Getting rid of nearly everything you own.

[Jim_MacLaine]

I shopped around and used Ziffit, Music Magpie and WeBuyBooks. It's a little more time consuming entering in the barcode into several different sites (probably quicker if you scan with a smartphone), but also a slight rush when you see Ziffit might give you £1.50 for something Music Magpie might only give you 60p for, as an example.

Thanks. Might use a mixture of this and ebay as my handy barcode app has shown there's money in some of my collection e.g. Russ Meyer box set going for £130 up.

[Dusty Substance]

I'm considering getting a folder which fits 400 discs in so that will save lots of space over having all the DVD and CD cases.

Stop considering and do it! I did it a few years ago with DVDs and it was a gamechanger. It saved a HUGE amount of space.

I also whittled my once mighty CD collection down to about 10-15% of what it once was, got rid of almost all my CD singles, condensed Best Ofs and magazine freebie CDs into folders and wallets. No regerts.

[bomb_dog]

Yes it saves the space by binning the boxes but it also drops the value of those items should you want to sell them in the future. Why not just rip to FLAC or mkv and sell the whole item(s)? I've done this in the past to some old 'big box' PC games to save space and wish I hadn't.

[purlieu]

I've got rid of between 2,000 and 3,000 CDs, records, tapes and minidiscs in the past 12 years, and at the moment don't regret any of it. I also have OCD, however, meaning I would end up obsessing over getting the 'perfect' sized collection and selling off stuff I really liked just to fit that number, only to then decide on a smaller number and so on. I think at one point I was down to about 150 albums, before swiftly realising that actually I fucking wanted a lot of that stuff and thus I bought it back again, mostly at a higher price than I'd sold it for. I've done this a few times and it's one reason I don't have many savings in the bank, so I'm very, very wary about doing it these days. One thing I'm doing very gradually is finding more compact versions of albums - 2CD deluxe editions that gobble up all the b-sides to get rid of any singles, 'Original Album Series' sets that collect five albums in the width of a single jewel case, which suffice for most artists, other than my all-time favourites, eco-pak/digifile type reissues, Japanese mini LP sleeves if they're affordable. I own eight Brian Eno albums, and they're all in the Japanese sleeves, meaning they take up the space of three jewel cases on my shelf.

One place I lived, I didn't have any physical music with me, just listening digitally, and I really hated it. Scrolling down names or images on a screen is a totally different thing to browsing shelves, and as I very often don't know what I want to listen to until I see it, this basically resulted in some major anxiety of not being able to find something to play. So while I absolutely encourage people to stick to digital if they think it'll benefit them - and I do this partially because of my loathing for the overpriced artificial scarcity novelty collectors' market that physical releases have become in the past ten years - I'd definitely give it a trial run for a bit before going for the big chuck.

I'm really torn about DVDs and BluRays myself, because I do like having a physical collection of stuff (and have a wishlist of about 500 I'd like to buy), but ultimately I know most of them are going to get one play every two or three years. That said, I don't like being at the computer all the time and am looking forward to getting my own place and being able to sit on the sofa and pop a disc in to watch a film rather than searching through a hard-drive. But they take up so much room. I already have one folder full of discs, so I might continue to do that for everything other than my very favourite shows and films.

So, so many books are a one-read-only affair, and I'm pretty ruthless when it comes to getting rid of them. I have a fairly small collection of favourite authors and other favourite works, but maybe only one in three or four I read will end up there. Not a big fan of Kindles, but much as I love actual books, I'm more than happy to get rid of any I don't absolutely adore. Must have passed hundreds on to charity shops over the years, and they always seem to be on the lookout for them, so that's all good. The only other 'inessential' stuff I own is my music gear, most of which is currently packed away, but will hopefully be set up on a table in the corner of my room when I move.

