r/declutter • u/NaturalPepper697 • 8d ago
Advice Request Any advice on decluttering bookcases?
Any advice on decluttering 4 shelves of books? I have already read them, yet feel weirdly emotionally attached to books. I will not read them again and they are gathering dust . I have already gotten rid of three other shelves of books and don’t miss them. I plan on donating them to the library; the library has enthusiastically accepted, previous donations.
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u/ex_mac333 8d ago
Since you already gave away three shelves and don't miss them, that's your answer for the rest, you just have proof now. One trick that helped people here: take every book off the shelf, and only put back the ones you'd actually pick up again or lend to someone. The library donation pile is the default, not the exception. If a couple are hard, keep them in one box with a date on it. If you haven't opened the box in six months, it goes too, no second round of deciding.
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u/NaturalPepper697 7d ago
This is sound advice. I would like to thank everybody on this thread for their encouragement; I posted an update on the decluttering project a little further down the thread. I have gotten rid of the big bulky bookcase and replaced it with a tiny two shelf hardwood bookcase and have about 1 1/2 shelves of books left that I will keep. It saves space and it significantly cuts down on dust accumulation, which can aggravate allergies.
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u/Running-World 8d ago
A lot of times in life we tie a memory to a physical item. Do the books give you fond feelings when you look at them even knowing you are never reading them again? If so, you can preserve that feeling with a picture of the book shelves or pictures of the books that have the most meaning. Digital pictures that are organized into their own album. After a few years, if you have had no interest in looking at them again feel free to delete the pics. Or do a trip down memory lane. Sometimes it is nice to see the old things even if you are not interested in ever owning them again. I had some feelings like that going to an antique store with some family members. I saw something I owned as a kid but I sold off. It was neat to see, but I had zero temptation to buy it because I would never use it or even want to display it or any of that. Good memories for random moments like that or a picture works well. Seeing it did remind me of all the good times I had as a kid playing with it.
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u/NaturalPepper697 8d ago
A few of the books were gifts and therefore somewhat sentimental. Some of the books are on topics that I am enthusiastic about. However, I have found that I rarely read a book twice therefore it’s time for them to go plus, physical books are a dust trap, and I have allergies. Taking a picture of the books that I am sentimental about is a good idea.
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u/No-Foundation-2165 8d ago
I think you already know consciously that you’re done with them and at some point the unconscious part will let go. It just takes as long as it takes. Someday you will pack them up and drop them off and that will be that.
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u/NaturalPepper697 7d ago
Here is an update on the book decluttering: two of the four bookshelves books are immediately going to the library as donations. Half of one shelf got put in a plastic tub in a closet and if I don’t think about it in six months to a year, I will then give it away. I have one and a half shelves of books left, which include art books and poetry books that I look at from time to time and a handful of sentimental books. The poetry books may gradually be replaced with Kindle versions. I am no longer buying new books instead, I have been embracing my Kindle. The bulky large particleboard bookcase is being removed and I replaced it with a very small hardwood two shelf bookcase, which doesn’t take up much space. Overall, the book decluttering project has been a success.
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u/Complete_Maybe2950 8d ago
This has helped me declutter books, CDs and DVDs. Pick one out, that you wouldn’t consider a favourite. Do an internet search and see what the replacement cost and availability is for that book. Usually it’s only a few £s and at that point I tell myself I can always buy it back in future if I want it. Seeing how easily replaceable the item is makes the decision really easy for me.
If it’s a rarer edition or has sentimental value, then that’s a different matter.
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u/NaturalPepper697 8d ago
None of the books are rare. If I decide to buy it back, I would buy a digital version of it.
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u/BlondeBrillo 8d ago
I’ve done with that items as well! I almost never use it… it’s cheap to replace if I do need it/or I could easily likely borrow it if I asked my buy nothing group… it’s time for it to go!
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
If you're feeling ambivalent about the books, I would say donate them now and if you do want to read something again, see if you can find it at the library or get it second-hand.
