if I start reading a book and ten pages in I think it's rubbish, I get rid of it and never even pick up anything by the same author
Cripes, 10 pages is quite unforgiving. I go for the Nancy Pearl 'rule of 50' (http://booklust.wetpaint.com/page/The+Rule+of+50). (I read pretty quickly, though, so 50 pages isn't a huge commitment.)
So I don't advise 'decluttering' at all. It might be cheaper, and it might give you more space, but you'll never know what it it you're losing.
I take your point, but one of the things I'm losing by keeping too much stuff is mental peace, intellectual focus, the ability to do things now. The ability to think clearly, to find things, to get things done. A lot of the baggage I'm keeping does remind me of times past, but not in a helpful way: keeping four years of lecture notes in ring-bound notebooks feels more like a reminder of my ongoing failure to accept the fact that I'm not in academia any more, rather than a happy reminder of the fun I had studying; keeping a jumper which was given to me by a previous boyfriend and friend whom I've lost touch with, that's just silly -- I'd be better actually emailing him than hanging on to the jumper out of a sense of misplaced guilt and regret.
I agree that not losing touch with the past is important (maybe even the futures past, though I'm less certain that futures which never existed are worth hanging on to) but not to the extent that they impede your ability to engage with the present. I have to keep reminding myself that I am not personally responsible for archiving the universe; and even if I was, an archivist's role is at least partly about deciding what to throw away.
I will read it before Christmas.
So long as you promise to apply the 10-page rule! No sentimental exceptions. :-)
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Cripes, 10 pages is quite unforgiving. I go for the Nancy Pearl 'rule of 50' (http://booklust.wetpaint.com/page/The+Rule+of+50). (I read pretty quickly, though, so 50 pages isn't a huge commitment.)
So I don't advise 'decluttering' at all. It might be cheaper, and it might give you more space, but you'll never know what it it you're losing.
I take your point, but one of the things I'm losing by keeping too much stuff is mental peace, intellectual focus, the ability to do things now. The ability to think clearly, to find things, to get things done. A lot of the baggage I'm keeping does remind me of times past, but not in a helpful way: keeping four years of lecture notes in ring-bound notebooks feels more like a reminder of my ongoing failure to accept the fact that I'm not in academia any more, rather than a happy reminder of the fun I had studying; keeping a jumper which was given to me by a previous boyfriend and friend whom I've lost touch with, that's just silly -- I'd be better actually emailing him than hanging on to the jumper out of a sense of misplaced guilt and regret.
I agree that not losing touch with the past is important (maybe even the futures past, though I'm less certain that futures which never existed are worth hanging on to) but not to the extent that they impede your ability to engage with the present. I have to keep reminding myself that I am not personally responsible for archiving the universe; and even if I was, an archivist's role is at least partly about deciding what to throw away.
I will read it before Christmas.
So long as you promise to apply the 10-page rule! No sentimental exceptions. :-)