Can we talk about how I finally broke my book hoarding habit?

Went to a library book sale in Richmond last month and almost brought home 20 books. But I stopped and actually looked at my shelves at home first. Saw I still had 8 books from the last sale 2 years ago that I never opened. It hit me that I was buying books just to have them, not to read them. So I made a rule that for every new book I bring in, I have to donate two old ones. Now I only buy a book if I plan to read it that same week. Has anyone else dealt with this kind of book overflow? How do you manage it?

4 comments

4 Comments

ivanscott2mo ago

what if the problem isn't too many books but too little time to actually read? i donated a bunch of my unread ones and it just made room for a new pile of impulse buys. now i keep a "maybe" shelf in my closet and give myself a month to crack one open before i send it to the donation bin.

mark_carr72mo ago

Hang on, real quick - that's not quite the same thing. ivanscott said the problem is time, but what you're describing sounds more like a shopping habit than a reading habit. I do the same thing where I convince myself I'll read something "someday" and end up with stacks of books I'm not even excited about. Your weekly rule is smart though. I do something similar where I only let myself buy a book if I actually don't have anything to read right now, which happens maybe twice a year. The donation thing works but I found I have to actually track what I'm giving away or I just forget and buy more.

the_elliot1mo ago

Yo that hit me hard. I had the same wake up call and now I just keep a strict "one in, two out" rule like you mentioned and it kills the impulse every time.

mia7002mo ago

My friend Jenna had a whole bookshelf of books she never read, like 30 of them just sitting there. One day her cat knocked the whole thing over and she had to sort through every single one. She realized she didn't even remember buying half of them. Now she keeps a list on her phone of what she actually owns and only adds to it if she finishes something from the list first. It sounds extreme but she says it actually made her enjoy reading more because there's no guilt attached.