There was a period of my life, where I used to buy about 2-3 DVDs each week. Sadly, I wasn’t wise and mature then! (I like to think that I am, now!) Anyway, over the years I have accumulated far too many DVDs. It has come to stage where it is taking more house space than it should.
I was exploring some DVD organizing options and thought of sharing it on today’s post. The whole process took me about 45 minutes. Of course, the time taken for the process will depend on the volume of the DVD collection.
If you are like me, one of these days you might also get hit by the “DVD dilemma”. Whether it’s storing with cheap shipping boxes or using DVD binders, this process works!
Do the inevitable
I took all my DVDs and spread them on the floor. Now that I was able to “see” all the DVDs, I realized that there were some DVDs that I only watched once. I had not watched these for years!
Undoubtedly, if I am to get anywhere, I had to make some hard decisions.
What DVDs am I likely to watch again?
Which ones will just sit there another couple of years?
Based on the above questions, I went through each DVD and made two piles. I have to admit, I did this twice because in my first round I got rid of only about 10 DVDs! Even though I had not watched some within the last year, I keep thinking that maybe someday I might want to watch it again! In the “second round” round of sorting, I was more hash on myself and as I was able to eliminate more.
Options for unnecessary DVDs
Once I knew what DVDs I need to get rid of I had to figure out “HOW” to get rid of these. I was left with the following options.
1. The obvious choice: sell DVDs on eBay, Amazon auctions or half.com.
2. Sell to a local DVD reseller
3. Donate to Goodwill
4. “Recycle” them with friends and family
5. Dispose it.
Do you have any more ideas?
Storing without the DVD case
1. DVD binder/ wallet/albumThe album proved to be a much smaller alternative than endless shelves of DVD cases. And much more portable, too! I took off the cover page from the casing and stacked it along with the DVD.
Having the cover page in the binder, makes it more enjoyable to browse through.
The Nylon 336-Disc CD Wallet
serves the purpose and is easy on the wallet.2. DVD cylinders
You can either use a CD/DVD Storage Cylinder
. If you don't want to spend any money you can store the DVDs in the plastic spools that blank discs come on. It is very compact, free, portable, and safe from scratches. The downside is the difficulty in looking through to find what you want.3. Store in hard drive
I thought about ripping all my DVDs, but it's such a time consuming process.
I can't stand the idea of spending hours of time and effort ripping discs to save space. The quality of the DVD will be hindered as well.
I am also not keen on spending more money on a massive capacity drive to store them when I have already spent money on the DVDs! Another factor to consider is hard-drives can get corrupted. Knowing that, I don’t think I can ever get rid of the originals. So this was an obvious, “NO” for me.
Storing with the DVD case
1. Boxes - Perhaps, storing in box is the easiest. It can be a handy way to make old shipping boxes, shoe boxes useful. Alternatively, you can buy cheap shipping boxes.2. Rack - If space is not an issue, this would be an ideal option.
3. Drawers - The traditional filing system model is also something to consider.
On becoming Martha Stewart!
If you have a huge collection, it is important that you don’t waste too much “searching” for that specific DVD. Based on your needs, find a categorizing method that works best for you. Do you want to store it alphabetically, by genre or grouped by favorite?Sub categorize it further if you wish (alphabetical->genre). Want to go to extreme lengths? Color code the DVD cases!
For example:
Pink = Wife's movies!
Yellow = Action Adventure
Green = Comedy
It really is a nice feeling when your DVD collection disappears into your surroundings! Isn't it?
Have you sorted out your DVDs previously? What's your recommended storage medium?
