Decluttering – CHE continuation thread

[Ancient Fellow]

One of the mega-threads I enjoyed reading most on the old Chronicle website was on Decluttering and Marie Kondo. In diverse and various ways, many of us are building up a bit of lockdown clutter. In my case, I've been finishing up two large projects, and so binders, file folders, and books I won't keep have been accumulating around my house. I am looking forward to thanking 95% of them for their service prior to recycling or rehoming them. Fueled by Pimm's, I shall start making decluttering piles tonight.

Please add your decluttering adventures here!

[polly_mer]

Just today, I accepted that I will be working out of my home office for months.

I decluttered my office supply closet to make room for unpacking boxes that have been waiting three years from the last move.

I decluttered the table I'm using as a work desk to keep separate work and home efforts.

Garbage pick up is Monday, but it's ready to go now.

[mamselle]

Oh, dear.

I KNEW there was something else I should be doing this week while I'm off from teaching....

But the week's almost over.

Oh, well....

M.

[spork]

Since the wifey and I have mostly been stuck at home with each other since mid-March, we have been steadily Mari Kondoing the entire house room by room. Shoe boxes make wonderful drawer organizers. All the closets are now done and I've got a bunch of stuff listed on eBay. I've been working on the basement periodically, and the enclosed porch, which is my home office. Some of the local charity donation centers are open again and we have dropped off several bags and boxes of items we no longer want. Don't miss any of it.

[hmaria1609]

Ah, Pimm's!  A great summer drink. :)

[Parasaurolophus]

How about re-cluttering?

I decided that since I wasn't going back to the office for a year, I should move all the books there back home. So I just bought a new bookshelf.

Who knows if it can even contain them all?

[OneMoreYear]

Yup, I'm in "re-cluttering" mode.  Not only am I unlikely to be teaching in-person next year, but they are closing down & selling our building at some point within the next year. So, I have almost all of my office in various parts of my house; there is stuff everywhere!  After I get the grading done to close down summer semester, I must get organized! Maybe my process would be improved by some Pimm's (and some Pim's cookies).

[mamselle]

Ahhh, yes.

..."re-cluttering"....

Like.

You are my tribe.

M.

[apl68]

Been trying to do some de-cluttering at work.  We went for months with nobody buying books from our book sale room--but people kept bringing them in.  Fortunately a recent purchase of a whole set of Encyclopedia Britannica opened up a lot of space.

[mamselle]

Ha! That would have been me at one point.

I have both a full set of the 1976 EB (the best/heritage edition, in my opinion) and the ?1984, I think Catholic Encyclopedia), both purchased from library book sales in the past....and in constant use, even now.

Youse guys wit yer library sales is dangerous....

M.

[smallcleanrat]

Been trying to do some de-cluttering at work.  We went for months with nobody buying books from our book sale room--but people kept bringing them in.  Fortunately a recent purchase of a whole set of Encyclopedia Britannica opened up a lot of space.

Which edition?!?

There's a conference/reading room in our department which seems to be where old books are retired. There are textbooks dating back decades, and a 1966 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica which I've enjoyed browsing.

I miss going to book stores. And I miss the libraries. Some of the public libraries have started curbside pickup/drop-off, but I haven't heard of any allowing entry yet. I didn't realize how much I relied on the soothing effect of being able to enter a building and spend a few hours completely surrounded by books until I couldn't do it anymore.

My personal library has been substantially decluttered out of necessity; I simply don't have the space. Kindle is great, but it's not quite the same.

[polly_mer]

I miss going to book stores. And I miss the libraries. Some of the public libraries have started curbside pickup/drop-off, but I haven't heard of any allowing entry yet. I didn't realize how much I relied on the soothing effect of being able to enter a building and spend a few hours completely surrounded by books until I couldn't do it anymore.

I'm with you, smallcleanrat!  Picking up one book I know I want next is not an adequate substitute for getting to browse and just enjoy the library possibilities.

We have a home library with a couple aisles of shelving (it's not clutter if everything is in Dewey decimal order with every book available like at the library and nothing else on those shelves), but it's not yet to the joy of a library of being surrounded.

[mamselle]

Yea, Dewey decimal!

Mine are (mostly) organized that way, too.

M.

[apl68]

Yea, Dewey decimal!

Mine are (mostly) organized that way, too.

M.

Mine at home are organized more or less by subject matter.  One bookcase at home is reserved for a collection I've been building over the past 30 years of books I remember reading when I was growing up.  Still working on that collection.

[apl68]

We have a home library with a couple aisles of shelving (it's not clutter if everything is in Dewey decimal order with every book available like at the library and nothing else on those shelves), but it's not yet to the joy of a library of being surrounded.

When you work in a library you get to have that experience on a regular basis, of course.  But I work in the largest library (such as it is) for many miles around, and get to longing now and then for a change of scenery.  Several times a year I make a point of going to a public or academic library out of town for the joy of browsing unfamiliar shelves that aren't mostly filled with popular bestsellers.  Haven't had the chance to do that since winter this year.  But I did get to go to two bookstores in the state capital the other day.  It was like taking a long drink of fresh water.