While I was away last weekend, I saw this book in the bookstore and it piqued my curiosity:

But I since I’m (allegedly) trying to curb my book buying, I decided to read some reviews before making a decision.

So I came home and read the reviews, and bought it. It’s been interesting so far. Since I added a book to my collection, I decided to try and donate ten books. I thought this would be hard. I’ve written before about paring down my book collection and even said I was done. The author, Tsh Oxenreider,  has simplified down to having no vowels in her first name,which I think is pretty impressive.

As always, I went through every book on every shelf. This time I decided to be very honest with myself about the half-read and unread books. There was a time in my life, pre-motherhood, when I finished every book I started. It was very, very rare for me to abandon a book. But having less time to read has made me fussier. My collection included many books that were decent enough but didn’t hold my attention long enough for me to finish them. When I saw one book I remembered reading during my train commuting days, I knew I needed to be very honest with myself about every unread and half-read book. I haven’t commuted on the train for over three years, so I am clearly never going back to that book. It went in the pile, along with several unfinished books.

When I was done I had a pile of 30 books.

I also included a few I never read using the same principle that helped me let go of the unfinished books: if I hadn’t read them by now I’m not going to. Finally, there were books I read and liked a lot, but I no longer re-read like I used to, so I added those. I keep a pretty accurate Goodreads page so if I really want to re-read a book I no longer have, I can borrow it.

For once, the books didn’t sit in my car for weeks like usual, because Emma’s taking a pottery class near the library that takes the donations. So I made the pile Wednesday, and dropped them off yesterday.
I recently sorted through Emma’s clothes and filled a bag, but I’ve been observing her wearing clothes bordering on too small. And I wanted her summer things out of the drawers to make room for warm clothes. So today I went through everything again, trying to remember which things were the most ill-fitting.

So I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made, though I hope I’m done getting rid of clothes for now. It’s not hard to do, mostly because getting rid of too-small clothes is a breeze. But this means I find myself donating clothes as a way to avoid getting rid of stuff that has more meaning. Next week I’ll continue working on the upper level of the house, which includes the bathroom, bedrooms and attic.

My interview with Mark and Laura from Enjoy Life Slowly is live. If you go to this page, and scroll down, you’ll see it under to Simple Living. They are going to be interviewing Courtney Carver of Project 333 fame pretty soon, which I know many of you will be interested in.