Clear-out – Day 8,9 and 10

I got caught up in a task that’s taking a LOT longer than I’d planned for.

The trouble with getting rid of CDs is that there are three places where I still use them, although only occasionally.

  1. In the kitchen
  2. In the car
  3. On holiday

If I can get a system for each of these situations where I can still hear my music, then I can unload all the CDs. A new (well, new to me, anyway) website called MusicMagpie buys CDs and provides a Freepost label for your shipment. They get mixed reviews, but might be better than donating them, and is deffo better than binning them.

CDs Here’s my thought process: get all CDs loaded to itunes, and backed up externally. Get an adequate ipod station for kitchen. Ditto for car. Let the holidays sort themselves out. I have an ipod for listening, and the only loss would be the car on holiday. And that’s only until all cars have docking stations. Or I could get a car docking station that I can take with me when I travel.

So I gathered all the CDs into one place — the top of Dave’s piano (he’s out of town this weekend).

Of course, I do have some cr*p CDs, especially some I’ve received as unsolicited gifts. Often I bought an entire CD because I heard one track in a restaurant and liked it (Cafe del Mar). I never throw anything away. I notice Ally McBeal, several seasons worth – entirely cringe-worthy.

So I’ve worked out a flow chart for managing this project (as you do).

  1. First, decide: do I like the music? If I’ve never listened to it, or I don’t like it, it goes into The Out Box.
  2. Of those that remain, is it loaded onto itunes? If yes, then it goes into The Out Box.
  3. Of those that remain, load it to itunes, and then put it in The Out Box.
  4. Back-up itunes to the external drive frequently. It gets backed up off site periodically.
  5. Dave can go through The Out Box and take what he likes, but he has to store it well away from the de-clutter zone.

I am still on step one, because when I run into a CD that I haven’t listened to, I think I should listen to it before deciding. That’s silly and life is far too short! So, a tough self-talking-to and I will get well into step 2 today — checking and loading to itunes.

Yes, this will only clear about a cubic metre of space, but it punches above its weight in terms of clutter and dust-attraction. (They used to call them “dust jackets” in the days of LPs for a reason.) Plus, it will feel really good to get this cleared out. (All my old cassette tapes are still in the sideboard, bottom drawer. I think (I hope) I have no vinyl anywhere.)

Bazza and the Dalai LamaThat’s The Mission, Styx, Bazza and The Dalai Lama showing here.

I have currently 3 CD racks. When I’m done, I expect to have one rack, barely filled. (I’m confident there will just be some CDs I must keep. Maybe those can be my holiday CDs?)

Will report in later.

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