Spring Cleaning Tips for Book Nerds
If you’re reading this, which you definitely are, chances are you’re a book hoarder. Welcome to the club, friend! Since it’s spring, and everyone is cleaning everything anyway, let’s clean our book collections, making some room for those new summer reads. Remember, it might seem overwhelming, but just take it book by book, and before you know it you’ll have whole INCHES of free shelf space at your command!
1. Choose a System of Organization
A little organization goes a long way, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Forget alphabetizing or the Dewey Decimal System. Try one (or a few) of these: books that have been made into movies, authors with the same first name, authors’ countries of origin, authors who were/are real-life buddies, characters who would be friends if they knew each other, authors with fancy facial hair/hairdos. Go crazy, it’s your collection! Whatever way you choose to categorize will help you take stock of your inventory and decide which titles to keep and which to let go.
2. Make Your Own Book Covers
Remember all of those textbooks you covered with paper grocery bags in middle school? Or maybe you used the oh-so-cool fluorescent colored contact paper? Either way, the same book-covering skills can be used here if you want to take decorating with books to the next level by using them to add some color to any space. Hardcover books work best—just be sure to choose a sturdy paper (just like those paper bags).
3. Make a Pedestal
Large, thick books make great pedestals for lamps and vases of flowers—and allow you to show off your taste in literature along with your taste in decorating. Or, you can stack a few beloved tomes and create a new way of displaying your favorite piece of pottery or other nifty trinkets.
4. Alternate Stacks and Rows
Give your bookshelf a facelift by taking books out of rows and stacking them on the shelf instead. Along with looking cool and modern, like a tiny Gehry building in your room, arranging books in rows and stacks has the added benefit of freeing up some shelf space. You’re welcome.
5. Build or Support a Little Free Library
Maybe you’ve seen these popping up in your neighborhood, or only seen pictures online; either way, Little Free Libraries are amazing! The concept is simple: A box of books in a public place where you’re free to take a book or leave a book. That’s it! Want to find your nearest LFL? Check out the maps section on the organizations website, littlefreelibrary.org. Plus, find lots of information about how to make your own Little Free Library if there aren’t any close by. It’s exciting to think about sharing your books with your entire neighborhood. Soon they can all be as obsessed with Outlander as you are!
6. Use the Clothing Rule
If you’re serious about unloading some books, try the clothing rule. The clothing rule means setting an amount of time you use as a reference for deciding whether or not to get rid of a piece of clothing. For example, “I haven’t worn this hyper-colored T-shirt in five years, it’s gotta go.” The same can be done for those books you’ve been meaning to read for years but just haven’t gotten around to, or the ones you thought you’d read again, but just haven’t. Choosing a particular period of time to base the decision on can be helpful in making those tough “ditch it or keep it?” calls.
7. Make a Suggestion
Have people coming to stay with you this spring? If you do, prep for their visit by choosing some books they might enjoy. Make them extra happy by telling them to keep them! No, really. They they have to keep them. House rules.
8. Go Paperless
If organizing your books is just too great of a task, but you’ve got to get your hands on some summer reading, consider going paperless with an ereader, if you haven’t already. It will definitely save you lots of room…and you can put off organizing for a few more months, until those big fall heavy hitters start to come out!
Do you try to organize your book collection? Or is it a lost cause?