It's time to flex my decision-making muscles by going through my DVDs. It was more difficult than I expected, but I did it. Join me as I continue peeling away the clutter.
You could put the DVDs in baskets and then in your new cabinet so you can pull the basket out to see the rows behind. That way you don’t have to pull out individual ones to see the back. Love the look of the new cabinet. Looks great
I did this with my dvd movie collection- bought clear sleeves and put the cover art and disc in the sleeve. I decompressed 2 or 3 bookcases down to 1 all in baskets. I put them in alphabetical order to make easy to find or you could go by genre. Now if I could just find a good way to store tv series with multiple discs.
Doing great. Keep going! I took all my DVDs out of the plastic cases and put them in dvd sleeves and it reduced the amount and size of storage needed. Made it so neat and easier to store. I suspect because you have sets that wouldn’t work. But in regular dvd movies it might.
I have 1100 dvds…we bought the cd case that holds 220, I cut each cover into a 4.75 inch by 4.75 inch square and place in the slot with the dvd…we have a book for Action, one for drama and rom coms, a horror and thriller case and two cases with seasons….
I have decluttering trick. Once per year I have a No Spend month, where I don’t spend any money on anything that isn’t a necessity ( bills, groceries, transportation). In other words, no shopping, no restaurants, no entertainment that costs money. During that month I try to do a quick declutter of as much of my whole house as I can. This reinforces my feelings of gratitude for all that I already have, and increases my contentment with the abundance I am blessed with. You might find, as I have, that things I previously decided to keep become donate items as the years go by. I think you’re doing an amazing job!
I LOVE that you have named areas in your house....Clutter Tower....Clutter Mountain... Boxes of Doom..... they just crack me up : ) when you have decluttered you'll need to come up with new, positive, names for the areas.... the Fields of Floor??? Media Mecca???? : ) HUGS! YOU ARE DOING PHENOMENAL WORK!!!
I don’t know if this is helpful to you, but it works for me: whenever I have lots of some stuff (socks, dvds, makeup) I choose a box (a shelf or a drawer) for it and I say to myself: I’ll keep only as much stuff as I can fit into this box! And it makes me be more strict with keeping because I say to myself: I definetely don’t need more than a box of makeup, which is totally true for me😂
I have another method... I put all the things in a box or a bag and leave them for a few weeks... and after that I allow myself to keep all the things I remember. The things I forgot... I don't need them and so... they're to be donated/gifted/thrown away.
That's fabulous progress! 2 pieces of furniture gone replaced with a beautiful new one that works better. A whole box of DVDs donated! Still looks like you've got a couple of years or more of viewing pleasure, which is something that should make you feel great, not overwhelmed, feel great instead 😀 Looking forward to you tackling the next spot. Don't get too hung up with little categories, go for broad decluttering and then you can narrow it down later. Save some decision for later. You've got this!
I went through our dvds and gave some to my kids and grandsons. We never watched them and they took up so much room. I liked the idea of donating them to a group home or the veterans hospital. They would appreciate them I’m sure!
You are a wonderful storyteller :) I find it's soothing listening to your voice. You are doing an amazing job decluttering so many things. I'd suggest in a month go through your DVD/tapes collection again and purge more of them for donation. I let go of a lot of mine and now have only those that I REALLY like, anything else I can stream if I want to. Keep the videos coming, I'm sure many people can relate to your decluttering struggles.
Don´t be disappointed! 4 years in decluttering, I still declutter like a butterfly..... hopping from one spot to the next and sometimes disappear complete from the flower (declutter) field. There are so many categories, where it's super hard for me to make decisions about items. In the times I realy push myself to complete a category it takes WEEKS and each time, it ends with some nights of insomnia and nightmares, before the task is finished. Never ever be sorry, when something is not finished or "good enough", because we all should focus on "we made progress". And that is what matters. Going up and make progress. No matter how small or big. Getting up and getting in different habits it's the important step of changing. And that is something people which realy struggled with it in the past will understand. People which didn't had problems with it, maybe are not able to see that it's difficult and energy draining for some other persons in this world.
