Week 3 of the Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge focuses on books and magazines. The way the days are split up on her website really splits the week up significantly for books.
Again, I didn’t keep to the exact day splits that she has, but this week, I did do the challenge over the course of the week.
On day 1, I piled all of my books in one spot to go through them.
As I piled all the books, I tried to split them into categories – general fiction books, bibliography style books, and textbooks or other knowledge related books.
That day, I completely forgot about my cookbooks. I got to those later in the week.
Choosing Books
Choosing which books to keep was very difficult for me. There were a few that I knew right away I didn’t like enough to keep. Those immediately went into the discard pile.
Then there were the few that I knew I loved and would be keeping. Those immediately went into the keep pile.
I was still left with a huge pile of books that I liked enough and couldn’t quite decide on. Books were hard for me to narrow down on.
In my future life, I have amassed a wide selection of books into a beautiful library. That being said, did I really want books in there that were only “so so”?
Still, I struggled, so I referenced back to my Marie Kondo books throughout the week.
Marie Kondo’s Guidelines on What to Keep
1. “Hall of Fame” books
According to Marie Kondo, there are some books that you have that will be considered “hall of fame books”.
These books are the ones that you read over and over again and without a doubt, bring you joy.
I knew these books immediately. I have been perpetually reading Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” since high school.
Then, there are my favorites series: “Harry Potter”, “Inheritance Cycle”, and “The Dark is Rising”.
2. Do Not Read the Books
As you are sorting through your books, Marie Kondo recommends to not open them up and read them.
This is much harder said than done. When I first started going through my books on the second or third day of the challenge, I was struggling.
I couldn’t tell which books I liked more than others. While I knew Marie Kondo recommended to not open them, I found myself opening them and glancing through the table of contents.
This really led to me thinking that the books would be helpful down the road and I found myself wanting to keep books I hadn’t touched in ages and didn’t particularly spark a large amount of joy as I held them.
Knowing this approach was not right, I kept all of those books in a “maybe” pile and saved them for a later date.
Marie Kondo states that looking through the books “clouds your judgment” and I found that to be true. It causes you to want to keep far more books than are actually appropriate for you to keep.
3. Touch the Books
The main way you should be telling whether you should keep the books is by touching them or hugging them. When you do these actions, you will be able to tell if they actually bring you joy.
After taking all my books off my shelves and setting them onto the table in my basement, I still couldn’t tell which books brought me joy. That is with the exception of my “hall of famer” books.
I re-read both of Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” and “Spark Joy” sections that covered books several times throughout the week to try and help me narrow down which books I should be keeping.
Finally, as I was at the end of my week, I tried a tip that I thought sounded a little quirky. I stroked the cover of each of my remaining books that had been sitting in my “maybe” pile.
Marie Kondo states that taking this action of stroking the cover or patting the cover of each book “wakes them up”. She specifically states that after she did this while working with her clients, they were able to decide which books to keep afterward.
I honestly thought to myself, “This is stupid. There is no way it will work. There’s just no logic to it.”
Well, it worked. After I did that to every remaining book, I was able to decide which ones to keep and which ones to get rid of in a matter of 20 minutes.
I was flabbergasted. Still, now, I think it is insane that it worked. Logical reasoning aside, I am just happy that it did.
4. Marie’s Stance on “I might re-read that someday”
Marie Kondo clearly states that she finds most of her clients rarely ever re-read books.
I do find this to be true. I have re-read my “hall of fame books” several times. Most of my other books, I haven’t re-read at all, even if I have intended to.
Her additional thought on re-reading books is that once you have read the book, you already have the knowledge that the book was meant to give. There is nothing more to gain from it in that regard.
That is why Marie Kondo recommends only keeping the books that bring you joy. They may serve no other purpose than bringing you joy if you never do actually re-read them.
5. Read New Books Right Away
Marie Kondo states that you should read the new books you purchase right away. Her reasoning for this is that the book would be most impactful in your life when you read it right away.
There is a reason you found the book at a certain time in your life. If you wait to read it until further down the road, it won’t have the same impact on you as it would have when you initially got it.
Her general stance on books you had bought and never read yet, is that “sometimes means never”.
Generally, if you bought a book that you thought you wanted to read “sometime” and then never got around to it, you never will.
In my experience, I have found her reasoning in this case to be true. There are some books that I own that I was so excited to purchase and have, but then haven’t read.
I know for a fact that those books would have been far more impactful on my life if I had read them when I first got them. I kept some of them, knowing I would still enjoy the read. However, I do know that based on the subject matter, they will be less impactful on me than they would have been a few years ago.
6. Half-Read Books
Similar to her stance on “sometimes means never”, if you have half-read a book and then stopped, get rid of it.
There was a reason you only half-read a book. It clearly didn’t keep your attention long enough to finish it. It is likely you never will finish it. Get rid of it, simple as that.
Marie’s Thoughts on Books you Keep
Marie Kondo had an interesting viewpoint on the books that you do choose to keep.
She states in her book, that you tend to become someone who is matched with the titles of books you keep.
So, as you are sorting through the books and deciding which ones to hang on to, consider that. Are the books representative of the person you want to be?
