Books with inscriptions

It probably seems like I'm always writing about books - both what I'm reading, and how to keep books from overrunning your space. I love reading, and books themselves, so they occupy more of my organizing attention than crafting, for instance.

Here's a problem many of us have. We get books as gifts from friends, relatives, or even just acquaintances. They have written a lovely inscription, or perhaps just the date and a quick scribble. We thank them. We read the book (or not). Then we put the book on a shelf, and are never going to read it again. What to do when it is time to de-clutter the bookshelves? I have found those books that have been marked by the giver tend to stick around, for a few reasons. We feel more connected to them. We don't want to offend the giver (what if they should be poking around a used bookstore and see their own gift to us on the shelf!?!). The inscription might remind us of a happy memory associated with that person rather even more than the book does.

Obviously, you can always keep the book. However...I'd suggest that if the book itself is not meaningful, and the inscription isn't that meaningful, then it's perfectly fine to let it go. Like any gift, the giver was pleased to give it to you, and that's what's important. If the book isn't meaningful and the inscription is, you can do a couple of things. One, take a picture of the inscription along with the cover of the book and keep it with your keepsakes, then let the book go. Two, carefully trim out the page with the inscription using a straightedge, and keep it with your keepsakes, then let the book go. Either way, the positive association you have with the item doesn't have to stand it your way of a light and clutter-free bookshelf.

The stickiness of books

Of all the items I've helped clients sort through and evaluate during my years as a professional organizer, it never fails to amaze me how books above pretty much all else are considered off limits for purging. People who otherwise have no qualms about donating all manner of other things, even about ditching sentimental items, have a thing about books.

On the one hand, I understand, because I have plenty of books in my apartment that I'm probably not going to read again, that still have value for me. But I'm able to be fairly rational about them and don't have qualms about taking those that really aren't useful or loved right down to the used bookstore or Goodwill.

I think books hold a lot of power for people because they seem them as containing knowledge, and if you own the book, than somehow you own the knowledge inside, too. Books can be very aspirational for people. I know I've been hanging on to a copy of Henry James's The Americans for a few years, thinking I'm going to read it, but it usually gets pushed down the reading list by the latest Eloisa James historical romance.

If you have enough bookshelf space for your books, then I'm not suggesting you have a book problem. But many people store books in boxes in garages, attics and basements. This is a recipe for ruined books.

It can be kind of fun to quickly scan your shelves and pull out those books you really didn't like when you read them, or that you have two of, or reference books that are completely outdated. Gather them up, put them in your car and drop them off at your nearest donation site. You'll be just as smart as you were before, I promise!

How do you feel about letting books go?

Archiving calendars

I've had a weekly calendar to keep track of appointments and important dates since high school, and I've kept most of them for sentimental reasons. I just recently switched to using iCal exclusively instead of a paper calendar, and I went back to look at the stack of calendars I had been keeping in a drawer.

They were fun to glance through to remind myself of the classes I took in college, the concerts I went to, the trips I've been on. But I realized that was the first time I'd looked at many of them in years. I decided to give my lovely ScanSnap S1500M a workout and turn each calendar into a digital file, then recycle all that paper.

Of course, the ScanSnap didn't break a sweat, the results were beautiful scans, and I have that data should anyone care to know what I did back on March 18, 2000 (apparently I went to Magic Mountain).

I also freed up an entire drawer for some more useful purpose. But I'm leaving it empty for now.

Need a professional to help you scan your calendars?

Call Lelah at 818.269.6671

or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

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Reunion: thanks for the memories

I had a fabulous time in Connecticut over the weekend visiting my college, Wesleyan University. It's really special to be able to go back to a place where one has so many wonderful memories and bring back those experiences by having one's senses bombarded with the sights, smells and sounds of the past.

But as much as the campus was the same as I remembered, changes have taken place. New buildings have sprung up, some beloved professors have retired and other buildings are being torn down. Notably, the large McConaughy dining hall (nicknamed Mocon) has been defunct since 2007, when the new campus center opened, and is due to be demolished this year.

This particular change has struck the Wesleyan community fairly hard. Alumni and students are nostalgic for the flying-saucer shaped building that served as a dining hall for forty years. As such, during reunion, there was a farewell concert for the old building and cups from the dining hall were given away as souvenirs. Naturally, being suspicious of clutter and not needing a plastic cup, I didn't take one, but I did take a picture to remind me of the event, of the building, of my memories there.

 

We don't need things to remind us of the past. Just as Mocon had its day and new students will form new memories at the new dining hall, so do we move on every day, forming new memories that will live inside us, not in our kitchen cupboards.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com