As much as I love to embrace the way technology allows us to access music, I can’t bring myself to throw away some of my CDs … yet.
I’m sure the time will come. I have managed to declutter my book collection, and it didn’t hurt or scar me! I’m not a big DVD collector, so that (for me) wasn’t a huge clutter problem.
CDs however, between my partner and myself, we have quite a collection.
The tips in this blog will help you declutter books, DVDs or CDs. However I will concentrate on CDs and you can adapt the strategies to suit your needs.
Organizing CDs You Don’t Want To Part With … Yet
1. Cull
Get rid of CDs that don’t matter to you anymore.
Unless they hold real sentimental value (or it’s a rare one, signed by your favourite artist), then let it go.
Take out those you haven’t wanted to play for years & donate them.
2. Digitalize
Once you have culled the collection pull out your favourite CDs, the ones you really want to listen to again.
Add them to your iTunes.
If you’re brave enough, can you toss the CD. If you’re not brave enough yet, you soon will be!
3. Donate, Sell, Pass On
With so many Facebook Buy/Sell/Swap pages you are bound to find a page that services your local area.
Use the Buy/Sell/Swap pages as a fast and easy way to offload those CDs without having to go to too much trouble.
Alternatively there might be other people you know who would like the CDs.
Let it be their clutter, not yours!
4. Store
Store your remaining CDs in an area of the home that does not take up prime real estate.
You can store CDs in:
- Bookcases
- CD storage units
- Boxes
- Wall cabinets
- Cupboards.
Revisit your CD collection in another six months to see if the value they hold to you now still holds true.
Songs To Help You Declutter
Just to be cheeky, here are a few songs that might inspire you to declutter those CDs for good:
Let It Go – Idina Menzel
Movin’ On Up – M People
I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Nash
Taking Care of Business – Bachman–Turner Overdrive
It’s A Beautiful Day – U2
You Get What You Give – New Radicals
Organizing Methods to Categorize Your CDs
Here is a previous post about organizing your CD collection based on randomness, genre or alphabet. Enjoy. 🙂
Now go and start decluttering!
In organizing cds, remember, it is neither legal nor ethical to keep a recorded copy of a cd and then give it or sell it to someone else.If you are going to give it away or sell it, copyright laws require you to delete any copies you have made of it. Yes, yes, I know – “everybody does it.” But just put yourself in the place of the recording artist, and you will understand the fairness of this law.
Jim, don’t be silly. Your views well they are tiresome. Get real. Ripping off Beyoncé? Ripping off Brahms? Even ripping off EMI? Get real.
Good blog post on decluttering.