Messy But Efficient Way to Organize Your Bookcase

Edit: I have found tons of brilliant ideas in the comments from people who have other methods and tips to save your books or just what to do with them. This is a s/o to everyone who had these ideas. Thank you.

This is especially for you, EJ.

Do you absolutely love books and have tons but don't seem to have enough space for them, no matter how many shelves you nail to the wall? Well, this instructable is for you then, darling!

I have a baby bookcase with lots of books. And when I say baby, I mean baby. I mean, it's less than one foot tall, two feet long and not even one foot wide. That's baby. Yet I still manage to fit my books in it. How? Well, I'll tell you.

(Say in the comments what book I'm reading)

Vertically.

It may look great, but because books are so fat, you lose space too quickly.

This is my bookcase with 32 books in it. With the new method, I have over 50 books in my bookcase now.

Using the vertical method, it's kind of sad since it seems there's so much wasted space. But you can fix that...

Horizontally.

Read the next step.

That's right, stack 'em up horizontally!

You may say, "Books were meant to be aligned standing--not stacked!"

Well, that may be the case (your case) but books are also flat and you'll find you'll have tons more space if you stack them up.

You may also say, "Well, how will I even know which book is which? I can't see the spine!"

That's where sticky notes come in.

If you write or scribble on your books, it's considered offending the book.

I don't write in my books, but as for labeling the books, I wrote down their names on the bottom so you could see what the book was.

If you don't want to offend your book, you can use sticky notes instead. Label the book using a sticky note and just leave it poking out of the book so you know what you're reading. Then just stack up the books.

If you're a bookworm like me, you believe that books are necessary for...life.

If you have literal piles of books like me, this messy but efficient way can help you. It doesn't take too long and you can save up tons of space. I went from 32 books in my bookcase (using the vertical method) to over 50 (using the horizontal method). There's actually just 55 books in my bookcase. But that's a 23 book difference. Pretty sweet, huh?