General Forum

Anytime I go to the card shop, I can’t help but to grab a few cheap packs of cards. Usually no more than 50 cents each.  They are always late 80s and early 90s cards, so when it comes time to add them to my collection the card dance begins.  Moving all the cards over one row and turning them the other way until I get to where I need to be in my boxes.  Then adding the cards where they go and then proceeding to turn the cards around and fill up the rows.  Working on one box isn’t too much of a chore, but it’s when you have to transition from box to box that makes this a necessary event I don’t like all that much.  I don’t even have that many cards compared to most.  Each sport I collect is spread between three 3200 count boxes each at the moment.  Yet when I was finished adding my new cards, I was tired and my back hurts.  
 

I have been told others use a smaller box to hold new cards until that fills up before adding all the cards to the main collection.  However, I don’t know think my OCD tendencies allow me to leave them there for very long.

Anyone else find this the least enjoyable thing of the hobby?

I think it's fair to say that for most, staying organized is the least favorable aspect. I know there are many you like organizing because they get to see their cards, but the act of staying organized..... Looking at how many people post "I'm going to get organized this year" just to post at the end of the year "So..." and then make the same promise again

Excuse me, how I have to go thru those 5K boxes that have been sitting in my living room for over a year waiting to be entered into here. And no, I don't like organizing, it sucks!

I am not fond of organizing, but I am especially not fond of it when I end up misfiling a card I *know* is in my possession. However, better that than looking through stacks and stacks of cards trying to find something. Necessary evil, this organizing.

Would anyone consider paying someone to organize cards for them? Saves on the back pain at least... :)

I love trading and going to shows to pick up cards.  But the hardest part for me sorting the cards I acquire into my sets.  I'm a set collector and my collection is over 430,000 cards that are stored in about 150 3,200 count boxes.  I usually put them temporarily into a 5,000 count box until I have enough to sit down and start sorting and organizing. Right now, I have about 19,000 football cards I've picked over the past six months sitting on my kitchen table ready to be put into my football sets.  This will likely take me about two weeks working a few hours every night after work.  A huge pain but the price I pay. lol  Craig

I love organizing from scratch (if I have 0 cards from the set) but I hate consolidating new cards from a set into an already organized set. It’s pretty nerve wracking for anyone who needs organization. I’m the same as you - leaving stuff unorganized for too long = more stress. Combine that with minimal storage space in the house, not a ton of time to sort (family first), toddler/dogs/cat to pick up any cards that might go astray… can get a bit overwhelming!

My 2023 Resolution was to stick with singles which will surely help. I have used the “smaller box” method you mention but the more backed up you get, the harder it is to accomplish anything when you get to organizing. I try to leave some buffer space in each row of my boxes for years/sets where I know I might be most likely to add some cards. 

I also learned that a small, long collapsible table is a game changer for organizing. My wife got me a cheap one that folds into (I think) a 3’ x 2.5’ square, so when set up it’s 6’ by 2.5’. That’s plenty of space to have multiple boxes and also do some sorting even for sets with 500+ cards. (It helps some with a lot of the back, knee, ankle pains I was getting when trying to organize on the floor)

I have 15 5,000-count monster boxes full of commons. Well, mostly full. i have been known to leave room in the areas where I think more cards may enter. Those boxes that Fleer used to issue the 44-card sets in work great to leave space while not allowing the cards to flop all over the place.

Great tip with the mini boxes - that’s the challenge with leaving space. It hurts to hear the cards collapsing!

I would like to add that one of the great things about making trades here on TCDb is that I get to create some space in my 5000 count boxes of my doubles and fill in some missing spaces in my binders of singles. Win Win!

I actually enjoy the organizing and just put away my latest batch yesterday. I keep an empty box from a 50-count top loader on my desk and all new acquisitions go in there. I try to file them when that gets full, although yesterday's stack was probably close to 250 cards as I slacked over the holidays and had a lot of trades arrive.

In my primary boxes, I have been using an empty 25-count top loader sleeve as my buffer to reduce how often I need to shift cards over in the box. I haven't used binders since I was a kid but would encourage pre-planning to leave blanks based on how you prefer to sort so you don't have to shuffle around in the pages. I remember doing that as a kid and will avoid that at all cost.

I purchased some BCW monster pads a few years ago for holding up cards in unfinished rows.  They were more expensive than what you would think to pay for some foam rectangles but they have come very much in handy.  And they really weren’t very expensive overall for how much use I get out of them.  I highly recommend them.