Organizing the dis-organized...
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63252)
United States
June 29, 2010 9:23pm CST
Saturday the other roomie decided to clean the office, this meant that she excavated the DVDs the roomie had inherited 2 summers ago when her friend died.
She also needed to get a handle on the DVDs she's bought in the last 5 years.
I said. "Lets do it."
she said, "how do we want to do it, figure out the old numbering system or what?"
I suggested we start with #1 and put a "D" in front of it.
So, on Saturday we did 100 DVDs.
Sunday we did another 100.
Last night we didn't do it because our friend "J" came over and we ate dinner and watched Doctor Who.
Actually, we watched it on Saturday too, but that was only a break to tide us over until we finished those first 100.
So, today, after I got home from work, we set up in the office so the roommate could be at her desk if any work came in, and we got to work again.
We have done 3 and a half boxes of DVDs, and have done 300.
What we do is I make up stickers with the numbers, and she puts them on the cases.
Then I write down the number on a 4x6 card and also write down the name of the movie or TV show.
I also on 3x5 cards do the same and if the show has someone she follows in it.
We still have another 3 and a half boxes of DVDs to do and some that will need to go into a cd book because the sleeves they are in are not good for storing.
So, have you been organizing things? Do you find that other people's doing something lights a fire under you? Does me!
5 people like this
17 responses
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
3 Jul 10
Wait, what? You have two different cards that you put info on? How many roomies are there? What kind of work does the roomie who sat at the desk do?
I started a database file a while ago to catalog the CDs and DVDs I own so I would know what I had. For now, they are mostly in storage containers until I get shelves built, etc. to hold them.
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
4 Jul 10
one is the number card, that says "this number is this DVD" The other card is the name card so you can look up a movie and find it
Lets talk library cards
There is the "shelf list" this is a catalog of all the books IN the order they appear on the shelves.
There is the Author/Title cards, listing all the books by a writer and all the books by the name of the book. Then there is a Subject card, that allows you to look up a type of book by its subject.
Well, the Shelf list is the number cards.
The Author/Title cards are the name cards and then she also has a notebook where the shows are listed by their subject, comedies, or science fiction, etc.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
4 Jul 10
Wow! So which of you is the librarian?
1 person likes this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
30 Jun 10
I can barely keep up with my mail--snail or net! You know me! LOL! But what happened to your idea of helping me organize my bookmarks? 
Maggiepie
“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
Maggiepie
“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” ~ Thomas Jefferson1 person likes this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
30 Jun 10
Sorry, that's what I meant, of course.
Just washed my hands; can't do a thing with 'em! 
Maggiepie
"I am a proud Human-American!" ~ Maggiepie
Maggiepie
"I am a proud Human-American!" ~ Maggiepie1 person likes this
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
30 Jun 10
Good morning Elic, don't mean to be bragging but i am a very organized person to start with. I can not stand a bunch of clutter in my house. Sounds l;ike y'all had quite a job.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
1 Jul 10
My Mother was a pack rat. I think y'all may have been kinfolks, lol.
1 person likes this
@mommaj (23112)
• United States
30 Jun 10
When you are done can I invite you over. I think if I could just get started I might get organized, but then again, I have been saying that for about 13 years. LOL I really think I am disorganized and if someone actually organized me, I wouldn't be able to find a thing. How does the other person feel about you throwing things out that were hers. Did she not want them? That would upset me if someone did that to me without asking.
It's nice of you to help her get organized. At least you have two people with a system. That's good.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
30 Jun 10
we really haven't thrown anything out expect stuff too ruined to use
this will give us the option to have a few boxes cleared out, we are even going to take the cheap DVDs and put them in a cd type book with numbers on them to cut down even more on the space they take up - since we can get 4 or 6 in a space not much bigger than one of the dvd cases...
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
30 Jun 10
I just alphabetize my DVDs by title. Of course, I don't have near as many as you guys do! woohoo!
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
1 Jul 10
Well, to each his own. I tried the number system with my CDs but then I had to make a log telling me what artist or songs were on which album...it got so complex, I gave up. lol
1 person likes this
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
30 Jun 10
That sounds like a major bit of organising to undertake! You had enough space free in your place to hold all these dvd's in the first place? if Not,organising them should at least free up some space,as well as saving you from having to wade through boxes to find something you want to watch! It'd also give you the option to weed out duplicates of movies or shows you might have already,and maybe sell them..I had a declutter in my place not that long ago,but there's always room for improvement...good luck with the rest of the pile!
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
30 Jun 10
Yeah, we've found some duplicates, taking them out to the roomie's mom before donating them to Goodwill...
