Thoughts About Books, Clutter, and Trying to Figure Out if My Book Clutter Isn’t Bad After All

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a hard time with things breaking in my home. The washing machine is struggling, the dryer quit drying, and my vehicle has been out of commission for over a month now. To make matters worse, last Monday, while running errands, the vehicle I borrowed from my relative stopped working as well. This caused me to be stuck at home with nothing much to do but work from home and stare at all the books in my home that I own, wishing I didn’t buy them because of the clutter it makes in the house. That’s when it hit me: I do need those books, but I never use all of them.

I don’t label myself as a hoarder, but I do have a lot of books. Many of those books are books about how to sew, knit, crochet, or have some sort of information that I thought I needed. I seriously considered donating or selling my books, but there is one problem with most of my books: They are out of print.

Most of my informational books were printed years ago and I collected them slowly over the years, most of them when they were brand new and in their first printing. Because of this, I bought them at a cheeper price than they would be if I had to buy them second hand. This means if I get rid of them, I’d have to pay twice as much as they were when I originally bought them. In the case of certain books, they would cost much more than that!

So, I’m stuck with my books. I still need them for work and for research for my hobbies. Despite this, I still feel frustrated by my collection of books. I don’t have a safe place to put them so they are usually stacked up, one on another, in piles. I really hate the way I “store” my books, especially since I like to be a neat and orderly person, but right now I don’t have enough room for them. Yet I still need them.

This is why I’m starting to tell myself that it’s ok to have clutter like this. If owning these books brings me joy, then I shouldn’t feel bad about it, especially if the books contain information I want and need. It makes my life better to own these books. It also makes my work and hobbies easier as well. I enjoy them in my home, even though I don’t have a bookcase to put them in. I hope to have a bookcase for them one day, but right now, I do what I can to take care of them with the furniture I own and in place I call home.

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!