Pizza

Because I've known several people who did similar things with their DVD and CD collections. They ended up buying back many of the things they let go. If you don't have the collector DNA in ya, then you'll be fine. Maybe.

neocheddar02

Wow...this was a solid hour+ of reading. I've got a small 400+/- collection mostly in boxes in storage. I'm planning, when I get more space, to organize them on a few shelves by genre, alphabetically.

I'm like some of you, only moreso with books...I want to have at least a few dozen choices. Then, if the mood strikes, I'll always have an option. So I have boxes of books that just lie there. I think the handful of posters that say 'weed out your collection' are on to something, though. If I haven't read/watched something in a few years, maybe it's best to not let it sit there, collecting dust.

But good stuff, I'd love to see more pictures of people's collections.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I've done that a couple times with music and games. Now I'm more picky about what I get and I tend to not get rid of things unless I'm upgrading.

Dick Laurent

For me it's a visual aesthetic more than a need to watch/re-watch. I enjoy looking over the spines, picking a title from the shelf and admiring the artwork, disc, notes, etc. I have a problem with sometimes never watching stuff I buy, but I still enjoy the presentation. It's like baseball cards from back in the day, I suppose.

I'm guilty of this, for me more with music, though. A couple years ago I implemented a rule to take pictures of items I sell or give away. That seems to have backfired, though, because if I happen to look at one of those pictures then I'm reminded of some really cool stuff I got rid of, and then I may become obsessed with obtaining it again. Sick, I know.

Also, since I just finished unpacking about 40 boxes of movies, and since packers NEVER pack items in a way that makes any sense whatsoever, I highly suggest to anyone moving to take the time to take pictures of EVERY shelf/section to guarantee proper re-filing. My titles aren't all alphabetized, so this saved me a lot of irritation. And I can open any box in any order; it's like a putting together a puzzle.

I used to be like this with books, but with my last two moves I learned something VERY important: Books are heavy. So I decided to throttle back on the book collecting. Just movies and music for the most part now. Still a couple hundred books though. D'oh.

Spottedfeather

I had just watched The Thing but couldn't find the case. I spent probably 30 minutes looking for it, only to find it on a stack of Gamecube games 2 feet away.

Trevor

Almost put an OCD-related post here, but it's not completely organization related so I started a new thread.

Help me. What am I forgetting to do that must be done before today ends? Or must be started tomorrow?

Tarantino

Anyone trying to save their collection digitally?

Trevor

I've thought about backing up certain rare or particularly cherished films or shows, but haven't actually done it yet.

With so many of my purchases coming with free digital copies, and so much available on Netflix or the like; I'm getting less and less worried about needing physical copies for fear of not being to access enough stuff.

I'm possibly minutes away from a HUGE decision that I've been debating for years. I think I'm going to put the majority of my ~10,000 DVDs into binders and throw away all the cases.

milo bloom

I started to do this and ended up putting most of them back in cases. They just looked so cheap in the binders.

LJG765

How about condensing? I recently bought a pack of 10 DVD cases, each case held 4 DVDs to put a TV series in that came in super bad packaging and I was worried about scratching. I had 5 left over, so decided to condense some of my movies that were in just basic cases and were related to each other. The outer plastic cover could hold all the cover art work and I could fit the inner paperwork/inserts without damage. I was able to get a lot of space without compromising my collection, I believe.

I kept anything that was really nice or had a slip cover, but just some of the dollar selections I've picked up over the years fit nicely in these and they're basically in the same spot so I'm not worried about that...If you're interested, I can post the ones I bought. I've already bought a second set of them.

davidh777

This would be a pretty major step, especially the part about throwing away. What did you decide to do?

Josh-da-man

The only things I keep in binders are women.

Trevor

Completely crazy rant spoilered. I need help.

LJG765

Well, I wish I could help you decide, but I can't. I can understand, somewhat, the feeling on not being able to decide what to do next. It can definitely make you not want to do anything...but I think you're already a step forward, realizing that this is a problem and you seem to be working on it...

I can't recommend anything about storage, but I do know that if you're looking for palettes-a lot of stores keep them in back of the actual store and let people grab them for free. I know the store I worked at did. A lot of times in the summer, people would grab them for free firewood. I'd just go in and double check with a manager first.

Good luck! (And don't forget about my suggestion of multiple cases if you really want to keep cases. Here is the link for them if you want to take a look. I saved myself almost 60 cases by buying 20 of them. And while I wouldn't say they'd stand up to someone throwing them around or jumping on them, they seem quite sturdy for a collector to use.)

Travis McClain

"Let it go, Indiana." Even the Holy Grail isn't worth it. Trust me on this one.

