I come from a family where my father buys items that are a good deal that "we might need someday" and "I could use this... i think" and "this is valuable, I must save it!" My mother buys only what we need... unless it is sewing material. Then, "the woman with the most cloth when she dies, wins" and I think I could add, 'unfinished crafts' to that.
I was always the organized child, most likely to throw something away. But upon adulthood, I learned that I'm more like my family than I thought I was. In college, I knew whatever I didn't take with me to college, had a chance of never finding its way back to me... being buried in my father's collections. I could only fit a third of what I owned into my college dorms. However, I soon discovered that this one-third I owned, was more than many college students owned as a whole. Apparently I saved a lot more stuff than most people do.
Getting married was even more of an adventure. As we combined our belongings, my new husband says to me, "You own a lot of stuff. Why are you keeping this? Or this? What about that?" And I would explain, "It's valuable and could be worth a lot someday" and "my friend who died a couple years back gave this item to me" and "My future kids would probably like to use this/ play with this/ read this." But this wasn't completely a one way conversation. There were quite a few things he had that I wanted to know why he was keeping too.
Over two years have passed and we are preparing for our first child. Maybe I'm experiencing the "nesting" syndrome, but then again, this isn't altogether unusual behavior for me. I live in a small 2 bedroom apartment... probably somewhere between 600-900 sq. feet. We've had free furniture come and go; we've had phases of hobbies; I'm constantly trying to create more space without throwing out items that still have some life in them. We often buy medium-high quality appliances, cookware, select furniture, electronics, etc. and I'm constantly moving things around to make it convenient to use and store.
One category I've been collecting stuff in is books. As a teenager, I loved the library room my grandparents had in their house. They had bookshelves built into the wall as well as a work desk. The room was furnished with a computer, piano and comfy couch to lounge on. I enjoyed spending long afternoons in there, especially in the winter when the sun would shine through the window and keep me warm while I read.
For many years I have been collecting various types of books to go in such a library of my own... in a house I hope I will someday be able to afford. I liked the classics, mostly, but also children's books, and favorites from middle school and high school level fiction. Then a dictionary or so, reference books, and a pile of my favorite self-help books and some religious study novels. I have 2 Billy bookshelves a little more than full of books right now (if you're familiar with IKEA's Billy Bookshelf). I have things on there that I'm saving for my future kids to read... even stuff they won't be able to read until they're in high school. I have books that I think I should read, like "The Federalist Papers," even though I hate reading history books. I have books about various topics such as astronomy that were printed 30 years ago, and when I'm honest with myself, I really never will get around to reading those. I found a huge collection of books for 50 cents each at a second-hand type store, and bought a zillion... thinking I won't have to worry about local library deadlines with these books... that I want to take my sweet time reading.
But I think I've finally accepted the reality that I will likely never read random books that don't have deadlines. I won't read about astronomy from a beat up book that's over 30 years old and has almost no pictures. There's a good chance I'll never finish "The Federalist Papers." And an even better chance that when my kids reach the age of attending high school, they'll say, "Mom, I don't like to read that kind of genre. And, if I am going to read a book, it'll be on my eReader or Tablet." Alas, technology. I may have spent all those years carefully storing and preserving something just to find out that my kid doesn't want it.
These revelations have lead me to do what I've been doing this morning; purging my bookshelves. I have 4 bookshelves in my tiny little apartment, on top of having 5 utility shelves that are holding cookware and food. Somehow, I've got to make room for a crib and a nursery in my second bedroom. Truth be told, I could maybe move to a larger apartment, but I love my landlord, and I love how little I pay in rent. In the long run, I'll help me save for a house. Secondly, I am of the opinion, (and maybe this was derived from living in my parent's house) that if the number of bedrooms equal the number of people divided by 2, you should be able to fit, however possibly tightly. Or in other words, there should be 2 people per bedroom at maximum and everything everyone owns should be able to fit somewhere, even if it's not aesthetically pleasing. If you can't, you've got a stuff problem, not a size of apartment problem. But that's just me. And this is a simplified equation, of course. Obviously you wouldn't want a teenage girl in the same room with a boy of nearly any age.
So back to purging bookshelves. What did I have left to say about this? Oh, yes, I'm embracing technology. I'm saving only my favorite 10 books in hardback copy, (and my scrapbooks, which unfortunately take up 2.1 shelves) plus some college textbooks relating to my degree... in case I ever need to study up on it to get back into the job market. My husband thinks that's silly to save those textbooks. If he's right, I'm not willing to see that reality, yet. Most of my reference material... if I decide it is worth keeping, and I actually WILL use it again, I'll scan and make a digital PDF of (I think it's important to mention that we have 3-4 backups of all our digital material, so I feel confident in storing important information there, without a hard copy. If you are interested in this option, consider purchasing an external drive to save backups to, and/or purchasing a Crashplan subscription or another iCloud backup service. I don't suggest a single external drive is a sure way to never loose your data. We learned that the hard way when our computer hard-drive failed the same month as our external hard-drive did).
From now on, I'll read library check-outs and eBooks. Library check-outs because 98% of all books I read, I'll never re-read and because the deadline gives me the motivation to finish the book... if it's actually worth finishing. And eBooks that were printed over 100 years ago are Free with a Kindle account (classics are my favorite!) and my local library also provides eBook check-outs. The last thing I may still consider are going to those bookstores that allow you to buy a book, then come back and exchange it for another when you're done. A lot of self-help books and a few other types, I've noticed, are really difficult to read within a library's allotted check-out time.
DVDs, VHS and Music CDs
On a related topic, how many of you readers have an extensive DVD/VHS collection and/or music collection that's taking up a significant amount of space? Is it frustrating to you? Have you found that they are difficult to sell for a decent profit? Especially because you know you paid full-price for them and they're still in great condition?
I have a bit of this problem too. My husband and I rip all of our music and DVDs to our computer (which is networked to our TV via an Apple TV device), and just end up having to box up our media and store them just to prove that we legally own them... if the question ever even comes up. Neither of us really want to store something we will likely never use again... so we've resisted buying more videos and gone with Netflix, Hulu, and Redbox. Like books, we rarely watch a movie more than 1-3 times. If we plan to or will likely watch a movie 4+ times, at that point, it is generally worth purchasing rather than spending the money to rent it that many times. This equation was formulated off of what Blockbuster would generally charge to rent a movie out in 2009.
If you have an extensive media library, you might consider Crossies.com for digitization services, off-site storage services, and ease of selling videos for a higher profit. Crossies is still a very new company, however, and these things may take a lot of time to be processed until they're a little more on their feet. If you know of another company that offers these services and have impressed you, leave a comment, because the rest of us would like to know about it!
P.S.
I decided to google 'digital books' after writing this post... and realized that I should clarify, that I don't plan to buy an eBook reader for a couple of years, nor buy eBooks. There are still a lot of formatting and compatibility issues going on with eBooks and various eReaders, and I don't want to get stuck with loosing all my purchased books because The Barnes & Noble Nook format is no longer supported... and other such problems. Instead, I will use the local library and bookstore exchange programs until such a time as eBooks are more reliable to purchase, own, and afford in some cases. I also have a shelf of books I plan to skim or read before selling, etc. Until this shelf is mostly or totally empty, I'm going to avoid buying, book exchanging or otherwise acquiring any more books to read.
See related links for further information.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/219335/the_pitfalls_of_ebook_buying_what_to_look_out_for_before_you_purchase.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_readers
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