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Some decluttering tasks are more emotionally charged than others, and paring down your library may be one of those.
Look, I know you love your books. They’re like members of your family; the idea of sending any of them to the thrift store, book sale, or even Tiny Library seems akin to sending Aunt Emily off on a Greyhound to nowhere.
But would you set Aunt Emily on a shelf and then forget to talk to her or even look at her for years on end? Of course not. But you’re doing that to a lot of your books.
There are several categories for books
Books fall into several categories: the ones we LOVE and want to keep close to us. The ones we’ll probably get around to someday. The ones that we feel we should read but somehow never really want to. The ones that fall into the reference category. And all the others that defy categorization but seem too good to send away.
The books we should save fall into three categories: those that have touched us deeply, those that contain important information, and those we’re still planning to read. (And I’d make the case for ditching some of that last group as well.)
It’s hard to part with things that have felt important to us and to our development as humans. So we want to proceed gently. But there are obvious candidates for moving on.
Books you don’t want
Books people have given you that you’re just not that interested in. Like all gifts, once the item is yours, you have no obligation to keep it. Or read it.
Just because it was on the bestseller list, or the talk of the town, or your best friend’s favorite novel, does not mean you are obligated to find it interesting. Getting rid of these will also relieve you of the nagging feeling that you should be reading them.
Self-help books, diet books, exercise books; all the self-improvement texts that are irrelevant, problematic, or just plain unhelpful. Honestly, if you haven’t adopted the seven habits of the rich and famous by now, you’re unlikely to do it in the future.
And lastly, books that were, you know, OK. Don’t give up valuable shelf space for things you don’t absolutely love.
Books that are not useful anymore
Encyclopedias are arguably both cool and interesting historical artifacts, but they take up an awful lot of space and are definitely outdated. This is one instance in which the internet is better.
How-to manuals on everything from creating bonsai gardens to small engine maintenance. In other words, books that describe activities you will never engage in. Remember, it’s only useful if you use it.
A lot of those paperbacks you acquired in college were in order to have a meaningful library. Maybe you read them, maybe you didn’t. But what are the chances you’ll revisit them?
Decluttering books can be overwhelming
Going through your library and making all these choices might feel overwhelming.
If you find yourself tempted to walk away after two minutes of inner turmoil, use this decluttering trick: set your timer for 20 minutes. Working in small, timed chunks is often more efficient than trying to do it all in one epic afternoon that leaves you exhausted and second-guessing all your choices.
To a book lover, books are more than possessions. They’re old friends, they’re portals to other worlds, they’re advisors and memory keepers. So when it’s time to pare down the collection, it might behoove you to think of this as more of a rehoming project than a decluttering session.
These books can become all those things for someone else, and isn’t that a kinder fate for your beloved tomes than collecting dust on a shelf, never read, never noticed?
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