Bookshelf Challenge
Hello wonderful readers,
Happy Monday!
Happy Monday!
Thank you all so much for reading last week’s post and staying
informed on the hurricane disasters occurring around the world. Since last week’s
post, a lot of the facts that were shared have been updated or changed as the
storms continued. I hope all of you are safe and able to help in some way shape
or form with the natural disaster relief, whether it be donating time, monetarily,
or just sending prayers to those in need.
I hope last week’s post, and a week “off” from the #MsMinimalistChallenge, gave you some time to count your blessing and spend a little extra time with family and loved ones.
We are already to week four of our challenge, wow, time does really fly! We have flipped our hangers, put one, or more clothing item(s) in the donation pile, counted all of our shoes (if you were one of the brave ones to pull out all of your shoes in week three), and we have even donated one, or more, pairs of shoes! We have done some great downsizing work thus far, but we all have a long way to go, and I am happy we can be traveling through this journey together!
Week four of the challenge is looking at another area of our home that might be a little crowded with items: our book shelves. My husband and I LOVE books; we love to read books, we love to share books, we love to gift books, and we love to keep old books. It’s safe to say we love everything about books, and for good reasons too! Books are an amazing way to share knowledge, to read others beautiful writing styles, to escape from the “real world”, to explore, to love, to cry, to heal, to live, and so on. I am not going to try and convince you that books are bad in this week’s challenge because I would fail miserably. I do not believe you should get rid of all of your books either, but I do believe books are a wonderful item to share instead of keeping on our bookshelf collecting dust particles.
Trevor and I just recently purchased a gorgeous new tall bookcase that resides in our den area. We originally had two smaller bookcases in that space, but they began to get cluttered and were causing us distress. These bookshelves were in a space we passed daily and we would try to turn our gaze away from them because they were overcrowded, cluttered, and extremely unorganized. We went to the store (yes, we do go shopping from time to time believe it or not, being a minimalist doesn’t mean not buying any items ever) and we bought a new bookshelf to help us downsize and organize. When we got home, Trevor put together our new bookshelf, secured it to the wall, and we began moving books from the two smaller bookshelves to our larger one. We quickly began to notice that our taller, larger bookshelf was not going to be enough to hold all of our books…Our plan to downsize from two bookshelves to one, had failed. We had too many books to organize and keep on just one large bookshelf.
As we moved the books from one shelf to another, we began to notice and examine each physical book. Some of the books we read years ago, some we were in the middle of reading, some were from school, others we hadn’t seen in years, and some we haven’t even cracked open since purchasing. I think this is a common predicament in many homes, it’s not a bad thing, but it is something we can work through together.
For this week’s challenge, I ask you to take a look at your bookshelf. Is there a book you could part with? Are there ten books you could part with? Just like the last challenge with our shoes, take the books out of their living spaces and see if it is something you need to keep. If it is something that can be parted with, place it in the donation pile and take a photo of the reading material you are donating. I would also like to note it does not just have to be books, it can be magazines, comics, newspapers, catalogs, travel brochures, cook books, etc.
Books are written to be shared with the world and if they stay unread or read and not passed along, they are not fulfilling their purpose.
If you would like to share your books and provide reading material for people of all ages, think about locating a Little Free Library and sharing your books within your community. View the Little Free Library map here.
I hope last week’s post, and a week “off” from the #MsMinimalistChallenge, gave you some time to count your blessing and spend a little extra time with family and loved ones.
We are already to week four of our challenge, wow, time does really fly! We have flipped our hangers, put one, or more clothing item(s) in the donation pile, counted all of our shoes (if you were one of the brave ones to pull out all of your shoes in week three), and we have even donated one, or more, pairs of shoes! We have done some great downsizing work thus far, but we all have a long way to go, and I am happy we can be traveling through this journey together!
Week four of the challenge is looking at another area of our home that might be a little crowded with items: our book shelves. My husband and I LOVE books; we love to read books, we love to share books, we love to gift books, and we love to keep old books. It’s safe to say we love everything about books, and for good reasons too! Books are an amazing way to share knowledge, to read others beautiful writing styles, to escape from the “real world”, to explore, to love, to cry, to heal, to live, and so on. I am not going to try and convince you that books are bad in this week’s challenge because I would fail miserably. I do not believe you should get rid of all of your books either, but I do believe books are a wonderful item to share instead of keeping on our bookshelf collecting dust particles.
Trevor and I just recently purchased a gorgeous new tall bookcase that resides in our den area. We originally had two smaller bookcases in that space, but they began to get cluttered and were causing us distress. These bookshelves were in a space we passed daily and we would try to turn our gaze away from them because they were overcrowded, cluttered, and extremely unorganized. We went to the store (yes, we do go shopping from time to time believe it or not, being a minimalist doesn’t mean not buying any items ever) and we bought a new bookshelf to help us downsize and organize. When we got home, Trevor put together our new bookshelf, secured it to the wall, and we began moving books from the two smaller bookshelves to our larger one. We quickly began to notice that our taller, larger bookshelf was not going to be enough to hold all of our books…Our plan to downsize from two bookshelves to one, had failed. We had too many books to organize and keep on just one large bookshelf.
As we moved the books from one shelf to another, we began to notice and examine each physical book. Some of the books we read years ago, some we were in the middle of reading, some were from school, others we hadn’t seen in years, and some we haven’t even cracked open since purchasing. I think this is a common predicament in many homes, it’s not a bad thing, but it is something we can work through together.
For this week’s challenge, I ask you to take a look at your bookshelf. Is there a book you could part with? Are there ten books you could part with? Just like the last challenge with our shoes, take the books out of their living spaces and see if it is something you need to keep. If it is something that can be parted with, place it in the donation pile and take a photo of the reading material you are donating. I would also like to note it does not just have to be books, it can be magazines, comics, newspapers, catalogs, travel brochures, cook books, etc.
Books are written to be shared with the world and if they stay unread or read and not passed along, they are not fulfilling their purpose.
If you would like to share your books and provide reading material for people of all ages, think about locating a Little Free Library and sharing your books within your community. View the Little Free Library map here.
I would like to take time and congratulate Stephanie T. for
being week threes winner of the #MsMinimalistChallenge! Enter the challenge
anytime, all you have to do is partake in this week’s challenge shared on the
blog, take a photo of your item(s), tag me, and use the hastag #MsMinimalistChallenge
on social media for your chance to win prizes!
Thank you all so much for reading this week’s blog post and
joining the challenge. I love hearing and seeing your progress on the journey
towards minimalism, so please keep sharing! You are making a larger difference than
you realize in your life and the lives of others.
Subscribe,
comment, and share.
Make a difference, light the way, and share your story today.
Namasté.
Make a difference, light the way, and share your story today.
Namasté.
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