Purging: Part I

Getting rid of stuff is a bit of a process. It is interesting to go through and note just how difficult parting with things can be.

I spent a large part of the last several years attaching a significance to my things - I started using them to define who I was. In a way, they became a distraction. Obsessing about stuff made it easier to avoid facing up to things about myself that I needed to change.

Now, faced with them all and considering what I really, genuinely need, I find that most of these things aren't required.

I began the purge in earnest yesterday, starting with my books. I have a huge collection of books. To me, having lots of books meant that you were well read, intelligent, and interesting as a person. They were also a connection to my childhood - some of my richest experiences when I was small revolved around the other world of books. I also spent some of the best quality time with my parents, especially my mother, during the nighttime ritual of being read to.

Unpacking this thinking, it occurred to me that books were a tool to gain interests and knowledge, but that the objects themselves were little more than blocks of paper, taking up space, when they weren't being used. They also couldn't bring back that feeling of closeness I shared with my mother. It was the relationship and experience, the pleasure of reading and the knowledge that comes from turning the pages that I really valued.

I began to sort through them. I realised that most of these books I'd already read, once or twice, and I hadn't touched them again in so long that a layer of dust had begun to settle on them. I kept out a couple of classics that I knew I would read again - 1984 and Apricot Jam, along with books I hadn't yet read. This small stack of 5 became the 'keep' pile.

For those that remained, I wanted a quick sale with minimal effort. I sorted a batch using Amazon Trade-In, where you send books to Amazon in exchange for gift vouchers. The remainder are going to WeBuyBooks, an online wholesale book buyer, in exchange for cold, hard cash. Both programmes offer free postage.

My first purge has netted me a quick £30 along with heaps more space. It's proving liberating so far.