Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Robyn Devine.
It is unmistakably comforting to curl up in a thick chair with a tattered copy of a book you love, listening to the rain while you let yourself get carried away by the words on the page. I know – I used to hoard books. Don’t let the title “minimalist” scare you off – I have a love of books that dates back to my years toddling around with Dr. Seuss, a love that was handed down from my mother.
Until just a few years ago, books were stacked everywhere in my home. My two huge book cases were double-stacked with volumes ranging from children’s fiction to college text books, and piles had formed next to couches and the bed, not to mention on any available surface. I could not imagine my life without these friends surrounding me – the very thought of letting go of just one was enough to send me hurling at my shelves, attempting to wrap my arms around every book I owned in protection.
Today, I am the proud owner of approximately 20 books – six of which are craft books. To move from one extreme to the other took some serious work, and was not an overnight process. It started with the realization that I was not so much attached to the stories and words themselves, but the physical books sitting on the shelves. Once I had that realization, I began to let go of some of my books, and moved slowly towards a more minimalist reading collection.
The best way for any book-collector to tackle their bookshelves is by looking at one book at a time. When we look at the whole expanse of our book collection, it can be hard to imagine ever letting a single book go, but in reality there are volumes hiding on those shelves that we truly don’t need or want. Taking time to pull a book down off the shelf and truly look at it as an individual item will help you decide for that book alone if staying on your shelves is the best option.
Here are a few suggestions to help even the biggest bibliophile relieve your sagging shelves of stress:
1. Write It Down.
Sometimes, it’s the way a book made us feel, our connection to the story or a character that keeps us from letting go of the book itself. Take some time to write down those feelings, those connections. Maybe you’ll keep these notes on your computer or in a notebook, or maybe you’ll begin a blog for them. Once you get those emotions and thoughts out, it can be easier to pass the book on to someone else who you think would love the story as much as you did.
Tiny Action: Grab a notebook and start writing down your thoughts about each book as you take it off your shelves. If you can’t think of anything to say, you probably won’t miss the book if it weren’t there anymore.
2. Divide. Get ruthless with your “yet to read” pile.
My rule of thumb is simple: If it hasn’t been read in six months, it probably won’t ever be read. I went so far as to test this theory myself as I found books on my shelves I hadn’t yet read, but couldn’t yet bear to let go. I dedicated a shelf to “need to read” books, and noted the date. Any books that started out on that shelf on that date but were still there six months later I purged – I had discovered I truly had no desire to read them!
Tiny Action: Let go of any book you haven’t read yet that has been on your shelves for more than six months. Afraid you’ll want to read it someday? Make a note of it in your notebook – title, author, ISBN number even – so you can find it at the library if you truly want to read it later.
3. One of the best ways to make use of your book collection is to share it with others!
As you look at books, anytime you find yourself thinking “So and so would LOVE this book!” write that name down on a sticky note, stick it on the front cover, and set the book aside. After you’ve got 20 or so books in a pile, begin handing them out – drive to friends’ houses and drop them off, or put them in the mail (book rate shipping is SUPER cheap).
Tiny Action: Pick five books off your shelves that you’d love to share with someone else, and then send them off to their new homes. Today.
4. Set aside one shelf of your book case as your “desert island” shelf.
Most book lovers have books they know they will never let go of, no matter what. I call these “desert island” books – they are the books I’d want with me if I were stranded on a desert island, that I could read over and over again for the rest of my life. As you come across these books in your collection, add them to your shelf. Not only is it comforting to see those books being saved as you pare down others, you now have a physical boundary – you can have no more “desert island” books than will fit in this one space, so you are forced to think analytically about your collection.
Tiny Action: Clear off one shelf to keep as your “desert island” shelf. It can only hold one row of books – no double stacks or piles!
5. Organize your non-fiction books by topic.
I found when I began to organize my non-fiction books by topic, I had overlaps in some subjects. For me, the largest overlaps came in religious studies (my major in college). As I saw where I’d doubled up on topic, it was easier to let go of a few books.
Tiny Action: Organize your books by topic and author. Begin to pare down where you see overlaps.
