Friday, January 27, 2012

Organize It Friday: Media Organization (and my first FREE printable!)


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My husband and I love movies. Our kids (ok mainly our son, our daughter is too little) like movies too. And the Wii. Over the years, our collection of movies, TV shows and video games has grown. It has grown SO much that we don't have enough room on our 2 (mismatching) DVD stands. While they are organized (and slightly categorized and alphabetized) the extras stack neatly on the floor next to the stands.

I love my husband but he can be cheap sometimes. I have been asking, no begging, for this for about 2 years. I love the color, I love the fact that it has doors so you can't see the cases. I love everything about it. He keeps saying no and coming up with reasons why not to get it. A few months ago, we moved from out apartment to a house and in that move, one of the DVD stands broke. Not heartbroken at all, I finally had an excuse to get me media cabinet. We had decided to wait til after Christmas since it wasn't an absolute neccesity.  Besides, my parents had hinted that maybe they would get it for us for Christmas (they did not but us a freezer instead. WAY better). I had also decided that I wasn't going to pull the movies out of the two large boxes we have for two reasons: a) With only one stand, it would leave even more DVDs on the floor, and b) we have an adorable little monkey (aka daughter) who finds it absolutely entertaining to pull them off the stand and throw them on the floor and then mess up the ones stacked neatly on the floor (another reason to have a cabinet with doors). The holidays are over, and I still haven't gotten the cabinet. At $119, it's not to expensive, but my car needs new tires so the cabinet would have to wait. 

I, on the other, can not wait even longer to empty these two boxes and have easy access to our movies. I needed to come up with another alternative that is cheaper, yet still organized and stylish. Where can I go for something that would work and be in my budget? Yup, Target!

Oh, how I love Target. And I should. I only worked there for 8 years. I was walking through the electronics department when I stumbled across these. I instantly knew it was what I wanted. Our couch is brown, the pillows have red on them, making the color coordinate with the room. 



It has a lid making it hard for tiny hands and curious minds to throw them on the floor.



They also come with 40 double-sided sleeves per box, so they hold 80 dvds each. There is definitely room to add more sleeves just in case I don't have enough sleeves in the two boxes I bought. 



Each sleeve is also numbered so that I can find them easily



Once I got home, I had my husband bring the two big boxes of movies into the living room and sat down and I got to work, organizing our DVDs. I know everyone has their own way of organizing (or not organizing) their DVDs. I tend to go a little overboard, as some people (ahem....my husband) may say, but I know exactly where every movie is and if we're missing one, which is a pretty grand feat if you ask me with all the movies we have.

I began my taking out the movies and sorting them they I wanted them. I find the sorting and orgainzing pretty easy, but my hubby thinks it's too much work, so he opts to sit back and watch. While it does take time, I love it. I separate my movies into 8 categories: Action/Drama, Comedy/Romantic Comedy, Kids, TV shows, Fitness DVDs, Wii Games, Nintendo Game Cube Games (yes we will have one and no they actual Game isn't played often but the games are played on the Wii, and Playstation games. I then alphabetize each category.

I sorted all these before putting them in the sleeves so I wasn't constantly shuffling them around and taking them in and out the sleeves. Yes, I am aware that every time we buy a new movie it will require some shuffling, but I'll worry about that later. It surprisingly didn't take me that long to sort them because when these puppies up, I packed most of them in order the best way I could. 

After sorting the DVDs, I began to insert each DVD into a sleeve, while putting the cases back in the empty boxes (my husband agreed to this box system because: a) these were only $15 each costing me $30 instead of $119 and b) I agreed to keep the cases but keep them in the attic. He said we could not throw them away, so this was our compromise). 



While inserting each DVD into the sleeves, I also wrote them down on this inventory printable I made each movie and it's corresponding number. 


I printed a printable for each box and then when I was finished writing them down on the inventory sheets, I folded them up and inserted them into each box so they were with the DVDs. 



Done! I am debating on if I should, or want, to store the inventory sheets somewhere else, like our home management binder, or something. What do you think? How do you organize and/or store your DVDs? Did you enjoy my very first free printable? Share your ideas with me. You can upload your pics and links (if you have a site) via email, the Flickr group, or on my Facebook page and you could end up on Show Me Saturday!

5 comments:

  1. This is great! I really need to implement something like this in my house! I found you through Chic on a Shoestring. Thanks for sharing! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! It's a great way to save space but still all of your DVDs easily accesible

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  2. I should probably do this. I'm tired of putting the DVD's back in the case every day after Killian tears them out!!

    Great job :)

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    Replies
    1. LOL! Jordyn hasn't quite figured out how to open the cases yet but definitely knows how to take them off the shelf and throw them on the floor. HAHA! I think this will keep her away from that.

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  3. I love your idea but our movies take up a floor to ceiling bookcase plus our entertainment center.

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