The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up discussion

Hi everybody,

I would appreciate any ideas regarding how to organise books at home. I have not that many but still. At the moment I keep them without any system (probably the size is the only criteria I follow) but I would like to get some other ideas/experiences how to organise the books (also in a stylish way even they are still in closed side boards).

And which systems are you using to creat and keep your own catalog?

Thank you and merry Christmas!

I do it strictly by size, you get a calming diagonal line and books are easy to find as long as they are all yours (it's easy to remember how big they are, rather than the exact title). I have to arrange them so that one shelf goes smaller to larger then the next larger to smaller and so on, i.e. zig zag them, otherwise it looks like the floor is crooked.

I organize my books by author, and whole sections of bookshelves are my favorite genre. If I am in the mood for a mystery, I go to that section and pick. I enjoy seeing all of my author collections together. For books that I only have 1 or 2 by a particular author I shelve them by type- classics, self help, chicklit, etc. I work around differences in size by stacking some on their sides, or small ones on top of vertical books- whatever works.

One more comment- I am trying to whittle down my collection by reading ones I haven't read then donating all but the favorites. I'm planning on making a big dent by using my TBRs to do the POP Sugar challenge this year.

I'm sure you've already done your organizing by now, but I'll share my method. I create my own categories for my books. I have one whole bookshelf that's filled with classic literature. My other bookshelf is separated into poetry, contemporary, surreal/magical realism, non-fiction, and foreign language. I think those are all the categories I have.

Ultimately, just do what feels aesthetically pleasing to you. If you end up not liking what you've done, rearrange them.

I organize by color, all of the same, then within that group by size. You could also narrow down by subject as well, which I did not do. I love looking at each color collection.

Fritz wrote: "I do it strictly by size, you get a calming diagonal line and books are easy to find as long as they are all yours (it's easy to remember how big they are, rather than the exact title). I have to a..."
Thank you!

Barb wrote: "One more comment- I am trying to whittle down my collection by reading ones I haven't read then donating all but the favorites. I'm planning on making a big dent by using my TBRs to do the POP Suga..."

Thank you, Barb!

Susan wrote: "I organize by color, all of the same, then within that group by size. You could also narrow down by subject as well, which I did not do. I love looking at each color collection."

Thank you, Susan!