For the last month, I've been doing the unthinkable - I've been giving away cookbooks. I'll give you all a moment to collect yourselves before I go on.  

Right now, I've probably purged about 1,000 books. Six hundred were donated and 400 I lost when our basement flooded. Of those 400, I repurchased less than a dozen. I allowed nice young men to drag off - in a very undignified manner - those 338 books that were too damaged to donate in industrial strength garbage bags. In that flood I lost, my entire collection of Fine Cooking, Saveur Magazines and all those Christmas baking magazines I have collected for years and that's okay - I hadn't gone back to any of those in years and what they were doing was taking up space. A note regarding magazines - call your thrift stores before heading there some locations won't take them. 

Besides the purging of cookbooks, I have been releasing myself of the surly bonds of excessive pots, pans, bakeware, bundt pans and baking tins and it truly feels wonderful. People have asked me to share my criteria in deciding which books stay and which books go - I can only tell you what is working for me. You might need to sit down for this...

Step One - Don't open the book. Once you open the book - you are screwed - that looks good, I'll make that some day, all those fake promises to yourself - don't believe that voice - she has good intentions but she lies! I won't live long enough to make all the dishes I want to make and the truth of the matter is there are so many amazing cookbooks coming out each year that I want to make room for the must haves.

My cooking and what I love in a cookbook has evolved over the years. Avert your eyes....I don't need Joy of Cooking, Taste of Home or those easy five ingredient cookbooks. There is absolutely nothing wrong with those titles - but they are not for me. Food Network celebrities - save Ina and Giada - those books are gone. For major cuisines, I'm keeping the best of the best and new books are coming out all the time - and frankly I am loving the beauty of the newer titles. Yes, I am falling captive to the allure of the pretty books.

At this point in my life, I want an adventure, recipes I've never made before, gorgeous photographs to whisk me away and exotic cuisines to bring me closer to understanding the food and traditions of far-away lands. The books I crave now bring something unique and exciting to my table. 

Step Two - Once the book gets checked into the donate bin - it can never leave. I've been doing the purging in stages. I go through a book case - pull what I can part with and that very day those books (or kitchen items more on that later) leave my home. Once they are donated, I'm not looking back. A week later (before I pack the books because we are moving) I go through them again and somehow I find titles that I really don't need. They elluded me the first time - those tricky little suckers. Usually, I find a box or two more on the second run. 

Step Three - Do not surrender to giver's remorse. You were able to part with that book - you haven't cooked or thought about it in years - let someone else enjoy it. Look around you - see all those books on the shelves - the ones that bring you joy - embrace them - use Eat Your Books to cook new dishes from those titles and enjoy the space and freedom of being able to access the books that make you happy. 

Step Four - Imagine them being used by someone else. Another question, I am being asked is where to donate or sell the castoffs. Unless you have an autographed Julia Child cookbook or Leah Chase - you aren't going to get much for the books. I'd rather donate them to my library, area thrift stores or gift them to friends.  It's a tax deduction to donate, and I don't have to drag them into a Half Price Books and drag them back out. I pull up to the thrift store and young men (they are everywhere) gladly take my bins of books away. I envision them on the shelves of a new cook loving her thrift store finds. Another place I take some titles is the area Outreach or food bank - call first - they will put them out for folks who come to shop there. There are also local groups that sell items on Facebook - you can post books and other things there for sale or to give away (i.e., those magazines no one wants.)

This same process I've been doing with my kitchen items. My addiction to French cast iron enamel runs deep. A few months ago, I decided to share the love. Most of my red pieces went to a friend - she paid for shipping. A few pots went to other friends. It brings me great joy to make someone else happy and I can keep the pots I love - the White, Blue and Yellow and maybe other colors if they are a speciality pot - like the doufeu. I want to be able to use the books and kitchen gear I have and not have them use me.

I write the words "use me" because that is what some of the excess is doing. If I have to spend time looking for a book, looking for a pan, moving sheet pans out of the oven to bake - then those things are using me. If I don't have room on my kitchen counter to cook effectively, then those extra gadgets and utensils are eating away my time and creativity.

Freeing yourself from titles that are on a shelf or in a bin, because you one day may use it - will enable you to use the newest title from Ottolenghi or Diana Henry instead of having to dig around trying to remember where that book is hiding. When we move, I will have an office that will have wall-to-wall bookshelves, I will organize them by cuisine and finally make sure they are all entered into Eat Your Books. 

I will keep the promise to myself that for every new book I keep - an old title goes out. This is what is working for me and I hope some part of this inspires you to make your collection work for you. 

Of course, it goes without saying that the one true way to make your collection work for you is to utilize the features here at Eat Your Books. Tag the recipes on your virtual shelf that you wish to make, search your collection for a chicken pot pie recipe before printing one off the internet and keep track of which books you use and which books bring you joy. 

That being said - I still want a copy of Mouneh! 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on downsizing. 

Update: It took me twenty plus years to get to this point of being able to let go of things - and I only wish I had done it twenty years ago.