I'm a librarian and I absolutely recommend going through your books! It feels so good only having ones that matter to you and letting go of ones that no longer make you feel good / feel like obligations!

I have passed on over 800 books in the past three years! I had them all over the house and now have them all in my office. I will be going through those today and putting together what I call "blessing boxes " for others to enjoy. I have our local Disabled Veterans organization picking these and other items up on Thursday! Instead of focusing on what I'm losing, I focus on how I am blessing others! Have a Blessed day!

Decluttering my books were easy since they have been packed up for the past four years to be donated to the library. Thanks for encouraging me to get them out of the basement and actually donate them.

Love your rules here! What’s worked well with my kids books is that I go through the books and pull the ones I’m ok decluttering and stack them up. Then I have them gather round and I hold up each book and they speak up if they want to keep a book. I remind them that they get the final say, and they keep 10-20% of what I would have decluttered without their input. They feel respected and it goes so quickly! I’ve tried the other way where I have them go through all of the books with me, but this way is so much easier for all involved.

Books are very hard to declutter, it’s like getting rid of an old friend! Having said that I’ve made progress passing some on to other people and I’ve survived the process so I guess I can do it again! Thank you Steph! X

@amylb4761

2 жыл бұрын

I’ve gotten away from buying books and only rarely do now. If I do buy them, I usually pass them on to others to read.

We are lucky enough to have "free little libraries" in our town, so we declutter and switch out books regularly. :)

We Decluttered my husband's books as he has 100's of them. He had books from his college days. It took us several hours, but it was well worth it! We were able to gain valuable storage space in one of our closets. Thanks for the motivation!! 🙂👍

Donating cookbooks is a piece of cake! Paring down the 6 year old granddaughter’s loved and large library is like pulling teeth! She’s as nostalgic as I.

I've gotten pretty good at bringing my own books that I've read to little free libraries, but you've definitely motivated me to go through our kids' books.

I’m loving baby-stepping my way through decluttering my house. No overwhelm, but getting it done

I love the tip to store away most of the books and set a reminder when to change up the books. It’s like they have their own library to chose from and then the house doesn’t feel cluttered with books everywhere.

We finally have a system that works SO well for us, we are all book lovers and things used to be way out of hand. I do a small book rotation (just two bins) and bring out our special seasonal books for holidays or weather etc. I also have a designated shelf for library books, the kids each pick out the ones they want for that week so it's always full of fresh material, and applicable for their ages/stages/interests. And nothing gets lost because it's all on the library shelf. It works so well and keeps the clutter down immensely! Love your content and channel ☺️

I decided to put all my kids seasonal books in with my seasonal decorations. That made a surprising amount of room on the book shelves. Thanks for the inspiration.

@dreap8986

2 жыл бұрын

I like this idea

@tm58649

2 жыл бұрын

This is a great idea! 🙌🏼

@terildiaz7532

2 жыл бұрын

Smart idea. It would be fun to add with crafts for the seasons.

@elaineharter2452

2 жыл бұрын

I always did this with my kids and still do with my grands.

@katies5658

2 жыл бұрын

What a great idea!! Stealing this!

I love how you share your thought processes regarding what you’re keeping and why. And then to make it ok to store some out of sight for awhile is helpful. It’s a gentler minimizing process that resonates with me:)

Books are one of the many things we tend to collect. I've found, though, that we find more books to get rid of if we are selling them to a store we have, 2nd and Charles because they give you store credit for them. Getting money back for books that have been just sitting on our shelves that we can get a game or video game or even 1 better book with has been a game changer. Last year, we got rid of enough books to get enough store credit to buy several family member's Christmas presents and that really helped our budget around Christmas time. 🎄

This one will be a big challenge! There are four of us in our house and we all LOVE books... I'm going to work for an hour and see how I get on. I wish all of us luck in our homes on this challenge! Thanks for the encouragement, Steph! "Progress, not perfection... progress, not perfection..."

Books are so hard for me to declutter being a teacher, I feel sometimes I want to save them all for my classroom. I am tackling this today! Thanks for the motivation :)

I've gone through my books every six months for the past several years, and its amazing how many "keepers" later become "donates". I love books like you, but I have to keep the incomings fewer than the outgoings.

