I just sold almost 200 books for a fraction of what they were worth. It feels amazing.

Some context: I'm graduating in May, and I won't be living in this house after that. A few months ago, I decided to get rid of most of my stuff. I started with the obvious stuff like plastic bags, dirty tissues, empty water bottles, empty food wrappers, and old receipts. Then I moved on to some sentimental stuff — birthday cards, a lot of random stuff from my childhood, old notes from a pen pal I lost contact with. I felt so happy after getting rid of it all.<br><br>But then I saw my bookshelf. It's a decently big one, but when you consider the fact that I didn't get rid of some stuff, it's just...unholy. <br><br>I have a lot of "stuff I bought and never read". I swear I've only read about a third of the books I own, and most of them were impulse buys. I'd say about half of the books on my shelf were recently published or best-seller books from last year. I have a couple of boxes filled with my textbooks from high school, and some boxes with books I owned since I was 10. I even have some of those kiddie books that have a space for your name, the date, and the name of the person who gave the book to you. I also have some random stuff like a thesaurus (from 1973) and a German dictionary (I've never even taken a class, much less travel to Germany).<br><br>I decided that a week before classes start would be a good idea to dry-brush everything while listening to Irish music really loudly. It took me about three hours, but I did it. I got rid of a lot, but I still have a lot. I'd say I got rid of about 50% of my original library. All in all, I got rid of 181 books. I took them to a local used book store and they said they'd give me $250 for them. I took it. I left with a box of 4 books for $12 — one for my grandpa, two for my friends, and one for myself. I have a small box on my coffee table where I put the remaining books that I decided to keep. They're mostly the unread books I bought and the sentimental ones. I'd say I have about 30 left. I didn't buy anything after that except for one book last night. I'm trying to save for a trip to the coast with my boyfriend, and this will be the first time I've been to the beach since I was 10.<br><br>I also have to say that I'm making more of an effort to be kinder to the planet. I guess I've just never cared. I've always thrown away trash on the street or on the beach because I felt like my actions didn't make a difference. But they do. I bought a bunch of reusable bags and a lunchbox, and I'm trying to avoid fast food and plastic straws. <br><br>Right now, I know I've accomplished something. I'm not sure if I'm going to move towards a minimalist lifestyle, but with how I'm feeling right now, I might. <br><br>I just wanted to share this. I feel happy. <br><br>That's all.