We are moving. More in that later. One of the reasons for leaving is to scale right back. I mean really scale back. Scale back to be able to live in less than 1,000 square feet.
A few years ago, I went with my old room mate at Oxford to clear out his mother in law's room at the home where she had just died. It took us less than an hour and we could fit it all into his car. We start out in life as ana adult with very little and then accumulate tons of stuff. We end it with almost nothing. That is the path I am on now. And my move is the first big culling.
As a book maniac this has meant a rethink. At my peak I had over a thousand books. I will leave with maybe 75. What goes and how and where?
I have donated hundreds over the last 3 years to the Library.
I have given most of my business and personal growth books to the Queen St Commons. It now has about 100 books in this category for members.
Most of my fiction and the more current of my history books, I have put into the Barn which is our guest house that will remain a rental property. I also added all our children's books and most of my DVD's . It does rain now and then and I have found that visitors like to browse and find stuff.
So what am I keeping? Mainly my collection of books on food systems, chaos and complexity, architecture, Rome and WWI. Plus a few very personal books - mainly poetry. And if I could take only 5 books, they would all be by Christopher Alexander.
We are doing the same with everything - clothes, furniture, pictures. It's fascinating to be ruthless. What do we really need? What are we really attached to and why?
