Tidy up your books with the KonMari Method

In the KonMari Method, the first step in tidying books is to take them off the shelves. This might seem like unnecessary work, but there's a good reason for it. Over time, books on a shelf can become dormant. Your eyes will tend to glance over them, seeing them as a wall of spines. Removing the books from their customary place allows you to see them with fresh eyes.

In my client's case, in addition to books stored on shelves, he had books in plastic bins up in the attic. These were brought downstairs and added to the book pile.

After de-shelving, the next step is to sort your books into subcategories. In my client's case, the subcategories included:

• novels

• writing

• games

• history

• religion

• educational and reference

• self-improvement

• travel

• law

• business

• film

Next, it's time for joy checking! (If you come across sentimental books, set them aside.)

Touch or hold each book, treating each one as an individual as you make your decision. Then ask yourself:

✨Does this book spark joy? Is it useful? Is it beautiful?✨

You'll often know right away when something is a keeper. You can feel it. The longer you stand there ruminating, the more likely it will be that the item can be let go.

Here are some additional questions that may help if you're having trouble deciding:

✨Return to your vision. How does this book fit in with the reason(s) I have for tidying up my home
✨Does this book reflect my current interests and/or values?
✨Have I read this? If not, do I want to read it? Would I be excited to start reading it today?
✨Or does this book feel like an obligation? Like a "should"?
✨If I let it go and then changed my mind, could I easily get another copy?

By the end of our session, my client had pared down his book collection considerably. His shelves are filled with only joy-sparking titles now. As for the rest, they were donated, with gratitude for the knowledge and usefulness they had brought him. For a book-lover, this can be such an important part of the tidying process: knowing that while not all of your beloved books may be keepers, you're giving them safe passage to a new home.

Want a tidy and joyful home library? As a KonMari consultant, I'm here to help. Contact me to learn more. 🌱

Removing the books from their customary place allows you to see them with fresh eyes.

You'll often know right away when something is a keeper. You can feel it.

Rearranging my bookshelf

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I rearranged my books this weekend.

Before: These are Serious Books!

It started when I looked at our bookshelf and realized that something--no, somebody--was bugging me. Actually, it was four somebodies: Winston Churchill, Bruce Catton, Shelby Foote, and J.R.R. Tolkien. My husband and I own series by each of these authors, and while we consider them very much worth keeping (and yes, re-reading), I realized that I didn't really like the "These Books Are The Weightiest and Most Serious Tomes We Own and They Must Always Live Together on the Top Shelf, Right Side" thing we had going on.

So I moved them away from eye level, and all to different places.

The six volumes of Churchill's The Second World War now reside on the third shelf, accompanied by a selection of pre- and post-WWII history books. The Civil War trilogies by Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote also live on the third shelf but on the opposite end, next to our other Civil War titles. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of The Rings books now live on the second shelf, near some other favorite fantasy and science fiction tales.

After: A little less serious

What's on the top shelf, right side now: books about Chicago, the American West, our National Parks, paddling, hiking, and nature guides.

Somehow our personal library feels a lot lighter. I feel more inclined to walk up to the bookshelf and pick something out. And yet we have the same books.

It's kind of like I broke up the group of kids in the classroom that talked the loudest, and moved them all to different desks in different corners of the room. Not to silence them--they do have important things to say--but to give the other kids a chance to be heard.

Sometimes it's not just what you own. It's where you put it.