We had a mostly empty bookcase the other roomie had her stuff in front of, and some stuff in, but now we have access to it.
1 bookcase if full, another half full, and 2 more to go, one has to be cleaned out tho... (Stuff, not anything important - can go in one of the empty boxes... )
)
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
30 Jun 10
That's a lot of DVDs!! I used to have tons of CDs but when I moved I sold most of them. I probably have only about 60 now, still a good selection. I don't buy DVDs, once I see a movie I don't care if I see it again but I would like to have some concert DVDs!
As for organizing, it doesn't inspire me when someone is involved in organizing stuff. I have so little to organize that I know where everything is, although I really do need to dust, vac and clean in general.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
30 Jun 10
She's got around 2000 video TAPES, most of them cataloged, now we are starting, or rather, RESTARTING with the DVDs
When she first got them, she thought to put them with the tapes, but then decided against it when we went well over 100. But then the new roommate buried the ones she had behind her stuff - until last weekend.
300 done, and another 200 labels made. I suspect we'll have over 500 DVDs.
When she wants to watch a movie, she wants to get it and watch it then, and remember, she's blind, she never had the option to drive to a video store and rent - back in the old days...
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
30 Jun 10
Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
Thinking of organizing dvds reminds me of what I tried to do with the videos. I put them in the vcr and made three piles:
1. too deteriorated to keep
2. starting to deteriorate
3. good
Got about 1/3 of the way through and then Richard and his mom came in while I was not home, decided to clean up, put them all in one pile.
I got so frustrated with having to start all over again, that I just left it.
1 person likes this
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
30 Jun 10
Wow that is a lot of DVDs! That is a great job! You must feel a good sense of achievement! I have clothes to sort through, mine and my daughter’s, I’m sure that it will take a while to got through both our closets but it is a job which has needed doing for a while and after reading your discussion...I may just tackle it any day now!
1 person likes this
@savak03 (6684)
• United States
3 Jul 10
I have been needing to go through all the boxes of stuff I have stacked up in my room. This is stuff that has been packed and repacked through several moves. I'm sure that some of the things that I can't find are mixed up in this stuff and I have decided it's time to simplify my life by getting rid of things I no longer use. After all, if I can't find it when I need it there is no point in keeping it anyway.
Well, I have made several attempts to get started on this project but I get very little done. Today I told my daughter I want her to help me as I think that that will help me get it accomplished. She didn't think it would be such a good idea but she agreed to help anyway. We are going to get started in just a couple of minutes.
1 person likes this
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
30 Jun 10
I tought that I was a packrat. Back in theday, I recorded a lot of VHS tapes o movies and miniseries. I trucked those to Gergia when I moved there and then to New Jersey when I moved there. That plus hardback books, vinyl record albums, baseball cards, cois, etc. When I went to move to Pennsylvania (at my own expense), a lot of the tapes and albums went. I'm still sort of downsizing, especially if I can sell things on eBay.
1 person likes this
@mkusmierz (10)
• Poland
30 Jun 10
I'm terrible at organizing. I'm having a lot of free time now so I'll probably do a bit of rearranging. I have a lot of books that I don't read anymore. I Need to find a new place for them or possibly a new use cause they're just collecting the dust now.
1 person likes this
@bellis716 (4799)
• United States
30 Jun 10
What I need to organize are about a half dozen shoe boxes of snapshots. When I retired 10 years ago, I took a day (or 2 or 3) to organize about 40 years of pictures. I told myself that I was going to keep them updated. That idea didn't last long. I recently found a gallon size zip-lock bag of pictures of people I used to work with and realized that I could not remember their names. I could remember where they sat and their job description, but not their names. The trash man cometh. Maybe I'll soon get motivated and take care of the rest of the pictures. The problem is, I don't have any one to help. My husband started once, but he was just sticking pictures in albums with no order whatsoever. He might have the picture from the birth announcement next to the graduation picture. Now that would have made some sense, but I wanted to put them in chronological order. He quit, and the pictures stacked up.
1 person likes this
@scififan43 (2434)
• United States
6 Dec 10
Well I have a lot of DVDS also. they still need to be organized, they are still sitting in the bag I used to carry them from home. well I am sure we will be doing a lot of organizings soon becase we will be moveing next year so there is a lot of organizing to be done. Typiclay it is my gf that will get to be organized.
1 person likes this
@cerebellum (3863)
• United States
30 Jun 10
I organize everything! It sounds like you have a very good system worked out! My house is so small, it would be a mess if it wasn't. You must have a lot of DVD's. I have never bought one. I haven't even rented one in a long time. I have "On Demand" and there is enough on there.
1 person likes this
