Happy Lughnasadh!
Trying to finish up summer projects and enjoy the last of summer before classes start again in September. My master’s classes start after Labor Day, which feels late for college. I am trying to work ahead and figure out a blogging schedule when classes start up again, so it doesn’t fall by the wayside again.
I have continued the Marie Kondo method of organizing. I went through books, and had to divide them up into fiction and non-fiction. I have my vampire bookcase (in my defense, its my smallest bookcase, with 3 shelf and is fiction, WOD books, and non-fiction vampire books.), my 6 shelf fiction bookcase, 4 shelf nonfiction bookcase, desk hutch for writing books, and miscellaneous bookcase My attitude toward books has changed over the last few years. With fiction, its easy for me to say “It was good story, I enjoyed it, but I am not going to open it again, so I will pass it on for someone else to enjoy.” Most of my new fiction books are from going to events and meeting the writer. I don’t see it as a waste of money if I eventually got rid of the book—I supported a writer, I enjoyed it even if I didn’t keep it, and maybe the next person who reads it will discover this author.
Non-fiction is a little harder, because there are some books with information I want to keep on hand and it is harder to judge if I will need it. I have a beginner Wica book and a book on chakras for reference, even though those aren’t a part o my practice. But I noticed the books I decided to get rid of were from college. Books that had goo information, and might be interesting, but I haven’t touched in years and I suspect I could probably find books about the topic as scholarship is being done. Plus there is so much stuff at the library. Yay for ILL.
I am taking the parts of the Kondo method that make sense for me and discarding the rest. She says to get rid of book you haven’t read, which might work for normal people, but not me. I have a bunch of books I haven’t gotten to yet that I want to read. I am doing categories in a different order—going to do cds and cassette tapes (yes I still have some) next.
The parts of the Kondo method that work are ones that make sense when you think them through. Going through items by category instead of by room and taking everything out to go through one by one forces you to recognize how many of something you do have. That makes it easier to get rid of something, and to figure out which one you really want to keep by having it all together. Don’t worry about organizing until you have gone through your stuff, and accept it is going to be a mess until you get done with that part. It doesn’t make sense to spend time organizing stuff that ultimately you don’t want or need.
Transitions are hard, but my hope is when I am done I will have a space that feels welcoming and will actually be able to find stuff when I need it. I might have to bend some more Kondo rules because I have boxes of stuff I honestly don’t remember what is in them. But chugging along. Maybe someday I will actually have my stuff organized, and only buy stuff I really want to keep or will need. Now I am just shocked I actually have room on a bookshelf, but I enjoy looking at my actually organized books and seeing stuff I want to keep.
I hope everyone is having a great summer, and may all summer projects succeed!