I’m becoming very minimalist at my age(70) I don’t want to leave a lot of stuff for my children to clean up, I’ve had to do it for my in-laws and close friends, not fun🙁
Awesome job! I said this last time, but I'll say it again in case my comment got buried. They sell huge CD organizers that fit 4 to a sleeve/page and we condensed 400 Dvds to just 1 case and it saved an insane amount of space and headache because we organized them by category. We left a few blank pages in between each category in case we add to it, but this might really benefit you too!! The CD organizers are only like $20 from eBay. 🎉🎉🎉
If you dump the cases from just some categories, you may be able to get your cabinet down to one layer deep throughout, which will make it much easier to access everything.
I put all mine into double sided sleeves and stored them in decorative CD index boxes. Saved me a ton of space too and look nice on the shelves. I think I probably have around 400-500 dvd's like you have.
@@laurac56 Same here! and I love that it zips shut to keep dust out. We went from 3 giant pull out drawers to just 1 zippered case. We also did the same thing with our Playstation and WiiU disks only we used smaller zip-up containers. I think they held 80. Then I also did it for all the CDs, gosh. It's overwhelming to think how many cases from all kinds of media we have gotten rid of and how condensed and organized it is now vs what it was...
Really enjoyed this. I liked seeing what types of movies you watch! I also think that you are good at narration. Lots of channels will have dead air or just music, or if there's narration, it's sometimes....not very good. Your comments are really helpful for the viewers to understand your thought processes. Looking forward to the next one!
I love the idea of getting a book that holds all your dvds! You would have so much more room plus you can just look through the book instead of taking out each movie case
As time passes, you'll question why you've kept some items. But, now it'll be easier to take out one here, one there as you run across items to discard. We'll done!!!
This was FANTASTIC! You are doing such an amazing job! Decluttering is no easy task, its time consuming & emotional, so you should be so super proud of yourself! My parents have a TON of DVDs and its an items they havent gone through yet, DVDs are especially difficult for my dad to go through! I think it might be that there nostalgic? Maybe not all of them, but some of them might be? Great video dear! 🥰
You have done SO MUCH in such a relatively short time, especially since you're going this alone. I have seen your kitchen colab, but that was more physical cleaning than decluttering, so it makes sense that you needed help there. Please give yourself the credit you deserve for the with you've been doing, it isn't easy, but you just keep trucking. So inspiring!
I loved seeing your progress. You should be proud, because that was a large category and decision fatigue is real. Entertainment stand looks great! It was nice to be able to see what you were keeping up closer and to hear you talk more. Would love to hear you talk some in the moments during decision making sometime as well. Thanks for sharing!
After I curated my own family collection, I discarded the cases and put the videos into a zippered case for easy future moving. No dust. The cases filled a garbage bag. Videos are now in a small wall unit under the tv and easy to access. Win/win. Great job! I'm proud of you. Enjoying your series.
I love that you are listening to how you are feelings. That is loving self care which can really bring you along and help you get this done in a loving healthy way. Great job!
Well done - as time goes by you may declutter more DVDs since they are categorized and it might help with decision making You should be very pleased with what you have been accomplishing - it is amazing
Love the new cabinet. I'm wondering, the same as you, about having DVDs in front of the others, hiding the DVDs in the back. Perhaps down the road, after you find your label maker, you can find the right size clear plastic container, that would be the depth of your cabinet, and the height of the DVD, so you could place them next to each other, and pull them out like a drawer. You've done a wonderful job! Keep up the great work! 😊
You asked how many times we would go through our DVD collection. I have had a mayor problem with books. Years ago I did Konmari and I had a big pallet of books of about 3 square meter, 2500 books. I got rid of anything I was sure of, and divided the rest into sell and to keep. After a year I noticed selling cost me too much energie for the money I got from it. So I got rid of all of them the to sell items. After that I moved, so I packed while decluttering and unpacked while decluttering, and last year we moved again and decluttered while packing and I still have to unpack (study isn't done yet). I'm sure I will declutter again. So that is at least 5 times big once now (In between sometimes a little stack). I have mostly detached myself from my books now, so I can see it will get easier over time.
