Organizing Tip of the Week - Bookshelves

It’s been a busy two weeks with spring cleaning, clients and celebrations but now I’m back and it feels good! This week’s organizing tip is – Bookshelves. I for one love and enjoy the feel of books (you will not convince me to switch to a kindle…ever!). I have learned over the years, that as much as I like books, space and the look of my bookshelves are important factors that I think of when I decide which books I really love and want to keep.

Here are some tips on how you can organize your books efficiently and aesthetically:

1) Bring all your books to one place and break them up into categories – fiction, non-fiction, art, reference, children, cooking, etc. I suggest putting them on the floor or a flat surface in piles.

2) Go through each pile, ask yourself, do I love this book? Will I read it again? Do I really need it?

3) Donate (to schools, prisons, churches, synagogues, etc.) or sell what you don’t want.

4) There are several ways you can organize your books, by size, alphabetical order, genre, and color. Sort whichever way makes the most sense to you. I like sorting by genres and then for each genre by size.

5) If you’d like to decorate your bookshelves, here’s a good rule of thumb - one-third books, one-third accessories, and one-third empty space per shelf.