The reasons for clutter are varied (as above – it is part of some academics jobs) In old esteemed mansions, libraries are common – and while well organised with ladders and mahogany shelving, the idea remains the same. To disappear inside a world of thought – the freedom to pluck a divine set of ideas from an abundant well connected array of stimuli.

Perhaps the idea that you are extracting here is that the vision of knowledge is not power. This is in fact no different to the vision of cookware not creating a cook, or any other collection of clutter. Though clutter purpose (really a bookshelf of books is rarely clutter, as it’s so easy to keep clean…) is different for different personalities.

Just as a cluttered bookshelf can mean to that individual ‘I am displaying what an intellectual I am to other people’ the books that person sold to live a life on the road could be displaying a similar insecurity ‘oh look how free I am’ Some find living in an environment that stimulates ideas freeing, others find leaving it all behind liberating.. We could find here a similar spiel on ‘Is getting rid of all your stuff you just trying to escape your memories?’

That however, would be the reflection of an INTP – whose stuff is often like a photo album. For example – seeing a book gives me a string of ideas. Flipping to a random page stimulates my own thinking, with reasons of my own. Knowledge is rarely absorbed by rote (the equivelant of reading a book the whole way through, even when read actively) Knowledge is created to be applied, connected, created upon.

Perhaps it’s different if the books are fiction (again, to some these are to be re-read because of their jobs) Books are written from years of another person’s experience, and are most often worth much more than the 5 or 10 dollars you’d get for one.

“We stand on the shoulders of Giants” and should be careful not to make knowledge, creativity and stimulated thought all about instant gratification and disposability. Read it, integrate it, throw it away or sell it? Perhaps it’s not all about you and me. Perhaps there are some ideas that are bigger than that and take a little longer to develop. A disposable society that is training itself to treat information integration with greater speed than ever before is in danger of removing the ethical aspect of decision making, as the ethical centre centre of the brain takes a longer time to reach than the outer, basic comprehension sectors.

No, not all is about speed and 5 dollar lots.

If you are interested in pursuing this idea, may I recommend some of Antonio Damasio’s work? … ;) I have been pondering his contributions for a number of years and shall continue to do so as my life experience becomes ‘richer.’

It’s a true principal and comes back around to solid money management–creating order in your life eventaully bleeds over into all areas, including money management.

It’s also interesting to note that as we talk to DebtGoal users, we see the same effect over and over. Many people seek out help for debt, but wonder where it came from. Only after self-reflection do they realize that the piles of “stuff” they have around their house is what put them in the situation they’re in. In that light, getting out of debt often starts with the same process in reverse–liquidating things purchased on credit to put toward debt. Although this can be straightforward and easy given the number of online sites for selling, including eBay and Craigslist, sellers take an expensive haircut. But perhaps the best result is that as people sell off seldom-used items, they find their lives simplified and even better positioned to meet future goals.

As a recovering packrat married to a minimalist I have learned that the more of something you have, the less valuable it is. Who needs 4 multi-bit screwdrivers? And how frustrating is it to not be able to find what you need when you need it because of all the other junk in the way? Or to have to pick up and rearrange the “gift bag collection” each day when it spills out of it’s storeage place?

I am well acquainted with “things” having emotional value; having lost my mother when I was young I save everything of hers I could find. Letting go of them feels like letting go of her. There are some items that are irreplaceable, and some books out of print, and some small collections of whatnot that are unique and meaningful to who you are. But there is a fine line between having stuff and stuff having you.

And that’s how I’ve ended up with three pairs of pruning shears, a half-dozen Phillips screwdrivers, enough pairs of scissors to stock a good-sized fabric store, and other multiple purchases of tools I needed but couldn’t find amid the chaos. And pens? Oh, lordy. I could sit on a streetcorner, selling them out of a cup for a quarter, and enjoy a very nice dinner from the proceeds.