We donated a lot of our books to our local library, and they were so grateful! One thing I've taught my kids is that if we have a book they don't know if they'll want to read again, we can always check it out at the library. This has helped them declutter several books. I always throw away the book jackets too! 🤣

This was a difficult declutter. I LOVE my books. And the books of my children. But we did it! My 6 years old found 17 books to donate. I'm sure there are still some books too much but we will do it one more time soon.

Well, this is definitely an area for me to work on! Lol 10yrs of homeschooling and I’ve acquired a lot of books. I’ve started and will continue shelf by shelf as I can as I truly could use the space. Thanks so much for your encouragement!! 😊

I did this about 2 weeks ago... Got rid of 40 books 🙈 We recently started taking articles from magazines we want to read and recycling the rest of the magazine. Love these challenges ❣️

Studies show kids are more successful later in life if they have easy access to books in the home when they’re kids! Great idea to rotate them in and out to keep them from becoming too overwhelming and messy!

I appreciate seeing you need to pause and work though whether to keep something as well. It reminds me that even the "professionals" struggle with some items. Thanks for keeping it real. :)

I agree: books are truly like old friends and it is really difficult to say goodbye to them! Thank you so much for the motivation.

I homeschooled for 13 years and we love books! We had six big bookcases in our homeschool room and now I have (after many decluttering sessions) three. I have kept my favorites- ones I read to the children and maybe will get to read to grandchildren one day. My new rule is to never buy fiction books but just use library and to try and find non-fiction at library and decide if I want to invest in it. I am now very mindful with adding book inventory. However when my children were young I wanted them surrounded by books- books they could read/look at and we always had a “read aloud” book that was too hard for them to read. I would read a chapter or two each school day and they would hear good literature, sentence structure, etc. I believe this helped them become good writers too. Homeschooling is hard but it was one of the best jobs I had!! So thankful for all that time I spent with them. Enjoy every minute- the fun and hard times!

@LoveYourKids1

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing! I am in my 7th year of homeachooling. What a great way to determine which books to buy for future! I have so many!

@maryellenerikson1397

2 жыл бұрын

I do the same thing! Friends and I were just talking about decluttering books and I said how I didn't really have a problem until my library quit having fines for overdue books. They were appalled until I said I was just kidding, I do still return the library books. I homeschooled as well and we had many of our own books for the kids, but stocked up at the library every week as well. That is how we would find out what they really wanted for themselves, if it was hard to get them to put it back in the bag to return on time. :)

For my children's books, I used to stand, on the top of the book case, seasonal books, to stand out from the rest, so my children could see them , and they would want to look at them, keeping in the theme of the time of year. tfs Have a lovely day ! 🥰🐣🐤💐🌞🌛🐰💗🇺🇲🥰🐣🐤💐🌞🌛🐰💗🇺🇲🥰🐣🐤💐🌞🌛🐰💗🇺🇲

I have books everywhere! After work today, I’m going to gather them and find ONE home for them and have my kids go through theirs too. Thank you for the motivation!!!

I got rid of a bunch of books that someone else can enjoy now. Yes changing out the books like a toy rotation is great Stephanie. Thanks for sharing. Blessings to you.

I'm a librarian. I think you handled this topic beautifully. And, you have my permission to throw away the book jackets - ha. Most picture books have the same picture on the book itself, so no biggie. I love that you use your library so much. That's a great way to keep book clutter under control. We have a shelf specifically for library books. When the kids are finished with them they put them in a basket at the door so I know they're ready to be returned. (Also, if you happen to randomly pick me, draw again. I won yesterday).

Love books and we were a homeschooling family, too!! Over the years I started to scale down quite a bit and decided that I wanted others to read the books we had on our shelves. So, if it wasn't an educational book we needed or one of the kids' personal favorites we let it go. We started using the book basket for school. I'd go to the library and get TONS of books for the month covering a variety of subjects. Some were just fun books, some geography/culture, some history, some science type books, nutrition, health, music, etc. Then each day the kids had book basket time....and even if I didn't tell them, I'd find them sitting somewhere reading about medieval times or some far away country, etc. So fun!! They are all grown up now, but I'll always look fondly on those wonderful moments.

