Becoming Minimalist

Own less. Live more. Finding minimalism in a world of consumerism.

12 Helpful, Practical Steps to Unclutter Your Book Collection

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Recently, my wife and I presented at a Simplicity/Decluttering Workshop. We were excited to have 100+ people from every stage of life show up for our 90-minute conversation. It was wonderful in every regard. Special thanks to Journey Church in Gretna, NE for being our hosts. If you are interested in doing the same, you can find more information here.

As part of the workshop, Kim and I wanted to offer practical help in common problem areas (clothes, sentimental items, kids’ stuff, and books). And as part of the preparation, I asked Twitter for some help in addressing the specific topic of decluttering book collections.

I asked a simple question, “Have you significantly reduced/minimized your book collection? If so, what was the most important step or decision you made in the process?”

Responses began flooding in almost immediately (they are, after all, a pretty sharp crew). The answers I received were experienced, helpful, and taken as a whole, quite comprehensive. In fact, the responses were so good, I decided to organize them and pass them on to a larger audience.

So then, if your book collection has become too cluttered, you’ll find help here. If you ever feel burdened by your books, you’ll find inspiration. Or if you are just looking to create some extra space in your home or office, you’ll find plenty of practical steps here to get you started uncluttering your book collection and finding more space in your home and life.

12 Helpful, Practical Steps to Unclutter Your Book Collection

1. Decide to do it.

After all, just like everything else, it always starts with the decision to get started.

2. Realize books do not define you.

Books add value. They contribute to who you are. But they do not define who you are.

3. Remove scarcity thinking.

4. Determine to make room for the new.

An optimistic point of view is advantageous in every endeavor.

5. Go digital.

The free Amazon Kindle App is available for almost every electronic device. There is no need to own an actual Kindle to use it.

6. Give yourself permission to keep your favorites.

Less is different than none. Identify your favorite books and keep them close. Find freedom in knowing all decisions are coming from you and nobody is forcing them on you.

7. Set up reasonable boundaries for your collection.

Boundaries help us quickly delineate the “most important” from the “somewhat important.” They are helpful in countless other pursuits—use them to your advantage. Choose one and give it a try. You can always adjust later.

8. Remove unused or outdated reference books.

While the Internet may never entirely replace reference books for your line of work or personal preference, it can almost certainly prove to be an efficient replacement for many of your reference books (starting with a dictionary and thesaurus). 

9. Remind yourself books are not the memory.

10. Give away books you do not intend to read again.

This step was, by far, the most common response to the question.

11. Think of forwarding good books as an act of love.

I really do love this mindset and hope people find it helpful.

12. If all else fails, choose to lend them out.

A proper bookkeeping system will be helpful if you are ever in the need to find the book again.

For further reading, I recommend Breaking The Sentimental Attachment To Books.

And in closing, are there any important steps or decisions you would like to add that others might find helpful?

Joshua Becker

About Joshua Becker

Writer. Inspiring others to live more by owning less.
WSJ Bestselling author of The More of Less.

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Comments

  2. If you have books that you bought but have had for 1 year+ and haven’t read, you’re not going to read them. If you haven’t had time to read it (aka cared enough about it/ were interested in it enough to prioritize it) in a year, in all likelihood you won’t. If you’re worried about being able to access it later, call the library and see if they have it.

    • Maybe – when I culled through all my books and found some I hadn’t read, it was just because I’d forgotten I had them. Put them in a pile to read and they have now almost all been read (and then given away). So this one probably depends on your personality.

      • That’s a good point, if you need to declutter then that means you have too much, so especially if you’re an out of sight out of mind person you could forget stuff.

        • Thanks for the interaction you two. It’s a helpful reminder that what works for one person might not work for another. But it’s also a helpful reminder to be getting our thoughts out into the world where others can benefit from them.

    • Instead of calling the library to see if they have it, look online in the library catalog. It’s much easier.

  3. Oops! I read the text only version and didn’t see at first that someone already suggested the 1+ year rule. So I’ll give another one instead – imagine you are in Fahrenheit 451 and are responsible for memorizing one book in order to preserve it (or Book of Eli if you haven’t read that one). Which book is so important to you that you think it would deserve to be preserved if you could only choose one? Then do this with the remaining books until you get to the ones you don’t find as valuable.

