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 books.
I asked a simple question, “Have you significantly decluttered 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 help you unclutter your book collection and finding more space in your home and life.
12 Helpful, Practical Steps to Decluttering Books
1. Decide to do it.
After all, just like everything else, it always starts with the decision to get started.
@joshua_becker Most important: deciding to do it. Here's my story: http://t.co/0KB1CmV72u
— heather andrews (@wildsheepchase) November 11, 2013
2. Realize books do not define you.
Books add value. They contribute to who you are. But they do not define who you are.
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@joshua_becker also accepting that the books on my shelf (or lack of) don’t define me as a person.
— Hannah (@becomewhour) November 10, 2013
class=”twitter-tweet”>@joshua_becker Realizing my book collection did not define me as a person. Also admitting I was prob. not going to read most of them again.
— MicheleStitches (@MicheleStitches) November 10, 2013
3. Remove scarcity thinking.
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@joshua_becker letting go of the “what if I need this in the future?” scarcity mindset– i.e. self-trust! Over 200 books sold/gone so far.
— Hannah (@becomewhour) November 10, 2013
4. Determine to make room for the new.
An optimistic point of view is advantageous in every endeavor.
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@joshua_becker Removing books I’ve already read, makes room for books I have yet to read!
— Brian Knoblauch (@GLMotorSports) November 11, 2013
class=”twitter-tweet”>@joshua_becker My goal is to keep reading and learning, so I would usually choose new books anyway. — Jessica S. (@jessicaschreyer) November 11, 2013
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.
Switching to kindle RT @joshua_becker: Have you significantly reduced/… your book collection? If so, what was the most important step..
— Foreign Geek (@ForeignGeek) November 12, 2013
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@joshua_becker Anything available on Kindle went. I only kept OOP or coffee table books.— Tina Lender (@TinaLender) November 10, 2013
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.
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@joshua_becker went from ~400 to 80 or so. Picked absolute favs to keep 1st. Let go of anything I owned for at least a year but never read.
— Adam Bouse (@adambouse) November 11, 2013
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.
class=”twitter-tweet”> @joshua_becker I read a lot – iPad and hard copy – but keep very few. I have one bookcase and give away the rest. pic.twitter.com/8qs0ylhSPY — Sarah Labelle (@labelle_sarah) November 10, 2013
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).
class=”twitter-tweet”> @joshua_becker (1) Will I read this again? (2) If it’s a reference book, do I actually use it or just go online? — Christy King (@SimpleWhiteRab) November 10, 2013
class=”twitter-tweet” data-conversation=”none” lang=”en”>@joshua_becker I ask how often I reference each book, how much info it contains, and if the book/info is available at the library/online. — Roman (@RomanAngeloS) November 12, 2013
class=”twitter-tweet”> @joshua_becker just 2 shelves left. My deciding factor: had I re-read/referred back in the last year or thought I would in the year to come — Thaddaeus Moody (@Thaddaeus_Moody) November 11, 2013
9. Remind yourself books are not the memory.
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@joshua_becker Deciding to give away all the novels I read. “The book itself is not the memory.”— Ezzentie (@Ezzentie) November 11, 2013
10. Give away books you do not intend to read again.
This step was, by far, the most common response to the question.
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@joshua_becker yes. 1) made list of books to give away. 2) posted list on FB & Twitter. 3) Gave them away.
— Andrew Tatum (@andrewtatum) November 10, 2013
class=”twitter-tweet”>@joshua_becker I had to make peace with the idea that I don’t really read books more than once anymore. After that it was easy to pare down.
— Adie Lashley (@adielashley) November 10, 2013
11. Think of forwarding good books as an act of love.
I really do love this mindset and hope people find it helpful.
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@joshua_becker Keeping a book that I didn’t cherish or regularly pick up & re-read meant I was keeping it from someone else. Share the love!
— Maggie Olson (@maggiebolson) November 11, 2013
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.
class=”twitter-tweet”>@joshua_becker I read it, then I lend or give it away.
— Rodrigo Afonseca (@rodrigoafonseca) November 11, 2013
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 when decluttering their book collection?
Rachel says
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.
joanna says
I’ve just finished culling the smallest one of my 5 bookcases- One I hadn’t read for ages, but loved and WILL read again – ‘A Gift from the Sea’ Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
I have (temporarily) kept SOME of the books to give to a book fair in a year, if I still have not read or re-read them.
2 cartons are all ready to send off to the next book fair.
I am in New Zealand and my local library wheels a bookcase outside everyday- with free books they no longer want! The librarian was outside scanning library users Covid passes when I headed over to this trove of books the other day.- He laughed when he overheard me say: ‘ NO Joanna you are NOT looking at books!” I need to talk sternly to myself.
Amy says
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.
Pazu says
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.
Pam Thompson says
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.
Jenny says
Minimalism doesn’t imply that it’s bad to have any books; just not so many to the point it defines you and makes an area seem cluttered. Everyone has their own opinions and tastes (I’m neither of the following), but it sounds like the extreme opposite of minimalism is materialism.
Tracey says
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.
Brandon says
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
shebolt says
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.
sarah skoda says
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.
Wayne says
Why are they so greatly needed? Surely reading material would be the priority. Sorry — but this smacks of colonial missionary work.
Ellie says
Because they are scarce? Like she said. There are a lot of people in living in poverty who actually want these items. And many of them are in other countries. In my life, the Bible has been a lifesaver, and while you may not consider it a need, there are many who do. I’m okay with throwing lifesavers to people who want or need them. That is not a judgment of them. I doubt she is doing it to colonize a foreign country. Missionary work doesn’t mean colonizing and isn’t evil. You may not want to know that God loves you, but many do. It is okay to share.
Helena Howell says
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.
Suzie says
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.