Miscellaneous

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I have been decluttering my home since I read a very interesting article on the internet about a minimalist lifestyle a few weeks ago. This week, it’s my bookshelf’s turn to completely be decluttered. It’s fortunately not as hard as I thought it would be.

I used to love everything about physical books. I loved buying them, reading them, giving them as a gift, and especially keeping them on my bookshelf. Until I was introduced to ebooks and Kindle. Just like that and my long lasting love affair with physical books was absolutely over. For good.

Of course, there are some good reasons why I have managed to end this so called love affair and declutter them from my bookshelf so easily:

• I cannot create a better environment only by myself but I could and can always contribute to it. Every effort counts after all.
• My physical books have not been read for months or years even. They were there because they were there on the bookshelf.
• The alternative ones are by far much better. eBooks are usually cheaper, more accessible and definitely more practical to take with me wherever I go.
• I truly believe that there are some people who actually need those physical books more than I do.

I also read a lot of tips about how to declutter bookshelf’s. There’re certainly interesting and useful tips. I prefer to organize the physical books by categorizing them before decluttering them. The following are the 5 categories to organize physical books and declutter the bookshelf:

1. Keep category

This category contains physical books for self keeping. These physical books are books that I am not yet willing to declutter. Most of them are given to me by loved ones. And some of them are not (yet) available in ebook formats.

2. Sale category

I consider myself very neat and organized person, and I have kept some of those physical book very well indeed. The physical books that are as good as new or in (almost) perfect condition are up for sale on the Amazon’s Sell Your Books.

3. Donate category

These physical books are packed and ready to be donated to my local Goodwill. Believe it or not, there are some people who really love reading but they cannot afford or simply refuse buying books. These books are special for them.

4. Give category

I remember a girl friend who wanted to borrow Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. Well, she can keep the book forever, and I’ll keep the same Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus on my Kindle Paperwhite. The rest of the books goes to my other friends, relatives and neighbors.

5. Bin category

I hate trashing books into the bin. However, if some of those physical books are too damaged to keep, to donate, to sell or to give them away, then there is only one way ticket for these books. Trash them into the bin.

I am obviously still a few steps away from the minimalist lifestyle that I would like to live in. Decluttering my bookshelf is just one of those steps that I need to take. So, I am looking forward to reading your own decluttering’s experiences on the comment section below. Keep in touch!