Great work on the decluttering! But, every time I see you using a Clorox wipe, I cringe a little. They can cause irritation to the lungs and skin. If you have asthma, I would be surprised if they didn't give you trouble breathing. I'm not trying to be rude, I just worry about people I see using disinfecting wipes. 💗
Love that new cabinet! As you keep decluttering, you will continue to let go of DVD's and you'll soon be down to single rows! I see a lot of people recommend that you buy certain containers or binders, but please don't fall into the trap of buying more things just to store what you have. That cabinet is lovely and does the trick of elegantly showcasing your favorite items.
I like the idea of watching all the different versions back to back. A friend and I did that once. It was “The Secret Garden”. We had several versions between us. You’ve done a great job. Keep it up.
You are doing great and have such an amazing insight into the thought process. I love that you clean as you go too. I’ve always been a clean, organized person though my hardest part that I procrastinate on is paperwork. I hate it and find it hard to throw it away always thinking I never know if I need it. I do have a filing cabinet and things go in there in the right folder (eventually 😂)but wish it could all just be shredded. I love❤your tv stand!
I am loving your videos!!! I also feel like we have the same taste in movies! lol I saw Buffy(and several others I love)!!! hahah Congrats on how far you have come, I am so impressed with how far you have come!
Buy baskets, that makes itlike a drawer, so the ones in the back are accessible. Mira, those are a LOT of decisions! Good for you that you stuck with it and saw it through!!
One thing you might consider for the 2-deep rows of dvds - maybe you could put them in clear storage bins that you could slide out to easily see the movies behind the front row? (like the Multi-Purpose Bins from The Container Store or something like that)
It’s great to go through your items once a year, that’s what I do. Or when I feel like it’s starting to get out of control/hard to keep clean. Then I know it’s time
An idea you might enjoy is to buy DVD/CD binders. They can hold like 200 disks per binder. That way you could flip through the binders and not have any DVDs hidden away behind another row that you may forget about. The cases can either be kept in boxes, or recycled. I only keep my discs and I love how compact a storage solution it is. Great job on your decluttering journey! ❤
Not sure how deep your new cabinet is, but shoe-box sized tubs might work for sets, placed on the shelf with the dvds in sideways... LIKE CARD CATALOG FILE DRAWERS, this would help with the layered front and back issue. Just pull the tub for that series of dvds and thumb through easily to find the one you need! Hope that helps! 😊
I have found that I’ve had to make multiple rounds of decluttering in certain areas. Either because I didn’t finish( anxiety/ overwhelm; etc) or because I bought more stuff and added to it or because I was just not ready to let things go or give up on a project. I am happy to say I decluttered all of my dvds , the tv, and the tv cabinet . I don’t miss it. I use a little iPad and drag it all over the house as I do stuff. I love your videos and look forward to them. Your voice is quite calming. You’re doing a great job.
Yep, decluttering is like peeling away the layers of an onion, especially if you're starting with a lot of stuff. Just continue eating the elephant one bite at a time, as the saying goes. You're doing great - so many DVDs donated! (And I love the new TV stand!)
You are doing so well on your journey. I go through the DVD's about once a year. I separate the series videos from the others and file all alphabetically. I keep the videos in their original packaging, in case I decide to donate in the future. When you get decision fatigue, stop and move on to something else. With rest and a start fresh the next day, you can complete the task. TFS.