    • Dear Zen. Too utilitarian for me. Reading for me is a joy, a love, an escape to another world, another experience. I love Joshua’s blog and the bit of Joshua he shares here — but I feel like such an old person here! I can assure you, I have kept books much longer than a year and re-read them! Hemingway, the Koran, the Peculiar Institution come promptly to mind. I am able to recognize books I won’t read again however, and those I send to the library, a used book store, or a charity. We all have our vices, I’m afraid books may be one of mine! Love to you Zen! Wonderful reading your ideas, and I confess, I have not read Fahrenheit 451! :) My husband is the scifi guy in the house! XOXO Mary

  4. May I add one?? I started decluttering my book collection when I found out about this group: http://www.littlefreelibrary.org. I sent my husband to the hardware store and he built me a library! There are now 6 in my city and I’m excited to see them pop up all over. Maybe you all could consider one!

  5. The very best trick my mom taught me about de-cluttering was to put give-aways in a box and put the box away. In a few days or a week, I come across the box and look through the contents. If I missed the items, or if I see them in the give-away box and realize I just can’t part with them, then they go back on the shelf. But most of the time, most of the items truly are ready to go – or they end up going in my next clean-out wave. It’s a really good way to gently let go of things and be really sure you’re done with them.

    • We did this on several occasions while simplifying our home (especially kitchen stuff), it worked great.

  6. Thanks for another great post. I have reduced my books significantly but still a few I hold but not sure I have a good reason. Classics of Jane Austen, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Harry Potter Series- these I think I will read again… but I need to re-think things :)

  7. Mr. Becker, I just recently found your blog, and purchased your book “Simplify.” Prior to that, though, my family learned we were losing our home — a home housing 30 years of marriage and child-rearing accumulation. I made the decision to “downsize,” “purge,” and “SIMPLIFY” at that moment. I must admit, I immediately wrestled with the horror of what to do with my extensive book collection, telling myself it would be okay to reduce everything EXCEPT the books. This blog entry is quite timely, and has encouraged me to include the books in our endeavor to unencumber our lives. I have always said, “the more you have — the more you have to maintain!” But have never done a thing about it; rather, becoming quite the complainer about all that I “have to maintain.” Now is the time. This will be a “restart” for us, but I already feel liberated in anticipation of the task before me. Thank you for sharing your own experience and guiding others to Minimalism, whatever that looks like for them. I’m sure this will be an evolving journey for my family.

    • Thanks for sharing your story with us Donna. The first step is always a decision to begin or “Be Convinced” as I write in the book. Sorry to hear about your home, I’m sure it is difficult. But those who approach it from the right perspective, find great freedom in owning less. I hear from many people who regretted being forced into a simpler lifestyle, but discovered a new joy after looking at the situation differently. And please, call me Joshua.

    • Oh Donna, I’m so excited to hear about your endeavor, would love to hear more! My husband and I have maintained a “live simply so others may simply live” lifestyle through our 34 years and still find ourselves with plenty to downsize and purge — I’ve read we are at the age when the brain naturally unfeathers the nest in preparation for the next stages of life. If you see this…. there don’t seem to be that many of us “crones” commenting! I’ll be watching for you!

  8. I had always enjoyed looking over my collection as a way to remind myself of how much I had read, and the enjoyment I received from them. What really helped me part with the physical books was to establish an account at “GoodReads.com” where I listed out all my books, past/currently reading/future reads. I now have the same satisfaction looking at my on-line book list (which includes cover art, reviews, 1-5 stars, date read, etc.), and it also is a good place to keep my list of books to read in the future.

  10. Once you have decided which books to let go of, donate them to a charity shop. I work at Save the Children, and our bookshelves are like a revolving door, as people tend to return them for re sale once read. Everyone wins.

  11. When I had my allergy testing done my allergist asked me how many books I had. Whoa! Fortunately my church was getting ready to host a book sale so I had a good outlet for those many bookcases of books. I still can’t believe how much my allergies improved when all those books went away.

    • Great point… or at least something for allergy-sufferers to consider. Sounds like you’ve got a pretty sharp doctor there.

  12. Great post! I always feel better about parting with books if I know that I’m helping someone else discover a great book in the process. If you liked them, someone else will, too!
    Check out http://www.bookcrossing.com to register your book and send it off into the world. You can keep track of it using the assigned ID number to find out where it went, who read it, and what it is up to now.
    http://www.littlefreelibrary.org is a great one, too. You can also donate them to your local library, school, or book club.
    The best part about reading is sharing!

