Are you Organized

Stone193

How many out there have everything they own in order?

I have one big mess!

I wish I could get going.

I don't even know where to begin.

I have sets to mount in plastic pages. Been meaning to call Roop for ages. Have not made my new PSA club submission yet - the 6 graded thing. Have a submission to DNA to do. Been meaning to check out Spence's new company....I'm getting tired just typing this.

Anyone else have this problem?

signed
"Sloppy in San Antonio"

charliehustle14

Mike,

I feel your pain. My collection has been in severe disarray since we moved to our new house in April. My office/card room was supposed to be the place where all my collection was to be stored, but I have boxes and loose cards scattered throughout my family room. I am making progress however, as I am in the process of installing new shelving that should keep things confined to the card room.

I have a tendency to bounce around in working on different sets and my hope is that I can at least make it easier to put things away that I'm not working on at the moment. I have a couple shelves set aside for "work in progress". I also invested in a bunch of Card Saver I's and top loaders so that I can get future subs organized and other stuff I'm not active in put away safely.

My collection used to be very organized until I started dabbling in newer cards again...I blame 2005 Topps Heritage for getting me back into the modern market! I seriously doubt that I will EVER have everything I own in order...If you accomplish that, Mike, then you're a better man than me.

Todd

softparade

Mike, I just finished organizing ALL of the raw cards I have into boxes. The first time in a long time I can find out what I have in a snap. Plus all gradeable cards are in Card Savers now. No stacks of cards lying around! Time for another case?

ctsoxfan

My graded cards are reasonably organized (in white monster box graded card boxes). But, the raw cards are another story. I have so much that I need to submit to PSA, and no time to put the subs together. Plus, the modern boxes I ripped over the last year have left me with piles of commons, which I know I should throw away, but I always have a hard time with that. Then there are the cards that I am collecting raw, organized in monster boxes (kind of). I'll never find enough time to get this all neat and tidy.

So, to answer the question - sort of.

nearmint

Well, it sure doesn't look like I'm organized, but I manage to find things pretty quickly. It's all a matter of knowing which pile to look in.

RipublicaninMass

I thought I was organized, until James spence appeared at a card show and I needed a second opinion on an early Mays auto. I eneded up finding it, but not until after the show Since I needed a second opinion, I figured it was in the PSA reject box. But since I have utmost confidence in the auto being real (maybe it is just denial?) I put it with the cards to be graded.

duner

Why organize???? think of all the stuff you "accidentally" find that you forgot you owned, or didn't even realize you bought when going through your stuff. It's like xmas everytime I go looking for something specific.

zef204

<< <i>Why organize???? think of all the stuff you "accidentally" find that you forgot you owned, or didn't even realize you bought when going through your stuff. It's like xmas everytime I go looking for something specific. >>

duner I have those same suprises every time I got to look for something. This morning I found a 1964 Philly Mike Ditka that was an SGC 92 that I busted out and never submitted. It finally made its way to the "Going to PSA pile"


in case you're interested...

airjoedan

<< <i>

signed
"Sloppy in San Antonio" >>



I have the same trouble with organization.....I've been preparing a psa/dna submission for nearly 3 months now, constantly either forgetting about it or finding new things to add to it. Beyond that, my graded cards and most of my autographs are organized very well, but my raw singles, especially cards from the '90's, are in possibly the worst organizational system ever. For all I know, I have 10 David Ortiz rookies I've never even since he actually was David Arias.

Also, stone, are you from San Antonio? That's my hometown...although I don't live there now, do you happen to go to the card shop "What's On Second"?


- Joe

WinPitcher

I am a virgo. my closet, celler and desk are full of cards and memrobilia. Can I find anything on demand? NO Is it neat? Yes

SD

Griffins

I must be in the minority, because after buying the same card twice a few times I got on an organization mission and got everything done.
The first step was a file with everything listed, condition, cert numbers (where applicable), cost and current value. Thanks to Jeb's spread sheets I was able to get everything in a format I could read. A few binders and Roop boxes everything was where it should be. The good stuff went to the safe deposit box, everything got insured with Collectables Insurance for very little premium, and my wife stopped complaining about tripping over piles of stuff and I stopped buying the same card twice.

Stone193

<< <i>Why organize???? think of all the stuff you "accidentally" find that you forgot you owned, or didn't even realize you bought when going through your stuff. It's like xmas everytime I go looking for something specific. >>


The post of the month!!!

My sentiments exactly! Everytime I go into the closet and start digging, I find stuff that I haven't a clue how it got there!

Come to my closet and every day is Christmas!

JohnRJackson

no

Stone193

<< <i>

<< <i>

signed
"Sloppy in San Antonio" >>



I have the same trouble with organization.....I've been preparing a psa/dna submission for nearly 3 months now, constantly either forgetting about it or finding new things to add to it. Beyond that, my graded cards and most of my autographs are organized very well, but my raw singles, especially cards from the '90's, are in possibly the worst organizational system ever. For all I know, I have 10 David Ortiz rookies I've never even since he actually was David Arias.

Also, stone, are you from San Antonio? That's my hometown...although I don't live there now, do you happen to go to the card shop "What's On Second"?


