Monday, June 15, 2015

Decluttering with Technology - Part 1

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!  The month of June in our neck of the woods, has been very rainy, which has given me lots of time to work on my clutter project.  Specifically - all that paper!! I have to admit that I haven't been so keen on embracing technology as much as I should be to help reduce or perhaps even eliminate all that paper that seems to accumulate everywhere.  This has been my special project this year as I find new and better ways to get rid of paper piles entirely!!

This first declutter post deals specifically with books. 


I have always been an avid reader - since my young teens.  Next to baking and making a great dinner, nothing makes me happier than curling up with a good novel and getting lost for hours in a good story.  Whenever I visit the book store, I undoubtedly come out with a bag of books to read and enjoy and then pack away in a box.  Does this happen to you too?

 I would love to have a library room with wall to wall, floor to ceiling shelves just jam packed with books, but as that is not an option, my books wind up being stored in boxes.  Every once in a while, they are dragged out for a neighbourhood yard sale and sold for peanuts.

About two years ago I purchased an e-reader which I know is not something new to many of you, but something I have embraced to help reduce the clutter in our home. As I spend many hours a day on the computer, I initially was afraid the reader would be similar to reading on a computer screen.  Those thoughts were quickly diminished as the reader background is non-glare, resembling that of paper, so I bought a book or two on line and tried to get used to this new way of reading.  At first I found that I couldn't quite get into the story - it just didn't seem to read the same as an old-fashioned book, but I persevered and got through a few. 

Then at our Easter dinner, my daughter's mother-in-law (thank you Elaine!!) told me about getting books from the library for your e-reader.  Now I know it has been a very long time since I have actually been in a library, but how could I be that out of the loop that I never realized the library has gone digital too!!! DUH!!

For a small nominal charge of $3.00 for a library card, downloading the Overdrive software that North American libraries use for transmitting the data and Adobe Digital Editions, I can now download books as fast as I can read them and it's all for free!! Once it's downloaded into Adobe Digital Editions, you can then start reading right away on your computer or lap top.  But I like to transfer it to my e-reader so I can read anywhere.   And an added bonus - it doesn't create any clutter.  An e-reader stores thousands of books in one small compact thin little device the size of a paperback - amazing!

Check with your library to see what e-readers are compatible with this service.  I have a Kobo reader and love it!!  As you can see, the reader keeps track of all your finished books.  I've finished 11 books just since mid April - I'm back to my former bookworm self!!



Are you a recipe hoarder like me?  Watch for the next post where I will show you how I contain the on line recipe clutter.

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