I have fantasised about getting rid of almost everything and just living off a laptop, an e-Reader and few bags of clothes, but it's a bit of an overly romanticised idea that would work best if you've got lots of stuff to do in your life. As someone who's been out of work for years, having stuff around me has been a great benefit as it helps keep my mind active around the house without being constantly stuck staring at a screen. I think, at some point in the future, if I've got a job and a social life again, it might provide a different context for me to reassess what I own: I already have so much music that I don't have time to listen to half of it, and I've radically reduced the amount of new albums I buy just because I've become so overwhelmed by it all, so it may get to the stage where I realise that I just don't the hours in the day to justify owning a lot of the stuff I do. But that's for the future.

[JamesTC]

Stop considering and do it! I did it a few years ago with DVDs and it was a gamechanger. It saved a HUGE amount of space.

I also whittled my once mighty CD collection down to about 10-15% of what it once was, got rid of almost all my CD singles, condensed Best Ofs and magazine freebie CDs into folders and wallets. No regerts.

I have two big folders on the way. Going to try to make it so that I have nothing aside from old Doctor Who DVDs in plastic boxes under the bed.

Also getting rid of loads of magazines and boxes. Don't need old copies of Big Finish Vortex Magazine. Don't need over decade old copies of Private Eye from when I was in college and thought I was being intellectual by reading it. Don't need to keep the box from my three-year-old 4KTV or Air Fryer.

Yes it saves the space by binning the boxes but it also drops the value of those items should you want to sell them in the future. Why not just rip to FLAC or mkv and sell the whole item(s)? I've done this in the past to some old 'big box' PC games to save space and wish I hadn't.

Very few of the DVDs, Blu-rays and CDs that I will be getting rid of the cases for will be worth much. If I checked through them all, I might get £100 to £200. A few might be worth a fair bit, but it is few and far between. A cursory glance through the TV shows and the most I can find anything being worth is £7 trade in for Harry and Paul Series 3, £15 for the Knight Rider set and £16 for the Spitting Image set at CEX.

The stuff I am keeping on the shelves is both the stuff I love and the stuff that is worth more. Also a few things that just look nice.

[Paul Calf]

I have two big folders on the way. Going to try to make it so that I have nothing aside from old Doctor Who DVDs in plastic boxes under the bed.

Deso thread is that way mate > .

[JamesTC]

Deso thread is that way mate > .

You wish you had a complete set of Classic Doctor Who on DVD.

[mothman]

I've got a lot of SF paperbacks from the 70s and 80s. For a long time they were on a bookshelf, but then for various reasons I boxed them up and put them in the loft. But now we don't have a loft anymore, so down the box came (along with everything else). My wife said I might as well get rid of all of them. After all, I use a Kindle now. Initially, I panicked. My books?! But now I'm gradually coming round to the idea. I guess they'll go to a charity shop, they're effectively worthless,  o point going through the hassle of sticking them on eBay.

Though I might take the time to check they're available as ebooks...

[Icehaven]

I've got a lot of SF paperbacks from the 70s and 80s. For a long time they were on a bookshelf, but then for various reasons I boxed them up and put them in the loft. But now we don't have a loft anymore, so down the box came (along with everything else). My wife said I might as well get rid of all of them. After all, I use a Kindle now. Initially, I panicked. My books?! But now I'm gradually coming round to the idea. I guess they'll go to a charity shop, they're effectively worthless,  o point going through the hassle of sticking them on eBay.

Though I might take the time to check they're available as ebooks...

Arrgh! My Mum had a lot of sci-fi paperbacks from the 50s and 60s that she got rid of when she moved abroad in the late 60s, and has always regretted their loss. This isn't helping ;)

[mothman]

I know! I may have to curate the collection.

[timebug]

My own book collection was getting out of hand about thirty years ago; I had a system where having read a book, I decided if I would ever want to re-read it. If yes, on the shelves it went. If no, down to the charridee shop, or given to a friend. By good fortune, I was able to open my own small second hand bookshop at the time,and funnelled all the excess stuff into that! Since then I have around a thousand well loved books,that I have re-read at various times. The only drawback is,that although I can control what books I get, Christmas and birthdays generally result in an influx of unexpected and (often unwanted!) new books.
I am an addict, and can control my need for books.....(honestly)

[Dusty Substance]

Ten years ago, I had four IKEA three-shelf book cases, with books doubled up and on the top shelf (rough estimate that's about 750 books, plus another 100 or so large sized books and other odds and ends).

