So take a deep breath and read my advice, and the 5 questions to ask yourself when you take on the declutter books mission. You're on a journey to declutter your home and get it organized, and eventually you'll need to tackle this area. So I hope seeing that I'm a kindred soul will help you read the rest of these "how to" instructions with an open mind and heart. Not that I don't also have ebooks and Kindle books (and yes, we'll deal with those digital books later this week!) but there is something special, in my opinion, about physical books. I also completely understand the enjoyment of actually holding a book in my hands, feeling the paper under my fingertips, smelling that book smell. I love to read, and I love to have reference materials on hand. I've already confessed on other pages of this site that books are one of my weaknesses. There is a special relationship between people and their books, and I definitely don't want to diminish that emotional connection. That makes sense because the first step in organizing your books is, as always, to declutter the ones you do not need, want, or have room for.īut I know for many people that even the thought of decluttering books causes anxiety. It is also easily adaptable as you can always add extra plastic sleeves and tabs as needed.This Declutter 365 mission is designed to be done during the Organize Books Challenge here on the site, which is part of the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge. Then it becomes your book of favorite family recipes! This saves space and may end up being the cookbook you use most of all. Get a 3-ring binder, input plastic sleeves and divider tabs by category. I do have one caveat: if you have one or two good recipes in the whole cookbook, just photocopy those pages and store them in your own personalized cookbook. I don’t bother selling books, but do ask friends if they want any first. Don’t open the box! Once you realize you never go into the stored box, you’ll be able to skip this step the next time and donate immediately. When the date comes, donate directly to charity. If you haven’t opened the box by that time, then you clearly didn’t miss those books. Put a date on the box for three or six months in the future. If you feel this method is too draconian, fear not. If you have a strong reaction (think, “Oh no, not that one!”), then it’s a clear sign you should keep that particular cookbook. Let the coin flip decide for you, and you’ll save time deliberating. But if you have extra space and want to keep more, where’s the harm in that? On the other hand, it isn’t really worth your time poring over the remaining selection because those books aren’t in your ‘hot’ list anyway. Donate the rest without a second thought.Ī minimalist would stop at the favorites, quite sensibly. Just let the coin make the choice for you. This is the best way to quickly declutter any space! Why does this work? Once you’ve pulled your clear favorites that you’d never part with, then it boils down to how much space you have to store the rest. The rest go in the donate box and into the car. Once I’ve collected my clear winners, I then get out a coin and use the coin toss method to select which are the keepers until the space is full. I collect all cookbooks from their random locations and sort by cuisine. I still have more cookbooks than will fit in the kitchen shelf I have designated as their home. I made a first pass of obvious cookbooks to donate and then got stuck. It is fair to say my collection has gotten out of hand. They have now spread to four different locations in the house-a serious case of cookbook creep. While it may take time to build clutter, it is beneficial to find ways to quickly declutter.
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