It was fun going through my daughter’s books with her! We put a whole box together to pass on to her younger cousin. 💕

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the step by step nature of this challenge - thank you.

Hi Steph...I have been on a decluttering journey since I lost my husband and raising my 3 grandsons (with a back disability)...I just went through the boy's books and donated 3 boxes (good size) to their school. I would like to thank you for being so straight forward and real!!! I love your challenges... they are so fun and motivating. 💗💗

Books are always a huge source of chaos in our home. I knew about the toy rotation but never thought about book rotation! Genius.

Oh, my. I've been piling books by my bookshelves as I've been going through boxes and totes and such. Today's the day İ deal with them. Thank you for doing this!

@luna7453

2 жыл бұрын

courage :) Me too :) it is feel so freeing then :) and joy that can be used by others now :) before I had too much books, and I gave the books shelves and I have now only a box for books and so I use the container concept to limit me to have too much and when I feel it is coming up again, I do a day purge :) as today too :) good decluttering for you too :) (sorry for my mistakes in english :) french speaker :) i hope it can be understood :)

We have a 10 month old and I’m so amazed at how many books we have already! I love the idea of rotating them out and also using the public library as a resource as well. As a former teacher (1st grade) I have a kids book problem as well, so I’m trying to not buy so many (most of the books have been gifts!) so we don’t have too much around the house! Thank you for the motivation

One thing that I always forget is that libraries carry cookbooks and decor books. My friend reminded me the other day and I was able to pick up a beginner's sewing book to teach my kids.

I saw some books we read to our now 23 year old daughter in your video! And I keep a few books i had as a child as well. I also had to point out 2 books to my daughter's school as one had a lady using a knife to threaten a child cleverly desguised in a cartoon child's book. This was in kindergarten class room! Teacher had no idea and was shocked. So parents we must be diligent in reviewing what is really not meant for children to read. Good job Steph! This series is so helpful. Did my junk drawer Friday- now to the books!

Oh, my goodness! I can so relate to still having crates of books that have not been opened since you moved! We finished our 13-year homeschool journey in July 2019, then in a few days, we moved to a whole new state. There are multiple crates of books still sitting in our garage unopened from our move. Lots of them are not homeschool-related, but just so many books from the growing up years. It makes me so sad to look at them because they bring back so many memories of such happy times and they are such a reminder that those years have been lived and will never be again. I know there are so many kids who could benefit from the books, but every time I think about letting them go, I feel like I am letting go of the precious memories that are attached. I feel so torn and have spent so much time agonizing over this! I know this all sounds crazy, and I need to confront and deal with this issue. Thank you for your encouragement and motivation. I am so grateful for you and all you do!

@aoie11

2 жыл бұрын

I can relate! Save the most special ones for your kids to read to their kids. My mom saved some of my favorite childhood books and it is the greatest gift ever to now read them to my kiddos. Good luck to you!

When we moved to this house I had 32 boxes of books to move! I was in the same boat as you, I love books, I read books, and I was homeschooling. 8 years later I am learning to declutter and books have been hard. I’m making my way through but I seem to have to go back to them weekly to continue the process. One thing that really resonated with me was something another vlogger said, are you really a book lover if you don’t share your love of books by passing on the ones you’ve read to others, OR are you a book hoarder.... I definitely fall into both categories and I don’t want to anymore. Thank you for this bit inspiration and kick of motivation. From one Canadian mom to another, keep up the good work!

We were fortunate to get two bookshelves given to us with 5 shelves each. Since there are 5 people in our family, we each get two shelves to fill as we please. It has taken so much pressure off of me as the keeper of the house because I am no longer the bad guy trying to keep things under control and fair-if your shelf is too full and you want a new book, you need to pick out your least favorite to pass along. It has really helped my children learn how to declutter without it ever becoming a "power struggle". I always have a donation box ready so everyone can declutter whenever they want and when the box is full, I drop it off on grocery day and put out a new container. Tidying is easier too because every book has a specific person's shelf so we never have to search to find an empty space among the 10 shelves.

Thank you for your calm and thought provoking videos Steph! The huge bookcase is now clutter free, neat and tidy! A total of 242 items out the door!

