Old Med School Books

Old books

Thats too bad that the books are so old. My DH is in the process of selling his unwanted books to 1-3rd year MS. DH is also, somewhat of a book addict. He basically bought every book for every rotation and every study guide and review for the Step I and II's. So, he has a serious library going on as well. In addition to MEDICAL books, he buys books from every walk of life!! We have 8 book shelfs to move! (Refering to another post...good thing we are only moving our bed to residency!!)

But I did get him to sit down last weekend and go through books to take to the library to donate. We gathered up 2 nice boxes of books and on Saturday, we went to the library to drop them off. Only PROBLEM was the annual BOOK SALE was going on, and we came home with a new box of books.

[Deebs]

I have the same problem. DH has his "real" books, but then he also likes to collect really old medical texts as a hobby. I'm trying to convince him that built-ins are a necessity in our next house. I'm tired of cheapo bookcases that are overflowing!

[Gwendolyn]

We still have all our science books from undergrad.

This is our sad, sad story as well. DH feels like each book is an investment. How could he possibly get rid of some 10 year old bio chem book? I don't even want to talk about how many times these stupid books have moved and how we have this fight each time!

Once I get my way, they will all end up in the recycling bin.

You might try a re-sale store. Ours here will buy what they want then recycle the rest for you.

same here

We still have all our science books from undergrad.

DITTO. :|

[DCJenn]

Since we just moved for the 7th time in 7 years of marriage...and we both have moved at least 10 times on our own prior...I've jetisoned everything that's non-essential. and by non-essential, if it's available online or at the library- it's gone.

and I'm just as brutal with clothes, shoes and appliances.

At one point in my life I had everything I owned in two Xerox copy boxes and although I like my furniture...I could totally get back to that.

If it's not on my walls, I want NO decorations. If it hasn't been worn in 6 months to a year- its donated. If I haven't used it in 6 months to a year- it's gone.

Magazines- to the gym. Reading books- on half.com, make-up and cosmetics- to the trash. If a plate or bowl is chipped- it's tossed. (left over from my group home days when the state and the Feds would makeup toss chipped dishes)

Brutal. It's a good thing the kid is cute, the dog is funny, the cats cuddle and the hubbie is a hottie or they'd be on the curb, too.

Jenn

[MissCrabette]

Jenn, you know you're going to have to hold some classes on getting rid of clutter.

I know my fiance has kept a few undergrad books but he doesn't seem to get as attached to things as I do. I still have Spanish and Philosophy textbooks just because I say to myself I may get back into that one day.

[Deebs]

Jenn - Anytime you want to visit and declutter our stuff, you're more than welcome. I have the DH that pulls things back out of the garbage or Goodwill bag because they're still good. When I tell him there are poor people who could use them more, he reminds me that we're not all that financially well off ourselves. This is why we still have a $20 coffee maker that runs over every other time we use it, his sweats from highschool, and two mystery boxes that have remained unpacked in our garage for three years.
I guess putting up with it teaches me to be patient and understanding (right?????).

Is a pathological attachment to old text books (or anything, really!) part and parcel of the medico mindset? I can't get DH to say goodbye to anything either. They've spent so many years being poor and redirecting all funds towards the purchase of these millstones! I feel too mean getting rid of stuff while he's at work (and he'd give me the guilts when he discovered it anyway) so we have faaaar too many old textbooks lying around. It's amazing just how many he has used in the 19 year process of becoming a specialist in two countries/languages....

And you know, it's not even the books so much, as the mountains of photocopied pages that really get to me. What on earth can you do to make them look tidy? They're in boxes, but every now and then DH will go on a search and pull bunches of them out, leaving a trail of destruction for me to deal with. I wish he could make do with the internet!

decluttering life

Wow DCJenn! I am super impressed with your ability to declutter. I thought that my DH and I were good at keeping the clutter and "junk" down to the bare minimum but as we start to organize our lives for our move in June, we have noticed that our 4 years of medical school have really made us collect more and more. We, too, had moved a lot in our years together. This past 4 years was the longest either of us had been in 1 place for more than a year. AND we made the mistake of moving into a bigger place, with 2 bedrooms to fill with clutter instead of a studio or 1 bdrm we used to live in. We still have lots to go, but last weekend we managed to come up with 8 bags of clothes to donate. That was after a man from a moving company came to give us an estimate of cost for moving--and I had to actually take him through the entire place and he looked in our CLOSETS!! AHH!! I was so embarrassed!! As soon as he left, DH and I began to pull stuff to get rid of. Its so so sad how we hold onto things (clothes, books, etc.) because it has sentimental value. My DH almost cried when he had to part with a Spam T-shirt he had since high school. (BTW...I was happy to see that go!!)