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I LOVE MY KINDLE! I never thought I could love an inanimate object as much as I do my Kindle but I admit – I do. Sounds silly doesn’t it for a minimalist to be in love with a thing right? Actually when you really think about it, a Kindle is a perfect fit for a minimalist lifestyle.
As an avid reader, I used to have boxes and boxes of books. When you get down to it, how many books do you read more than once? Yes, there are some books that I have read several times but for the most part I would read them one time then store them first on a bookshelf then later in a box because I could not bring myself to dispose of them. When I tell you I had BOXES of books and magazines and I moved them from house to house.
To me, reading is a huge part of my life and it felt almost sacrilegious to throw a book or magazine away. I dealt with magazines better than I did books because I would save the ones I wanted to refer back to but the others I would pass onto a friend – recycling the magazines. Books though were a whole other story.
Finally when I started my minimalist journey, I knew I had to start decluttering and get rid of my book hoarding obsession once and for all. The boxes I already had packed were donated to Salvation Army. I didn’t even open those boxes up. I figured since they had been stored for many years, in the big scheme of things, what I didn’t see could easily be parted with – and that worked.
Next I started working on the books that were still on bookshelves and table tops. I went through every one and the books that had been read were put in a box and donated. The books I had not read yet, were put to the top of the list. Once the physical books had been enjoyed, I boxed them up and donated them. Right now I have less than 10 books in my home and most are cookbooks.
The best gift I was ever given was my first Kindle. I am now on my 3rd and it travels with me every where I go and is loaded with at least a hundred books. When I no longer need to refer back to a book, I take it off the Kindle but it is still available to me through my Kindle account. What could be a better scenario for a minimalist? The books that my daughter and I published are also E-books and available through Amazon.
At the end of the day, I really don’t miss all the books that I had kept for many years. The clean space where I used to hoard my books is much more pleasing to me than the stacks of books and magazines that used to live in my home. If you are an avid reader like myself and on your minimalist journey, give an E-reader or tablet a try.
Blessings,
Denise
For tips on how to begin your decluttering journey, you can Start Here, or snag a copy of the 30 Day Challenge (our Minimalism and Decluttering eBook).
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