Here's where you may actually benefit from expanding your OCD. I've been combining DVD Profiler, Letterboxd and Flickchart this year. Anything that I haven't viewed since I began using DVD Profiler has become a priority viewing. When I watch anything (whether it's from that un-watched list or not), I write a Letterboxd diary entry. Then I add (or re-rank) the movie on Flickchart, which helps give my Letterboxd diary review more context and it helps me get a clearer idea just how I actually feel about the title in question.

I'm a Pierce Brosnan fan, so I went on a spree of revisiting some of his earlier, non-Bond work about a month ago of DVDs I hadn't watched since I began using DVD Profiler in early 2009. The truth is, I was disappointed by all but one of them (Taffin, which I quite liked). In all honesty, I was never going to want to re-watch any of the rest. So, I took them to Half Price Books and let my niece spend the pay on whatever she wanted. End result: I've used my cataloging OCD to expose titles in my library that I honestly just don't need to keep, I've purged them and my niece got a few things for herself.

The downside, of course, is that this is a real-time project; you have to actually watch the content to be entirely sure how you feel about your chances of ever wanting to re-watch it. Eliminate any question about ever wanting to watch it with friends or lend it to someone. If you think you have a friend who might want to see something you have, don't hold onto it on that basis. Just give it to that friend and be done with it. Or donate the things that go for nothing on the secondary market to your local library. Then you'll know others actually are occasionally enjoying them and you'll still have visitation rights.

As an aside: I had a problem recently with DVD Profiler losing my database. I eventually restored it, but I decided that I would instead begin using a Google Docs spreadsheet for my library. It took awhile to set up, but now it's easy to update. I've subsequently created a similar spreadsheet for my comics and CDs. My vinyl albums and books are next. Part of the goal of all this is to prompt me to actually go back and watch/listen to/read the things I already own, but also to help me trim the fat - and I know I have fat to be trimmed, and my library is only a fraction of yours.

Remember: You are not a curator at a library or a museum. It's okay that your collection be incomplete.

Dimension X

First off, let me thank you (if I haven't before). Your "rants" on this subject in the past inspired me to finally get off my lazy ass and straighten out some of my mess. Last year, I built new shelves for and sorted my record collection (well, the albums at least - I still have the 45s, 8 tracks and cassettes, and CDs sitting in boxes). I finally got my books out of stacks on the floor in various rooms and onto the shelves (and roughly sorted) where they belong in my "library," and I got my comics properly boxed and stacked. I still have a lot to do, but getting stuff up on their proper shelves cleared out lots of space for me to work with going forward.

I thought you built DVD shelves a while back. What happened there? Didn't that free up any room?

Without knowing what kind of stuff you're talking about in the various boxes, I'd guess that DVD cases would be the easiest thing to rid myself of if I were in your situation (the films and TV shows on the discs are the real collectible), so I'll vote for the binders. Just go ahead and do it and don't look back.

Now, with that out of the way, I'll make my usual suggestion; move into a bigger place.

Trevor

^^ Thanks LJG. I am going to look into the palette thing, I've seen them laying around at stores before and 3 or 4 may be enough to keep my comics off the concrete and air circulated a bit.

And I do like the multi-disc case idea, and have been experimenting with it for years. I recently bought some eight disc cases, the width of less than two normal cases; and have been putting big series or box sets in them. I have considered buying hundreds of these type cases instead of binders.

Of course, in my perfect world, nothing has to leave the original packaging, and I have room to display everything. Complicating things is that so far, with all of the items that I have moved to slim cases or binders or whatever, I have saved the original cases. My two reasons are, one; for possible resale if it becomes valuable or I upgrade the item to BD or a complete series or whatever; and two, for if I have space someday to display it all "properly" in the original cases.

I think that I have moved beyond those two reasonings. I'm good with never selling anything I've purchased. I bought it to enjoy it, not to ever profit from it. Most things I could sell I'd make a dollar or two after ebay, paypal, and postage fees; and my time is worth more than that. I'm fine with someday giving away most of my DVDs if I decide I'm done with them. Someone somewhere will enjoy them, even if they aren't in the original packaging. And I also think that I'm ok with never having a Blockbuster-like room or three, proudly displaying my collections. What I have if more than enough and needs to be pared down. Binders and/or multi disc cases are a good option right now.

But another thing holding me back is related to what Travis mentions above. Much of what I own I don't need to own forever. As I view things the past year or so, I've been putting much of in the "get rid of pile". So I don't want to bother converting cases on something I'll sell eventually. But much of what I think I'll keep forever I may upgrade someday and want to give away the old versions. Dear Lord I'm a mess.

