Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!
In today’s 5 minutes we’re going to express-organize your library of books, DVDs and/or CDs.
Before you start, inhale a sense of clarity, freedom and order; now let’s get going.
Day 7: Organize Your Books, DVDs, and/or CDs
Decide if you want to tackle books, DVDs, CDs, or a combination. What you can achieve in 5 minutes will depend on the size of your various collections.
Step 1: Take a large box (or bag) to your bookshelves, or wherever you store your library. Moving quickly from top left to bottom right, put into the box:
- Books you’ve read and won’t re-read
- Unread books you’re never likely to read
- Books that contain out-of-date information (that means most reference books, encyclopedias, etc)
- Old textbooks – unless you graduated, like, this decade
- Binders of seminar/course info (unless you really believe you’ll refer to them)
- Archived magazines (do you ever look back at them?)
- Manuals for software or computers you no longer use
- Software CDs for programs you no longer use
- Computer games the kids (or you) have outgrown
- CDs you no longer listen to
- CDs ripped to your iPod and backed up on your computer (if you only want the CD booklet, just keep that)
- DVDs you’ve seen and won’t re-watch
- DVDs the kids have outgrown
- Unseen DVDs you’re never likely to watch
- Photo albums you never look at
- Photo albums that have negative memories
- Video or audio cassettes if you no longer have players for them.
Step 2: Take your box(es) to the door or straight to the car. You can usually donate novels, non-fiction books, CDs and DVDs to libraries; the rest can probably be recycled. Take care with data and photos.
Step 3: Do a quick re-order to make better use of the newly liberated space on your shelves. Dewey Decimal, anyone?
And you’re done!
Got an Extra 5 Minutes?
- If you only did books, do DVDs and/or CDs – or vice-versa.
- Get a damp cloth and wipe down your shelves and your collection.
- If you haven’t already, investigate your local library. It’s a fabulous way to enjoy books, DVDs and CDs without cluttering up your home.
Now don’t you just want to make a cup of coffee and settle down with a good book?
The 30-Day Organize-athon Mantra
Move fast. Don’t overthink. Let it go!
Leave Your Comment Below…
Please leave a comment below to say you’ve completed today’s task.
See you tomorrow!
[Image by aussiegall]
I fell asleep last night before I got the chance to post on the day’s activities- so here it is, a little after 5:30 am and I am going to try to post. I am a MAJOR book-lover, and have thousands (literally!) of books…so I knew that I couldn’t do a thorough job in organizing my massive collection. What I DID do was remove the piles of books that I have scattered all over my “reading room”, and place them on the appropriate bookshelves (I have shelves lining each wall in my reading room)- that’s what 5 minutes of work enabled me to do. Doesn’t seem like much in writing, but it does make a big difference in the appearance of clutter!
I HAVE COMPLETED ALL 7 DAYS OF 5-MINUTE ORGANIZATION MISSIONS!
So, this particular task was an especially easy one for me, because it’s one I try to keep up with on a regular basis!
With limited space, I’m always sorting out what I don’t need to keep here on the bookshelf, to make room for the new reads I want. And I’m OCD about keeping my collections organized by genre. So, it was just a matter of putting away a few that were used recently and never made it back.
As a suggestion for anyone who isn’t and who found they have a bag full of stuff to get rid of… Might I actually suggest not trashing it?
There are a lot of really great book swapping sites I’m a member of (some for CDs or DVDs too, actually). Basically, you trade the old ones you don’t read anymore for a new one you’ve been wanting by sending it to someone else who is in the opposite boat. Some are completely free; others you pay shipping costs.
A few I’d reccomend:
Paper Back Swap – http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php
Book Mooch – http://bookmooch.com/
Bookins – http://www.bookins.com/
oh, books are a hard one. Done!
Done, and I completed all 7 tasks
I had already gone through my CD and DVDs a few weeks ago, so I just did old books. Needed more than 5 minutes though. Throwing away was easy, I just spend some time reorganizing my books, dusting the shelves and just making it look pretty
all 7 done and commented on. thanks for sharing these challenges with us. each day is only a 5 minute task that feels freeing for days afterward. this is amazing.
Love the program. My books and DVDs were organized a few months ago so this was easy. just had to dust them off and repair the dvd storage box labels.
All 7 done this week.
All 7 done this week!
Ok, we have a LOT of books & CDs & DVDs. So in 5 minutes I could only do one shelf. But it’s done. And that makes all 7 days, done & commented on. Thanks for a great week, looking forward to the rest of the month!
Yes! Did it, getting rid of books is certainly harder for me!
Did all 7 days! 🙂
Seven of seven! This one was hard!
Loaded an entire box of CDs to take to the local bookstore tomorrow. They take trade ins! What they don’t take is going in the yard sale next week!
Better organized, but didn’t really purge. I’d tossed several a couple of weeks ago.
But I love my books!!! I wasable to purge my magazines, easy. The DVD’s no prob!! But my books??? Um, not so easy!! So we shall say these are just better organized!!
Forgot to mention 7 days completed! 🙂
Done! 🙂
Finally, finished this task!
Seven comments left and seven tasks tackled, if not totally completed. I have bookcases in each of 5 rooms and a hall way . . . crazy, right? Anyway, I got through the bookcases in the hallway. Have boxes ready to send to my daughter who participates in book exchanges — hey, it ‘s leaving my house! And I have several boxes to donate to our VA Hospital. All those boxes are in my car, ready to go — so they are out of my house.
We are book hoarders and LOVE books. Cleaning them out was a difficult task and we filled numerous boxes with the books.
I have done all 7 tasks and look forward to the next one!!!!
All 7 tasks completed..I am loving this!