I'm new to homeschooling and I'd love to see a video about how you organzie homeschool supplies and even your schedule. We're taking a pretty casual approach, but I love seeing what works for different people.

Went from 7 bookshelves to 2 in the last year. Today I emptied out another 3 shelves of books. I was finally ready to say goodbye to coffee table books that I had held onto but not viewed in many years. Some of the books I have had for 40+ years. I hope that someone is excited to find and read them.

I love utilizing the library and let it keep most of the books we read in our house. I have decluttered many books in the past few years as my kids have outgrown a lot of younger kids books. There are still more than fit comfortably in the space I have assigned for books though, so today's challenge is still a good reminder!

I'm so proud of myself! I've been doing decluttering all year...trying to do one section or type each week. I sell kids clothes and stuff at a local consignment sale, so that is always an opportunity to declutter also. BUT, I'm getting much better at making it a par of my routine. Letting go gets easier the more you do it; I'm very sentimental so some things are still hard. I hear Steph in my head "progress, not perfection!" If you feel like you're not making progress, take a picture of every box you get rid of or before and after pics.

I'm so glad books is the next part of the challenge as I'm busy decluttering books to free up a bookcase to give to my brother's little boys. My brother's wife is expecting a baby in May, so they are sorting out the children's spaces. Thank you for the inspiration Steph! ❤

Firstly, Ex-pat Brit here: Sour Cream isn't exactly the same, I know, but will work in lots of Jamie's recipes as a substitute!! I still have a bag of books that I decluttered months ago sitting in my entry way ready to donate. I live in Spain and they are English books so it's not so easy, but today I went to a 'readers´ café where tourists go and am going to take them there, along with the ones decluttered today. I sometimes take them to local hotel lobbies, but with Covid there had been no foreign tourists. Thank you so much for this motivating challenge!

Over the years I have learnt to declutter books on a fairly regular basis. We have a lot of children’s books still, but most are much loved favourites or recent additions from Christmas or birthdays. Our books, my husbands and mine are pretty lean but I think we could declutter more! Bring it on!

I was so excited for this one! I had a collection of recipe/cook books that I bought, looked in, wanted to use ... and then didn't. I realized that I did not need 40,000 recipes in my house. I've decided that I do NOT want to be a great cook - but I want to be a consistent one. I figured out that when I have too many choices, in anything, I get twitterpated and just don't do anything. So, for the last month, we've been making our lists of favorites and even some of our own spice blends to be added to rice and such. I now have about 30 tried and tru favorites that we cycle for 2 months and then I do have a few (under 20) recipes that are something that I'd LIKE to try because they are easier and are totally adaptable. Now with my cook books gone - donated last month - I feel less like a cooking failure. I learned that throwing my meat in a bag with marinade when I get home from the grocery store gives me a freezer full of meals and not 'maybe ideas' and THAT has been lifechanging. Can't wait for the next video. #PreparingToMoveWithYourHelp

My kids LOVE TO READ! My youngest is just starting and if kids love to read they are setting themselves up to be good learners which means, “easier” homework nights when school starts. My kids are 20, 15, and 5 and I’ve noticed this with all 3 at different stages of life. 📚🤓

I love that you went through the kids' books without your kids. I keep making the mistake of going through with my kids, and they don't want to get rid of ANYTHING. The problem is that they never read a bunch of the books, but they are sentimental. I think I'm finally ready to say goodbye haha.

Just a few words of thanks for your inspiring me to limit the time I spend decluttering (or doing other tasks). Your example of prioritizing relationships, health and enjoyment is inspiring.

It always feels great to pass books on to younger relatives that my kids have out grown.

Rotating books is awesome. My sister and I exchange totes of books so our kids can try new books often. It’s especially fun for the kids to know they are reading books that their cousins recommended to them and loved. They leave little notes for each other on their favorite books. They are getting older now and still exchange or recommend books to each other.

Thanks for showing us how easy it can be. It's the figuring out part that sucks. You look awesome Mom of three! I love that you think local. It is so important these days I think. Bravo!

I have learned that I don't mind decluttering my books too much. I only keep books that I actually think I will read again. In this season with four little kids, it has to be pretty life changing to earn a place in my permanent library.

