After almost two months of confinement to cardboard boxes, I decided on Sunday afternoon that it was time to delve in to my 100+ DVD collection and to begin to declutter. I say begin because, to me, it’s an on-going process. If you try to do it all at once, it requires a greater effort and that can feed anxiety and stress, leading to procrastination and avoidance.
Two boxes. Too many unwatched DVDs!
It took me less than an hour to get to the following stage (I wasn’t timing myself), where I felt as though everything was initially sorted in to respective piles.
I cannot honestly remember the last time I sat down to watch one of my own DVDs, either in this home or either previously. I’m excluding TV series box sets though because I’ve just finished a monumental marathon of 24! Starting on series 6 and looping back around to end on Day 4… I had to revert to series 5 suddenly when I realised that disc 2 was missing from my recent purchase of Day 7 and there was of course a delay in receiving my replacement from Amazon (who were excellent, I might add).
So, I do value my box sets. In fact, I’d like to add to them! Putting these in to my old book rack made perfect sense.
My favourites.
Above and to the left, you have my mountain of favourites, which includes a selection of titles that I like to keep for their ‘quirkiness’ or ‘individuality’. To the right, the main stack is of my general ‘likes’ but there are a few I can see already (Flashback, Armageddon, Click…) that might end in a box marked ‘outgoing’. Similarly, there are one or two (Constantine) that could receive a promotion. Those four DVDs ontop are childhood favourites that I’ll be holding on to.
Along with my favourites, I also have stacks of ‘series’ that I’d like to hang on to. There’s maybe one Jim Carrey film in there that I could relieve myself of (as you can see, I like his films) and I think The Terminator might go – I didn’t like No.3 and do not own the sequel. I’ve also yet to see Die Hard 5.
On the way out.
So, staying with the film perspective, it wasn’t at all hard to put those 15 to one side. They either haven’t impressed me or I don’t feel compelled to watch them again. I’ve always felt as though Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character in The Talented Mr. Ripley is the most irritating person to ever grace my TV screen!
Wave bye-bye to the pile on the right!
Almost-halving my pile of music DVDs wasn’t at all difficult.
Yes, WOOOD!!!
But I’m hanging on to my woodworking videos for the time being. Roy Sutton’s DVDs are instructional but I like that they were recorded in the 1980s. I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be parting with any of the others. For one, woodworking DVDs are rarely available as cheap as the latest blockbuster.
To be decided…
Among all of this, I encountered three titles that currently remain ‘unsorted’. Having finished a recent marathon, this might be the time to decide upon viewing. I don’t plan to buy any more box sets until I’ve at least relieved myself of some of this clutter. I think I was disappointed with 2012 as I’d hoped for more from the ‘conspiracy theorist’ side of events and expectations but the other two films hold strong castings.
I need to decide on where and how to store the unknown-but-large numbers of discs I intend to keep. There’s a clear space on the lower shelf of my TV stand (I don’t think that Nintendo GameCube’s ever going to awaken from its coffin) but that would still only hold a fraction. Freecycling might again provide the solution.
Creating space.
I moved that long, two-drawer Ikea unit parallel to the front wall so that I could have more space on the floor to lay things out and I think it’ll remain there (at least until my despise of it reaches a critical level). Do I really want them all on display or just the favourites?
One day soon, I’ll reveal some details about why oil-filled radiators frequent some of my recent photos…
So far, I’ve dedicated 20 DVDs to finding a new home and I’m left with… About 100 to decide upon!! But, as I said at the beginning; an entire process like this does take time. It’s on-going and I’m making progress with each and every step. I haven’t decided how to dispose of the Great Unwatched though… Is eBay really worth the hassle?
Thanks for reading.