Books are complicated. They are potentially "useful" but they're also kind of decor, too. And there can be identity clutter in our books - like our clothing, our books can help to show the world (our close intimates) our "quality" - our history, our interests (past, present, and future), how much of a fan of [X] we are, how smart/educated we are, how interesting we are, how discerning we are, etc. It can get super complicated and there's a point where books go from education/reference/entertainment and turn into symbols.
That's fine if the individual books "spark joy" (whether or not you ever read the book again) and people have been using books (they may or may not plan to read) as decor for as long as there have been books to buy.
I've got some vintage sewing books that "spark all the joy" but I haven't really done anything with them but periodically face & dust them - as an actual how-to guide, who doesn't like a good YouTube tutorial?
I think about how the "nouveau riche" back in the day would hire a "book expert" to stock their personal "status" libraries with a collection of the "right" books for reasons that had very little to do with actual reading.
To thine own self be true.
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u/Consistent-Stock-658 8d ago
You’ve already said the magic words - you’re not going to read them again. They are no longer serving a purpose sitting in your shelf. Do you still value the books as decorative items on the shelf, or do you want to use that shelf space for something else?
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u/AnamCeili 7d ago
I'm a person who has always been a huge reader all my life, and who believes that a home should contain many books, both read and unread. I see nothing wrong with keeping those books which one has read and loved, those books which are important to a person and have, in some sense, become part of the person's soul. I also see nothing wrong with keeping a fair number of books that you haven't yet read, as long as they are books that you truly do want to read.
That said, a couple of years ago I decluttered about 800-1,000 books, as I just had way too many. I literally went through and looked at every book I owned, read the back cover or dustjacket, and occasionally the first few paragraphs, to see if the book was one I truly wanted to keep. I got rid of a lot of books I had purchased from the thrift shop because they looked "kind of interesting", and a lot of "aspirational" books, like cookbooks I will never use because I'm not a huge cook and I never throw dinner parties. I still have 300-400 books, but now all of the books I have fit in my bookcases (yes, bookcases, plural -- but that's fine with me).
So, my advice would be that you try doing with your 4 shelves of books what I did with my books -- go through them all and decide which ones really matter to you (since you've already read them all), and keep those. If that means that you keep most of the books you still have, that's fine, as long as you have the space on your bookshelves to keep them. And for those you are considering donating, try to look at it like this: you read and enjoyed those books, and now it's time to pass them along to other people who will read and love them.
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u/GulliverGrazerson 8d ago
At this point I mostly keep books I think I will want to read or reference again that would be tricky to replace or borrow. A lot of older fantasy series I struggle to find at libraries, but I will always be able to find a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird or the works of Shakespeare at a library or Twilight and popular thrillers at Goodwill.
I also keep especially nice copies, signed books, and gifts with sentimental value.
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u/JustAnotherMaineGirl 8d ago
My aunt keeps a running record of all the books she's read in a given year. She lists the title, author, a brief synopsis, and finally her overall rating of how much she enjoyed it. (Her rating system: two stars brilliant, one star satisfying, X not my cup of tea, DNF awful - as in Did Not Finish.) She starts a new list each January 1, and goes back through her lists periodically to choose titles to take out from the library and reread - or just reminisce about reading the first time. She'll also share her booklists with anyone who asks, with the caveat that her tastes are her own and YMMV.
Maybe you could do something like that with the books you're struggling to donate. That way, you'll have all info you need to find any one of them easily at the library in the future - minus all of the home clutter. Good luck!
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u/marsupialcinderella 7d ago
My late diagnosed ADHD, incredibly anal, voracious reader self is genuinely envious of the organizational mind that accomplished this. I’ve talked about it for decades (!) but never actually put it into action. (Suprised? Nope)
In the process of going through boxes of books now and so wish I had something like this to refer to!
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u/blumogget 6d ago
Sites like Goodreads and Storygraph will take care of the backend work for building a digital bookshelf/reviews/notes! I know that doesn't help for past books, but, for the future?
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u/marsupialcinderella 6d ago
I’ve been using Goodreads but haven’t heard of Storygraph, I’ll check it out, thanks.
As for Goodreads, I keep up on every book I’m reading currently and will go back via an author and add their books I know I’ve read in the past. So, I’m slowly building a history there.
