I used to organize my DVDs in binders. While that was a great idea, over the years the binders got so full that I needed to purchase more and more of them. So, when I couldn't find them any longer, I decided I needed a system that would work without using so much space. The image below is the way we were organizing DVDs in our home.
Keep in mind, when organizing DVDs on the cheap, you need to be creative. I purchased these items from the office supplies store and found the bins at Target. Here's how I created this system.
An Easy Way to Organize DVDs
These are my binders for my family's DVD collection. Each family member had their own binder with their beloved movies in it. Since the kids would pull from their binder often, they needed their own binder so they could place it in their room and the other child wouldn't have to hunt for their DVDs. I developed this system about five years ago and while this system worked for some time, the issues were:
- The children are teens now, and their movie interests are pretty much the same as ours.
- The binders were full, and we needed to add more binders which was expensive and wasn't easy to find any more.
- We wanted to find movies by name and not by the person who owned it.
Use Paper DVD sleeves
So, I decided to gather all the movies together and put them in ABC order by Title. It took about 2 hours placing the DVDs in the paper sleeves and sorting them by title.
Make Labels for the movies
Then, about an hour or so making sure they were in the right place and creating labels (Affiliate Link) for each paper sleeve. I used the Avery return address labels
that hold 80 labels (Affiliate Link) per page. To make this quickly move along, I had my daughter read the titles to me while I typed them on the label (Affiliate Link). And, with my lightning fast typing, we were able to transfer them onto the labels (Affiliate Link) fairly quickly.
Use ABC labels
After these labels (Affiliate Link) were printed, I bought Alphabet Avery tabs
and 100 pack paper DVD Sleeves
from Staples. (Affiliate: You can click on the link and order them from Amazon (Affiliate Link).) They just didn't have one with a # sign on it for the movies that start with a number, so I had to create it myself.
The most difficult thing in this process was finding bins that were affordable. After going to three major discount chains, I finally found something at Target that worked for the 275 DVD that we had in our collection.
The result!
And, here is the result. So, we knew what movies we had, I decided to copy the list and added it to a family page in OneNote. I then printed it out and placed it near the DVDs just in case someone what's to know if we had a movie.
The total cost = $57.94 =$4.99 Tabs (Affiliate Link) + $6.99 x 2 for bins + 12.99 Sleeves x 3 +$0.00 for return labels (Affiliate Link) I already had.
UPDATE:
We have used this system for at least 5 years now and it still works. Woohoo! So happy we found a way to organized our mass collection of DVDs. Good luck on your DVD organization. Leave a comment below and let me know how you organize your DVDs. I would love to hear from you.
Olive Wagar says
I have a similar system that I use for DVDs and CDs. The sleeves I purchased have pockets on both sides, so I cut out the original cover to fit the front pocket and put the DVD or CD in the back pocket. I found fabric bins at Dollar General. So much less space than original cases or binders!
Janet Barclay says
This is a great system! I've tried using binders to organize CDs, recipes, postcards, and possibly other things, and it's always the same - they get full, heavy, and hard to manage. Your system looks great!
Sabrina Quairoli says
It was so easy to set up, and we still use it to this day. I love it when a system can withstand the test of time. Thanks for commenting. =)