Books glorious books!
Books, especially when it comes to decluttering, can be difficult for some to streamline. This is particularly true of children’s books, as they can very easily accumulate over time.
Too many books, stacked on shelves or even lined up neatly inside cupboards, can become overwhelming for children, just by the huge volume of choice and so end up never being read!
My children’s Aunty Aya has generously gifted them both a monthly book subscription from The Willoughby Book Club (on a side note I highly recommend them). As you can imagine, their library collection could have easily rivalled our local library!
To keep on top of their book collection and shelves, I edit and streamline their books every 6 months or so.
- I start by removing all the books and placing them on the dining room table or floor.
- I will then create Keep and Donate piles (possibly creating various Sub Donate piles: charity, friends & family, local school etc.). Please check in with your local school first if they need any additional books. However, charity shops, hospitals and women’s shelters will usually happily accept them (in good condition).
- During the first round, I will start by placing the books that I know are their favourites, in the Keep pile.
- You may stumble across some books, which are now no longer in line with their reading age but are sentimental to them. For those special books, I tend to place them in a memory box.
- At this point, I may get my children involved. They can have a quick check of the books that I have put on the Donate pile. But please be warned, depending on their age they may find it difficult to select which ones they want to keep and or donate, as they will want to keep them all!
- Before I start placing the books back on the shelves, I categorise them by creating different coloured piles of books. I then sort by the colours of the rainbow, lightest first to darkest last.
- The bookcases, which we purchased 7 years ago from Great Little Trading Company (GTLC), has larger rows at the top and bottom and 2 narrower ones in the middle. So I sorted the larger ones, by light to dark. The middle rows, mirror the colours of the larger ones. But just let your creative juices flow!
For me, it’s about creating a fun and interesting selection of books, that hopefully won’t be overwhelming for my children. Once finished, my daughter, made a beeline for a book she hadn’t read in ages. So job done!
If you need any assistance on starting your own organising journey, please contact me for a confidential chat. I look forward to hearing from you, Elizabeth.
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