Perhaps you’ve been noticing it for a while now, the steadily growing piles, the bookcases stuffed to overflowing. As if some sinister form of procreation is taking place behind your back—each book you bring into the house reproducing itself in a different cover at least once...or even twice.

Easy, too: step by step, a little at a time—pretty soon you’ll have some of your space back. And one of the best places to start is with your library card.

The Library Card
Why are we starting here? Because, as you begin to move some of your books out, you may also be tempted to bring in alternates. Penalty call! If a new book comes in for every old one going out…well, you do see the problem. So, as of today, consider putting yourself on a “book diet.”

And that’s where the library card comes in. Use that instead of your debit card to get your “new” books. Don’t even own a library card? Get one. And use it, because you might be surprised at how many of the books you’d like to read are in your local library. If they’re not, the library staff can very likely get them through inter-library loans.

Two big wins here:

(1) You save money, since books add up pretty fast at the cash register these days.
(2) You have to take library books back, which means they don’t take up residence in your home and add to your book clutter.

True, this isn’t helping you get rid of books, but it's helping you keep from bringing in any more. So, we can think of the new or “refurbished” library card as your first step.

Give Books Away
A no-brainer for people who can take books or leave them, to you this idea may feel like a knife in your heart. It can be virtually impossible for a bibliophile to let go of a book—even a book she hasn't read in years. So the turtle will tread lightly here, knowing how sensitive some of your nerve endings may be on this topic.

• Will you ever read it again in this lifetime? If the answer is no, put it in the box.
• Does it have sentimental value? If no, and you don’t expect to read it again, put it in the box. If yes, ask yourself if it’s really precious enough to keep. If it is, it stays in your home. (We’re not on a search-and-destroy mission here.)
• Does it have some other attraction for you? For example, a gorgeously bound book that you love would not be a box candidate, whether or not you’ll ever read it.

  When you’ve filled the box, take it away! Give those books to the library or a thrift shop. For light fiction, check with your local hospital; sometimes hospitals maintain a library for patients. If you have children’s books that nobody will read again, an elementary school might be delighted to have them.

  After you’ve disposed of your first box, fill another and repeat. That’s what it boils down to, really: simple steps. Although they’re not sexy or entertaining, they do get the job done. And that’s what we’re after here: ditching book clutter.

  Sell Your Books
  Don’t want to just give them away? Okay, but the process can still work. Using the same small-steps approach as above, collect the books you want to sell. If you think they might have some value to a collector, check out eBay, which may or may not work for you. (Sometimes you can get a hint of a particular book's value at abebooks.com.)

  If your books are fairly new, however, look into selling them through Amazon Marketplace (amazon.com marketplace). Some people claim to do really well there. Maybe you can, too. You might also check out cash4books.net to see if they give you a better deal.

  So—three pretty simple options waiting to go to work for you. Sure, there are some other possibilitiess, too, but these are right here ready to go. Are you going to fill a box?
  
  
  

  
  Back from Book Clutter to Just Do One Thing

  Back from Book Clutter to Clutter Relief