Clear DVD Clutter

Today’s tip from 55 Ways to Clear Clutter on Family Circle’s website is about saving space … “Slip your movie collection into DVD albums, organized by genre — comedies, dramas, and cartoons — so it’s a cinch to flip through. Recycle the empty cases through freecycle.org. -Regina Leeds, author of One Year to an Organized Work Life (Da Capo)” This tip is such a space saver and could work for most when space is tight. But there are some drawbacks to this solution depending on your type.

This is a perfect solutions for Classics and to a lesser extent Funs because we’re the ones most likely to diligently keep DVDs in the correct albums (even if busy Funs might not be first in line to actually embark on this project). But, the real hang-up is that it’s hard for Classics and Funs to part with the cases. We prefer to have unique, separate homes for things and therefore intrinsically like to keep our DVDs in their original cases (plus we’re the personality types most likely to keep things in the proper cases). But, man those cases take up a lot of space. 

When I made my husband (a Classic like me) downsize his DVD collection into one large album, it was literally like I took a little bit of his happiness away. I felt really bad yet not bad enough and it was actually difficult to physically get rid of the cases. I just couldn’t justify dedicating previous Manhattan apartment ‘real estate’ in my living room to DVDs that he watches maybe once every other year.

This solution isn’t ideal for the visual memory types out there either (Organics and Smarts). I imagine Organic and Smart Freedom’s albums would eventually commingle themes (especially if they have children in their midst) but Organic and Smart Structures could definitely adapt to DVD albums and keep it straight.

The key to making the album route work (regardless of type) is purchasing several albums. I did one big album for our album and it’s a pain. It seemed efficient at the time but it’s bulky beyond belief, a hassle to open and generally inefficient when it comes to retrieving DVDs (and let’s face it, what’s the point of ‘organizing’ if you can’t easily find what you want).

So, the key to this recommendation is to get SEVERAL DVD albums and give them a genre (although not Organic Freedoms – you guys should just buy several albums and accept they’ll be miscellaneous). Maybe when I have a rec room or something, I’ll go back to keeping all of the cases again.

Originally published March 23, 2010.