Mira, that looks beautiful! Now you mentioned you are a writer no wonder why you have many books and dvds and objects to spark your creativity. I am very similar (creative by nature) and it took me a few years and finding minimalism to start peeling away the years of belongings/ circumstances of my upbringing. At home I think I got to a reasonable stage, at work not as much yet due to the nature of the business, but hey it's a work in progress. Once I found your channel I binged all your episodes and I can't wait for each new one to come out. Good luck! You got this💪
I stumbled upon your channel today! It's very brave of you and I'm glad you're doing this! I know making videos about my goals and activities helps me be motivated and keep at it! It's a great community. My house is not cluttered (i do have too much stuff but I'm organize and trying to downsize regularly) but... the basement! I live in the house i grew up in and lived my whole life (47 years) and the basement (50" x 100" is Full of stuff) and the thought of tackling it stresses me out ! Now I'll watch one of your videos before every session and it will definitely encourage me!!!🎉❤
Hi Mira, I'm a new subscriber from New Zealand. I discovered your channel through A Beautiful Mess and I'm addicted to your videos, as soon as I finish one I want to see the next one! I have always struggled with organisation and letting go of items and can relate so much of what you say. I started watching youtube videos on hoarding a few years ago and these have helped me work through my own hoard. I'm a perfectionist so it takes me a long time but I feel like I'm nearly where I want to be. Watching you alphabetise your DVDs I see you are a perfectionist too (my spices are alphabetised). I can attest to the fact that this is a process that doesn't really end. I've gone through my belongings over and over and each time there is something else that I am ready to let go of. And it gets really easy! Watching you go through yours, I can see myself. I went through my DVDs so many times and in the end I ended up with ONE DVD, a French one that I can't stream. Amelie. A few days ago my home was burgled and they took my one DVD. I'm so upset about that! That solitary DVD in my cabinet was so special and a symbol of all I had let go. They also took every item of jewellery I had. I'm talking myself through the emotional letting go of these precious things as I don't want to hold onto this resentment I'm feeling. Your little poodle is absolutely adorable and I'm so sorry about Cupid's passing (Bonnie talked about Cupid). Your love for your dogs is heartwarming. My own best little buddy passed away a few months ago from cancer. Right, onto the next video! I can't wait to see your progress! Leanne
when you have issues letting go of something, why don't you take a picture of the item, and make a scrapbook page about this item? This way, you can always go back and look at the pictures, without having the object clutter your space!
Agree that two levels deep could be an issue. I keep my DVDs in a bookcase. Easy to find and access. And I kind of like the look. I would take a picture right now but I have two cats on the chair with me 😊
movies and books were hard for me too. I get better on the 2nd and 3rd pass. You did great for the 1st cull. Every few months glance over them and if you haven't been interested in watching some of the dvds since the last declutter session you'll eventually be more likely to let some more go. It's a process, not a "one and done". Congrats on the new entertainment system! I'm glad you treated yourself to that!
You did great. Often we put higer goals for us self, just because we can`t reach them at that point we wanted it is still a big succes. If you had put the bar lower you would done less then you did today. So even you know you put higer goals somedays it just mean you had a day full of motivation. And that shows in the work you do!! sending you alot of love from Norway ❤
It sounds like your DVDs had a lot of sentimental value to you as well from your time in the hospital. It might be easier to tackle different categories to exercise those decision-making muscles. Maybe a category you care less about - like kitchenware or clothes? Congrats on sorting those DVDs! Your entertainment center looks gorgeous and you're doing SO well! We're all REALLY proud and excited for you, even if you're not thrilled with the progress.
Great job! Decluttering in one category can cause serious decision fatigue. I am visual like you are and what I would do is organize bins that fit into cupboards to use as drawers to be pulled out with the spines up so you can see each DVD.
Hello from Denmark. I clean out in my dvds i had 600 dvd and now we only have 1 small shelfs to put them on . So minus 550 dvs . I feel proud of myself and.
You’re doing such an amazing job!!! I LOVE your new entertainment center! Decision fatigue can be SO mentally exhausting. I have to be in the right headspace to declutter anything but especially my beloved collections (craft things and makeup… currently). I’m loving working my way through your videos! ❤
I use the "container" method with a twist. I tell myself that the Universe has provided a certain amount of space to store something, the excess is what I need to let go of. By letting go it means the Universe can now bless me with something new and also bless someone else with what I've donated. It will probably take a few passes to declutter the dvd's. We go through different seasons of life and need to adjust. You are doing an amazing job, very impressive and I find your channel personally very motivating :)
You are doing great and sticking with the decluttering even when it is hard. I say keep the DVDs you want. Your new TV stand is very nice. Gives you great storage. Have you watched the Call the Midwife series? I checked it out from the library so I wouldn’t have to store more DVDs.
Your home is getting so nice and cozy, enjoy what you are doing. Know you can seat on your sofá and grab some popcorns and enjoy with yours puppys a nice movie. Love from Luxembourg.
You can check DVD's from the Library and donate to the Library🙂. We got rid of most of our VHS Tapes and DVD's, except the ones that did not get put on DVD or Blue Ray. We mostly have Blue Ray now.
This is exactly what I do. It's free to check out and as long as you donate with the case they get put out for circulation. Anytime I feel like watching a movie that's not one of my all time favorite repeats, I just go check it out from the library. 🍿
I go thru each zone once a year now I have decluttered my home. I decide If I have used something in last year, and If not, unless it is sentimental, I need to donate.