6. Look for multiple copies, and get rid of them.
You may laugh, thinking you would NEVER buy a multiple of a book, but trust me when I say I’ve found multiple copies of books on the shelves of almost every sentimental bibliophile I’ve met. Once you have more than a shelf or two of books (not a book CASE or two, a SHELF or two!), the chances of your remembering what books you own dwindles. Even if you love the book, there is never a need to own more than one copy of it!
Tiny Action: Every time you notice a multiple of a book, immediately give one copy away.
While going through this process, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Take breaks. When I first began paring down my books, I would get dizzy after 15 minutes!
- Take five minutes to step away anytime you begin to feel overwhelmed – this is a new experience for your body, and it takes some getting used to!
- Stay hydrated. I found I would get drained and tired as I went through my books – keeping a glass of water next to me helped keep me alert and focused.
- Set a timer. Sort through your books for no more than 30 minutes the first go-round or you will find yourself getting frustrated and overwhelmed.
- Honor your emotions. Your sentimental attachment to your books is not something to feel ashamed of or sad about. Acknowledging your emotions as you sort through your books can be the first step in helping you move past that attachment and towards a more minimalist reading habit.
- And above all, remember this: you did not acquire those books overnight, so you will not release your attachment to them quickly either. By spending a few minutes a week and by letting go of a few books at a time, you will find your feelings shifting towards the stories and the moment rather than the books themselves.
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Wondering how to get rid of books? Consider donating them. Here’s a list of 20 places you can donate your books.
For more help with decluttering, see our list of 10 creative decluttering tips.
Willow says
Good post on a good topic and it’s one that is timely for many people right now. I’m a knitter and have an entire bookshelf of knitting mags that I really and truly refer to on a regular basis. What to do??
Alison says
I had the same problem with my home decorating magazines. Every day I scanned each mag to a PDF file. It took a while, but if you watch Tv, listen to the radio or have long phone conversations, then the time flies!
Susan C says
I have also started a pay it forward stack at both locations of employment. The “beauty” shop moves a lot of my old books. *:)
Nicole says
Just like Karen, me and my husband have been paring down our whole house and garage over the last three weeks. We have “tidied” and “rearranged” before – but this time is different as I have been devouring minimalist blogs and had a huge “AHA” moment about a month ago.
BOOKS – we had hundreds. Books have come to us in so many ways – we paid an ex-librarian $110 for 320 children’s books 2 years ago. Add to that the 100s of books me and my husband had – books were everywhere.
After paring down everywhere else in the house I decided to attack the books. Thankfully my mindset had evolved, I had enjoyed getting rid of bags and bags of stuff around the house (at least 30 bags) so that I was really looking forward to doing the same with the books. As of tonight we have 15% of the kids books left and possibly 30% of our grown-up books. We have sold some, but mostly donated to the local library and second hand shop. We have three levels of open shelves above a row of cupboards – the shelves were custom built to house books. We have that almost full and it looks good that way. Books are however, nowhere else to be found in our house and it feels right.
It was hard initially, I can’t deny it, but after a while it felt like a form of freedom. I am totally addicted now and NEED to declutter somewhere in my house every day.
I feel like this article was meant for me. Thanks for the validation :)
joshua becker says
dear rob,
we gladly accept any comments that contribute to the conversation.
but reject any that distract from it.
joshua
Deb J says
Oh how I understand this post. I am an avid reader. I also read very fast. I never have a stack of books waiting to be read unless I go to the library and get 25-30 at a time. I used to have 1000s of books. And I reread them. I once sold enough collector’s editions to pay for a year at college. I finally realized that other than a few reference type books, one author’s set of books that I can’t do away with, and a few craft books I use over and over that I could always get the books from the library if I wanted to read them again. I began to divest myself of the rest. I too have an IKEA expedit bookcase (the biggest they have) and it is becoming more and more vacant. It’s lovely. I have also stopped buying books. If I can’t find it at the library I ask them to order it. I also download a lot of free kindle books to my laptop. Ah freedom.
robyn says
i have NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT – asking the library to order a book if i want it and they don’t have it! sheesh! such a great idea, i hope others pick up on it as well!