Another cost of clutter, I would like to add, is damage caused to one’s belongings as a result of that clutter. When the stack of books and papers on your desk tips over, knocking the contents of your watter bottle or coffee cup into your keyboard (or, in my case, onto the $270 Wacom tablet), your clutter is costing you money. When you can’t find important receipts or tax documents, clutter costs you money. When things get shoved to the bottom of a pile and end up damaged from being in the pile, that’s money lost.

And time? If time is money, clutter is expensive. All the time I’ve spent searching for lost documents and other items never seems like much as I’m doing it, but it adds up.

I used to insist that my clutter wasn’t a problem, that I knew where everything was and could find whatever I needed, no problem. But in truth, it has made my life very difficult, and cost me a lot of money over the years.

I also used to insist that clutter went hand-in-hand with being a “creative” person. Neatness and organization? How boring! But living amid clutter has hindered my creativity in so many ways–from not having a clear surface on which to work, to losing tools and materials, to getting depressed or frustrated and giving up because making art would have required cleaning up a big mess first. How much creative work did I not do because of clutter? Thinking about it makes this tough bird want to cry.

As for books–I’m as much of a bibliophile as anyone here, but in recent weeks I’ve taken 50+ boxes of books to Goodwill. Yes, I could sell them, but right now my priority is clearing out my living space as quickly as possible, so I’ll take the tax writeoff and the extra free time in lieu of cash, thanks.

I still have a lot of books, but I’m gradually whittling the keepers down to the hard-to-find, the out-of-print, reference books, books I frequently re-read, and books I have yet to read (and it’s appalling how many of those I re-discovered whilst clearing the clutter).

It was hard getting rid of books at first; I admit that I’ve used them as props to my identity and self-esteem (creative person, intellectual). Letting go of books was like letting go of pieces of myself. But with each box I filled, and each carload I dropped off at Goodwill, I felt lighter. It got easier. Now I’m downright ruthless–a book has to justify its continued existence in my life in order to stay.

There’s no reason I need to hang on to any book that is still readily available or that I don’t think I will re-read. Those books will be available to me in the future, should I ever want to read them again. I’m also listing the more valuable books (anything I can get at least $5.99 for; anything cheaper isn’t worth the time it takes me to list, pack and ship it) on Amazon, and those are selling well.

@ Kathy:
“I think some of it is that we feel as though we are committing a sin by throwing away (or recycling) a book. Almost as though we are killing a physical, living being.”

Don’t throw them away; if there are no used book stores in your area that are willing to buy them, donate them. I can’t tell you how delighted I am whenever I find a book I’ve wanted to read at Goodwill for $.99-$1.99.

Or, if you like, post them on Bookcrossing and leave them in public places for other people to find and enjoy. Or leave them in the break room at work for others to take. There’s no need to throw away books you no longer want; someone out there would love to have them.

Generally my packrat tendencies get me cluttered up for one of two reasons: One, I enjoy the item or the general subject matter of the item and like to keep it around. (I.e., I used to collect cat figurines, but I like art and I like cats, and I tended towards the unusual sculpture rather than, say, dollar store stuff. Or, I collect foreign currency because I find it fascinating.) Or, two, I acquired something unthinkingly and haven’t gotten around to clearing it out yet.

I’d say most of my clutter is in the latter category. And I’m in the process of thinking about what serves me and what doesn’t and where I need to pare back. Let’s just say I’m starting to recognize email addresses on my local FreeCycle list. :)

It’s something you grow into, though. When I came to the realization that there was no point in keeping books that the library stocks when the library is free and I have been living near a branch for the past four years, I stopped buying so many books at Barnes & Noble and Half-Price Books too, even from the clearance rack. It’s got to be pretty special before I will consider keeping it, and I sold a bunch of books to Powells.com before I moved this last August as it was.

And then I put into practice the notion that when you clear away detritus you make room for good things to come into your life: With the store credit I amassed at Powell’s, I purchased a Cajun language dictionary, language textbook and audio CDs. I’d been meaning to try to learn Cajun for years because my parents learned English at home and I never got to learn any as a kid. I wouldn’t have been able to afford the books if I hadn’t gotten rid of ones I wasn’t reading in the first place.

One person’s experiences, FWIW.