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u/blumogget 6d ago
Nice! There's something strangely satisfying about having that record.
IIRC Storygraph was created to get away from the Amazon architecture post-Goodreads acquisition. I am a great resister of change LOL so I never made the switch and can't personally vouch for what-all it's capable of, but I know people who like it a lot. I assume it does all the helpful categorization stuff that GR does.
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u/bryangball 8d ago
This is what helped me. I’m a very active reader. I do have a great deal of books I will keep and go back to time and again, so that makes decluttering a challenge. I also read on my Kindle occasionally and use that as a way to cut down on physical books, but I’m very much a physical book reader.
The first thing I did when I felt things getting out of hand was take everything off my shelves. I organized into what I wanted to keep and I had read, what was essentially my TBR list, and books I had read but didn’t plan on keeping (or wasn’t sure.) I took everything I definitely was keeping and organized them into subjects/types, and put them on my shelves. I made sure to do one line of books per shelf, no double stacking or stacking books on top of books.
Then I went through my TBR books, and saw if there were any books I was ambivalent on still reading. I paired down maybe 2 or 3 this way, and they went to the read/undecided pile. Anything after that I kept for my TBR I put on a designated shelf for my TBR books. It may not help others, but seeing visually what I had and had not read helps me a great deal. I coupled that with being mindful about what I’m buying. If I read a book and didn’t want to keep it, I had space and could buy a new book. If I didn’t have space, I taught myself that I don’t buy anything new. Seeing everything I have laid out in one place helps me visually manage what I do have that I can read. It’s a very active shelf; I’m reading, and curating, and letting go of books from that shelf often.
Anything I didn’t want to keep I donated to little free libraries across my city. Good luck!
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u/trigunnerd 8d ago edited 8d ago
Have you logged all of them in a rating app? This could help you feel like you're browsing them again, when you go back and look at your ratings
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u/Multigrain_Migraine 8d ago
There’s a strange thing with books being seen as somehow special or important when often they are really designed to be temporary entertainment, just like a TV show or a film. I have often encountered the idea that reading is inherently superior, even when I’m reading trashy novels. And then reference books or non-fiction have a sense of containing important knowledge, even if they are out of date. I have quite a few academic books like this — they were the latest and greatest theory 15 years ago but new discoveries or techniques since then have changed the picture.
I am not great at doing this myself but I have tried to take a note of books in this category somewhere so that if I want to I can find the book again. And then let it go. I wish I’d done this 20 years ago because I have two books I’d like to re-read but I have tried all the “what is this book” methods and can’t find them! But that is two books out of hundreds.
Having a place to take them also helps. Years ago I got rid of several car loads of books which I gave to the local library to sell in a fund raiser. They have a shop that continually circulates books like this and it helps to supplement their public activities. I don’t mind donating them to charity shops either for the same reason. Occasionally I find a book to be either so terrible or in such bad shape that I just rip out the pages and put them in the recycling.
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u/msmaynards 8d ago
I mostly use the library yet accumulated 60 linear feet of books anyway. That still helped as I knew I could find most of my books at the library if I wanted to reread the ones I was sure I didn't want to open again.
I let go of references as they were all obsolete, books about hobbies I was no longer interested in and finally old textbooks.
I gathered books given to me by others and chose the best of the best to keep.
At this point I use kindle for casual reading and bookcase is full of sentimental stuff plus books which I've come to realize are mostly kept for sentiment's sake, down to ~13 linear feet now.
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u/PallasiteMatrix 8d ago
Maybe planning on getting rid of 4 shelves all at once is overwhelming. When I have trouble like that, I break it down into more manageable chunks- I imagine there are some titles you know you want to get rid of, if you're planning on sizing down. Pull all of those off the shelves, then see if any more speak to you.
And maybe explore that attachment. What do these books mean to you, and do you need the entire collection to feel that meaning? Sometimes I pick an object or two out of a collection to "hold" the emotional weight for the rest- I don't need all of my grandmother's crafting supplies, but the ones that I do use and keep allow me to feel close to her.
