I was organizing my office recently and thinking of a way to organize and better manage all my miniDV videotapes.  Yes, even though I am shooting video and still photos on flash memory (SD Cards) today I am still shooting HD video on miniDV/HDV videotapes… plus I have lots of tapes from my projects (and family videos over the past several years).

I’m not sure how it popped into my head, but it did — how about those plastic trays used to separate silverware in your kitchen drawer?  I took a miniDV tape in with me and gave it a try at the store… sure enough, perfect size!  These trays are readily available at many stores – I even saw them at the Dollar Store. You can buy some that connect together (I did that thinking it would be cool but found it was more of a hindrance). I have them on a shelf and to access one tray I had to pull out all the trays, so I recommend keeping them separated.

You could even label the front of each tray with a nice self stick label (but that’s more organized that I am today).