- Joe >>


Joe
What's on Second? Was that owned by a guy named Gilley or something? Or was that Who's on First?

Don't do to many shops - I live off of Rt. 1604 and Blanca - there's a shop of NW Military Hwy - DiPietros or something - nice guy.

If you know Gilley - LMK - especially where he is - he stiffed me for 150 bucks back in the early 90s!

mike

Stone193

<< <i>I must be in the minority, because after buying the same card twice a few times I got on an organization mission and got everything done.
The first step was a file with everything listed, condition, cert numbers (where applicable), cost and current value. Thanks to Jeb's spread sheets I was able to get everything in a format I could read. A few binders and Roop boxes everything was where it should be. The good stuff went to the safe deposit box, everything got insured with Collectables Insurance for very little premium, and my wife stopped complaining about tripping over piles of stuff and I stopped buying the same card twice. >>


Oh shoot Anthony
Just had to make me look bad...

Hopefully by the time you make it to San Antonio, I'll have things organized. And safety box? I don't have anything worth putting there!LOL

yawie99

It's weird. I'm generally a slovenly neohippie, but when it comes to my collections, I'm militant about order. I suppose it helps that I only have a few hundred graded cards, but they're incredibly well organized. My hockey sets in one case, pre-war baseball in another, a handful of modern cards in long cardboard box and my ready-to-submit stack tucked away on a shelf of my computer desk. My image files are all well organized on my hard drive and I've set up a couple of Excel files: one's an inventory of my graded cards and the other helps me track my raw card purchases. I'm probably even more fanatical about my CD's and books. They've gotta be alphabetized by artist/author, then arranged chronologically by year of release. If I see that one was placed back in the wrong spot, I can feel my blood pressure rise about 30 points.

Axtell

Yawie-

I'm the same way about my collections, too. DVDs are put in alphabetical order by title, CDs by artist name (and then chronological for multiple of the same artist).

As far as my cards, I can tell you immediately where any card in my collection is...I've just always been organized with it. I have a lot of 3200 count box for raw sets, and lots of MJ roop boxes for graded stuff...binders and archiver boxes and trays keep it all organized.

Yes, it may be neat to discover a card, but is it really worth it when the possibility looms of you losing it altogether, or buying it twice?

Not knocking anyone's preferences, but with the amount of money we have in our collections, I'd think we'd want to know exactly what we have on hand?

softparade

I actually feel in charge of my collection now. Just this week I organized EVERYTHING. Graded cards, raw crads, storage products, shipping products. I literally can find anything in a snap now. PLUS everything is neatly organized in one big closet. You can walk into my office and not see one stack of cards anywhere! Normally I am a slob, so, this is new ...

Stone193

<< <i>I actually feel in charge of my collection now. Just this week I organized EVERYTHING. Graded cards, raw crads, storage products, shipping products. I literally can find anything in a snap now. PLUS everything is neatly organized in one big closet. You can walk into my office and not see one stack of cards anywhere! Normally I am a slob, so, this is new ... >>




That's it!!!

I don't have to take a hit from the general to get the message! I'm making a pre-New Year's resolution.

I will have the closet and room done before next....ahhhhhh....Easter!!!!

yawie99

I'm glad it's not just me!

kingraider75

I am semi-organized at this point in my collecting life. I have my collection segregrated into the following areas:

1. Factory sets in a closet area
2. Hand Collated sets that are 200 cards or more are on a four-level shelf in cardboard boxes. The sets are "usually" marked with Avery Labels identify the set. I use the cardborad, 300ct, 400ct, 550ct, 800ct, etc boxes. The star card(s) from the set are on top of the commons in a toploader or CardSaver. Some other stars may also be in penny sleeves.
3. Commons in 3200ct trays in another closet (sports and Non-Sports)
4. "Money" cards in 1600ct shoeboxes in toploaders/semirigids/etc
5. "money" sets in another two level shelf area (includes vintage sets, along with PSA sets, or money sets that I am working on finishing.
6. Sets w/ less than 150 cards ( mainly my Non-Sports cards) on another two-level shelf. These are two-piece ultrapro plastic storage boxes. I don't like the hinged boxes, they aren't good for cards in the long run.
7. Empty display boxes in stacked or in boxes ( I really need to decide what to do with these)
8 Wrappers in boxes ( I also really need to decide what to do with these)

Things I need to do completely organize my collection

1. Finish putting Avery Labels on all my set- HC sets of course. I have Avery labels on most identify them by Make, Year, Sport,etc, but some I have gotten lazy with.
2. Put Avery Labels on all the UltraPro plastic storage boxes. I put some on, but not all. This is really important, because it can be hard to identify some Non-Sports sets if you don't have a wrapper. I try to put a wrapper in with every single set.
3. I have some box breaks that need to be sorted into sets and stored. Presently they sit on a cardboard table, that I use as my sorting area.

Ok, guess I have the same problem as Stone.