Aegron says
The only problem with this solution is that I don’t live in an English speaking country and I read primarily English stories. So the library in my town has hardly any English books worth reading.
karen says
It’s a good idea – but remember, libraries have a limit on space too! They regularly purge ‘dusty’ books that haven’t been read. And if you want something that’s old, you’ll have a hard time finding it! One of my all time favorite books ‘Robots Have No Tails’, is out of print. I bought it as a paperback years ago, and I’ve never found a library that has it. My tattered copy is held together with rubber bands, and is one of my ‘desert islan’ books. But sometimes you can’t tell ahead of time what will be available in the library and what won’t, so choose wisely!
Steve says
More and more books are being scanned, so will be available online.
Just do a Google search.
Kate says
Many libraries are part of library networks, which they can contact to find a book you want. They’ll borrow the book for you and return it to its library of origin when you’re done. If you live in a city, you can often search the public library’s internet card catalog and if a book you want is all the way across town, they can have it delivered to your neighborhood library within a week or so. These are some of my favorite tricks for finding the books I want to read without buying them. :)
Karen says
This post could not have come at a better time! My husband and I have been decluttering and working towards our vision of minimalism for a little over a month now.
We came to a hard realization that some books needed to go. We have two IKEA expedit bookcases in our hallway and we have reduced our books by 2/3 (we are keeping 1/3). This will allow us to move one of the bookcases in to the kids room and we will be able to sell another bookcase. We boxed up the rest of the books to put in our condo storage (we do not pay extra for this) and put the books on a spreadsheet to note which box they are in. We started posting books and DVD’s last night on Amazon and all the money we make we will put towards our credit card debt.
Its a good feeling and anything we can’t sell we will take to Half Price books.
Ari Herzog says
That is a powerful statement — that we hold onto books for their titles or their representations and not for the words within.
If books are hard to find or unpublished, keep them. If they’re available in libraries and bookstores, maybe get rid of them and clear that clutter? Such as the dictionary. ;)
Katie says
Our house is packed with books. My husband did an undergrad and masters in English Literature and kept all his books from those degrees. I don’t think he’ll ever read them again, but he can’t bear to part with them…probably because of the hard slogging they represent.
My books, on the other hand, are mostly “to read”. I got rid of most of the books I’ve actually read, and the unread books that I knew I’d never get to. But as a university student, I kept buying books that looked great and didn’t have time to read them because I was swamped with academic reading. I’m like my mom…I just can’t go to a bookstore and leave without a book or two! So my challenge is to slowly read through my collection and then let things go…and only get new books from the library!
robyn says
that’s how i ended up with so many “to read” books as well – while in university i would buy books that i knew i wanted to read but didn’t have the time to. by the time i had the time to read them, i didn’t want to read most of them!
robyn says
i love reading books with the Kindle app for my Droid as well! while it doesn’t help the ‘spending too much money on books’ aspect of reading, it definitely has helped clear the book clutter i’ve experienced.
when i got the Kindle app, i set a rule that i would only buy a book for Kindle after i had finished the one i was currently on. it keeps me from spending tons of money, and i find that like you i am reading more books, and faster!
Michael says
I have been dealing with this issue of hoarding books for years. The kicker is I’m not even an avid reader. Recently I bit the bullet and started donating to the local library and resale shops. In this time of ever increasing technology I have descovered the wonderful world of kindle/iBooks apps. At first I thought I wouldn’t get use to reading a book on my phone (Droid) or iPad. However, now I love it. I actually think I read faster. I can now carry a whole library if I want. Some if not most books are cheeper this way. I know I’m starting to sound like a commercial. I really do enjoy this new way of reading. My book case now has plenty of room for all my wife’s books. It’s a work in progress though.
Aegron says
I don’t agree with the six-month rule in point 2. I’ve got a Reading Pile of around 150 items at the moment and I know I will read them all, but this will be impossible in the next 6 month. As long as I can see my Reading Pile dwindling, that’s ok with me.
On the other hand, I will need to downsize my stashes of read books (or get a bigger house ;) )
robyn says
if you’re reading through your “to read” pile, then i say keep those books! for me, i truly wasn’t reading the books that were sitting in my to-read pile if they’d been there more than a few months – my attention would be drawn elsewhere.
it’s good to know what your boundaries are – otherwise you’ll be frustrated with the process and give up!
Steve says
If you have a reading pile of 150 items you then may be deluding yourself that you will get to read them all, because the chances are that you will keep adding to it.
Use the 20/80 rule and start with the 20%, and get rid of one item off your 80% pile a day.