I should clarify my above post to indicate that I have no kids to sell... I just imagined that's what it was like. Of course, if I had any kids to sell, I'd do that in a heatbeat!

And, I do have the space to store the DVDs, I just thought it was starting to overtake my house a little too much and was looking a little unsightly. So, I built a new slick storage area which holds about 1600 DVDs, and then have a separate shelf for all my TV show ones and decided to cap it off there. I'll have to get picture sometime.

Anyhow, I have a ton more space in my living room now, and my wife is infinitely more happy. And to be honest, it wasn't that hard getting my collection down to a manageable number as I had a lot of crap.

Jesus Christ!

Oh, and to all you 2000+ DVD owners who have had to start weeding your collections, believe you me, I have about 300 books in my tiny 9 x 10.5 room alone. I'm guessing in this whopping 640 square foot apartment that two people live in we've managed to keep about 3000 (maybe more, never counted) books. I've got three miracle words for y'all: Custom Made Shelves.

Ditto the custom made shelves comment... after I built the DVD shelves, I built some book shelves for my wife (I don't have any books, except a few comics) and it worked great. We could hold a ton more books when I could control the size of the shelves/compartments. Of course, I don't think we have 3000.... that's just crazy, especially when you consider probably half of them have been made into movies and the books are now irrelevant.

Well, I'm not a good Ms. fix-it, so I out-sourced it, but I took the measurements and planned the space myself. Makes a big difference when you start putting in shelves over 80 inches high. Ours are almost to the ceiling. Plus the shelves are adjustable, so if push comes to shove a can have another one made and then re-arrange the previously sized compartments into smaller ones, etc. Its tough because I have a lot of art/photography books that are oversized, so a couple of our shelves could take up the place of two, but that's how these things go.

I got 4 that were 80 inches high (the highest they could go without having trouble installing them) and each of them 24 inches wide. Then I have one that is 80 high that is 21 wide. Those five were custom and made a world of difference because I measured them exactly to the spaces they had to fit in and could pick the depth, too.

Then we have two that are 80 high and 30 wide, then we have 6 that are 72 high and 20 wide (but those are old Crate and Barrel ones and aren't adjustable and look like they are going to fall over. One of 'em broke when we started double piling on it). Then I have a couple that are only 30 inches high and wide, but that's cause I found them and they fit perfectly in between the wall and the beginning of the heater and the ledge on my window.

Then I have one that I king of hand-made using the leftover parts of the book shelf that one broke og mentioned above. I used its right half and its connecting shelves (left side was the one that broke) and attached L-Brackets to the wall in my room and attached the connecting shelves to that instead. It goes up 95 inches that way and is over 35 inches wide. I do have alot of holes in my wall though because I kept putting in the L-Brackets wrong and having to take them out and redo them.

OMG! I HATE ART BOOKS! I wish they'd DIAF!!!! That's what we have a ton of too.

Anyhow, your shelving sounds mammoth. I now see why you don't have a 73" HDTV... you have no room left!

I know. Your wife is in arts education, no? Yeah, we're in the same situation. Art History is art history, what can you do without tons of big, expensive, glossy books? Plus, the pictures are pretty. I'd think as a big fan of visual mediums, you'd relate to that. Whoever develops a videogame using the landscapes of Henri Rousseau, and markets it as teaching your kids to appreciate art, is going to strike gold.

My tv isn't that small. My parents gave it to us as a moving in gift, and they like big ones, so they forced one on us. I actually like it. I'm guessing its like four feet wide or something. I never measures. But its sitting pretty amongst our bookshelves. I really reworked the place this summer (when I got the five new shelves) to make everything fit well and not look too cluttered. I think its quite "cozy." I even got a little Turkish rug a few weeks ago, and a big mirror near the door at the entrance in order to bounce light around and open up the place a little bit.

I fear though we'll run out of space by the end of next year, and then I really will have no idea what to do.