Books are so hard for me to declutter. The kids are older but they still like going back and looking at the picture books every now and again. Thanks for the inspiration to reduce our collection.

I love children's picture books! I store them on a shelf inside low sided baskets or wooden crates with the book covers facing me. It's then so easy for anyone (children!) to flip through the books (rather than pull them all off the shelf on to the floor) to find their next read.

As a teacher it has been very hard to let go of books. I keep some for writing inspiration, others for specific lessons, others to just read and enjoy with the kids. I have let go of some and need to let go of more. Thanks Steph

It is so nice to see that you have the same issues with books we all have. I love the fact that you don't just tell us what to do that you do it also!

This is the hardest category for me!! We have so many children’s holiday books, that we store them in seasonal bins with the holiday decor. St.Patrick’s day decor and books, for example, are stored together in a bin in the basement.

This is actually something I recently did with my kids and has them help me. It was much easier than I thought it was going to be and we kept books they really wanted and will read. The rest were passed on to friends that wanted them.

Last year I finally gave away the cookbooks I don’t use on a regular basis. Now I not only have an easier time meal planning, but I have a nice, clear kitchen counter.

Getting a kindle was the best thing I ever did in terms of helping me.feel empowered to declutter my books. I also got rid.of every single.cookbook. Such a win because books take up soooo much space!

My 5 kids are all grown up now and although I’ve been able to get rid of clothes and toys ( well most of them 🙃) I find parting with their books extremely difficult… so many beautiful memories of snuggling at bedtime reading together… I’ve now managed to downsize (thanks for the support Steph) but have kept the special books, contained within one shelf, in the Lounge room for my 4 grandkids. Now to make some more snuggly memories !!! 🥰🥰

I have decluttered a lot of books over the years. Just recently my husband’s grandma gave me a box of books…I put them on the shelf to not disappoint her, but I really read most of my books on a device these days…I tried telling her that, but she insisted. I have the space, so I kept them for a while and this challenge was just what I needed to let them go.😊

Yay I love books. We’ve gotten our books down from four bookshelves to just one big bookshelf. I have three teenagers… But I cherish the memories of the days when they were young and we all read for hours💙💙💙

Oh books and more books. We love books. Every room has a bookcase and the school room is overflowing. I liked one of the suggestions of going thru every six months. I réalisé i can’t possibly read them all so I have been donating them. Keep them circulating. Thanks Steph for a great video. Enjoy the homeschooling time it’s a great family adventure.

There’s a lot of good places to donate books like nursing homes, retirement homes, daycare‘s, Foster care, women’s shelters and Little library boxes in neighborhoods. Also you can have a little challenge that I had with my family…once a week we found a book to get rid of until we met our sweet spot. Hope this is helpful 💛

I am a book collector (did my BA in literature), and I still use a lot of literature in my work. When we moved home 2 years ago, I culled nearly half of my huge collection. It's not like I need old literary criticism stuff haunting the shelves, and some subjects that once had my interest don't anymore. I invested in a beautiful big bookcase for my studio/office last month to replace some wonky old shelves, so the books got another round of clearing out. I am looking forward to evenings on the patio with my list of summer reads. I have no "homeless" books wandering our home anymore.

What a wonderful process of culling books to donate and rotate books for later. Thanks Steph for a great video! I laughed when you talked about throwing out the paper book jacket - my husband hates book jackets and always throws them out eventually! I never knew anyone else that did that. He finds them annoying and takes them off immediately, but then they would end up in a pile in the corner of the room. So now I know to throw them out when he takes them off. Good to know he's not the only one!

We went through all of our books a year or so ago. We had one room where every wall was shelves full of books - it was a great vibe, but sooooo many books we were never going to read, or read again. And the thought of moving them all when we move in a few years was daunting. We were able to get rid of well over 75% of them (donating, selling, gifting) - which was great. But this video was an awesome reminder for me to see what we have and get rid of what we can. I now have a nice stack of books to remove from the house after my 5 minutes this morning. Thanks!!!!

I had to declutter my books when I left my ex. It was so painful cutting down all my childhood horse books! But I needed the money for survival and couldn't keep them with me. Now, I am enjoying the hunt for them again since I am finally stable and have my own house. My personal rule is: no more books than will fit in the built in shelves by my fireplace. I still have two empty shelves, so I'm good for now!

