Is there a VHS videotape of your wedding somewhere in a box in your attic? How about some “Super-8” film reels from when you were a kid? If your house is typical, you have a few of these treasures, and you have no idea where they are.

Lately I’ve been noticing the shops offering to transfer my stuff to a current medium. And it got me thinking. How many of these things do I really have? I’m not about to transfer all the cartoons my kids used to watch, but I have only one wedding video. I have another cassette containing my fifteen minutes of fame (in my 30’s) on a local TV show. And a small hand-full of other things.

I decided it was time to collect and transfer these few precious things. But here’s the key: I won’t be putting them back in a box in the attic. I chose a basket/box with a lid that I also use as a bedside table. In here I’ve stashed the originals and the transferred DVDs. When the next new technology comes along I will have everything in one spot, hiding in “plain sight” so to speak, under a piece of glass that protects the lid of my bedside basket. In addition to this I’m keeping a file on my external hard drive, but that’s getting a bit technical, isn’t it?

You can choose any box or container you like. Maybe you’d prefer an interesting old box on the living room coffee table. But the point is to have something you keep out, not stash away in the attic. That way, you can add things as you collect them and you’ll actually be able to find them when the new media switches again. And you know it will!