Downtown1974

I have just recently become organized. I was in the past but I bought an entire collection off of a friend and things just became all jumbled up. I had been using a cabinet but, I recently turned a closet in my den into my new card closet. Everything fits nicely it. I have all of my commons in 800 ct boxes that fit inside of a card house that you can buy from BCW.com.(They work great and you can fit 12 800ct. boxes in each house.) All of my graded cards are in Roop boxes, And star cards are in 3200 ct. shoe boxes.

DirtyHarry

Over the years, I "organized" stuff periodically. Whatever was laying around... I protected and boxed it up. Problem is, I now have a massive assortment of boxes, totes, strofoam boxes, shoe boxes and card boxes in my basement and closets. Each one may contain cards, magazines, auto'd stuff, pictures, newspapers, tickets, programs and whatever else. Nothing is organized categorically. I have so much stuff, that I don't have enough room to unpack my stuff, lay it out, and reorganize my stuff. George Carlin's skit on stuff applies to me 100%.

Golfcollector

This past spring I picked up a surplus library card catalog from the University of Nebraska surplus auction. For a cool $50 I can store PSA cards in 60 counte em 60 drawers. Each drawer holds about 55 graded cards and god only know how many cards that are just in toploaders.

On the down side the thing weighs about 7 million pounds and took me, my dad, and 2 other guys to get it into my house. If I ever move I will likely sell it off.

The tops is huge as well which acts as a "staging" are for all my other stuff.

Dave

MajorDanby

ive tried to really reduce my collection and solely focus on what interests me. This means throwing away a lot of my childhood cards (e.g. 1990 donruss, 1988 topps, etc)...maybe throwing away is a little harsh...donating, selling, giving away....

now i have a book case showcasing my collection...and in my closet is a binder and a box of cards i decided to keep from my childhood. i still have a lot of junk i need to sell (see my auctions!!)...but im getting to a point where my collection is focused and not so massive.

1420sports

I am getting better at organizing my collection, but that is still not saying much. In my defense, I did mover into a bigger house recently and with all of the painting, cleaning, etc., my hobby has taken a back seat.

In the next few weeks I plan on doing the following:

- take everything out of my closet, including several Roop boxes with shrinkwrap still intact (that is how bad I have been)
- sort through the keepers, as I plan on selling alot
- organize everthing, including what will be displayed on a rotating basis
- open an eBay store with the thought of actually having one for more than the 30 day free trial
- make the annual donation to a boys club or hospital

I figure once it is finally done, my wife will relax (as will I) and going forward it should not be that difficult to get behind again.

Stone193

<< <i>I am getting better at organizing my collection, but that is still not saying much. In my defense, I did mover into a bigger house recently and with all of the painting, cleaning, etc., my hobby has taken a back seat.

In the next few weeks I plan on doing the following:

- take everything out of my closet, including several Roop boxes with shrinkwrap still intact (that is how bad I have been)
- sort through the keepers, as I plan on selling alot
- organize everthing, including what will be displayed on a rotating basis
- open an eBay store with the thought of actually having one for more than the 30 day free trial
- make the annual donation to a boys club or hospital

I figure once it is finally done, my wife will relax (as will I) and going forward it should not be that difficult to get behind again. >>


Nick
That's good way to start!

That's what's on my "to do" list this week - take everything out of the closet and start sorting. The proble is how much one can collect in 20 yrs!!!

The stuff my son collected will have to be "disposed" of in some way.

I'm with ya dude - have a happy thankgiving do this!
mike

eddiev

Organized?? what does that mean? I have stuff all over the place. I had stuff in a warehouse but had to empty it out because I couldn't afford to pay for it anymore. I have stuff in my living room, bedroom closet. girlfriends house, parents house but I am happy to say I cleared out everything out of the ex-wife's house

How do I organize, I give away to my kids, their friends and to the kids school. I'm trying to sell everything off little by little but it's a slow process and a lot more work than what I feel is justified for the money I'm getting. Yes, I do have alot of the 80 and 90's junk.

I do find stuff from time to time that puts a big smile on my face but since this isn't really a hobby I enjoy as much as before and the costs have escalated to make it unaffordable I can see myself selling all my cards over the next couple of years. I countinue to do alot of window shopping but that's about it.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone....Eddie

NickM

I'm semi-organized.

I have lots of clearly labeled boxes. Many of those boxes have titles like "misc."

I have neatly stacked graded cards in order by set- and other stacks of mixed graded cards that need to be integrated with them.

I have a detailed inventory of insert cards (including serial numbers) - and stacks of insert cards not yet in the inventory (for a variety of reasons, including that I haven't been able to properly identify them yet), and the inventoried cards are generally in boxes marked "Insert cards".

Get the picture?

Nick

Thulnanth

Hey all,

Nice timing on this thread Stone - I actually made a promise to myself last week that I can't buy anymore stuff for my sets until I get my current stuff in order. As time goes on I find myself less interested in owning a particular collectible just to have it; rather I would like to display the neat stuff I already own. In addition, having everthing accessible is nice when you want to look something up (vs the "rummage" through lots of boxes that usually occurs). I am finding I enjoy my stuff more when I can see it on diplay or sorted in binders on a bookshelf. I would guess over the next year my hobby budget will be going more to UltraPro and Roops as opposed to eBay and dealers

Take it easy,
Jared