I found this concept interesting. It actually clashed with one of the books I had read by Gretchen Rubin. If I’m recalling correctly, she states in one of her books that you want to be careful to keep the items that represent your “ideal self”.
I believe the reasoning behind this is that the books may then be a constant reminder that you never did work to become your “ideal self”, which can have a negative impact on your mindset.
As for me, I agree partly with each of them. Keep the books that are representative of the person you want to be as long as they do not have a negative impact on your mindset.
If they constantly make you feel bad because you chose not to focus on that area, get rid of them at that time.
Final Random Thought About Keeping Books/Magazines
One last recommendation that Marie Kondo has about keeping books. If you find that you only like one or two pictures out of a book or magazine, cut or tear out that picture.
Then, when you get to the sorting papers week, go through them again to see if you want to keep them.
If you still do, find a creative way that can bring you joy. A recommendation that both Marie Kondo and Gretchen Rubin had in common was to create a kind of “shrine” somewhere just for you for these items.
It could be just a small area in your closet where you hang these pictures to bring you joy. Alternatively, it could be inside a kitchen cupboard or hidden just about anywhere so when you come across it, it brings you an extra spark of joy.
Storing Books
1. Store Books Upright
Marie Kondo states in her books that the way to store books is to store them in an upright position. Her thoughts are that if books are in piles, they will remain in piles and unread as well as spark less joy.
As someone who did have piles of books on her bookshelves, hiding other books that were upright, I can state that this is true.
Just looking at my bookshelves, I do get more joy out of having them standing upright versus when I had them laying on their sides.
She also states in her books that the books should be kept either on bookshelves or closet shelves.
Again, I do tend to agree with this. Before tidying up, I had books on bookshelves as well as shoved them into several bedside tables and at one point had considered putting them in a dresser due to lack of space elsewhere.
I can attest that when I had books on nightstands, the nightstands felt cluttered. There wasn’t room for the proper nightstand stuff. Plus, I tended to forget about them if they were buried in the back or covered up.
I am much happier now with my books on bookshelves.
I still have one pile of books that I will not currently fit on my bookshelves. However, I am confident that once I go through all my papers and photos, I will have room for them on another bookshelf.
2. Store Books by Category
The recommendation by Marie Kondo is to store your books in a similar category. I like this concept and have always tried to store my books in this way.
It is much simpler to find a book you are looking for if all similar books are grouped together.
For me, I have split my books into four separate categories: textbooks, reference books, general reading books, and cookbooks.
3. Store Books Where they are Used
For certain types of books, Marie Kondo states that instead of storing them on a bookshelf in another room, it is okay to store them where they are used.
My example of this is my cookbooks. Instead of storing them in my end bedroom or the bookshelf in my basement, I store them on a shelf in the closet of my dining room.
That way, when I am ready to cook and need a recipe, the book is easily available for me to grab and use.
4. Magazine Storage
One item that Marie notes in her book about magazines is to put a limit to the number of months you keep on hand. The same could go for newspapers as well if you still read those.
At the time of this challenge, I had several magazines that I had let pile up for at least 4 months’ worth of magazines.
Once I am that backlogged, I rarely, if ever, go back to read those older magazines. At this point, it is best to throw them out.
Personally, I usually try to keep no more than 2 months’ worth of magazines on hand at a time. The goal here is that I’m usually at least partway through one magazine by the time the second one arrives.
Feelings After Week 3 of the Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge
This week, was a difficult week for me. I love books and part of my identity is having books around. That being said, I was aware I had books in the house that I no longer needed or wanted.
I am proud of myself for finding books that I was willing to part with, even if it wasn’t a ton of books.
Marie Kondo states in her books that you should keep as many books as you need, no matter how many. Similar to clothes, she notes that you should keep them with confidence. That is what I am doing.
My husband had a very different view on this week. He had very few books to go through and found choosing which ones he loved to be very easy. I swear the whole process took him like 15 minutes in comparison to my considering them in 30-minute increments across the whole week.
That just shows that each person is different and how you sort through your books and how many you choose to keep will be right for you.
My completed bookshelves did not spark quite as much joy as my organized closets and dresser. I believe this is in part because I have other items on my bookshelves that have not been cleared out just yet.
For example, I have photo albums on one of my bookshelves, which are not up to be tidied up for a few weeks yet.
I think that once the entire bookshelf is organized and full of only items that spark my joy, I will feel much better about what remains and how it looks.
Take the Challenge With Me!
The positive impacts of the 8-Week Tidy Challenge are slowly showing up throughout our home.
Our closets and dressers are neater, our bookshelves more organized.
Along with it, the guilt that I had for holding on to items that no longer served me is slowly evaporating.
Plus, there is the added good feeling of donating most of the items to a place where they can be used.
The Marie Kondo 8 Week Tidy Challenge is a manageable and nicely organized way to get into tidying your house.
Curious about what Weeks 1 and2 of the Tidy Challenge entailed? Check out my blog article on that here: Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge: Week 1 and Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge: Week 2.
Coming up next week: Week 4 of the Tidy Challenge – Going through Paper.
