January Reflections: Stuff

A few weeks ago, while searching for a lost item, I realised I was sorting through endless piles of Stuff to find what I was looking for.  

I am surrounded; I'm living in the middle of Stuff, most of which I do not use on a daily basis.  What is it?  How did it get here? How can I get rid of it?

Stuff.  I dislike it immensely, yet love it tremendously.

My Stuff mostly consists of well-used things that I am attached to, and don't want to part with.  Books that have been read again and again, letters, drawings from my kids, unread books, coffee mugs, photos, recently purchased half-read books, empty honey jars, useful scraps of paper and fabric, children's books, educational books, cookbooks, stacks of books with nowhere to live, bookshelves crammed to full capacity, books lying on the floor, borrowed books, library books...

I think I might have a book collecting problem.  Just confessing that now, getting it out in the open.  I never get rid of books.  Almost every day, I think of yet another book I need or want.

Often, though, because I am so busy with cooking, cleaning, writing, learning with my kids, maintaining community life and relationships, creating... I don't have time to read.  And those books just become Stuff.

I need to sort through them.  Once upon a time I worked at a library, so I can't use the excuse that I don't know how to organise books.  It's just the time and discipline required to do so.  Managing my time and maintaining a stable schedule are two of my weakest points.

If anyone wants to offer any advice to a book addict, or if you are a recovering one yourself, please comment.  I need help!

Please don't advise me to get a Kindle reader.  I just can't do it.  I have to be able to hold a book, smell it, turn the pages.  You are probably laughing at me now, and I may be eating those words in twelve months' time, but... 

No.