  13. I read this blog every time it comes in my email in box. I like this post. A minimal library is best. I lost most of my books to a house fire and used that opportunity to start a new tradition. Now I give away every book I read and keep them listed in a life book list. Every book I’ve ever read (since the fire) is in there. Every time I read a book and add it to the list I get to review the list and take a walk down memory lane. It’s wonderful. I wrote a few blog posts about it in more http://www.sailingsimplicity.com/books-part-one-of-a-three-part-series/

    • Thanks Teresa. If you haven’t checked out goodreads.com yet, you probably should. As Ken commented earlier, it allows you to do the same things you are doing, but also allows other people (if you set it up that way) to find good books based on your recommendations.

  14. For me, the pivotal moment was realizing that getting rid of books doesn’t get rid of the knowledge I gained from them. I accumulated a lot of big, heavy textbooks when I was working on my Master’s, and I felt like I had to keep them to prove what I’d accomplished. Once I realized that I had the Master’s degree regardless and no one was going to audit my bookshelves, it made it a lot easier to get rid of those books. Others followed: the classics, the popular novels of the moment, the books I thought would impress others. I still buy more Kindle books than I should, but I don’t feel so bad about that because I read way more on my Kindle than I ever did in paper books, and 1,000 e-books don’t take up any more space than one.

  15. When I got the Kindle, it was the best. It helped me to minimize my book collection yet still own all of them.

    After that, it got a bit pricey so latest step? Library. Love it. Borrow it for FREE, read it, then return it. If I really love a book enough to add it to the collection, then I will but that’s it. I’ve limited to max 20 books in my collection.

    • Hooray for libraries! I’ve heard your sentiments echoed numerous times throughout the interaction with this post.

  16. My husband and I also read aloud to one another, especially when travelling. We buy most of our books used and really enjoy finding old anthologies. This introduces us to authors we may not know, and we can then check out library books to sample even more authors.

  17. One thing I think may help people get over the mental hurdle of “but what if I ever need that book again!” is to look at the used book markets online. If it isn’t out of print or a first edition, chances are you can buy a used replacement for pennies anytime in the future. Used books are a saturated market where nearly anything can be found for almost no money. So discard at will, and if the day ever comes where you change your mind, you’ll be okay!

  18. I agree with the post in terms of a personal library. What is particularly challenging for me is I need to maintain a professional library. I have purged and regretted and even had to rebuy. Most of the books I use, or reference works on my shelf, are not available outside a seminary, nor on the kindle. I would be interested to hear Mr. Becker’s thoughts on decluttering professional resources, book or otherwise, especially in light of his pastoral vocation.

    • I am with you on this as well. Josh, as a pastor, how do you deal with the professional books you have? Between my husband and me, we have quite the library of program books, children’s story (faith) books, counseling books, and biblical reference books, as well as polity and history books for our denomination. We have gotten rid of the duplicates, but our pastoral situation necessitates our books in our home rather than a church office. Thoughts to share?

    • I’m in the same boat. I have a small house on an acearage. (they are scarce and most are more expensive then mine) My books are my “cluther”. I have rare theology books that are not available to me to borry or ready if I did not own them. I have a church vocation and need to study. I also have my professional library in case I have to go back to work. I don’t have alot of furnature, what do I do? Oh yes and real small closets.

      • I don’t think of these books as clutter — do you? Nor do I think of items associated with my hobbies as clutter — is your piano clutter? Your knitting needles? I don’t knit so I got rid of my knitting needles that were given to me by well meaning relatives, but you get the idea. I AM a scrapbooker and the tendency is to hoard things like paper. But I regularly purge. I have law books and I need these for work. This is not clutter.

  20. You asked your Twitter followers.
    You asked on Twitter.
    You did not ask Twitter, because Twitter (the noun) is a company.

  21. I am working toward this – but as a homeschool mom of 4 I feel like I need to hold onto a lot of our books for the next 2 little ones coming up! Many of my favorite ‘living books’ for science & history ARE available at the library, so I’m working on my emotional attachment to books & finding other ways to be frugal & not re-buy things. Thanks for the list!

    • We homeschool as well and I understand the feelings you have about keeping books for future grades. I don’t feel guilty about holding on to resources I know we will use but at the end of each school year I clean my shelves. I have found sites like homeschoolclassifieds.com and theswap.com to be good outlets for the books I am finished with. I have also donated chapter books we’ve outgrown to an inner city school for their classroom libraries and the school’s library. They really appreciate the extra resources. Finally, we are blessed to have a homeschool resource building in our city with its own lending library. I’ve donated some of our ‘living’ books there so I know I can borrow them when I need them and other families can benefit from them as well!