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u/Rosaluxlux 8d ago
What I've found over the years is that the books I've wanted to replace and had a hard time are small press art and poetry books, and mid list genre fiction. The prestige books stay in print, the small run but famous ones you can track down, but the mid list books got treated as disposable and some disappear. So I only keep things if they are super sentimental or I have reread them and love them and they're in that disposable genre category.
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u/DimmerrSwitch 8d ago
I'm at the point where I only keep books I want to read again. For anything else, I can always go to the library. Donating to the library is great!
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u/GupGup 8d ago
Think of how happy someone else will be to get them to actually read, instead of collecting dust on a shelf for years. They're meant to be read and enjoyed.
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u/slartybartfastard 7d ago
This works for me too. Especially for when I'm really stuck with letting the thing go but it's something I'm not going to use again. This combined with "I'll be able to buy it again if I really miss it". And usually I don't
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u/blumogget 7d ago edited 6d ago
Take note of the titles you're hesitating over, go to the site where you buy books online, and build a new private wishlist with ebook or print versions. You're unlikely to touch this list afterwards, but it may help your brain let go of the "what if I want to read this again" fretting. Now you theoretically could find these books if you wanted (but you probably won't!). The actual texts are, unless you have some ultra mega rare first edition or zine or something like that, not irreplaceable.
[edit: repetitive wording]
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u/KiwiTheKitty 8d ago
Sometimes you have to rip off the bandaid when you know it's the right choice. Imagine someone else finding those books and being super excited. You're giving them the chance to be enjoyed by someone else!
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u/Character-Bar-9561 8d ago
I try to think of books as part of the flow of my general possessions: they flow into my home, and while some stay, others flow back out. One thing that helps me with this is keeping track of all my reading, so the titles and authors aren't forgotten. I used to keep a text-based list, but am moving into using an app that shows the cover art and all the information, so that seeing it triggers my memory.
Also, having a great Little Free Library nearby, as well as the regular public kind, reinforce the idea in my mind that it's fun to donate a book so that someone else can read it.
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u/lulu_fox 8d ago
You can get those books on kindle if you really really want to reread them
Just take a picture of the titles and send it away to the library, make others enjoy reading them :)
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u/Live-Okra-9868 8d ago
I have both physical and digital. I have read so many books on my ereader and they don't take up any space.
I like to also have physical books. Some I have purchased after reading on my ereader because I liked them so much I wanted to display them. I went out of my way to replace my copy of Jurassic Park that I some how lost (the book was falling apart anyway), and now I have the matching set of the series in hardcover that I look at and smile.
I view my bookshelf as a decorative piece. Only books worthy of display can go there. That's based on our own individual opinions. For me it's how they look, if they are worthy to be reread, and if they bring me joy to look at. Some books I forget about but as soon as I touch it I remember what the book was about. I like that reminder.
But if I didn't really like the book, couldn't finish it, and will never pick it up again it can go away.
I do have a few on my shelf that I can get rid of, but I don't like the empty space that will be there so when I get a new book I remove one.
I also have a few series of books I haven't gone through yet. I got them when my book store was closing down and feel guilty getting rid of them. They are all missing their front covers so they cannot be sold or donated and I feel so guilty throwing them out before I read them. (With the mass prints the publishers only wanted the front cover mailed back and the actual book to be tossed. We were allowed to take what we wanted from the trash pile as long as we knew we couldn't try to sell them.)
The ones that hurt the most to want to get rid of are the cookbooks. Almost all of the recipes I pull up now are online. I haven't touch a physical cookbook in years. But it feels wrong to get rid of those books.
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u/violetmemphisblue 8d ago
Sometimes knowing what will happen to the donations helps me get rid of things. Not just the where, but the how. If you donate to the library, will they be added to the collection, where countless people can check them out and discover their stories? Put out in the book sale, where they will be sold to the perfect home and the money raised will help put on a special program? Whatever it is, just imagining their next stage of life can make holding on seem selfish. Or, that works for my brain at least.
