Organizing CDs and DVDs

When I was in college, I could fit all my CDs in one little plastic box. I got rid of the CD cases and put all the CDs in CD/DVD sleeves. Fast forward the 12 years since then; no more sleeves purchased. DVDs and CDs have positively overrun several drawers and a cupboard.

Last week, I started investigating different storage options, pricing them out and such. I ended up right back at CD/DVD sleeves in boxes (this time cardboard, not plastic). There are sleeves that fit into binders, but I found those binders more expensive than the cardboard boxes. The downside of my choice is not necessarily being able to store full-size DVD inserts.

As for pricing, each sleeve costs about 16 cents (free shipping through Amazon.com), and will hold two CDs/DVDs (one in front and one in back) or one CD/DVD with its accompanying booklet tucked into the back pocket.

The cardboard boxes cost $6.31 each, which included shipping from CreateForLess.com. I know I could have saved money on those, but I wanted black, and I wanted online ordering. Each box fits at least 50 double-sided sleeves, but could be stuffed more.

My girls are so excited about organizing, that they’ve taken on this project. Mostly Haniya. They’re doing all the work.

The boxes’ assignments are:

• 1 box for family movies
• 1 box for kid movies
• 2 boxes for music CDs
• 1 box for school/computer CDs
• 1 extra box — probably will be the girls for their audio books CDs

The CD or DVD goes into the front of the sleeve. We slip any paper documentation (which we want to keep) in the back of the sleeve. If the CD or DVD is part of a series, they fill up the front and back of however many sleeves it takes.

The girls have been cutting out thin strips of cardstock to use as labels, which slips into the top of the sleeve. That is, if the CD/DVD case doesn’t provide a usably thin one already.

The CDs/DVDs in each box are filed alphabetically. We had one set of alphabetical dividers from my pre-marriage music collection. Haniya duplicated these for all the other boxes. This consisted of cutting out a piece of cardstock to the same size as the divider (which is handily the same size as a sleeve), then writing the alphabet letters at the top and coloring the top with a highlighter to make it visible. The letters go in sets of three like this: ABC-DEF-GHI-JKL-MNO-PQR-ST-UVW-XYZ. (You’ll notice ST are a pair, not a threesome.)

So at this point, we’re pretty happy. We’re not quite done, but we’ve got two drawers, a cupboard, and a miscellaneous pile condensed down to five little boxes.

Update: Here are 4 of the finished boxes on the bookcase. We have one more box near the computer and one more box in the girls’ room.