  22. I have reduced the number of books we have by a huge amount but kept ones that I think I, or my family, will read again. However, I think children’s books are different. I have given away the books that they don’t like or have completely outgrown but although we have a lot, my kids still enjoy them all and we read together every day. I think having books in a home encourages children to read in a way that kindles etc just can’t. It encourages imagination and seeing the world in different ways. And for those interested in minimalism and anti-consumerism, you should read ‘Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish’. :)

    • Also, meant to add that we don’t buy new books regularly, usually only for birthdays and Christmas and we get our ideas for these from the library which we visit every every couple of weeks.

  23. Two things that have helped me is 1) having a defined area where books “go” in my home. I have two small bookcases that total 5 shelves. My collection must fit on there. (truthfully, I’m working to get to that point, but I’m nearly there). After I succeed in containing it, if I keep a new one then something will have to go. and 2) a friend of mine once moved overseas and then moved back again. She indicated that books are very, very expensive to ship because they’re so heavy. So now when I cull something, I look at it and ask “Would I pay to ship this to __insert far away destination here____?” If the answer is no then it is much easier to get rid of.

  24. I’m so glad you wrote this. I’m going to forward to some friends who I know have a hard time letting go of books. I was that person once. As a sustainability specialist, I find that keeping a book that I won’t read or re-read is a waste of resources and someone else can use it, enjoy it or learn from it. I pared down to about 5 books now. I get most of my books online or in the library. I actually read way more without the clutter of so many books around! Well done!

  25. That is my issue also with decluttering books, that alot of them are health books related to my work that i can not replace or find easily if i got rid of them.So i am trying to figure out and take note of how often i actually do refer to each book and if it is possible for me to just photocopy some of the key info, file it and let the book go. I have managed to purge quite alot of books over the past 2 yrs but still feel i have more than i would like so with the remaining non reference books i am reading one by one and if i find myself not even interested in re-reading then it’s time to go.

  27. I am amazed by the passion for getting rid of books! Especially from writers! They don’t have to take up a ton of space or cost much, and they can bring hours of delight as well as enlightenment, some of them can also be used as wall art, and in case of disaster they can be burnt to provide heat, what is not to love? I can think of few things I would LESS want to eliminate from my life or home, regardless of my minimalist leanings. If minimalism is not about deprivation, then purging books makes no sense in my life. (Except, of course, those I do not want to reread or refer to during projects, but it doesn’t take much genius to know those should go.)

    • Kat
      I agree. I have so many books and think that they will be the last thing I would ever part with. I actually read many of them each year. There are so many other things that I can part with. I also don’t like the idea of relying solely on electronic storage of books. Maybe I read 1984 one too many times.

  28. I really dislike having books, but I do keep some for reference. One thing that keeps my collection small is getting most books at the library in the first place. When you have to return them, you do!

    If I really want to read a book and it is not at the library (many books that I want to read professionally fall into this category) I will buy a used copy on amazon or abebooks. If it’s not a book I will reference for work I get rid of it.

    One thing to keep in mind: Ask your library if they will use the book before donating! My mom works at a library where they will often THROW AWAY books if they only have one copy and don’t have it in their system, because it’s too much work to put a new book into their system. This is really sad to me because of the amount of books I can’t find in my library systems. I would think if they didn’t have it yet that would be all the more reason to use them, but that’s not how it works.

  29. I think one of the best ways to deal with book clutter is starting a book-sharing club or a book-sharing library where you live. In my building, we started a book-sharing library with about 100 books. Pretty simple…bring a book, swap it for one in the library. Come back and do it again. That way you always have new reading but fewer books.

    I LOVE my Kindle. Not only am I able to keep thousands of books on one small device, one of my favorite features is the highlights. In my physical-copy books, I sometimes make highlights and dog-ears but that isn’t a very efficient way of tracking quotes or passages that I like. Kindle makes it really easy to highlight and then search for particular words on my Kindle profile. It’s beautiful. Also, you can easily rent books from the library which I think is fabulous. No late fees, no walking to the library. It’s instantaneous. I never buy physical books anymore.

  30. I love this post, Joshua! That’s one of the greatest hurdle of ours, how to get rid (or at least minimize) our book collection! Lately, I’ve been keeping our book collection at bay by having this rule: non-fiction books will only be bought from Kindle and fiction books will still be bought paperback. Non-fiction/reference books are easier to refer to in Kindle because of the search function and it’s easier to take down notes there.

    I still opted to buy paperback novels because nothing beats the sensation of flipping the pages of a book in anticipation of what happens next in the plot! I just make it a point to lend or give it to a friend after I’m finished with it :)

    But I really have to deal with our collection someday and thanks for the tips!