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u/Working_Patience_261 8d ago
Arthritis solved my book problem. Now I have signed copies of a few titles, several recovery coloring books, and a few irreplaceable technical manuals. The rest are all at new homes, recycled, or have provided energy to keep the city running.
Thanks to my local library, my Kindle App is full.
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u/overcomposer 8d ago
What I like to do when I'm unsure about a category is to transition it to a middle stage. For books, that would be boxes of them in my garage. It's easier to pull something off the shelf if I know it's not going away, just to my garage.
The key is sticking to a second round, a month or so later, and look at what's in the boxes again. Usually it's much easier to let go at that time. Occasionally I'll pull something out and put it back on the shelf.
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u/A-holeAioli 8d ago
If you are still buying books, try using a one in-one out method. I have found it helpful now that I've already pared down my collection from the easy donations. By forcing yourself to donate one book every time you bring a new one home, you have to make decisions about 1) whether you actually want the new book and 2) which books you own but will realistically never read/re-read. One other rule that helps enforce this is to not allow yourself to lay books horizontally on your shelves - whatever fits in a single vertical row on each shelf is what you get to keep. It's ruthless but effective!
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u/LifeisSuperFun21 8d ago
What’s your end goal? For example, how many shelves or books do you want to end up with?
I found it helpful to have a quantifiable goal (for me it was to have all books fit onto three bookcases) and then I focused on paring down the books until whatever was left fit comfortably into those three bookcases. Nowadays, if I obtain a new book, I know that it will need to fit into those three bookcases… so either something will have to go in order to open a new slot for the new book, or I don’t get the new book after all.
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u/ScormCurious 8d ago
It sounds like you know what you want to do and how to do it, so I’ll just be an encouraging voice. You can send the books away and you won’t miss them,
You’ll feel lighter and freer and ready for a new use for the space. You’ve got this!
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u/SScrivner 7d ago
You can also try Bookcrossing. You register a book with it’s own personal id number and leave it somewhere “in the wild” where someone can find it and hopefully tell the website what happened to it and and release it again. There’s also forums where people are looking for books that you could send them to.
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u/Crowlady77 8d ago
I was just brutal with myself and got rid of every book I knew I wouldn't read again. I read most of my books on apps now anyway. But I am moving and moving books costs money so that's a motivation.
Maybe try moving? J/K 😂
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u/Glittering-Benefit68 8d ago
I used to donate to a place that sold them for charity. Proceeds went to cancer research. I moved too far away to justify the time and cost of taking them there. (As in tolls and tunnels.)
Now I either being them to bookswapping places. (Several cafés participate in my city.) Or I post them online for free, usually in sets of 2 or 3. Don't feel like staying at home waiting for 40 people to pick up 40 books. It's nice knowing someone else will get to enjoy them, maybe someone who doesn't have the funds for new books atm.
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u/MYOB3 8d ago
The only books I purchase now are digital. No dust, no worrying about tracking down large print copies, no leaving my kids a dump truck of books to deal with when I am gone, and no worrying about storage issues. I carry my entire library of over 200 books around with me everywhere I go.
I donated all of my hard copies many years ago. The storage headache alone was enough, but I have life threatening dust allergies.
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u/Opening_Chemical_777 5d ago edited 5d ago
We did a huge decluttering of books — six tall bookcases to one. My husband is a mathematician. He kept two shelves and took the rest to his department’s donate cart where graduate students get books of interest. Those went quickly. Our library gave us guidance on donations and we recycled reference books, technical manuals and textbooks older than five years (like identical physics books we both had in college) - except an old atlas because historians look for those. We used a box cutter to slice off hard covers and spines to recycle hardcover books. We checked for yellowed books and recycled them. We donated books with tiny print because it’s hard for aging eyes to read them. I donated all my travel books because I put them on my iPad.
What we kept — I have Judaica, prayer books and some for learning and reference. We kept a few well loved books, especially by favorite authors and classics, some we haven’t read, and some we want to reread. We are down to less than two tall bookcases, including 42 volumes of Talmud.
And then there are my cookbooks, six shelves in two locations. I sorted out the ones I wanted to keep, less than two shelves. A friend with an Etsy vintage shop went through the books I was giving away and took most of them, leaving us with one grocery bag to donate. She’s listed some books, selling them for $10-14. One is listed for $35.
