Don't Follow my Example

A Certain amount of care and responsibility has a way to trickle down even to fun hobbies like card collecting.  I've been mentioning in my posts a lot lately that I've started a major reorganization.  I use the word reorganization loosely as I barely had an organization system to begin with. While I wish I had taken the bull by the horns early on, it really does no good to dwell.  It's actually been fun going through some old boxes, many of which have unearthed some hidden treasures.

My first project has been my WVU collection.  I'm going to binder route here as it is still at a somewhat manageable size.  I've been collecting a few players long enough that they can have their own individual binder (Geno Smith, Tavon Austin, Pat White, Steve Slaton) while the others can be organized alphabetically.  Having the cards organized is this way will then allow me to tackle some type of online database if I choose later on.  It has been extremely satisfying to see the plan coming together.

Here is a look at the work in progress.....

The elephant in the room is the Pirates collection.  While I look forward to tackling that project in the near future I really have no plan of attack yet.  The player pool is so small for the WVU collection it allows for some intricate detail.  As I sort through WVU stuff I've at least been putting certain types of Pirates cards together (relics, rookies, autos etc).  Not sure if this will help but it will at least be a start.

Like most projects the hard part is getting started.  Now I enjoy the time I can spend on the project.  I went in with the idea that I would spend 30 minutes a day.  Obviously travel and work schedule can screw with that, but averaged out that is probably close to what I'm doing.

Thanks for reading.  Some of you have already shared with me your organization style, but if you haven't I would love to hear.  I'm especially interested in those that have major team collections that encompass lots of base, autos and relics.

The Process (and I Need Some Ideas)

Over the past couple of months I had to hastily pack up a ton of cards and throw them in monster boxes. This is not the first time this has happened.  I needed a better organization plan.

The amount of cards I have stored away waiting to be sorted is intimidating. I enjoy the sorting process, but time wasn't on my side to tackle big projects.  I needed to think of ways where I can have a continuous project without having tons of cards all over the place. My daughter can be awfully curious with items left in arms length.

Easter weekend left a ton of time to think things out and put a new plan in action.  I jokingly (kind of) told Wes he caused me to reinvent the way I collect. In actuality this has been brewing ever since I started blogging.  Before I would just order a few cards at a time from eBay so the pace was more controlled.  Now with multiple trade partners cards are flowing into Morgantown at a more rapid pace.

The process over the next couple of months.

1. Organize the WVU collection - I can take one of those hastily put together monster boxes and pull the WVU cards in a matter of minutes.  A few weeks back I started organizing alphabetically in binders so the hard work is done.

2. Sort out auto/relics - As I mentioned above one of the bigger organizing pitfalls is tackling too much at one time.  One easy thing to do while pulling out WVU cards is putting aside "hits." Not quite sure how I'm going to organize those but at least they will on be in spot.

3. Organizing as cards arrive - This is where advice is needed.  For those that are just team collectors what has worked best.  In my mind would be keeping guys that have a ton of cards like Cutch in their own binders and then sorting by year.  What has worked best for all of you?

The process continues.....but at least I have a plan.

Thanks for reading.