Confession: My husband and I do not have cable television. We do not have Netflix, Direct TV, Hulu, or anything of the sort. We have not had television in our home for the entire span of our marriage, which is coming up on 8 years. What?!?!? Correct. AND WE LOVE IT.
Our main news provider/news anchor is my mother, and following that, the Internet and radio. If David wants to catch a sports game or enjoy the History Channel, he watches at a friend’s home or via Internet or his smartphone (free apps!). If I need an HGTV fix or have the desire to indulge in my irrational choice of Hoarders: Buried Alive, I also watch on my smartphone.
The positives of this decision are many. We find things to do other than sitting in front of the tube. There’s no extra monthly bill that’s not a necessity. No flipping through one hundred channels just to say, “There’s nothing on TV.” No bargaining over who gets the remote. No lost times of fellowship when friends or family visit. No thoughts of “I just spent 4 hours watching back to back episodes of Hoarders, and I now need to throw out every item in my home besides soap and toilet paper.”
The negatives of our decision? We have none.
So, why do we even own the big black tube?—Because David and I do enjoy watching a good movie. This brings me to one of my latest home projects. We have a mirrored dresser in our living room that holds our DVDs. After years of acquiring movies that we’d enjoy watching more than once, the dresser began to overflow. Several years ago, I tried housing the DVDs in a large CD album, but cramming them into the plastic sleeves scratched the discs, so back into the cases they went. I recently searched the Internet to find another solution, and I have to tell you . . . we love the current setup. We have been using this system for about two months now because I wanted to truly test it out before writing about it. It’s been great for us.
The drawers were beginning to overflow.
Supplies Needed:
I had everything on hand except the Memorex sleeves. I simply had to invest time, patience, about $20 for the sleeves (we ended up buying 3 packages), and it was worth it!
I chose to separate the DVDs into movie genres as the first step.
The Finished Project!
I labeled the dividers into our most-watched movie genres and labeled each individual sleeve with the movie it holds. I then alphabetized them in each category, so we know exactly where to go if wanting a specific movie. If we are unsure, we simply pull out the acrylic holder and flip through, which is fun!
Now all of our DVDs fit into one drawer—with room to spare! I had two empty dresser drawers afterward, which I used to house all of our games that had been crammed into a spare closet, making the dresser a true entertainment catch all (and now have an empty closet shelf!). I boxed up the DVD cases and have them stored in our basement.
The back of the third container to the right holds about seventy-five empty sleeves for future DVD purchases (which should last us for years), as well as a few hard plastic DVD cases for the times someone wants to borrow a movie.
I hope you enjoyed this organization project! How do you store your DVDs? Any others out there who don't have cable television? I'd love to hear from you!
~Kara
