✧・creating a personal library system that actually works゜✧・゜✧
hey lovelies!
so last weekend i had a complete meltdown when i couldn't find my copy of "pride and prejudice" (the one with all my notes!) and ended up reorganizing my entire book collection at 2am. classic me behavior. but honestly? it was the best decision i've made in ages because now i actually know where everything is and i'm not buying duplicate books anymore (yes, i somehow owned three copies of "the bell jar"… don't ask).
i thought i'd share my super simple system for keeping track of my little library in case any of you are drowning in books too!
⋆.ೃ࿔:･ the physical organization ･:.ೃ࿔
i tried organizing by color once and while it looked pretty on instagram, it was literally impossible to find anything. so now i do a mix of these categories that actually makes sense for how i use my books:
favorites shelf - these are my ride-or-die books that i reread constantly and want to grab easily
to-be-read shelf - keeps all my unread books in one place so they don't get lost in the mix
read-but-keeping shelf - books i've finished but want to hold onto
reference section - cookbooks, style guides, etc that i need to access quickly
borrowed books corner - a special spot just for books that aren't mine so i actually remember to return them (sorry to everyone waiting for their books back…)
within each section, i organize alphabetically by author because i'm basic like that. but honestly it works!
⋆.ೃ࿔:･ the tracking system ･:.ೃ࿔.
this is the game changer! i used to rely on my memory (lol) to keep track of what i'd read until i found myself 50 pages into a book before realizing i'd already read it. now i use:
a simple reading journal - nothing fancy, just a notebook where i write the title, author, when i started/finished it, and a few thoughts
sticky flags in different colors - blue for beautiful quotes, pink for plot points i want to remember, yellow for things to research later
the inside cover trick - i write the date i finished the book and a tiny heart rating (♥♥♥♥♥) system on the inside cover
a digital backup - i use storygraph (not goodreads all the time because amazon owns enough of my life) to keep a digital record
⋆.ೃ࿔:･ the borrowing system ･:⋆.ೃ࿔:･
if you're like me and constantly lending books to friends (or borrowing them), this will save your friendships:
a dedicated "lending library" note in my phone with who has what and when they borrowed it
book plates that say "borrowed from mindy's library" (these were like $8 online and so worth it)
a rule that i only lend books i'm okay with never seeing again (learned this one the hard way)
⋆.ೃ࿔:･ the "did i already read this?" solution ･:.ೃ࿔
this was my biggest problem! now i:
take a quick photo of books i read but don't keep (like library books)
keep a "books i've read" list in my notes app for quick reference while browsing bookstores
add a tiny dot on the upper right corner of the first page of books i own and have finished
it's not a perfect system but it's simple enough that i actually stick with it! the key is finding what works for your reading habits rather than trying to create some instagram-perfect color-coded situation that you'll abandon after a week.
what about you guys? any genius book organization hacks i should know about?
xoxo, mindy 🤍
