Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Organizing Your DVDs

The other night, we had some free time and decided to watch a movie at home with the girls. When it was time to choose which movie to watch, this is what greeted us from the cabinet in the family room.

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After about 10 minutes of looking in the cases, we all were frustrated.  Some of the cases had the wrong movies in them, and some had no movies at all.

I realized something had to be done, or I would be skeet shooting with all the random DVDs.  The next day I found this DVD case at Target and decided to get to work!

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I didn’t want to randomly put the DVDs in the sleeves because I knew it wouldn’t solve the problem of being able to find the movies quickly.  What to do? Put them in alphabetical order….and let the girls help!

One of the downfalls of most organizational systems (especially for children) is when there isn’t a clearly defined place for items to be returned. For example, when kids are returning the dvds back to the binder, there may be some confusion about where the “101 Dalmations” DVD goes. Does it go under “101”or under “O” for one hundred one?

So here’s what I did:

~I removed the disc and outside paper insert from the DVD cases. You may want to do a little at a time if you have a lot of DVDs.

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~Next, I made a cardstock template that would fit in each sleeve.

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This project does take some time. This might be good to do when cold weather hits, or you need an excuse to “work” while watching “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”.  hehe

If your children are old enough to alphabetize and/or safely cut the templates, this is a great learning project. It was neat to see my 8 year old help her little sister alphabetize the discs.

**Note: Make sure you check with your local recycling agency about recycling DVD cases. Another option is to check with your local library. They often need cases that are in good condition.

3 comments:

  1. Great idea! We have our discs in DVD drawers. When we run out of room, this will hold the extras nicely. Thanks for showing your cabinet in all its glory! We all have at least one like that. hee hee.

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  2. You are so creative! Thank you for the idea. My boys' DVD's are out of control and I have them shoved into the top dresser drawer of their room and so many are so scratched up, we can't even watch them anymore! This sounds like it will take some time but the end result far outweighs the effort put in to organizing them. You're the best!

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  3. I did the exact same thing a few yrs ago with my DVDs!!! Got both kids a case to keep their own DVDs in. Makes taking them on road trips so much easier and neater. The kids know where the DVDs are in the car, they dont get broken and they dont get lost.

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