There comes a time in every collector’s life where a brick wall is hit. A tall, impenetrable brick wall known as… limited storage space!

For me, this has been more of a continual struggle than an eventual terror. I live in a pretty small space, and I collect both books and films. My book collection seems to take up the majority of my space no matter how picky I am when weeding the shelves. As a result of this abundance of books occupying most of my shelving (and several hidden-away boxes), my film collection has always been limited to a single bookcase.

My movie shelves have never been totally full, as I do a good job of tossing out blind-purchases-gone-bad and other things I don’t see myself watching again. Still, I find myself rearranging the shelves often, looking for better ways to organize. I’ve tried horizontal rows, vertical stacks, blending a few of my larger coffee table books into each shelf, putting TV seasons on a separate cart, confining boxed sets to a single shelf… it’s a continual work in progress.

One thing I’ve never really been willing to do has been to part with the cases. “To keep, or not to keep” those plastic rectangles is somewhat of a hot-button topic among the disc-obsessed. Binders and organizers save a heck of a lot of space, but isn’t part of the appeal of a collection to have everything in its complete, original package? To have a wall full of spines whispering the names of all the films you’ve watched and loved?

My thinking is beginning to change on this. I don’t think I could ever go full minimalist and put everything into an organizer, but looking at my shelves has been driving me a little bit crazy lately. The larger the collection grows, the smaller the room feels, and I’ve realized there are some films I just don’t care about keeping the packaging for.

For classic films with beautifully illustrated covers, or special editions, or that sentimental ex-Blockbuster blind buy of Ghost World (which became one of my favorite films), I absolutely want to keep the cases. But my far-too-large collection of Nicholas Sparks films and early millennium rom-coms? Nah. These are never going to become “collector’s items” — they’re a dime a dozen in Target aisles and Best Buy bins — and the artwork isn’t particularly special. Why not save the space, to make way for more Criterions and classics with gorgeously-designed covers?

I’m still torn here, as separating some of the collection into disc organizers complicates the organizational scheme. Do I keep only pre-1970 films in their cases, or only favorites?  Do boxed sets and TV seasons get to keep their packaging? After years of enjoying the simplicity of a fully alphabetized collection, will it drive me nuts trying to remember what’s in the organizer and what’s in an original case, when looking for particular films?

I went so far as to order two DVD binders, thinking I’d take a “classics/Criterions only” approach to keeping the cases, but the binders got lost in the mail. (Fear not, Amazon gave me a full refund.) My sister is convinced that this means I’m meant to get the cool organizer she has from the Container Store, but perhaps the universe is blowing me toward the pro-original case side of the debate.

I’m curious to know whether any of you use binders for your full or partial collections, or if perhaps you’ve tried it and regretted it. Feel free to share your own experiences and opinions in the comments!