I think he’s spot-on. I do think there’s a cure for this though—and that’s to get rid of some and see how you feel.

I think we overestimate how much grief and regret we’ll feel over getting rid of stuff, and underestimate the good feelings of being free of the clutter and being able to find and enjoy the few things we really want to keep. In the summer of 2004, I had something like 250 books, 200 CDs (and a like-number of rotting cassettes), and God only knows how many comic books and magazines. Since then, I’ve downsized the physical collection by 90% (and replaced less than a quarter of them with digital media).

Yes, as occhiblu points out, there are times I regret not having this book or that, but they are actually pretty few and far between. There are always newer and better books coming out, and I can often find the information from one again if I need it. The freedom of not being so tied down to so much stuff is more than worth the occasional pang of regret (and they are V-E-R-Y occasional).

The trouble is, I had to start getting rid of things before I could figure this out; it’s taken three-and-a-half years of going in waves and integrating the feedback from each subsequent reduction. Now, though, my rule is “When in doubt, throw it out.” (Or recycle it, or sell it, or give it away—but that would ruin the clever rhyme.)

I’m completely with the anti-clutter movement, but I have a big problem getting rid of books. Without an accurate count, I’m sure that I have over 2,000 at home - it is a rare and difficult thing for me to sell a book. It makes me more than a little heartsick and anxious to even think about it.

But my books aren’t a clutter element for me - they’re well organized and shelved. Sure, I could use more shelves - but that’s not a current problem.

And trust me, I have no regrets in keeping them!

(don’t get me started on the number of DVDs I have - your average Blockbuster has around 700 titles. I have more …)

Book clutter is one of the main reasons people find our website (Unclutterer.com). We seem to talk about it incessantly in the office, too. If you’re interested, here are a couple links to posts we’ve written on the subject:

Read a book and pass it on
It’s a cookbook!

Additionally, don’t forget about libraries (you can download audio books for free from many libraries here), audible.com, e-book readers like Kindle and PDAs, and by e-mail from DailyLit.

It’s sometimes easier to focus and contain a bad habit, than it is to eliminate it.

So, I’m with Captain Randy on this one. (Almost. I don’t collect any physical electronic media.)

If you focus your clutter-accumulation habits towards books, and any time you feel like splurging, you splurge on books, you’ll end up with a relatively simple lifestyle. Apart from the loads and loads of books.

(Also. A good way to reduce clutter is to only buy the best of anything. That way, you don’t buy anything, since you can’t afford it. This is how clothes work for me.)

I don’t think anyone is encouraging wholesale elimination of the books that one finds valuable and has the room to responsibly store.

In my estimation, the problem arises when that attitude of “Oh, God, no! Not my books!” starts getting applied to everything else too. That’s a center that can’t hold, and if you’ve ever had the mixed fortune to love someone who hoards, you know we’re not talking about the careful contents of Bruce Wayne’s fancy-lad library here.

One of my favorite points in Walsh’s “It’s All Too Much” book is that idea that the real problem arises when those things you keep (or “collect”) start habitually impeding the life you want to lead. If that’s books, you’re no better off than if we’re talking about banana peels or cat poop.

If anything is allowed to get in your way in that fashion, then I’d say it’s entirely reasonable to conduct a frank review of how much mania for any beloved collection you can realistically tolerate.

Books are meant to be read. I always suggest donating books that are not being read to a local library or school library. There are several things that you can do to keep your books close to your heart but still get rid of the clutter.

Start a bibliography on your computer or notebook: Take the book information (ISBN, Author, Title etc) Add a photo of the book Write a paragraph or two about the significance of the book to YOU, the impact the book had on YOUR life, who gave you the book, why you kept it, to whom you would recommend the book.

If you can’t be bothered writing about how important the book is to you than do you need to keep the book?

If you are writing SO much about the book that you’ve started a second page…maybe you could keep that book.

Certain reference books should be kept like dictionaries, and atlases because sometimes it is quicker to look up the information in a book than it is on-line.

I got rid of (almost) all of my cookbooks as I can find a bunch of recipes on-line for almost everything I would ever want to eat. I did keep my Nanny’s Purity Flour cookbook because it has her note taking about how to make a perfect lemon meringue pie!

When I’m in a de-clutter phase I try a simple rule: for everything coming into the house, two things have to go out.

That is some MeFi thread. The people on this comments thread are no slouches, either.

“Responsibly keep” is a good one.

Peter Walsh’s credo (loosely paraphrased as “that which does not impede the graceful living of your life”), also good.

My own pithy yardstick when in decluttering mode (fairly constant these past couple of years) is to keep only that which is useful or beautiful—preferably both.

And as a governor, it has to fit in the containers I already have. Because the parameters of “useful” and especially “beautiful” get way stretchy when the hoarding instinct kicks in.

a “Bruce Wayne’s fancy-lad library”!

As a matter of fact, I know where I can lay my hands on a bust of Shakespeare with tilt back head and red button for sliding back the bookcase.

Robin, to the batBay!

That is a great thread, but it got the last of those comments over a year ago and is now closed to new comments. (Of course, that doesn’t take away from it being a wonderful resource as it stands).

But that thread percolated up to people’s attention again as a result of these two currently open threads which are also worth checking out. These will stay open for a year, so it might be worth checking in now and again to see if anything new has been posted:

Simplifying and purging

Stuffaholic