It has been unusually hot here in Stockholm the past week. Outside everything is bursting. Lilacs, apple blossom, hagberry. The scent in the air is almost overwhelming. Inside I am struggeling with too much stuff. Clothes, books, magazines, toys, blankets, piles of fabric....feels like I am drowning. I dusted all the books in our biggest book shelf this week and when done I didn't feel like putting them all back up again. I felt sort of free with all that new shelf space. First I thought of giving the books away but then I decided to keep them in our garden shed while figuring out what to do with them.
What do you do with books you've read and enjoyed but know you won't read again? If you have limited space like me? And while I am asking, my husband and I debated about how long one should keep Deco mags. We compromised on saving the ones from two years back.
Happy weekend to you all.
it's hot in stockholm - how lovely! the weather is only slowly perking up here in berlin ... slowly, slowly.
ReplyDeletei'm a real hoarder myself. with books i liked but don't really want to keep, i tend to sell them on the fleamarket or to used book shops. you hardly get anything for it, but i like the idea of someone else enjoying them. a friend of mine sells his to a website that specialises in buying and selling used books. -- i've also given away books to charity shops as a donation.
and then there are tons of books i keep in boxes behind a big curtain...
:)
it's been hot in helsinki too.... my girlo has been sick for 3 days so i'm stuck inside!!
ReplyDeletei'm doing a major de-cluttering, and going to a flea market tomorrow to sell stuff. i took two huge bags of books to a used book store already and made 45 e. in the past we have just donated stuff. with mags i only keep especially good ones. i just saved a handful of fashion mags for now and i'm getting rid the rest. our apt is 56 m2 and there are three of us, and i want to see if i can make our place feel spacious and serene:)
We have a hard time parting away from books, and I think we'll soon need to move out so that our books can find a place in! Last year, as part of a major attempt to declutter, I got read of some old texts + photocopies for my thesis.
ReplyDeleteSounds so familiar! Since we are moving (yes, it is happening!) this is all I am dealing with. I am trying my hardest to get rid of stuff because clutter really hinders my general productivity. I understand what you are going through completely! Also - we donate books to the library. Still hard to part with them, but at least it is a good place to go.
ReplyDeleteHappy weekend :^)
ps. We will be moving to a rental first, and them looking around for a home that fits. This in between stage is nerve wracking!
I cannot get rid of them. The books of my younger years are at my parents...I went and left books behind. I always try to find a little space to them...not good giving advice at this.
ReplyDeleteHi* i love reading BUT can't stand keeping books without images in them. So i'm addicted to the library, and otherwise, each book i read immediatly goes to a friend. OR i leave it in the street, on a bench, on a car, in a funny place, so that someone can find it and read it too.
ReplyDeleteFor the magazines, my lover hates me keeping them all (fashion & design ones), and i CAN'T leave them. SO i had this fabulous idea: i make piles out of them, put big straps around, and make stools out of them. My lover doesn't like them so much it appears, so i decided to use (some of the) piles as table legs for my desk!
...hope this can be useful to you, as a thing to do or to not do, haha...
Many years ago I read lots of romantic books. Thanksfully I'm over this.. these books I gave to a friend which still loves cheesy love stories. Others, such as by Elizabeth George, I keep and read them again from time to time. Most of my books stand in my bookshelf while others eke out their existance in the attic.
ReplyDeleteBooks are a difficult topic. While rooms were being painted, books were put in boxes. Now enjoying the space, it is a question, what to do with the shelves and books? It is hot here, and the idea of sorting books is not attractive.
ReplyDeleteI'm rubbish at decluttering, me, no sound advice to offer but I wish you the best of luck :)
ReplyDeleteRe Elle Deco magazines. I keep a whole year's worth of magazines and in the first week of the New Year I go through them all again. Anything I really love I keep and then I put the rest in the recycling bin. I usually end up keeping about 2 issues. Plus, I get to enjoy sitting with a cup of coffee while it is cold outside, flicking through the gorgeous pages again...Books I send to the local library for them to use.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog
Annie