To use dead space:

Make a list: Trot around your house and make a list of dead spaces. Types of dead spaces include inside cabinet doors, above bookshelves, under tables, and some wall space.

Make a second list: Your second list builds on your list of dead spaces. For example; you see that you have a dead space in your hall closet. When you open the closet door, there’s perfectly usable space on the inside of the door. You can un-dead space it by adding coat hanger hooks, or a magnetic strip for keys and such. Another example may be under your coffee table. You can add a basket and get those stacks of magazines sorted away. Yet another could be that empty wall above your desk. Placing a small wall shelving unit there gives you a place to store pen holders, small index file boxes, and maybe a few books.

Be frugal: Some dead space is nice. If every single inch of your home is full of stuff, well, that’s not the idea. Dead space serves a purpose for items that actually really need a home, not silly collections, old newspapers, or junk you won’t ever fix.

Where are the usable dead spaces in your home? 

Post from: Blisstree

Getting Rid of Dead Space

1. Nothing in the tub, drawers, or on the counters: Give each family member a plastic or aluminum tote and let them carry their bathroom goodies back and fourth from their closet to the bath.
2. Hang towel racks over the backs of bedroom doors.
3. Think high. If towel racks in the bedroom is too inconvenient, try hanging a series of racks on the wall – but place some higher than normal. So long as the tallest person in the house can reach the top rack, it’s all good.
4. Grab a bin and store your first aid supplies in a kitchen cupboard – how often does someone need first aid in the bathroom anyhow?
5. Consider an off the counter hand soap dispenser and tooth brush holder. There are plenty of bathroom accessories that you can attach to the wall to save counter space – assuming you have counter space.

What other steps can you think of to save room in an extra small bathroom? 

Post from: Blisstree

Five tips for EXTRA small bathrooms

• Save Space by Dumping the CD Jewel Cases
• Where To Recycle CD & DVD Cases
• Where to find CD and DVD file folders and cases

Well, I did it; transfered all my CDs and DVDs to disk folders. There were some pros to this solution for sure.

• My DVDs and CDs collections have gone from massive piles to one nice tidy folder each.
• I’ve saved loads of space.
• My son seems to find it easier to put DVDs back into the folder than the cases.

What was my mistake?:

I sorely underestimated my collection size. I actually underestimated both my DVD and CD collection, but in varying amounts. I bought two 72 disk capacity folders; which I mainly decided on after just sort of looking at the pile of disks and estimating. Now, I don’t have 72 DVDs, although it’s getting up there, so frankly I could have gone maybe to 100-120 capacity. If we buy many more DVDs we’re in trouble, but for now it’s ok. The major issue was with my CDs. I didn’t think I had so many, because I mainly play records, I guess I assumed my CD collection was super tiny – like 50. Um, no.

I had way more than 72 CDs, a fact I realized after moving half of them too thank you very much. What to do? As luck would have it, I had another disk folder in the house, a huge one I use for computer disks. There’s only about 60 disks in there so I transfered them to the one I bought for the CDs and moved the CDs into the large folder.

Long story short – this solution rocks in terms of saving space and ease of use, however, count your disks before buying a folder. Estimating is hard.

Has anyone else done this yet? Transferred disks?

Post from: Blisstree

My CD Storage Mistake – Save Yourself Some Trouble

Here are the ones I got:

Case Logic 72 Capacity Heavy Duty CD Wallet: I got two of these, one for CDs and one for DVD. They don’t hold much, but I listen to records mostly, not CDs and we don’t have mountains of movies. 72 will be plenty for us. I like that they’re inexpensive (around $12) and hard. I also like that they’ll fit easily on a bookcase. Plus the color is simple.

There are other choices though.

Case Logic makes larger disc holders that are pretty basic, not expensive, and variable in amount they’ll hold. Their products also hold up well. My travel case from them is at least five years old and perfectly good. I also have one for my computer discs that works well. I’d check out their selection of CD and DVD holders first. You can find any number of folders for discs at office supply stores.

You could also try a boxed solution: I don’t love boxes as much, because they’re not as easy to flip through, and also have to sit wide side down, but it’s not a bad option. One nice one box solution are the CD/DVD Storage Boxes from Winner Computer – I like the silver color.

The boxes come in various sizes. You can find stuff like this all over; even use photo storage boxes if you don’t have a large collection.

Other ideas:

1 Touch CD Drawer 160 CDs Included Sleeves by Hipce

Portable CD Briefcase 180 CDs in Included Sleeves by Hipce

Also read: Where To Recycle CD & DVD Cases

Post from: Blisstree

Where to find CD and DVD file folders and cases

To save space and save having to box pack them, I’ve decided to get a folder, put all the liners and CDs in said folder, and recycle the cases. I already do this with my computer work discs. For years I haven’t kept cases in my office, and it really does save space.

While looking around for a folder online, I found a really cool option for disc storage that I haven’t seen before:

Ideastream CD Cabinet: I love how this looks, although it’s heavier than a folder probably. This would fit nicely on a shelf and holds 165 CDs in Vaultz CD Folders, 60 CDs in slim cases or 30 CDs in full-size jewel cases. Of course, if you’re ditching the cases, your case would hold that full 165 x two.

There’s another case like this but it’s a double large, and has four drawers, each holding 165 CDs. Actually, this would be a good idea if you’re looking to simplify your DVD storage too. I can’t decide if I want to get rid of DVD cases or not; but really, they take up a lot of space. I may just try it.

If you’re looking to get organized and get rid of CD and DVD cases you may be wondering what to do with the cases. If you can recycle them? I’ll be back later to give you some ideas about how to manage the empty cases.

Post from: Blisstree

Save Space by Dumping the CD Jewel Cases