Pack rats

I've really enjoyed hearing from some of you about your own problems with a pack rat spouse hanging on to old textbooks. It's so comforting to know that I'm not alone!

Several of you have asked how I got the husband to agree to get rid of his old textbooks. Although it may vary from husband to husband, here's the process that worked for me. First, determine how long you can stand to look at the books, and then start at least a year before then. You have to wear them down and break their spirit, and that takes some time.

Second (this is the most important step), you need to overwhelm them with stuff. If there is so much stuff and chaos in their life, and they're forced to work in that environment on a daily basis, they'll soon realize that they need to give up or they will go insane. How you go about overwhelming them will be up to you, but I found that saying "YES!" every time someone calls to ask if you want more letterpress stuff is an excellent way to create a chaotic and claustrophobic environment in the shortest amount of time. See what I mean?





Last, but certainly not least, wait until the husband has to go out of town. Then arrange to do video skype, and during your conversation surprise him by presenting each book one at a time and giving him the option to use one of three "saves" to keep it. It helps if the video quality is poor and the books are very dusty. It's a lot easier for them to say no when they're not in the same room as the books. Of course, the downside to this is that they may use their "save" for some other items on the chopping block...