I have been wanting to tackle our CD collection for a long time, but I was both overwhelmed by the volume of CDs and concerned about the sentimental value of some of them. So, I’ve been putting it off – until now.
As it turns out, it wasn’t too bad.
My husband (who gives me a hard time about decluttering and believes it’s a waste of time and effort) was home when I took all of the CDs out of the cabinet and put them on the floor.
After I promised him that I wouldn’t throw away any of his CDs (because that’s not fair – you should never get rid of other people’s stuff without their permission), he actually JOINED me within a few minutes.
Not only did he join me, but he got rid of many of his own CDs. I’m proud to say that together, we are going from about 325 CDs to ONLY his Dave Matthews Band collection. Personally, I am decluttering my CD collection down to 0. That’s right, ZERO!
Here’s how.
Step 1: Sort
Find all of the CDs in your house and put them all on the floor (I always declutter by category, not by room – tip from the KonMari method). For us, this was easy. They were all in the cabinet below the TV in the living room. We’ve packed and unpacked these CDs countless times for moves and we never, ever go through them. This was long overdue.
Make the following piles:
- Keep
- Sell/Give-away
- Throw Away (ex: CDs you ripped yourself, too scratched to play, etc.)
- If you have a spouse or child who is not involved in this decluttering session, make him/her a pile. Don’t get rid of his/her CDs – just remove them from your own piles.
Only keep the CDs that you’re really attached to NOW. Personally, I found a lot of music that reminded me of times in my life that I’m in the process of letting go of. I have no place for those right now and none of them found their way into my “keep” pile.
Step 2: Sell
This pile was fun because it ended up being pretty large – about 145 CDs.
Break this step into two phases:
Sell to a Used CD Store
You’ll get the most bang for your buck from a used CD store.
If you live in a place that still has one of these, it’s worth making the trip. We have a huge one nearby, so I brought my four-year-old and it took about 20 minutes for the staff to review my CDs. Meanwhile, my daughter had fun looking around the giant non-digital store.
They accepted about 55 CDs and about 5 DVDs (which I grabbed on my way out the door – I wasn’t decluttering DVDs yet) and I made $35.
Sell Using the Decluttr App
I brought the remaining 90-or-so CDs home and downloaded an app called Decluttr.
You’ll want to have easy access to your CDs during this process. I just piled them up and sat down next to my piles.
The Decluttr app runs a barcode scanner to evaluate your electronics. You’ll just scan one CD after another after another and it will instantly tell you how much money they will accept for each CD. Set aside the CDs that Decluttr will offer you money for.
Once you scan all of your CDs (and DVDs if you’re decluttering them all together), complete your session on the Decluttr app. It will tally how much money all of your electronics are worth and they will immediately send you an email with further instructions.
You’ll print your shipping label, find a box, put your CDs (and DVDs if you scanned them) into that box, and send it off to them at no cost to you. After they receive and review your shipment, they’ll pay you. You can choose to receive the money via direct deposit, check, or paypal.
Easy peasy (and free!!). I sold about 33 CDs and 1 DVD and made almost $10. Yay!!
Step 3: Donate
After following the above steps, I was left with about 57 CDs. A few friends looked through them, but I have to assume that there is little value (to me) in them at this point. They’re in the car to be donated to a thrift shop. My hope is that someone else will find them and be happy to give them some love and attention.
But what about your “keep” pile, you may ask. How will you be left with ZERO CDs?
Here’s the plan and the final (optional) step.
Step 4: Digitize
As I mentioned, my husband is a HUGE Dave Matthews Band fan and owns 102 DMB CDs. He will not part with them under any circumstances.
He will, however, digitize them, along with the 29 CDs in his non-Dave Matthews Band “keep” pile and the 47 CDs in my “keep” pile.
All of these were just sent away to be digitized. Once they are shipped back to us, I will repeat Steps 2 and 3 with the remaining CDs (except the DMB collection) until I am left with ZERO.
My little one was exhausted after this decluttering session, but it really was much easier than I anticipated.
This is a quick, easy way to pare down your collection (and make some money while you’re at it!). I should have tackled this years ago, although I suspect that my minimalist mindset would not have kicked in quite as strongly yet (because I just wasn’t ready until now). I’m so excited that my husband was on board to do this one with me!
What’s Your Biggest Challenge?
While CDs weren’t my biggest challenge, they have been weighing on me for quite a while. Tell me what you hope to tackle next in the comments below!
*I recommend a few things in this article because they worked for me and they may add value to your life. If you happen to purchase something, I may get some coffee money so I can keep this blog going. I promise to always be honest with you.*
