How to organize your library and remove clutter

There’s nothing else that compares to the thrill of escaping into a good book. Sure, there are a number of good TV shows and movies out there, but they’re just not the same thing. Whether you like adventurous tales of mountaineers and explorers, the precision of a great short story, or novels with intricate plots and many characters, you’ve probably collected quite a few books over the years. The question then becomes, how should you organize your library, or in some cases, your shelves?

Read on to see our tips on how to get your book collection in order. Does your shelf seem a little sparse? Not much to organise? Do not be afraid. Check out our 13 favorite Stephen King books ranked. Not a Stephen King fan? No worries, here are 20 great books to read this year.

By genre: The bookstore/library route

Think back to the last time you visited your favorite bookstore or library. Maybe you went with a specific book in mind, or maybe you just went browsing and seeing what you could find. Anyway, I hope the store was easy to navigate as the books were organized by genre. Fiction was with other fiction, poetry with poetry, children’s books together, and so on.

Of course, there are bookstores where books are stacked in no apparent order. There is usually a cat walking around. When you finally find a book you might like, you have to pull it out of a precarious pile. While this type of store has a lot of charm, finding the one book you’re looking for is like finding a needle in a haystack.

So start by organizing by genre. If you’re the kind of person who reads a bit of everything and has multiple shelves, this might be the best organization system for you. It is also a good system to start with, and then you can refine your organization, for example with literacy.

Step 1: Make a list of the different genres in your book collection.

2nd step: Assess your shelf space and how it will align with the different genres in your collection (e.g. the large shelf will fit all my fiction and the smaller shelf could be for essays/non-fiction).

Step 3: Remove the books from the shelf, organize them by genre, then put them back on the shelf. Now when you are looking to read poetry, all of your poetry collections will be on the same shelf or section and easy to find.

Alphabetically

If you have a lot of books, it can be difficult to find the one you’re looking for. With two or three shelves scattered around the house, you’ll spend more time looking for the right book than reading. This is where literacy comes in. Although at first it might seem corny or a bit over the top, it really is helpful.

Step 1: Instead of pulling all your books off the shelf and putting them back in alphabetical order, start by organizing the top shelf of your bookcase. Arrange the books in order of the first letter of the author’s last name.

2nd step: Then start inserting the books from the shelf below.

Step 3: When the top shelf is full, drop a piece of books onto the next shelf and keep working.

Step 4: If you have a lot of books by the same author, you might even consider organizing those books alphabetically by title to further refine your organization.

By size

This may be dictated by the height of your shelf more than anything else. But if you have larger books, like art and photography books, they’ll need taller shelves than those tiny consumer paperbacks.

If you aren’t able to adjust the height of your shelves, oversized books can be stacked on their sides and provide a nice contrast to the vertical spines of the rest of your books.

Step 1: If you are working with only one shelf, use the pegs so that the lowest shelf is tall enough for your tallest book.

2nd step: The shelf above can be spaced closer to accommodate hardback books.

Step 3: The next shelf or shelves may be for paperbacks, which for many of us make up the bulk of our book collections.

Step 4: Mass markets can then be arranged on the top shelf.

With other objects

This one is less about organization and more about decoration.

While you surely take pride in showing off your book collection, it can be easy for shelves to look cluttered and cluttered and not align with your home’s aesthetic. When considering how to organize your bookshelf, consider not only the order of the books, but also the visual appeal of the entire shelf. By adding items like photographs, artwork, and collectibles to the shelves, the overall shelf appeal will be greater and eye-catching.

Step 1: Gather some of your favorite photos, collectibles, trinkets, or artwork that will fit on a shelf.

2nd step: Use bookends or a stack of books to create space on your shelves.

Step 3: Place the items in the empty space you created. Bonus points for thematic connections between nearby objects and books.

Good, you have it now. And remember, each of these methods can be combined with others. It’s all really up to you. Hopefully, applying one of these methods will help you control your (ever-growing) book collection and help you find the book you’re looking for faster.

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