Most of the reader population suffers from some form of disorganized shelf disorder: whether it be overloaded bookshelves or just a slightly disorganized shelving scheme.
But the chaos of crazy bookshelves can be overwhelming and can make it difficult to find what you want to read. This is why cleaning and decluttering your shelves regularly is necessary for keeping you safe and sane.
Decluttering Your Bookshelves
As a reader, it’s hard to get rid of books because we always tell ourselves that we will get around to reading them- someday. But if those books have been sitting on your shelf for a long time, it might be time to let them go.
The easiest way to decide if a book should stay or go, is to read the synopsis, (usually found on the inside flap or back cover of the the book). Does the story still appeal to you? Is this a book you can see yourself reading in the near future?
If not, it’s probably time for it to go.
Couple of years ago I got nearly 40 books from the library book sale. And two years later, most of those books hadn’t even been touched. I had others that I collected, but didn’t really care to read. When I read over the synopses, they didn’t grab my attention anymore. I was holding onto books that I didn’t even really want.
Books With Sentimental Value:
There are just some books that are just too special to get rid of. Maybe they were given to you by your grandmother before she died. Maybe it’s the first book you ever bought yourself.
For those books, it’s okay to make a special allowance even if you won’t be reading them any time soon. ( No, you can not use that as an excuse to keep every book.)
Cleaning Your Shelves
Before you start piling books back on to your shelves, give them a little TLC. Dust them, wipe them down, adjust them if necessary. (They deserve it. They do a lot of hard work, you know).
Book Organization Basics
Organization is the backbone of any book collection, be it a public library or just a couple shelves in your living room.
For fiction books, I try to organize them by author’s last name. When I reorganized my shelves a couple of months ago I dedicated entire shelves to specific genres that I had a lot of books in. (For example, YA got it’s own shelf, and Historical Fiction has four shelves.)
When it comes to nonfiction, I tend to organize my books by subject instead of author.
There are also some people who organize by color, size, publication date, etc. Try out a few different methods and decide what works for you.
Making Space
As you begin to reshelf your books, make sure to leave a little bit of space so that you can add books without having to play Tetris with them.
You don’t need to leave massive gaps on your shelves, but you should leave enough room to add two or three more average-sized books.
What To Do With Unwanted Books?
Now that you’ve finished sorting and organizing, there is probably a rather large tower of unwanted books taking up floor space somewhere. But what to do with them?
Sell Them To Your Local Used Bookstore
Used bookstores rely on people selling books to them for their stock. However, selling them your books isn’t always worth it. Most of the time they pay very little for your books and then turn around and sell them for 10 times more.
I took between 20 and 30 books into a local used book outlet and walked out with a $1.50.
Donate Them To Your Library
Local libraries will often take donations of gently used books and add them to their collections. If they can’t find a place for them, they may end up in the library book sale.
Stock A Public Free Little Library
Free Little Libraries have become really popular in the past several years. Typically they are boxes, (usually shaped like houses), stuffed with books. The rules are that if you take a book, you leave one.
I started noticing the ones in my area were looking a little lax, so I took almost all of the books I decided to get rid of, and filled them up.
Gift Them To Friends or Family
If there are people in your life who love to read as much as you do, gift them a book or two that you don’t want.
Decorating Your Shelves
Decorating my bookshelves is one of my favorite parts reorganizing. Here are some picture of my shelves after I had finished.
When I was decorating mine, I tried to make it look tidy but fun at the same time. I added a collection of rocks I’ve been given over the year to a few of the shelves. I also used an old wide-mouth Mason jar as a bookmark holder.
If you’ve organized your bookshelves recently, good job and congratulations! If you’re thinking about it, go for it. You will feel a lot better when it’s finished.
Want to share your bookshelves? Email me at cassandra@cassandrastinger.com, tag Cassandra Stinger Writer on Facebook, or @cstingerwriter on Instagram.