  31. I give all our books (and dvd’s) in great shape that we no longer read (or watch) to our local library. If one of us does get the desire to read a book again, we just check it out from the library.

  32. I’m transitioning to a minimalist lifestyle, and I saw the title of this article and hurt a little inside. To me, my life IS defined by my books. I don’t buy all the books I read (thank you local library), only the ones I rate 8 or above on a scale of 1-10, but even that’s well over 200. Reflecting on this, there are only two things that I collect and will refuse to be rid of, and that is sheet music and books. I could wax poetic about it, but I keep books not only for myself, but for my friends and family, and for my children especially. Fortunately, I recognize my passion for books and plan accordingly; I have built-in bookshelves all over my house, so books don’t become clutter. I was wondering if I’d ever transition to full minimalist, and this post convinced me that while I may incorporate a lot of minimalism, I’m not going to be able to be completely minimalist, if book purging is required.

  33. I get books from the library before buying them. It saves money and space. If I buy a book, I tend to either donate it or give it to a friend when I am done with it.

  34. We had a LOT of used Bibles and Christian literature and couldnt bring ourselves to throw (especially Bibles) away. I found an organization called Love Packages in southern Illinois) that ships the books overseas where they are scarce and so greatly needed.

  35. This is a great list. I’m a compulsive reader and read hundreds of books each year. I actually get anxious if I finish a book and don’t have another book ready. When that happened, I would grab a book that I had already read, just to have something to read until I got a new book.

    I decluttered my book collection with three main steps:

    -Started using my library. This was intended to reduce clutter and cut my book spending.

    -Gave away all but my absolute favorite books.

    -Got a kindle. The kindle eliminated my “I don’t have a book to read” anxiety, because I can keep a bunch of books queued up and ready to read. It also helped me get rid of even more physical books, because I own them digitally. Bonus: my library has a kindle book collection.

    I still have a bookshelf full of books. I intend to slowly eliminate most of them, saving my favorite gardening reference books, my favorite fiction novels, and my favorite cartoon collections (like Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes). The rest, including my embarrassingly large collection of decluttering books, can go.

  36. Little Free Libraries are a great option too (lots of info online about them). We made a community event and had ten families say they wanted these Little Free Libraries in their yard, all in our neighborhood. So we have our own library system of all our favorite books-kids and adults alike. Freely take and freely give any books

  37. All good ideas that I will forward to my other half as we look to downsize a bit more. Number 11 really resonated with me. When we had to sell our home a few years ago and move to a townhome, there were a lot of choices to be made. For me, it was the piano. This mindset helped me.

  38. being minimalist is not the same as being godfearing. Some of us are happy to have lots of books. I love my shelves full of books.Even the ones I’ve read and might read again. Ones which are out of date, but interesting. Ones I plan to recommend to people and maybe even lend them a copy. Cookery books with recipes I’ve never used. And by lining the outside walls of the house with bookshelves, I have added insulation. To live my life devoid of anything which is immediately useful or functional, is a life devoid of life itself! You can keep your minimalistic home, painted in pastel shades with only basic items. I like my home to be full of mementoes, things which are important to me, which give me pleasure to own and look at. I love my bright colours and patterned wallpapers. My home tells people about ME. And, minimalistic homes, devoid of all but the basics, show a human devoid of emotions.Minimalism was a style invented by someone with a personality disorder, for, people with a personality disorded.

  39. I had a big book collection, spent two years rearranging it, gave out most to friends, sold some to book shops, sometimes just walked around the street and gave the books to strangers (some people may refuse to take my books, but most were happy about the new gifts).

    Now, I had less than 5 books of mine on my shelf, I simply borrowed other books from libraries or bought them on Kindle.

  40. I can’t believe I’ve done it. I went through ALL of our reading material, including our homeschool stuff, and picked out half of it to sell. We are keeping less than 300 items, but getting rid of 350! With four kids homeschool age from 4 to 17 years old, it is a little worrisome to me. We will have to repurchase some, or borrow them, but keeping them for years and years waiting to reuse them makes no sense when we have yet another move across country to make in the coming year. I felt like I was only keeping the books I really liked or would need all these years homeschooling, and to find out I still had 650 was shocking. When I say I kept 300, that still sounds way to high. We’ll see.

  41. The books I keep in p-form must be ornamental as well as useful or entertaining and be those I read once a year. I decided to keep five of my overflowing stacks. The Holy Bible NIV in leather binding, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, Sarah Orne Jewett: an anthology, and Gift from the Sea.

    If I want more there’s always the library. And I have over 300 on my Kindle PC.

1 MILLION READERS CAN’T BE WRONG.

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