How to Stop Hoarding Books

A strategy for clearing your home of literary clutter

Is this what your book storage looks like? Photo: Eugenio Mazzone/Unsplash

For many of us, books are harder to part with than other objects. Even people who are not regular book readers have this issue. But as much as having books in the house can add character and charm, any book hoarder can tell you it also leads to some other issues:

• Books are the perfect place for dust to collect, especially if you don’t regularly take all the books out, wipe them (and the shelf) individually, and put them back. Hello, allergies!
• In humid places, they are a perfect environment for mildew. Hello, allergies and bad smells!
• Little transparent book-dwelling insects can start to breed on the pages.
• Termites love books.
• Binding and paper get weaker with time.
• Books take up space and add to visual clutter.

Parting with books takes utmost honesty. You need to be honest with yourself about what you have read, still want to read, etc. It’s easy to convince yourself you will read books you haven’t gotten to yet in some indefinite future. But let’s be real. If they gave you any joy, you would have already consumed them.

And think about the possibilities: For every day that a book sits untouched on your…