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Books, Pentacles, Energy
Jan. 12th, 2007 01:54 pmOne of the most important things I've learned about homemaking during these past few months combines heightened esoteric awareness with ruthless practicality: the less stuff there is in a house, the easier that house is to take care of.
Less Stuff means less clutter.
Less clutter means easier movement of both people and energy.
Less stuff means needing fewer places for things to live.
A concept I keep coming across is this: if you don't use it or love it, get rid of it.
I like that this leaves room for 'useless' things that are loved -- but occasionally defining "love" can be tricky.
In order to really make the Yellow Room into my daughter's own space, I will need to clear out seven long shelves that my dad and I put up in the niche behind the door. This means moving a lot of books elsewhere. But I don't have much "elsewhere" for them to go to. My daughter moving out means that I get the California Closets closet to put things into, but there isn't enough shelf space there for all the books.
And I probably should get rid of a bunch of them anyway -- as well as others from elsewhere in my scattered collection.
Last night I was snuggling on the couch and looking up at the books on one of my Women's Spirituality shelves. The first several volumes had beautiful images in them, but the scholarship in them is questionable. Are they worth keeping on my shelves? Am I going to actually read them again? (Probably not.) Are they easily replaceable -- or borrowable -- should I someday I decide I do want to consult them? (Yes.)
The hardest ones are the books I will probably never want to read again but which have good memories associated with them. I never really thought of it this way before, but my bookshelves are as much a scrapbook of my life as my iPod playlist: representing memories, interests, activities, and earlier versions of myself that I am reluctant to discard.
As I have remarked several times (most recently in a conversation with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
poliphilo, my library has always been my greatest vanity. And yes, as far I have been concerned, size does matter.
But which matters more to me now: the comfort of my home -- a big element of which is lack of clutter -- or trying to impress others with the size of myIQ library?
As I typed the above I realized that I need to acknowledge the non-rational comfort of seeing my books, of having a library and all that it represents. But I think that comfort could still be enjoyed with one or two hundred fewer volumes than I have now.
Less Stuff means less clutter.
Less clutter means easier movement of both people and energy.
Less stuff means needing fewer places for things to live.
A concept I keep coming across is this: if you don't use it or love it, get rid of it.
I like that this leaves room for 'useless' things that are loved -- but occasionally defining "love" can be tricky.
In order to really make the Yellow Room into my daughter's own space, I will need to clear out seven long shelves that my dad and I put up in the niche behind the door. This means moving a lot of books elsewhere. But I don't have much "elsewhere" for them to go to. My daughter moving out means that I get the California Closets closet to put things into, but there isn't enough shelf space there for all the books.
And I probably should get rid of a bunch of them anyway -- as well as others from elsewhere in my scattered collection.
Last night I was snuggling on the couch and looking up at the books on one of my Women's Spirituality shelves. The first several volumes had beautiful images in them, but the scholarship in them is questionable. Are they worth keeping on my shelves? Am I going to actually read them again? (Probably not.) Are they easily replaceable -- or borrowable -- should I someday I decide I do want to consult them? (Yes.)
The hardest ones are the books I will probably never want to read again but which have good memories associated with them. I never really thought of it this way before, but my bookshelves are as much a scrapbook of my life as my iPod playlist: representing memories, interests, activities, and earlier versions of myself that I am reluctant to discard.
As I have remarked several times (most recently in a conversation with
poliphilo, my library has always been my greatest vanity. And yes, as far I have been concerned, size does matter.But which matters more to me now: the comfort of my home -- a big element of which is lack of clutter -- or trying to impress others with the size of my
As I typed the above I realized that I need to acknowledge the non-rational comfort of seeing my books, of having a library and all that it represents. But I think that comfort could still be enjoyed with one or two hundred fewer volumes than I have now.
