Joshua Becker’s book “Less is more. Minimalism as a path to a conscious and happy life. ” Read it and it will turn your mind about the amount of things we need to live. We decided to use it to suggest how to disassemble the most difficult – books and documents. As for documents, our cleaning is always stopped by the fear of throwing out something important, and throwing out books is somehow blasphemous. How to be? We are looking for answers in the book.
Joshua Becker first suggests answering the question of where, in fact, did you get these blockages:
“There may be several reasons:
* You are delaying the solution of the issue, and papers and documents are proof of this.
* You are not a very well-organized person, and a pile of paper is the result of the fact that you
you cannot disassemble and remove them.
* You just do not know how long it is worth keeping certain documents, and that is why you do not throw them away.
* You are too busy to read all this carefully, and put it on the back burner.
* You have a sentimental attachment to certain documents: love notes, children’s drawings and clippings from magazines and newspapers.
* You will not be able to deal with the mass of paper in your home until you understand why all this is accumulating in you.
After you understand why so much paper has accumulated in your home, it will be easier for you to answer the question “What papers and documents do I really need to keep?”
Before I became a minimalist, writes Joshua Becker, I kept a ton of payment receipts and other financial documents. The house had credit card statements and utility bills for the past ten years, and I kept them because I thought I had to. However, in reality, I was absolutely not obliged to keep payment documents and other financial documents for such a long period of time. I recommend that you clarify how long these documents need to be retained in your country, but in many countries they need to be retained for no more than three years. Nowadays, many bills can be paid and stored electronically, which only makes our life easier.
Regarding all other papers, with the exception of invoices and documents, I can give you the following advice: treat them as the museum management treats its collection. The fact is that the items of the exposition of any self-respecting art museum are carefully selected and not all are exhibited for all to see in the halls. Become a curator of all things of sentimental value to you. Choose from your “paper heritage” in the form of children’s drawings, school diaries and notebooks, as well as books and magazines, the best copies that delight you and give you pleasure. How?
After you have found out the answers to the questions “Why?” and “What?”, it will be much easier for you to develop new habits. It’s time for the question, “How am I going to control this tear of paper that falls on my head?” The solution is very simple and consists of two steps:
1. Don’t let the paper get stale and quickly figure out what to do with it.
2. Sort paper by file. As soon as a new paper receipt appears in your home, immediately decide what to do with it. Throw away any unnecessary items in the trash can. Cut out coupons. Pay your bills. Organize all documents to be saved into files. All of the above only takes a few minutes. Do not create piles of paper that will collect more raw paper material.
3. Store all papers that you cannot deal with right away in large envelopes. When enough material has accumulated in the envelope, immediately deal with it, throwing away everything that you do not need. These simple tips will help you deal with all the paper material that comes to you. With this way of working, you will not lose anything. And I assure you, you will love your home without the distracting mountains of paper.
If you think you have too many books and would like to get rid of part of your library, I want to give you some tips that might help you.
Know firmly that books do not define who and what kind of person you are. Books and knowledge
they add value to you. They help shape your character. But neither the abundance of books nor the lack of them are the determining factors of who you are and who you are.
The book itself and the memories of it are completely different things. Sometimes we find it difficult to part with a book because it touched our feelings and caused a certain reaction. You can write on a piece of paper what feelings this book evoked, your thoughts that arose after reading it. It will then be easier for you to pass this book on to someone who you think can get the most out of it or benefit from it.
When you give your book to another person, consider that you are sharing your love with him. Leaving a good book on your shelf may be taking away the reader from it. Remember to share the joy.
Indicate a reasonable size for your book collection. Once you set a certain framework, it will be easier for you to understand which books are most important and part with part of the library. Setting boundaries can be important in a wide variety of endeavors. At one time, I reduced the number of books in my office by three times. If you are not ready for such a decisive step, do not be saddened by this. Life is not a race. Drive at a speed that is comfortable for you. You can always change this speed.
Allow yourself to keep your favorite books. Remember that less is not nothing.
Leave your favorite books with you. You will be pleased to know that you yourself, and not someone else, makes important decisions for you. Read e-books, not paper books. Now
There are a number of e-books or e-readers on the market that are much thinner than the average paper book. You can upload a lot of books to the reader. In a sense, there can be a lot of junk among these books, only electronic junk. Either way, e-waste is not as heavy, takes up less space, and is easier to store than printed books.