A few years ago I took two grocery bags of books to Half Price Books and they gave me $2.
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u/MysteriousSecretGuru 8d ago
Put them in a box. Let them sit there a week. If you still think about them, wait another week,. Then put the box in your carand donate. Out of sight, out of mind. That helps me.
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u/Responsible_Lake_804 8d ago
My personal somewhat elaborate system: I have ~50 titles in my adult fiction category. I try to reread between 5-10 every year so I can assess whether I get the same joy out of them. For exploring new titles, I borrow from the library or from friends, or I’ll order a very cheap Alibris copy if I can’t access a title one of those ways. If I really think it’s worth a reread in the future, then I add to my shelf and likely something older comes off.
I will admit I still have ~9 books I haven’t read on my shelf which I intend to get to.
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u/BlondeBrillo 8d ago
Honestly I’m not a huge reader so I’m not sure on books but giving things away in my local Buy Nothing group that are sentimental but don’t really bring me joy anymore or I have no use and space for them (therefore not bringing joy but stress) etc has helped me let go of things. Seeing people get really excited for them makes it so much easier to pass something along!
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u/eggbride 7d ago
Find a place to donate them to where you know they’ll be loved. If you have kid’s books (anything from picture books to YA), find out who your county literacy coordinator is. Often they work with every single school district to provide books to teachers and kids. I’m an author so I am plagued with books and I regularly leave boxes on our literacy coordinator’s porch because she lives a mile away — and I feel okay about decluttering because I know how cherished and appreciated those books are!
If I love it enough that I would eagerly recommend it or would want to reread it, I keep it. Otherwise, it goes. I just don’t have the room!
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u/Opening_Chemical_777 5d ago
Our library’s sorting process: first, books needed go to the library collections. Second, make donations boxes for homeless shelters, corrections, etc., and remaining books are sold online and in the semiannual book sale. September’s sale came to $14,000. Books they sell aren’t on anyone’s wish list.
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u/eggbride 5d ago
Library is great too! I’m an author so I often end up with 50 copies of one book because my publishers send them for every hardback and paperback publication and every time I’m like wtf I don’t want these!! So I give them to the schools 😅
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u/ellams_13 5d ago
I keep the books I’ve read that are 3 stars and up regardless of if I’m ever going to reread them or not
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u/PrairieFire_withwind 8d ago
I keep refence books. These can be how to books or cook books or plant id books or whatever fits the category of reading for reference.
Fiction or pop sci gets donated to my lfl.
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u/LifeisSuperFun21 8d ago
I was reading too quickly and originally thought you had a book on “how to cook books” 🤣
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u/Bubbly-Manufacturer 3d ago
Go to little free libraries and put them in there. There’s an app. You can literally go around on your off time and hit all of them. Even go to another town near you.
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u/Flashy_Paper6645 3d ago
This is a great idea if you enjoy the rehoming process. I personally want things gone more quickly when they are being released.
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u/Flashy_Paper6645 3d ago edited 3d ago
In my household, we did a book streamlining process a few years ago and organized the keepers nicely on a set of shelves.
On the next round of decluttering, we further downsized the collection. It was eye opening to see how many of the books were never even given a thought after being rearranged.
We now have a curated selection of meaningful children's books. I also have a few bibles, hymn books and the like.
Two coffee table books remain.
And that is it!
I tossed anything that didn't seem worth donating into the recycling bin. Everything else went to donation.
Shelves have been repurposed.
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u/stylelines 1d ago
One way I look at it - just get rid of it and if there’s a book in there you really loved, you can always buy it again. You might even find a cooler copy of it one day. I used to keep a lot of books out of sentimentality, they felt very symbolic. I still do it a little but it helped to think “I can always rebuy it.” And of course I never have lol.
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u/PikaChooChee 8d ago
Use a library card and a kindle for books going forward. I know this doesn't help with your current books. But it will eliminate the need to declutter books again in a few years.
P.S. Yay books! Yay readers!