Hey there, friends! I hope you all had a fab weekend. We had some cooler temps and lots of sunshine, so we logged a lot of park-time with Maggie. And then, of course, last night was spent glued to Breaking Bad. I can’t even talk about it. I don’t think my heartbeat has resumed it’s natural rhythm yet.
Today I’m sharing a super simple organizing tip for the piles of DVDs and CDs. These will probably be a thing of the past within a few years, but for now, we had to get them under control. Especially the kid’s movies…I swear they multiply when we’re not looking.
I thought I had a pretty good system…storing all the DVDs in cute Ikea boxes. But soon enough, we ran out of room in the boxes, and the kids had to pull all of them out just to look for one movie. Not to mention, they took up a ton of space. Not so cute anymore.
The first step was purging all the movies they’d outgrown and we never watched. Then I ordered these CD and DVD Sleeves
The discs slip right in and can be seen through the window, and the paper is surprisingly strong. They also make colorful or plastic sleeves. If a DVD or CD has artwork or a booklet you really want to keep, just fold it and slide behind the disc.
To make finding a movie simpler, I made alphabet dividers out of sturdy scrapbook paper and stickers.
Line the cards up when placing the stickers so you can stagger the letters.
You can store the movies in any number of cute boxes and containers…I chose this wire basket.
Of course I had to label the bin….so there was no confusion that it held movies, and not bananas.
It’s so quick and simple to file and keep the movies in alphabetical order. We’ve had this system for about six months and it works like a charm.
And even better is we reduced this huge pile down to a small basket, that tucks away on a side shelf.
Do you have a system for DVDs, or are they taking up tons of space in your home? And what do you think about Breaking Bad?! We’re watching the series finale of Dexter tonight, so no spoilers please!!
LOVE those bins! SO cute!!!
I put all mine in a CD case, which I keep in my ottoman. My place is tiny so there was no room for hundreds of cases! I love your idea- I have a lot of friends with theirs in sleeves and Im going to share your basket and alphabetizing scheme with them!
we use a CD case as well, but when we need to add new movies the alphabetizing gets wonky even if you add a few blanks for each letter…I going to try this sleeve idea – just need a cute box (boxes?)
Such a cute idea. Ours are on DVD shelves from Ikea, but we have a basement TV room with plenty of storage.
You've totally inspired me to get ours in order. I've been meaning to do this for months now – even bought some organizers at Target on clearance and they've been sitting in the closet! Totally need to get on that – maybe while watching Homeland. 😉
Great idea! They do get a bit out of control. A while back I put all my dvds onto a hard drive that is connected to my tv. So no dvds anymore for me. And I did the same with my cds.
How did you put them onto a hard drive? Did it take a really long time? My husband keep suggesting we figure out how to do this (he has a dvd problem and we have over 750 in a large cabinet taking up way to much precious space!)
We haven't watched Breaking Bad yet but we did watch Dexter. I literally woke up thinking about it. I have so many questions!!
Perfect and cute! My kind of organization!
Crazy how much room that saved. Well done, friend. Enjoy your shows!!
Great idea! It freed up tons of space 🙂
We watched Dexter AND Breaking Bad last night. I can't wait to hear what you think about Dexter!!!!
This is great! I am in the process of doing something similar! Crazy how many DVDs we have and even watch!
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Dexter finale! INTENSE, for sure!
I loved the new organizing system. I am so surprised that you have been so successful keeping it organized and alphabetized with so many family mambers digging through it. What did you do with all the DVD boxes?
I was wondering about this too!
We recycled them! No reason to hang on to them…they were taking up the space we were trying to save! 🙂
what a cute idea – so much more streamlined and love the little stickers 🙂
— jackie @ jade and oak
Your timing couldn't be better! I literally just emptied out our armoire last week and have stacks of dvds that looks like your first pic sitting on a table waiting to be organized. Love how you were able to condense it down to ONE basket!! I'm in love!
I put all our DVD's into a CD organizer over the summer, and just yesterday did the same with all our wii games. What a space saver and so much easier for the kids to put things back away in their special spot
Love that wire basket!! I put all of our DVDs in paper sleeves (actually the same ones you used) and put them all in a lidded basket in our living room. So much nicer to look at and saves a ton of space. Great job!
I did the same thing last year, but I store them in a photo box from Hobby Lobby. LOVE it!! I need to make my cards prettier though 🙂
Please come to my house. Right now. Leave work and get your booty over here…I have DVDs you need to sort!
That is so smart! I don't have kids, but I'm sending my sister the link so she can get her kids' DVDs under control!
Annie XO
I actually sat down and typed up a master list of all the movies we have, in alpha order no less. We have a big entertainment center that has pull outs to put DVD's in. I also have media boxes that I store the rest in. The movies are in the pull outs and the boxes in alpha order as well. I have photos here (scroll down through my post) http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/206685/view/3196809/0/140/2.html
I just started doing this over the weekend!! It's amazing how much space the original cases take up! Love your dividers, I'll have to add them! 🙂
That is so smart. Who needs a case? I think I may borrow this idea.. I wonder if my husband can handle it.. did yours? 🙂
Oh that is such a neat idea! We just moved into a new home (5 months ago . . . ahem) and our DVDs are still in boxes. Oops! Thanks for the fun tip!
Hi there– love your cd storage system. How many does one basket hold? Thanks!
Hi Valli! I have about 75 in this basket…but those storage bins intended for CDs will hold at least twice as many.
Hope this helps!
This is just what I needed to see! Organizing our DVDs and CDs (many of which have cases that were totally destroyed by my toddler) is next on my list of things to clean up as I tackle our living room clutter problem. Thanks for sharing your solution!
We were just in a clients home and needed this so badly. I've seen other systems but this would TOTALLY be his style. THANK YOU for posting:)
So glad I stumbled across this post! I can definitely relate to the "purist" people who love looking at the pretty DVD cases… but it just takes up so much darn space! In all honesty, I have the cases stored away in boxes because I didn't want to part with them (how stupid is that?!), and I have the actual DVDs in a nifty little contraption that I bought from Amazon. (It's the Atlantic 85012055 Disc Manager 80 Disc Storage – if anyone is curious!)
BUT. It's so not me! I hate it even though it's convenient and compact. Your solution is so much better! It still satisfies my need to leaf through them for "ideas" when I don't know what I want to watch. Thanks for this!! I just ordered the baskets online because they're stinking cute. 🙂
Dying to know where you got the baskets!? The link you put up for them doesnt work 🙁
Here you go, Allie! http://bit.ly/2gBTIqQ
Great idea! I will have to try this out. I love how much room this method saves and the alphabetical tabs are really cute.
Where did you get the wire basket? The link is not working for me. Looooove this idea! Thanks for sharing.
It’s from Container Store. xo