How To Organize Books
- Anu Puisto
- Oct 30
- 3 min read
After my own ‘tidying festival’, what Marie Kondo calls going through all of our belongings using the KonMari Method, my curiosity reawakened and I started reading books again after a years-long pause.
I’m so grateful for this! Books have helped me grow as a person.
Though I now read or listen to many books, I very rarely acquire books for myself. I read, sometimes take notes, let go, and then start a new book.
Here are my tips for decluttering, storing, organizing, and avoiding amassing books:
How to declutter books?
First, we need to choose which books we still want to keep in our lives moving forward.
Collect all your books in one place. If you have a lot of books, you may want to roughly put them in similar categories (cookbooks, work-related books, etc.).
Take one book in your hands at a time and ask yourself, ‘Does it spark joy?’. Resist the urge to start reading the book!
Keep in mind that we very rarely, if ever, read the same books again.
With books, don’t be too afraid to let them go if you feel unsure. The library would likely have a copy of the book, or if you really wanted to, you could quite easily and relatively affordably purchase the book again.
Where to donate or sell books in San Francisco?
Some local library branches accept donations, so check yours.
Friends of the SFPL accepts donations by appointment.
There are many Little Free Libraries around the city.
Green Apple Books buys used books.
Let’s keep the books in circulation rather than collecting dust!
How to store books?
Store books in one place!
Strive to keep your books in one place. This will make it easier to see what you have, it may help avoid the temptation to bring more books in, and you will always find the book you’re looking for.
A bookcase is a good visual boundary. If the bookcase is full, and you have no room for another, then consider this a cue to thin out your collection. Do not start a pile on the floor.
Books that may be stored separately from other books would be:
Children’s books
Cookbooks
Professional books (if you have an office)
How to organize books?
Like many things, organizing books depends on the space you have for storing books as well as your personal preferences.
Color-coded bookcases may appeal to you if your priority is to make your bookcase visually pleasing. Organize books from dark at the bottom to light at the top, if possible. Pay attention to book height and organize from tall to short, if possible. You may even organize your books in rainbow order if that brings you joy!
Others prioritize what’s inside the book more than its covers. In that case, you likely want to organize by type of book or even alphabetically.
How to avoid amassing books?
Books provide entertainment and knowledge. They can alter lives for the better. But they shouldn’t clutter your home.
If you love books and seem to accumulate more and more of them, here are a couple of tricks I encourage you to try.
Try borrowing
Moving forward, try to rely on the library system as much as possible.
The San Francisco Public Library has had almost every single book I’ve ever wanted to read. It is rare that I’d need to source a copy from somewhere else.
That said, you may not be able to get it immediately. You may need to wait. That’s okay. While you wait, read another book!
Try Audiobooks, Ebooks
It took me a while to get into the habit of listening to a book, but now I love it. Listening to books has greatly increased the time I have for books. I mostly do it while chopping vegetables.
Audiobooks and ebooks can also be borrowed through the San Francisco Public Library. They have three different apps that each have a little different inventory of books:
I highly recommend testing them out.
Happy reading!