Might be fun for you to know that I got this on in the background as I am going through a few areas in my childhood home, decluttering among my now deceased mothers cloths. Cloths are the one easy thing for me to declutter, but sadly it is easy to give up when you don’t need to remove stuff for the sake of gaining room, and the removal of it is a huge hassle -parents lived very rural. My main hang up is that my country has Zero recycling of cloth fabrics. So currently the decluttered items ends up in three categorys: donate, which I then take into town with me, 90km away, trash bags, that gets taken away whenever I got space over aside donate stuff (to same 90km away). And the last part, cloths I feel Could be recycled. Which.. ends up in bags in one of the outhouses because if feels like such a waste to see all that cotton burned. :/ Anyway, good taste there, B5 is my favourite series. X) I think you might be right that having two layers of dvds could be a hinder. Maybe have any that are kept more for sentimental reason, or because they can’t be found on streaming services in the back, and those that are more ”rewatch then donate” in the front?? Good going. Me, I tend to get to the part where I got a pile of stuff sorted out to watch/read-then-donate, and simply never finding the energy to do such. I only got about two rows of dvs and aside my B5 boxset and a 4-5movies I am not sure I could find online, I could easily get rid of the rest.. if only I sat down and watched it.. At my parents, I am decluttering together with my brother and.. well.. he is category ”keep everything”. But at least I can go semi-wild with the cloths without him saying much about it.
You are doing so great! Just keep working around the room, One pile at a time. How often to come back toyour DVDs? I would say go thru all of it every two months just to put your hands on it all again and again. Try to have a shelf for "marginal" movies. Thoise would be the ones you want to watch one more time and then let go of. For me that would be any westerns or horror or B level movies from the 1960s and 70s. It would be different for each person. But you will know them when you see them. I would overall set a goal for one year from now having your shelf have one layer deep of movies instead of two, Keep weeding out. Don't feel bad about the CDs, those honestly are a different category,
I went through my DVDs about once a year and finally got rid of all of them after about 5 years when my dvd player broke. 🤷🏻♀️ and now I regret having kept so many each year, and wish I would have just gotten rid of all of them 5 years ago.
This year, after I had made about three or four passes through my DVDs and gotten rid of a bunch over the last couple years, I removed all the ones I decided to keep from the plastic cases and put them in DVD books. They hold a lot and it doesn't take up nearly as much space, plus it is much easier to flip through and find what you want to watch rather than shuffle things around. Oddly, I had a hard time finally making the decision to do this, but afterwards it felt really good and I've had no regrets about getting rid of those cases. Not sure why I felt the cases were so important, but for some reason I did. They're not. 🤣
You did a great job. 👍👍When I startet, bookes was my "problems" whomgave me decision fatiuge. It took me over 3 years before I now only have books I knew I'll read ør dead again. As I say, one step at the time. 🤗👍 ( I'm from Norway so sorry for my English but hope you understand).
I understand about decision fatigue. My problem is with books rather than DVDs. A few years ago I decided to limit my books to what fits in my bookshelves. I end up using the library more now, but I do still buy a few books every month. My books tend to pile up on the shelves as I buy new ones though, so a few times ayear I go through the collection. That means when I go through it, I only have to get rid of 10-12 books at the most. I put the giveaways in my neighbors' little free libraries; it's fun to see them disappear because I can imagine someone else enjoying them. I really love your persistence and energy, and I love watching your house get more and more decluttered!
Hi Mira! You are doing a great job! Sharing your story is great motivation for others. I wish you all the best and will continue to watch your journey.
My tip for your DVD decluttering (and everything else as well) is to put a donation bag or box somewhere, where you put your DVDs in as soon as you watched them and decided to not keep them. Or whenever you come by a DVD you no longer want. You can do that with everything in your house - the donation box basically filles itself!
Did you say “Boxes of Doom in the Laundry Room” 😂😂 Please let me know if I’m being presumptuous but are you in therapy? If not, you have done an incredible job of noticing your own behaviour and tendencies and so on. Whether or not you’re in therapy It’s really admirable. Honestly you are so amazing and I am rooting for you all the way. You are so inspiring. ❤
