LET'S CONTROL YOUR BOOKSHELVES : A GUIDE IN ORGANISING

So, you can’t see the floor of you’re bedroom any more. The books you own are getting out of control. Here I have the solution! 

Ask any bookworm you know, and the answer you’ll get is pretty much the same. One of the central preoccupations in a bibliophile’s life is how to manage and keep your bookshelves tidy. Any major events in life, from moves to marriages, is an opportunity for decluttering — to look at your collection of books and be proud of the way you store them. But if you find yourself wondering on a daily basis if you’re able to tell the exact spot of any title at any moment and the answer is complicated, then “Houston, we have a problem “!

Their many ways in which you can organize your bookshelves but what everyone can agree on is that you have to shelve your books in a way that works best for you. Minimalist, orderly or eccentric, when it comes to organizing your books, only you know the perfect system for you.

In today’s post, I’m giving a complete guide as well as choices in which you can use in order to achieve a practical as well as an aesthetic-pleasing bookshelf. Trust me, it will guarantee you’ll always know where is what. ( At least that’s what I hope for everyone ).

 STEP 1: GATHER ALL THE BOOKS IN PILES TOGETHER

To begin with,  gather every single book we own in one spot, piling them on the floor. It helps in order to make informed decisions about what to keep and what to discard. You will also be able to view how many books we own, so that you can predict how much space you will need and maybe how many books you should declutter.

STEP 2: FORGET THE PHRASE “ BUT WHAT IF I WANT TO READ THIS SOMEDAY “?

Moving on, one of the biggest stumbling blocks for readers is dealing with the fear that we may want to read the book someday, so we are hesitant to part with it.

To this, I warn you that “sometimes” means “never.” Bookworms rarely pick up a book that has been sitting on their shelf for a while and either re-read it or read it for the first time, and because of this, it is okay to get rid of the book(s) in question. 

STEP 3: DISCARD ALL THE BOOKS YOU WON’T NEED, WANT OR MEAN SOMETHING ANYMORE

You can discard your books in several different ways. You can donate them to your local library or your local church’s garage sale. If they’re books you want to sell, you can take them to a near charity or thrift shop and also sold some using Amazon’s FBA program.

Even though everyone really loves to read in their house, it will feel like a weight lifted when you manage to finally get rid of all of the books we don’t truly love or read often! 

Now that you are done with the process of deciding what you’ll keep and what you’ll give away, it’s time to put all the books in their perfect spot on your bookshelves! Here are some ways that you can use to store the books neatly and have fun doing it (even though it’s hard !).

Alphabetizing, by Title or Author 

This technique is a perfect, uncomplicated way of organizing your books because alphabetizing ensures you’ll know exactly where each book you’re looking for is shelved at all times. At the same time, friends, family, or strangers who want to find something in your bookshelves will know how to do it.

The downside? It can take a while to add new books. This is actually a con for most of the options I will list below to help organize your bookshelves—you can spend hours getting them just how you want them, but as soon as you have a new set to add, you have moved a ton more books.

By Genre 

This is ideal for readers who don’t always know which exact book they want to read next. Organizing by genre is also great for anyone who loves to make book recommendations or lend from their personal library because similar titles will be shelved together. 

This option can be more intuitive than alphabetizing and it’s easy to find a book if you’re in a particular mood for one genre over another. It’s also a good way to organize your books if you don’t have a good memory for titles and authors (raise your hands with me ! )

You can arrange your books by whatever genres you want, such as:

• ·      Fiction
• ·      Mystery
• ·      Romance
• ·      Young Adult
• ·      Horror
• ·      Fantasy
• ·      Non-Fiction

However, if you have genre sections for mystery and detective, there would be a lot of overlap due to the fact that some books fall into more than one category. You’ll also need to decide how to organize them within the genre. You may break it down by genre and then alphabetize or colour code them.

Chronologically, by Date Published

It’s kind of a pretentious way to shelve your collection and to make it even more pretentious. The act of putting your books on the shelf in order helps you to remember history, and to get a better sense of which writers were writing and publishing at the same time, and perhaps influencing one another. In addition, nerds like me love this process and it’s also satisfying. 

On the other hand, this takes a lot of time. If you’re looking for ideas on how to clean out your bookshelves, you may be facing a two-week job to get this off your to-do list.

By Color

If you have a large number of books, this is an extremely exhausting way to organize your bookshelf. Readers who really love putting things in rainbow order, and have a small number of books that they know well, this could be a visually striking way to arrange some shelves.

There are a lot of fun ways within the colour-organizing category, such as arranging them into a pattern within the colour coding, or covering your books with wrapping paper so that sections are different from one another. 

You can check Instagram or Pinterest for inspiration! 

But, there are a few cons in this way. It isn’t very practical for the majority of bookworms, it can make it hard to find what you need. At the same time, it can be frustrating to figure out where to place each book. A red cover might be darker or lighter than the other red cover you own.

Autobiographically

It could be debated that every bookshelf, like every piece of writing, is autobiographical, but I can feel the tears rolling down my cheeks (emotional alert !) when organizing books according to different stages of my life. It's the most personal way for anyone to organize their books.

it interesting to think back on all the people—family members, teachers, friends, writers—who have influenced your reading. There is always a period where bookworms have the desire to return to a certain period of my life, a frame of mind, or even a particular person or place. Shelving autobiographically means a journey of self-examination

However, you’d also have to reckon with the fact that a certain number of books will always remain unread, and another, a larger percentage will never be reread.  Also, let me warn you that it would not only be impossible for others to find books on your shelves but for you as well.

There it is—the simple, complex, and fun ways on how to organize bookshelves with a ton of books.  How do you keep all your favourites organized and easily accessible?

Xoxo,
Miss Reader.