How Much Are Those Dusty DVDs On Your Shelf Really Worth? Try $105.61!

Alright, I know I’m not alone on this one so here we go. A few years ago for some reason that I don’t fully understand, I started building a ridiculously large (and expensive) DVD collection. I was so stupidly proud of this ever-expanding DVD collection that I even kept a page here on JerseySmarts.com to keep track of all of my DVDs. At one point, I had over 300 DVDs! Go ahead, click over to the page and take a look at what’s left of the collection. I can wait.

Done? Good!

Back in the early 2000’s when I started building this collection I might have thought that owning all of those DVDs was some type of status symbol. You know, something along the lines of he who dies with the most toys wins. Who knows what I was thinking. The truth is that these days I look at that DVD collection as a monstrous ode to the way I used to spend money like a drunken sailor. Talk about wasteful spending – I don’t even want to speculate on how many hundreds thousands of dollars that my family (via gifts) and I spent on this collection. The thought is revolting.

What was all of that spending for? I don’t really know. What I do know, however, is that these days I literally have to blow the dust off of my DVDs before I pull out a case to watch a movie. I also know that the only movies that I watch on a regular basis are my Christmas movies and Lord of the Rings movies – and I only watch them once or twice per year!

My reason for going over all of this information before getting to the meat of this entry is to lay the groundwork for how good I felt the other day. You see, the other day a video game was released that I wanted to buy. I don’t buy many video games because, frankly, I don’t have the time to play them. However, whenever a game comes out that seems like it might be fun and worth the money, I’ll buy the game. Well, you all know that I have this incredible student loan debt that I’m paying off via a crazy intense repayment plan that I put myself on. Let’s do some quick math:

New Video Game + Student Loan Debt = You’re Not Buying The Game

It’s simple. As I alluded to in my last student loan entry, I wanted the game, but I didn’t need the game. Yet in the real world game of money (which we’re all playing whether you know it or not) there are often opportunities to rearrange one’s existing assets to allow for new assets to be acquired.

What does that mean? Easy. It means that I set my eyes on the dusty DVD collection sitting in my bedroom and thought to myself, “I want that game and I’m willing to unload these assets to get it.” And that’s just what I did at the end of last week. I rounded up some 50+ DVDs, threw them in a bag, and went to my local F.Y.E. to trade them in. F.Y.E. actually offers either cash or store credit for your used DVDs. When I arrived at the store, the kid behind the counter told me that I would get more for each DVD if I accepted store credit instead of cash, so I went with that option.

Below is a list with all of the DVDs that I traded in for store credit and how much I received for each one. It’s pretty interesting.

Starsky and Hutch – $2.15
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Jon Lovitz – $0.31
Joe Dirt – $1.25
Analyze This – $1.25
Boiler Room – $1.25
Grumpy Old Men – $2.50
Grumpier Old Men – $0.31
Ghostbusters 1 & 2 – $2.50
Zoolander – $1.25
Farhenhype 9/11 – $1.25
Fraggle Rock – Where it All Began – $2.50
The Island – $2.50
The Dukes of Hazzard – $2.50
Anchorman – $2.50
Alice in Wonderland: Made for TV Movie – $2.50
Dude, Where’s My Car? – $1.25
Rocky Triple Pack (Rocky 1, 2, and 3) – $4.38
National Treasure – $1.25
Planet of the Apes – $1.25
Spider-Man Deluxe Edition – $2.69
Spider-Man 2 – $2.50
The Day After Tomorrow – $1.25
Fantastic 4 – $1.25
A Fish Called Wanda – $2.50
Edward Scissorhands – $1.88
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Top 10 Episodes from Season 1 – $2.50
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – $2.50
i, Robot – $2.50
Seven – $2.50
Men in Black II – $1.25
The Future is Wild – $3.75
Shark Tale – $1.25
Chicken Run – $2.50
Hulk – $1.25
The Green Mile – $1.88
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure – $5.63
TNA Genesis 2005 – $2.50
The Rock – The People’s Champion – $4.84
‘Cause Stone Cold Said So – $1.25
Austin 3:16: Uncensored – $1.25
SummerSlam 2001 – $5.91
Unforgiven 2001 – $5.63
X-Men 1.5 – $2.50
X-Men 2 – $1.25
X-Men 3 – $2.50
Forrest Gump – $1.25
Million Dollar Baby – $2.50

Who would have thunk that Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (one of the many DVDs that I purchased, but never actually watched) would be worth over $5 to F.Y.E.? Amazing.

How much did I get for all of these unused, dust-collecting DVDs? How does $105.61 in store credit sound?! Not bad! What’s better is that the video game and necessary peripheral that I purchased from F.Y.E. wound up costing $102.69 after shipping and taxes. Talk about hitting the nail right on the head!

And at the end of the day, not only have I rearranged some of my assets to acquire two new assets, but I unloaded a big portion of my dusty DVD collection. I don’t think that I’m on track to get rid of all of my DVDs, but I’m definitely looking at the DVDs you see in that picture and asking myself, “Which ones are next?”

🙂