Having An Audio/Visual Clearout ( Part 1)

One night last week, I was in the mood for a bit of a clear out.  I was inspired by the need to find space to store some CD's that are currently cluttering up the bedroom.  Most of the CD's we own are downstairs in a cupboard, so I took a look in there and decided that the cupboard itself could do with a clear out and set about doing just that.  I figured that if I could make enough room, I could fit everything in this one cupboard, which would be very useful.

I started with the videos as these rarely get played, although we do still have a player.  I more than halved what was there after getting Little Bird's permission to get rid of a whole heap of her childhood videos.  The DVD's got the same treatment.  We rarely watch them more than once, save for School of Rock with Jack Black, which is so funny we've watched it time and again.  Little Bird wanted to keep a few others and I must admit I kept a few favourites too.  This more than doubled the space left on the shelf.  Spurred on I then sorted through the Wii games and DS games and a few got put on the OUT pile.   Now I've just got to decide what to do with them all.

I checked out listings on eBay of DVD's and as there were so many I decided that I would rather not bother to list them, so they can go to the charity shop.   The Wii games and DS games may get traded in at Game if they will accept them, as there is a game that Little Bird is currently keen to get her hands on, or otherwise they may get listed on eBay.   I don't think the charity shop takes videos anymore, so they will need to go to the rubbish dump along with a few old cassettes and a broken CD storage case.

Talking of CD storage, I found an old solid oak Habitat bathroom shelf under the sofa in the dining room, where I'd tucked it out of sight.  I didn't want to throw it away as I like it and it was quite expensive when we bought it, but it doesn't fit into our current bathroom.  Here's a picture.

I tried CD's in it for size and it was perfect for CD storage so I am going to sand it down and oil it and use it for storing my favourite CD's in my workroom.  I have already used a matching bathroom cabinet (minus the door) for display in there, so it should fit in well.  I figure that if I put my favourite CD's in it this will encourage me to play them whilst I'm working on projects, as opposed to them being left in the cupboard and forgotten about.  I just need a small CD player now!  Maybe I'll put this on my Christmas or Birthday list as I can never think of things I want when asked. 

You might have gathered that I am not an iPod, laptop or phone user when it comes to listening to music, although I do own an iPod.  I may rethink the above and save myself some money by transferring them all onto my iPod or laptop, or maybe I won't.  Anyway, I've already listened to one which was a Salsa CD.  I put it on in the car on the way to Zumba and it was wonderful to listen to, especially on a hot summer's evening, it really got me in the mood for my class.  Another thought, maybe I should just buy a small CD case and listen to them in the car whilst driving - another inexpensive option.  I'll give it some more thought before making a decision.

Anyway, I digress, still in the mood for clearing out, I also took a look on my shelves of books in the dining room (we're very partisan when it comes to some things) and managed to pull out quite a few books that could go to the charity shop.  The shelves looked a lot tidier once I'd done it, although there are still a lot I can't bear to part with.  I'll have to get OH to do the same with his shelves.  By this time it was getting quite late, so I called it a day.

The following day the clear out resumed once again, and CD's were sifted through and the cupboard rearranged a little to create quite a bit of space for the CD's in the bedroom currently needing a new home.  I'm leaving the job of sifting through these to OH as they are his CD's.  Hopefully, he'll be as ruthless as he was when he tackled the shelves.  Here's a picture of the collated pile of things to be given away, thrown away or sold so far.

It feels good to get rid of so many unused  and outgrown things. Here's a picture of the cupboard as it looks now.  A vast improvement with room to spare for the other CD's we have. (Please excuse the blurriness of these photos).

In part two of this post, I will post a photo of the cupboard once everything has been sorted and re homed (I forgot to take a before shot, as often happens when I get a bee in my bonnet so to speak), as well as the CD shelf once it's been cleaned up, filled and put in place.  Is anyone else out there in the throes of chucking out the clutter in their home?
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