Thanks for the advice, and for letting me ramble all. I'm actually working at boxes now and making some good progress. I have 6 days off and plan to work hard at it each day. More to say to you soon Travis, in private, thanks.

Trevor

Thanks DX, and you're welcome! If my rants help even one person then perhaps they'll help me one day too.

I should have bought a bigger place when we got married, but can't imagine going through that painful moving process again. I got so lucky in finding an amazing woman like Jen who can pretty much tolerate my hoarding. She's a saint. We will buy a larger house someday, but I'm determined to wait at least 5-10 more years; enjoying our tiny mortgage and saving for our final move dream/retirement house.

The shelves did help, I have ten rows of wall to wall DVDs on the largest wall in our townhouse. But that 120' only holds a third or so of my collection. The goal is to binder/case/give away a big chunk; saving my wall for the gems of my collection.

I good friend once tried to get my away from my buy anything that was cheap and looked interesting hoarding to a philosophy of concentrating on just ten subsets of collecting that I really love and enjoy. I'm close to embracing that philosophy. I can still satisfy my collecting and buying urges with these subsets; but actually have time to watch and enjoy everything I buy. My ten subsets have a couple things that are broad enough to keep my forever enjoying the "game" of collecting; but mostly narrow or already completed enough to drastically reduce my clutter and purchasing. Right now my "specialities" include all Criterions, Godzilla/Gamera, MST3K and related, Peanuts, comic book related, Christmas stuff, and Horror. Most everything else and most of the TV I own that doesn't fit these categories I'm fine with getting rid of after watching them at least once. That will take decades of course.....

Dimension X

This sounds like a good plan. If I were you, I'd just start going through the unshelved discs and for any with standard cases, remove the cover art and the discs, file the art away (can't just throw everything out, right?), put the discs in binders (or whatever), and throw out donate the old cases immediately (get them out of the house). You said it yourself, very few DVDs or Blu-rays will ever be worth reselling, so you're not going to be out anything, but you'll end up with some more space.

And go ahead and get rid of these cases while you're at it. If they're standard cases, they can easily be replaced if you feel the need some day in the future.

milo bloom

Dang, that's pretty close to me too. For too many years I would buy DVDs because they were cheap or I thought I should have them in my collection because they're a "classic" or something. When I started paring down the chaff from my collection, I realized I'd rather spend a little more on a specific title I wanted than buying several cheap ones for the same amount.

It's pretty funny how I'm also doing Godzilla (and similar giant monster movies), along with MST3K and Criterions. Having a specific goal makes it a lot easier to deal with, especially for the spouse.

I did end up getting rid of most of my comics, all my vinyl, and a lot of other "extra" stuff (like some action figures and toys). It's a good feeling when you see a new release of something you used to collect, but now you can say "I don't need that, leave it for somebody that's really, truly interested in it."

Travis McClain

What's stopping you from getting rid of the "get rid of pile"?

Y'okay.

Trevor

I've calmed down from my little manic episode the other day; and actually made a lot of progress the past few days. I appreciate you all actual reading my personal drama and offering advice. It's very helpful and I count you faceless near strangers as true friends.

I ended up getting a 10x15 climate controlled storage unit less than a mile away for $172 a month, a good amount less than my 10x10 in Virginia. Cheaper, closer, and 50% bigger? Yes please! Now I just need to rent a truck, hire help, and transfer the stuff next week off. I moved a few car loads of stuff from our townhouse into it and have a lot more room to work and purge now.
I've already done this for a few titles, but am currently thinking that I will just flat out getting rid of a good chunk of my collection, so I won't bother bindering or recasing them, but just put them in the "watch then sell" piles. But I do plan to keep all ~1000 of my horror titles, and at least half of them are budget or non-collectible sets that are prime targets for this binder and recycle process.
I have made progress in that I'm giving away all of my ~1000 cases that I have converted to slim cases. A Freecycler is coming today to get a bunch.
Good points, and great taste!
Well, for some of it I am actively giving it away or selling it super cheap to friends via Facebook. But there are multiple reasons for the massive purge being in small doses. One, my DVDs are unorganized and in bookcases and boxes all over the place. I've been occasionally making progress and separating the ones that are "probable give always"; but often I need to verify that I really do own two copies, or own the BD and am willing to lose the special features of the DVD version(s); or it's things like Lost that I plan to sell as a lot once I watch all 6 seasons.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Has your wife gotten pissed that you're spending over $2,000 a year on storage for movies?

Dimension X

The only problem I see with "watch then sell" is you have to find the time to watch the stuff. Good luck.
1000 cases! That had to have freed up a lot of space.

davidh777

Glad you're making progress, Trevor! Even if nothing will free up space as quickly as the comics, it seems a positive step just to move some lots into storage and, as you say, give you some working space.