I love to read. I read every single day and thankfully my children love books too. That love of reading led to us having a huge excess of books. Last year, using the system below, I decluttered 103 books from our home. This year I won’t have to get rid of nearly as much. Now let’s declutter some books!

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Actually, before we begin, let me offer two tips to ensure your home won’t become completely overrun with books again.

First of all, GET A KINDLE! Seriously, a Kindle is one of the best presents I have ever received. I can take it anywhere and have access to unlimited books. It has a built-in light. My wrist doesn’t hurt from holding a large book. It syncs with audiobooks so you can switch back and forth. You can easily download e-books from your library for free. The best part, it takes up no space.

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My next tip is to use the library. Free books, need I say more? We go to the library once a week and get a ton of children’s books and maybe a DVD or two. Books don’t accumulate because they are returned.

Step 1: Gather

You decide what is the most efficient method for you.

One option is to go room by room gathering, asking questions, and deciding as you go. Otherwise, you can go by subcategories and gather the books one subcategory at a time. For example;

Board Books

Picture Books

Chapter Books

Adult Books (Fiction/Non-Fiction/Self-Help/etc)

Textbooks

Resource Books

Cookbooks

Step 2: Ask Questions

Ask yourself questions about each book to help you make a quick decision;

Is this a duplicate?

Is it damaged?

Will I ever read it again?

Why am I holding on to this?

Am I sentimentally attached to this book?

Step 3: Decide

The goal of decluttering isn’t to get rid of ALL your books – I certainly never will nor would I want to! The objective is to remove books from your house that no longer provide any value to you. Now that you’ve asked the important questions decide which books you are keeping and which books you are decluttering.

The decluttered books can be sold, recycled, given to friends or family, or donated.

Bonus Steps: Clean & Organize

I take decluttering books one step further by removing any seasonal or holiday books to store until the appropriate time. Your kids will get a lot more excited about these books if they only appear on the bookshelf for a limited time each year. In fact, rotating all of your books helps make them easier to display.

While you’re decluttering you may want to clean your bookshelves and ledges. You also might want to spruce up your bookshelves by adding a few decor items in with your books. My shelves need a lot of help!

Books look better organized by color and/or by height with the shorter books in the center and taller books on the ends.

I hope you join me next week for our next category of the Declutter Challenge!

Go back to Declutter Challenge Week 2: Refrigerator and Freezer