Monday, January 14, 2013

DVD Cleaning: Scratches

I love second-hand stores. Especially with a little one. I love to get him gifts. Things to help him learn, things to keep him warm, things to keep me sane...like the occasional DVD (gasp!).

My son really likes the Baby Einstein movies and I highly recommend them if you let your toddlers watch TV. They are very mild and move slowly, they are educational, they have very little talking and when there is, it is gentle and tender...definitely not over-stimulating. I really enjoy them, uh...I mean, my son really enjoys them. Ok, we both do... Anyway, enough advertising for Baby Einstein. 

The other day I went to the second-hand store and you can imagine my excitement when I saw a whole shelf full of Baby Einstein's on sale! And they were cheap! I didn't go too crazy...I only bought half a dozen instead of the whole dozen. But, alas, one of the DVDs had some sticky goopy stuff on it. I'm not sure what it was, but it was not coming off and my DVD player wouldn't recognize it as a DVD! And, because it was from a used-stuff store, I couldn't return it. 


Frustration began to set in. 

In steps Pinterest to save the day! I searched on Pinterest and found this fantastic blog http://thehandmadedress.blogspot.com/2008/09/do-you-suffer-from-scrached-dvds_27.html that gave me step by step instructions. 

It called for children's toothpaste, and thankfully I had two different kinds to try. I tried using my toddler's kind, but found that maybe it was too gentle?? I'm not sure. Either way, it didn't seem to work as well as my child's Spongebob toothpaste. (Side note: this is not me advocating Spongebob. As a matter of fact, I am NOT a fan...but, it's what we had somehow...)





















Anyway, much to my dismay, it just didn't seem to be working...I gave up...and then decided to read her blog about this one more time before trying to find a different method. She says for a REALLY scratched up DVD, you may have to do it twice. Well, I had...but, I tried twice more...rubbing it for at least 20-30 seconds each time. I rinsed it, patted it dry and tried it in my DVD player one more time...

IT WORKED! It doesn't look like a very pretty disc, but you can see that all the big scuffs and bumps are mostly out and, either way, it worked! I definitely had to use some elbow grease, but it was worth it. 

In conclusion, I would recommend you check out thehandmadedress's blog and try it for yourself with one of your hopeless CD/DVDs/Wii Games. What have you got to lose? Excuse me now, while I go cuddle my toddler and watch some Baby Einstein...



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