Why are books one of the most challenging items to say goodbye to? We cling to our book collections, confident they encapsulate the whole of our intellect, speak to our wide-ranging interests, or represent a specific era of our lives.
"I haven't read this book yet but might want to someday."
"I'm worried if I let this book go I will regret it."
"Books are too important to me to let go of."
These are some of the many reasons we justify hanging on to our ever-growing collection of books. But in most cases these reasons are holding us back, standing in the way of us celebrating the books that we truly love and adding to the clutter in our lives. Instead of continually acquiring books doomed to sit on your shelf, unread for years, only bring in books to your home that move you, and edit your library so that only the books that really speak to you remain.
For more sage advice, I invoke Marie Kondo, best-selling author and organizing goddess. Marie's responses to the above reasons are very straightforward:
“You may have wanted to read it when you bought it, but if you haven’t read it by now, the book’s purpose was to teach you that you didn’t need it.”
“If you want the book so badly after getting rid of it that you’re willing to buy another copy, then buy one—and this time read and study it.”
“Imagine what it would be like to have a bookshelf filled with books that you really love. Isn’t that image spellbinding? For someone who loves books, what greater happiness could there be?”
For kids' books, pull all the books out and separate into hard and soft cover and then by size, as most children’s books are typically one of a handful of sizes. This way when kids are looking through their collection trying to pick a book, they can easily see all of their options and smaller books won’t get lost between two larger books, waiting to be read.
Happy reading!
Commentaires