I Tried the “Snowball Method” and Decluttered 42 Books in One Day

I come from a family of readers, and I want to encourage my daughter to love books, too. Though I usually feel that there’s no such thing as too many books, recently, I had to admit that in my 5-year-old’s case, there definitely is. Between two bookshelves and four bins, picking which books to read was becoming overwhelming. Instead of sifting through our many options, it was just easier to stick with our favorites. Part of the reason I built such a large collection was to expose her to different kinds of authors and stories, so this began to feel a little counterproductive.

If picking books to read was overwhelming, picking which to pass on was even more so. I needed some kind of process to get through it. Enter: the snowball method, which I learned about here on Apartment Therapy. The idea is that when you decide to get rid of something, you should ask yourself why, then look for more items that align with that reason to get rid of as well.

After I rounded up all the books, I picked a bin and went through it until I (quickly) found one we didn’t need anymore. The book was too verbose for her age, and I didn’t think it would hold her attention now nor interest her once she could read it herself.

And so it began. In the beginning, I found myself getting distracted by books that weren’t keepers but also didn’t fall under the category of being overly wordy. My guess is that it was tricky because of the sheer volume of books. I had so much to go through that I was constantly tempted to start new categories, which would have defeated the purpose of “snowballing.” It’s possible that a different strategy would have been more effective, but it still got the job done effectively, and I’m glad I did it.

The best part about the snowball method is that it made me think critically about why I would or wouldn’t keep each book. Instead of being tempted to hang on to something “just in case” or because it was nostalgic, I had to question each book’s value. Plus, because the process was so clear and specific, I was motivated to see it through. By the end, I had four different categories: too repetitive/simple, too damaged, too verbose, and simply uninteresting. While whittling the collection down by a bin doesn’t sound like a big deal, I’m happy with the progress I made.

Based on my experience, the snowball method would be ideal for people who tend to be indecisive or need to break up the monotony of standard decluttering. If I did it again (which I think I will!) I’d focus my efforts on a slightly smaller category, or maybe break up the collection into groups, to make staying on task easier.