[EvanInTexas]

Hi All!

Well, Evan is now up to about 11,000 cards in his collection, and we are officially lost.

We've got just over 4300 of them entered in our Beckett.com Organize, and then filed them in three-ring binders with the protective sleeves.

With over 5000 more to go, I am not convinced that we are sorting/organizing & storing them in the best possible way.

Can I get y'all's advice on how you would recommend we get this organized? The cards are taking over our home...some on the dining room table, some in binders, some in a box yet to be entered, some here, some there. I'm a bit worried that all of our efforts so far will be messed up in one 'fell swoop' if a friend or little brother innocently decide to check them out. I want to get them all put away properly so we can admire them, but also be able to find whatever we're looking for in a jiffy.

Tips/suggestions/ideas? Please?

Thanks a million!
Cyndi (aka Mom)

PS - Evan is collecting cards for the sake of collecting, not re-selling. Does that make a difference in how we organize them?

[stevep0422]

I use "monster Boxes" I get them from my local card shop but you can also order them online. You can get them in 4,000 or 5,000 count boxes and they are compact enough that they will fit under a bed. Binders are good for your favorite cards that you like to look for on a regular basis.

[jonathancard]

i use monster boxes and binders as well then i organize them by player in alphabetical order and put letter tabs to show me where one letter starts and another begins this has always made it fairly easy to find a card im looking for quickly. I use binders when im building a set or when i want to have cards ready to show people or for my own viewing

[zeprock]

Like the others have said, you may want to keep your favorite cards in a binder (favorite players or favorite team) and keep the rest in a monster box or two. I store my commons in boxes alphabetically by the player's last name and I separate by set (all my Topps base cards together, all my inserts together, all my Upper Deck cards together and so forth. Some people store their cards in numerical order. It's all personal preference.

[manningsecnumbr1fan]

I have mine in boxes as well. They are sorted by PC cards & by tradebait. I ones that have more value are in one-touch magnetics while the $5-10s are in penny sleeves & toploaders. As far as an organizing system you can do it by players or teams either way that works better for you.

BTW you'll need the shoebox type boxes if wanting to store toploaded cards in boxes. GL

[aktlingit]

First, long post - I ramble, but try to clearly explain myself and why I do certain things.

My views are probably a little different than a lot of peoples on here because I don't really showcase my cards to anyone. None of my friends care. My daughter is the only one who does lol

As long as I have my Beckett Organizer available it's easy enough for me to find whatever I want to show someone though. All my cards valued at $5 or more go in sleeves, then in to top loaders, then into shoe boxes with dividers between values. All my memorabilia cards go into magnetic one-touch holders and then into shoe boxes. All other cards go into 5000 ct boxes, and I'm trying to ensure every card is in a sleeve but since I'm doing this retroactively I still need to buy several more cases of sleeves

When I was younger I used to use binders but they became too unwieldly when you get up there in number. I replaced all my binders and very glad I did.

Also, if you're just starting out or keeping your collection small, I'd recommend using sleeves for every card - regardless if it's just some common base card of a guy you don't care about. Typically a pack of 100 is about $1 or you can buy them in bulk once in a while instead and get 10,000 for around $50 online.

My reasons behind this are:

1. I had a lot of cards from the mid 90's that were in 800 ct boxes and stored in a temperature regulated house, stacked no higher than 5 boxes. When I went back through them these past few years a lot of them were stuck together so bad you couldn't even peel them apart. It wasn't really from the way they were stored but more a product of the card companies were playing with various glossy gimicks and over time some of them had issues like these. The cards I had in sleeves (favorite players) did not suffer from this. We don't know if the newer cards are going to suffer from this since 15 years of them being stored in boxes hasn't passed yet but I'm being proactive with my cards just in case.

2. If you are going through your cards a fair amount (just looking at them or pulling cards to trade with others on here or whatever) having sleeves helps protect the corners from accidental dings taking them out and putting them back into the boxes.

3. My daughter likes to look at cards some and she's still a little bit young so just an extra layer of protection gives me more piece of mind when she's helping me, which I love since it's more daddy-daughter bonding

I'm sure others have some more reasons and I'm sure others will tell you it's not necessary. Just my two cents on something I wish I had done from the beginning.

If you take those supply costs into account as you buy cards you get a few less cards each outing but they stay in better shape and you have consistency for your collection. Those of us on here that are more anal retentive than others will tell you that's a must lol

BTW, depending on Evan's age and how much you the mom are involved you might want to go with the slightly smaller 3000 ct boxes. A 5000 ct box full is about 20 lbs.

EDIT: Typos

[RobbinsDynasty]

With my Yankees collection everything goes into a penny sleeve for one. Thats most important. Then i store them in a binder alphabetically. the break down of each player is I store them in order as they would appear in my organize. by year then set then subsets. If i reach 5 pages for a certain player (45 cards they get their own 1 inch binder. as i get more of the same players binder size goes up. for certified autos, relic cards or in person autos they get put into a penny sleeve and then a top loader then a shoe box. sorted as such, certified auto, relic cards, in person auto as well as printing plates.