Over the years, I've given away/sold/exchanged books and now have all my books in a custom built, seven shelf case with some doubled up. It looks a lot more aesthetically pleasing, is easier to find a book when needed and also gives the impression that I'm more of a selective reader rather than a hoarder. I'll still buy the occasional book from a charity shop, but I now have a one in/out out policy.

It's taken me 15 years to get a point where I feel mostly happy with the amount of possessions I own. My CD collection is under control and the DVDs are mostly sorted, but my To Watch pile is getting bigger as I can't resist 10p/20p charity shop finds.

The ongoing issue now is my ridiculously large record collection. About five years ago, I bought a job lot of 3500 7" singles for £200, which was an incredible bargain but it meant my flat was a storage room for banana boxes for a good couple of years. Two boxes of 7"s left to sort through. A couple of years ago two mates independently gave me their record collections which was very kind of them, but it meant more sorting, filing, cleaning etc. So it's been a bit of an uphill struggle but I've found some excellent records in the three collections so it's all been (just about) worth it.

EDIT: My one BIG regret of all the things I've got rid of over the last 15/20 years is my cassette collection. It was never a huge collection, but I had some classic 90s albums on tape (Beastie Boys, Radiohead, Sugar, Cornershop all come to mind) and they all went on eBay or straight to the chazza. It never occurred to me that cassettes would ever have any collectable appeal like vinyl.

[mothman]

Perhaps there should be some sort of book/CD/even cassette exchange mechanism here. I'd not be averse to listing what I have in case anyone wants it (before I leave it in a bag or box outside a charity shop for them to either throw away or - if it's worth anything - pinch to sell on their eBay shop...).

[Lord Jim]

Possessions are a burden. The one thing I will never part with is my books though. However, we all need a roof over our heads and, unfortunately, that is often the biggest, most expensive and most problematical possession of all.... I despise the property "market", and the myriad of parasites, opportunists, so-called "tradespeople", estate agents, solicitors, surveyors, land registry, landlords, banks, mortgage brokers, council tax, business rate, the list is endless. I don't know why pyramid schemes are illegal, the property biz is the biggest pyramid scheme going.
We're all just passing through, we'll take nothing with us, so why bother accumulating "stuff". 

[AllisonSays]

I have mixed feelings about this. I think I quite like accumulating some things, books mostly but also a beautiful wooden box, a nice chair, a green rug, a coffee pot, a strange red object, a prissy wee wooden coffee table, a John Bellany print, lots of very similar second-hand Adidas jackets, a pair of not-very-good pottery hares. I lived out of a bag, more or less, for like a decade, and it was good in some ways hut I kind of enjoy the slight drag and friction of accumulating dome objects. It feels like ballast! Like you, though, I can't imagine willingly enter into the hassle of owning a house.

[JamesTC]

Finished putting all my lesser DVDs, Blu-rays and CDs into two big folders. Didn't manage to fit everything in but near enough did.

Found a porn DVD hidden behind the disc in my copy of Super Banzai Video Show that I probably put there when I was 13 and forgotten about.

[buttgammon]

I don't buy physical copies of music or video any more, and haven't for years, the only exception being some Blu-Rays I inexplicably bought last year just before the first lockdown. The main reason for this, however, isn't some sense of actually being in control of how much stuff I need, but it's to make room for more books. I have three bookcases here (two completely full ones and a messy 'overflow' one for rando, shit), as well as a pile in the bottom of my wardrobe, and three mostly bookcases and a shelf in my mum's house. Managing the collection has been a nightmare during covid, as it means I've sometimes needed - or just really wanted to read - stuff that's inaccessible, especially as there have been times when I haven't been able to use libraries either. This has pushed my to use more digital resources for practical research stuff but otherwise, the book buying has been as out of control as ever.