What cost me the most? My laptop or DVDs. What's worth the most? Nothing, really, I doubt the laptop has much resale value now, less than half what I bought it for I assume. But for someone my age less than a year out of college I have an ok-sized foreign bank account and a pretty good line of credit.

Tony, where did your Rihanna CD go.

My mad skillz...

(Even I can't even afford to hire myself!)

My RX8.

Otherwise - a ton of books and dvd's. Dont own a house yet.

My Credit Card Bill

(realistically: my computer or golf club collection. I do not own a car, and do not think I have passed the $1k mark in DVD purchases. My iTunes music collection is winning the media race - at my rate, I'll be at 1250 songs in two weeks)

(and my books often pass $700 a semester...yup)

My house, obviously! Although the bank owns more of it than I do...

My baby/trombone. I have the same thing as this. I have the same thing there, accept with a rose brass bell. I bought it for $2100, though the list price is $3500 now; The workers at the Bach Stradivarius plant have been on strike since early 2006. I've also put a few hundred dollars worth of work and repairs into it, plus a new mouthpiece and case which cost me a total of $300. Add in a few mutes, a good mute bag, a horn stand, a music stand, and general maintenance items, it's probably cost me about $3000 by now.

My bank account's been raped by it, but I just take solace in the fact that I'm not a string player. A really good professional-level bow could cost $250 thousand alone. Let alone the instrument and maintenance itself.


After that, my laptop. It cost about $1000 (technically, it only cost me $500, since my mom bought half of it for me as a graduation present). for the specs that came with it, it's not a bad deal.

So that's why my aunt said that my cousin is only in debt because of her double bass.

My DVD collection of 1702 DVD's, whatever it amounts to now in dollars. For instance, I don't think my Criterion of Robocop is as valuable as it once was.

Still nowhere near close to what Tony's amounts to, I'm guessing. I do have more space to continue collecting though.

My $600 Computer that I am typing on right now.

The problem with string instruments and bows is that the older they get, the better quality they are. So older fiddles are better, but there are less of them because...well, shit happens. Tough luck.

My Computer $2,000 and its screen $1,200. Also my Camera $600 and its lens $650.

Well, you know what Corliss said about encounters with books vs. encounters with other people?

Back on topic: I guess the book collection would be expensive, but a lot of novels you can buy for 2 bucks on amazon, so its devalued in the same way DVD collections and laptops do over time. I spent a lot on book shelves, but again, they lose quickly. And I pay rent (sort of) so that's not owning something,but its damn expensive. Does my clothing collection count? That coupled with the shoes probably cost a ton over the years!

Sounds funny, but random unglamorous stuff like bed matresses were damn expensive. I bet you everyone here has lame hidden costs like that, which cost more than anything.

Thats very true! Bed Matresses, Couches and even clothes can be the most expensive things people own. I guess in terms of resale value it may not be much, but in terms of expense - they'd figure highly.

I also feel sorry for anyone who spent $10k plus on a plasma TV in the early 00's when they can get one twice the size and quality at one third the price now!

when it comes to technology, if it's portable own in straight away. If it's something else, wait a generation.

It's hidden away in my massive CD collection.

I was just starting to forget that painful memory of buying it, but it's all coming back to me.

Tony places items on Best Buy counter, with the Rhiana CD wedged in between manly shoot 'em up Xbox 360 games
18 year old Female Best Buy Cashier: (turns to my wife) "OMG! I so totally love Rhianna. Good choice"
Tony's wife: (looking disgusted and pointing at Tony) "It's not mine. It's his."
Best Buy Cashier: (to Tony's wife) "Oh. I'm sorry. So very sorry."
Tony pays for items and leaves his penis behind

Later that night
Tony (dressed like a 12 year old ballerina, dancing around the house): "Umbrella, ella, ella... eh eh eh!!!"

^^^ ^^^

that I possess: probably my car

that I have personally spent on: my macbook

I think we've all done that type of purchase. Its bad enough when you say you are buying it for the girlfriend, but it gets worse when you feel obliged to say that its a birthday present for your young niece!!