When I retired from teaching several years ago, I brought several boxes of books home with me for my “littles” to enjoy. I was able to declutter a box full of books they no longer use and have them ready to drop off at our local daycare. I know they will appreciate and enjoy them. Have a great day, Steph! 😊

Books, books and more books 📚! I have 23+ years worth of homeschool books/supplies. None of my still homeschooling friends want them. I don't want to throw them away. They are all in boxes but I need to do something with them. They are definitely part of my 'brain clutter'......

It was fun to see some of your favorite books and magazines. Your reluctance to get rid of the cookbooks was funny and so relatable!

I know of a book thrift store in my area who recently got flooded so it feels wonderful to donate books to them, been trying to remember to get around to going through them, thanks Steph for setting the challenge!

Nothing is harder than books! I inherited so many from mom and am getting a bit teary at the thought I need to give some away… but I am going to share with my sister and children!

My husband and I LOVE books, that said we don't bring books in that weren't value, so today I focused on organizing the kid's books and storing out of season ones.

Oh, I love my books! However, I will probably be moving in the next couple of years and my main motivation for decluttering them is that I Do NOT want to move all that I have. Thank you for hosting this declutter challenge!

As a former preschool teacher, we used to cover the paperback children's books with clear contact paper. It protects the book and doesn't come off.

Make your own creme fraiche! Add 1 T buttermilk to 2 cups heavy cream. Cover and leave on the counter over night. Refrigerate and you're all set! Love your channel!

Such a good idea to rotate books in and out to help with the books strewn all over the house situation! I've always thought children play with more when they have less and for some reason I never applied it to our books. Thanks so much for doing these declutter challenges! It helps me so much and I believe so many others as well!

Books are an important part of our home and homeschool. I love the idea of book rotation. My kids are definitely more interested in reading when the books are changed out frequently.

Thanks for the motivation Steph. I have so many kids books that my kids have outgrown. This is a perfect time to go through them, as I am turning the play room into a more usable space for their ages.

We have always had A LOT of book in our house. When my boys were in high school I got ride of all the children’s books. I wish I would have kept them now. Great motivation today. ~Samantha

A number of years ago I had over 300 movies. Physical DVD’s and about 100 VHS’s and I got rid of all of them!! I haven’t missed it at all. Streaming is so much more convenient.

I too have Pam and Peggy’s book! For your home magazines, maybe tear out he pictures you like and put in a file folder, or a binder or on a bulletin board. Thanks for your videos.

Glad to see that people are still reading books. I have culled my book collection several times over the past 8 years. I still have at least 40 boxes, most of which are reference/how-to books so they are not easy to part with.

I never thought I'd be someone who said we owned too many books but we have definitely hit that level!

The last time I decluttered books I took them to several Little Free Libraries. As hard as it is to part with them, it made me feel good to know someone else can enjoy them.

We are just like you, loads of kids books! We have 4 kids ages 10 to 1. My 8 year old particularly loves books. He has so many that the rotation system works really well for him. He knows the are put away and doesn't stress about me getting rid of them

I don't have a lot of books & I haven't taken the time to read the few I have, but it is still hard to purge them. I need to set a reminder on my phone that if I haven't read them, I have to give them away. Thank you, Steph.

Totally agree with the "books are like old friends " comment. That's certainly what we call my Mum's books. Our hallway as kids was lined with book shelves. We struggle a lot with parting with books in our house. Do need to go through them again though....

I don’t have a lot of books and movies to declutter, thank goodness! My hubby, though, has a lot! I forgot about my cookbooks! I need to use them more often and give them some love! 💕

I need to do this! I keep my cookbooks in the pantry, your comment about Jaimie Oliver made me laugh. I buy used books at my library for my grandkids, it’s the best place. I have books scattered all over the house. Here I go. Thanks Steph!😊

I've been making progress with at least 5 minutes of decluttering each day. Today wasn't a good day for me to tackle books, but I did manage to start working on some paper organizing from my overflowing temporary storage location while watching the video. Thanks for the motivation!

Love your happy mom attitude about books for kids!