How to Declutter Your Book Collection

Books are a touchy subject. People get very offended when I suggest they might want to declutter their book collection. I want to clear the air now on how I feel about books and why I think you should declutter (some) of them from your life.

I absolutely love reading but I do not own any books. Here’s my reasoning, I have never, ever read a book more than once so keeping a book after I’ve read it just took up space that I didn’t have. I take full advantage of our local library- I love the feeling of going to the library and bringing home a whole stack of books to read and then taking them back when I’m done- no need to store them or take care of them. I love to travel but have absolutely no space in my luggage to bring a ton of heavy books. I do have the Kindle App which I use when traveling and I enjoy being able to read while on the go.

I definitely support my local bookstores (they are some of my most favorite places to go) and I do buy books there often for my kids. My boys are just in the early phases of learning how to read, and they LOVE going to the store to pick up new books. There is no way I would ever deny them that! Once they outgrow them, we will share them with friends or donate them to the local library for others to enjoy. I have purchased books for myself from time to time as well and when I’m done, I’ll share them with my friends. This is how I manage to keep up my love of reading while not owning any books.

What about cookbooks? Well, to tell the truth, I really have my solid 10-15 recipes that I know by heart, and I hardly venture from them. I do not enjoy having to follow a recipe to cook something. Occasionally, I’ll try out something new and when I do, I’ll just usually pull something up on Pinterest. I used to own cookbooks but never touched them, I’ve donated them and hopefully, someone else will get some use out of them.

Books are heavy- if you’ve ever moved you know how many boxes it takes to pack up an entire book collection. They are even more costly if you must ship them. I’ve moved an entire book collection across the country twice! And I refuse to do that ever again. Think about having to unpack them onto your shelves and then also keep them dusted. With a smaller, more curated collection of just your favorite books, you’d be able to pack them up and move them with you wherever you go.

If you are ready to slim down your collection, here are my steps for getting your books decluttered:

1. Pull out all your books from every category: Textbooks, Cookbooks, Literature, Reference & Children's. Clean off those shelves while they are empty. Have some boxes handy for any donations. Look into local resources that are accepting donated books. There are often book bins, I know we have some in our mall parking lots. The local library may be taking donations, but I would advise that you call before just dropping them off- COVID has changed a lot of the donation procedures. Many organizations will do a home pickup – you can schedule on a day that is convenient and just leave the donations outside. ⠀

2. Always start with your favorites, these are the books you will want to keep forever. The ones that if they got lost or damaged, you’d most likely buy again. Think about curating your own little library- make sure it represents you and your lifestyle.

3. Try to decide on a book the second you hold it. Try not to open it and start reading. Reading it will just distract you from the process. Go with your gut. Maybe it’s part of a series but you didn’t like this particular one, it’s ok to let it go. Maybe it’s about a hobby you wanted to take up at one time or a place you had planned on visiting. It’s ok to donate those books to others and if the interest comes around again, let it, and then see if you need a book to help you make it happen.

4. You should now have your favorites and donations separated. Use this time to organize your shelf with your favorite collection. See how it makes you feel, add some of your other favorite items to the shelf, family photos, plants, and souvenirs from an amazing trip. Then sit back and enjoy yourshelf! 😊

If you still need help figuring out how to organize your book collection, I was named a top organizing and decluttering expert by Redfin. Check out the article I was featured in: 37 Book Organization Ideas: The Ultimate Expert Guide |Redfin.

What about the books that are left? You may have some “maybes” or are undecided.

Marie Kondo says, "You may have wanted to read it when you bought it, but if you haven't read it by now, the book's purpose was to teach you that you didn't need it. There's no need to finish reading books that you only got halfway through. Their purpose was to be read halfway."- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up"
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I get asked a lot about books that are started but never finished and I always mention that maybe that was as far as you were supposed to get, maybe it made you realize that you don't like that particular author, maybe the writing was not your style, or maybe it just wasn't a very good book. Remove the guilt of not finishing these books and allow yourself to donate them. ⠀

If you still have the intention of reading one, then give yourself a timeline. Say, if I don’t read this in the next 6 months or if I don’t read it on my beach trip this summer, I’ll donate it and pass it along to someone else.

One thing, I’d love to host is a book swap. This is a great idea if you have a bunch of friends who also love to read but want to keep their book collection to a minimum. Pick a day for the book swap, everyone brings a bag of books, some snacks, and drinks and then you take turns filling up your bag with new finds. Do this again every few months and you’ll have such a great event to look forward to and a fun way to enhance your love of reading!