting my books either).

[iris lilies]

I generally don't keep fiction around, but I have bought a few of my childhood books for nostalgia's sake.

Yes, I thought about the few books from my childhood that I donated to the bookstore because I was thinking what if some woman my age is out there looking for this book? I think one of them even I checked and there was no mention of it online. It’s not an important book, it’s just an old 1950s one.