DVD Storage, Redux

After writing my last post, I began to think think obsess about my DVD storage. I knew almost from the start that my current system wouldn't work that well for me, but I thought I'd adapt. Truth? It hasn't worked at all. It just feels like so much work to open a door, find the right box, pull the box off the shelf, locate the correct DVD, put the box away, and then repeat to put the DVD away. I've ended up not watching many of my DVDs this year and the ones I have seen I haven't always bothered to put away. Hence why I thought the binder method might work better for me. I own the deluxe set of M*A*S*H, all the episodes in one package that opens like a book, and I love having to pull only one thing off a shelf to access the DVDs.

That said, I spent part of the afternoon researching DVD storage in binders and I came to the conclusion that it's not a good long term solution because of potential warping of the disks. On a forum, someone posted an image of another idea and I went BINGO! I'd finally found what would work for me. A quick trip to Walmart later and I was home with this:



This is a hard-sided case that's about the same size as an Ikea box that holds 20 or so DVDS... but which holds 200 disks.

These cases are available in larger denominations, like 500, that were appealing, but I decided that several smaller cases would be easier to move and store. I'll need another couple of the cases, but decided to start small.

Throwing out all the packaging gives me a bit of the willies, so I'm considering saving the DVD covers in a binder. It'll still be less to move than my current setup. Of course, I have to get over my lack of desire to recycle the 'sleeves' of box sets. Geeze, it's just paper.

Several hours later...

I figured the best way to get over my willies was to dive in, and I did. I put seven Ikea boxes worth of DVDs into the case... and I still have room for about 100 titles! I've put away all my movies and the complete series of 'MacGyver.' It'll be so much easier now to pull out my favourite episodes.

I've decided that I do want to keep the DVD covers for reference purposes and figure that sticky photo album pages are the way to go. I still think it'll amount to a lot less 'stuff' to move... but I am a bit disturbed by how much I've spent in the last year on organizing systems for DVDs. This had better be it!

In order to find my only loosely alphabetized disks, I've entered information on each one into a DVD organizing application with a reference as to which case and sleeve I can find a particular movie or episode.