I like the comment about the backseat of the car though – it is true in my and my wife’s case. (Her’s tends to be on the messier side – but then again, she’s hauling our son around most days.)

I recently discarded a LARGE (at least 3″) looseleaf binder that was overflowing with magazine articles. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted over the past 10 years in collecting and organizing the articles, & whenever I found more I’d just stuff them inside.

However, the last time I went to open the binder and try to organize that big fat mess, I realized something important:

I never used the binder.

I had a section for leg exercises. Never used. I have a section for diet. Never used. I had a section for home design. Never used. I might have used a strength training program featured in Self magazine, or a cardio routine, but that was it. I never used any of it.

So, instead of organizing it, I trashed it.

The dividers went into the drawer to be reused, the articles got recycled, and the binder got trashed.

It felt like I lost 10 pounds.

Now, when I find an article I like, I either find it online & bookmark in it delicious, or I’ll put the info I need into my address book (when reading about a restaurant I want to try, etc). It’s saved me so much time and brain space!

I’m sure that people could look to pictures of my back yard and say “tsk, tsk, wouldn’t this place look so much grander with *this* type of landscaping?!” The answer is, yeah, it probably would, but it’s not liketly to be something I’ll perosnally do. Still, if someone looking at a picture of my backyard that’s posted in a public free-domain place, and decides to use my picture for such a thing, I’m OK with that. Who knows, I may go back and say “hmmm, this person makes a good point, maybe I *should* consider that”.

I do hold on to some books, but only those I truly loved. The others go to the annual book sale my division at work holds to fund adopting families at Christmas.

I’ll always have a decent collection of books. As a writer, I’ll often think of a part of a book that I loved, and go to my shelf to reread the passage. I’m not likely to bother going to a library or checking a book out just to reread a few pages. The classics, I keep close at hand.

So I keep academic books! The time involved in storing them is less than heading 15 miles to the nearest academic library and praying that they haven’t changed when “community” members can access the building–more than once I have called, been told they were open to non-”Big Private University With Attitude” patrons from X time to X time, only to be turned away at the door because only students and faculty of that institution could enter that day, regardless of time.

However, I try to follow the “borrow first” rule for personal books, and periodically purge the ones I accumulated when I was less careful about Stuff. (Most of them, though, came from secondhand shops; even so, it’s money and time!)

I have 4 bookcases of books (am weeding down the ones in storage next week!) . . . many are non-fiction and specialized (how often do you see books titled “Sumarian Grammar” or “Risk Assessment for Object Conservation” on someone’s bookcase) and are keepers.

However, since joining Paperbackswap and Bookcrossing, I’ve become less loathe to send many books on their way through trade or sales after I’ve read them.

One easy way to make bookshelves look less ‘cluttered’ is to put objects between the books/DVD cases (i.e. a vase, a nice bookend, a framed photo) rather than in front of the books. I actually use a memory object at the start of a section – such as a replica of the Malta “sleeping priestess” in front of my archaeology section and a piggy bank in front of the personal finance books.

For DVDs, we put them all in a DVD binder and pack up the cases under the stairs. I will be pulling those out also next week — going through the annual ‘Yule get more’ sort-through.

A book collection doesn’t have to mean the same thing for everybody.

I have similar bookshelves, and they’re not there to impress people or to prop up my intellectual self-esteem. They’re there because I read the books. I weed through on a bi-annual basis and I try to keep them organized enough that when I’m looking for my research books on the Victorian Era, or I want to reread my Rex Stouts, I can find them.

I do use my local library for books, DVDs, and research, but it isn’t ever going to meet 100% of my book needs. I like buying my friends’ books. I like hanging on to books I know I’m going to reread. And there are some books my local library and the libraries they borrow from don’t have.

I have been working on it for a while, and will continue to do so. I am in the process of selling some things off that I don’t need.

And for those who are offended, listen. If you use all of the books that you have, or all of the so call “clutter” that you have, then This Post Doesn’t Apply to you.

I don’t think that the intent was to throw everyone who has a lot of books and/or items in that box, but I could be wrong.