As empty-nesters, we are preparing to downsize. Today I attacked my bookshelves. Some of my medical books I can pass on to my daughter who is in the same line of business, but medicine advances at such a pace that much of what is on my shelf is useless and will have to be pulped. Some of my text books date from the 1980s.
I have a lot of books and journals that I kept because I published an article in them, but honestly, nobody is going to be interested in that and to retain them is pure vanity. Out with the lot of them!
Another shelf contains books on grammar, which has been one of my pedantic obsessions. I hope I might get something from the second hand bookshop for some of these. Many are in mint condition, and you only read them once.
Then I have shelves of books on religion. Some of these I will give to the library of the local Bible College, but if anybody wants a particular religious book that I might have, write and ask me and you can have it as a gift.
My poetry books I will keep.
Novels I have mostly already given away. I have a lot of biographies, but I think many of them are on loan from my children. If they are not, it's off to the second-hand shop.
I will still have many unread books. I must make a decision as to whether I intend to read them. If they are just decoration, they must go. Our new house will have yards fewer bookshelves.
I have already given away all my wine and spirits to charity. Since my illness I have become teetotal, and my wife always has been. Virtually every bottle was a kind gift from a patient, so it is right that they should go to raise money for cancer research.
I am unwilling to dispense with my CD collection. I have just about the whole repertoire of classical music (apart from the unlistenable stuff from the Twentieth Century). But my son can have all the vinyl records.
My DVD collection, I'm not sure about. I have promised my collection of war films to my grandson, but the rest of the collection I might just keep intact.
I am aiming to get rid of a huge amount of paper. Why I ever retained what I did, I can't imagine. I guess I was too busy to throw things away.
My wife tells me that one of the worst experiences of her life was to sort out her father's possessions after he died. Much of what there was had only sentimental value. We don't want to wish that process on our children. Rather we will ask them to take their pick of our possessions now. Anything that is unwanted can go to house-clearance.
When we look for our new house it will undoubtedly have smaller rooms, so much of our current furniture will be too large, and in any case we have had much of it for over 40 years and we could well buy something that looks good, rather than because it was all we could afford at the time. I hope that a lot of what we need will be fitted already so that we won't need wardrobes and the like.
I once read a book which suggested that each member of the family should have one small suitcase to contain personal mementos. Everything else must go.
Do you have C.S. Lewis`s `God in the Dock`? (I`m local to Bournemouth so could collect)
ReplyDeleteJohn
I do, but I am keeping my CS Lewis collection. If you want to borrow it, though, you may.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, that would be good. I have your address (if you`re still at 15 Queen`s Park South Drive) but not your phone number.
ReplyDeleteJohn (Escott)
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ReplyDeleteI have a few suggestions on aspects of downsizing. First, I have discovered that many journals have online archives from which you can download PDF version of articles. I converted all my paper reprints to PDFs this way. Secondly, I purchased a Canon flat bed scanner for $50 from Amazon. This unit scans color or BW into PDF format and I am using this to further archive my paper collections. Third, regarding medical journals and books, University libraries usually welcome donations of this type of material. They are used to fill in missing or damaged copies, to sell as a fund raiser, or ship to third world countries. Don't bulk without checking. Fourth, putting items for sale on eBay is probably better because of a potentially wider audience. They might be a local resource which will do that for you at a percentage of the sale price.
ReplyDeleteTomD
Hi Terry
ReplyDeleteWould you have anything by Max Lucado? I already have a copy of Travelling Light (which is about the 23rd psalm). Happy to pay P&P.
I must get round to clearing out my bookshelves too!!! I hope you feeling much better. Best wishes, Sylvie
Sorry,
ReplyDeleteHe's not one of my authors.
Thanks anyway Terry. I can really recommend Travelling Light. Am reading it again at the moment.
ReplyDeleteTake care, Sylvie
Getting rid of all those things will make you feel wonderfully free, once you can make yourself let go. Books are the hardest.
ReplyDeleteV