Yesterday between head pain and a nap, I downloaded a couple of new iPod apps and began listing the books and movies I own and using a label maker to print Dewey Decimal labels for the book spines. I also photographed covers of some that were too old or obscure to have photos available on the Internet.
I have a large cookbook collection (77 volumes listed, and that's just the beginning). Consequently, Dewey is the simplest way for me to arrange them.
As a former librarian, I am familiar and comfortable with Dewey and can find what I need quickly that way. If I were to organize my books by size, color, content, or any other scheme, I'd be forever rearranging them. Dewey has a logical order built in, so I can label the books once and be done with arranging despite expanding and editing my collection over time.
My other collections are small in comparison-- only 8 knitting books and 6 gardening books for instance. But my cookbooks could take over the house unless I corral them. The floor in my knitting room is already less crowded now that I've done some shelving. Once I have the books together, I may also elect to prune some (ones I don't refer to often), but first I need an overall view of the breadth of coverage, and that means getting my books off the floor and off my treadmill and onto the shelves.
This is a part of my uncluttering plan, although I wasn't planning to tackle it until later. But the task was something I could begin while sitting down and resting in between activity bursts. That way at least I didn't lose the whole day to feeling poorly.
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