How Do I Sort These Books?

It’s time to remove some books in our lives. I know it’s true, and I have been denying it for years. It’s time to put on my “big girl panties” and deal with it.

Since we hope to move to a house that is at least one third smaller than this one, I have optimistically decided that we will cull 1/3 of the books. That would be the ideal, anyway. I don’t know if we can do it.

I decided we needed a plan. Maybe you have a better one? This is how we have to go about sorting and culling books:

1. When you are beginning the de-cluttering process, it’s best to take it in small doses. Set a timer and work for 30 minutes. Don’t take out more than you can put back on the shelf at the end of the 30 minute period. You don’t want to wind up with a bigger mess than the one you had in the first place.
2. Be prepared to experience remorse. There is no way around it. Some of those books are “old friends,” and you will naturally miss them. Rest assured that the process will get easier as you go along.
3. Empty one or two bookshelves to hold books as you sort the ones you want to keep.
4. Determine some “categories” for your books, so that you can sort them accordingly. It’s much easier than putting them on the shelves hodge podge. Your categories will be different from mine. You can have tons of subcategories, if you wish, but your immediate goal is to simplify and de-clutter. Save the sub-dividing for later! I had:
• Self-help/Exercise
• Language (including dictionaries, foreign language, quotes)
• folktales (that’s a large part of my library, since those are the
  books I use for work).
• Anthologies.
• Ghost stories (another large part of my repertoire)
• Quirky collections of facts.
• Texana
5. Start sorting books by finding every book you can on one category and get those to your empty shelves.
6. When one category is together, begin to cull books. Yes, I know it makes you want to cry. Get a tissue and continue. Remove all duplicates (you really don’t need three copies of The Lord Of The Rings).
7. As you look at each book, ask yourself:
   • A. Do I really love it?
   • B. Does is have monetary value or is it irreplaceable?
   • C. Will I really read it again (no seriously!)? And, when? If the answer is five years from now, you don’t need to store it until then!
8. If you can live without it, put it in your discard pile.
9. After you have finished with one category, move on to the next.
10. At the end of your session for the day, take the books out of the house! You don’t need the temptation of seeing them, and the reduction in clutter will be a small victory for you.
11. Rejoice in the victory, and celebrate. But, not by going to Barnes & Noble and buying more books!

This is what we are doing. It is quite difficult to do, but already we are seeing a difference. So far, we have no regrets. But, now it’s going to get harder. We have removed the books we could easily see that we didn’t want or need. The next step is culling out from the ones we thought were “keepers.”

This journey began on a separate blog (you can click here to read About Out Of Chaos), but that wasn’t really simplifying was it? I moved all of the posts to This Eclectic Life under the category Out Of Chaos. I’ll be adding more from time to time. I hope you join me.

Other posts you might enjoy:

1. Finding New Homes For The Books
2. Recycled Books. A Book Lover’s “Mecca” in Denton, Texas
3. The Librarian Is Your Friend
4. Bibliophile or Bibliomaniac?
5. Bibliography for Storytellers

Tagged as: books, clutter, organizing