The Great Reorganization: Step 1: A Tour of Current Affairs

I've said it before on this blog but I really want to get my collection organized.  Right now, I have (mostly) gotten my desk area under control (baby steps).  I do have a pile of unopened team bags from Jeff (see this morning's post for one such bag) but those will be opened in due time.  I also have a stack of Pacific cards sitting here from last week's trade with John (I'm planning on adding to that stack with more Pacific cards soon).  I also have the entire contents of a 1998 Fleer Tradition box that I opened up around Christmas...  But other than that, things are looking alright on my desk.

Next to my desk, I have had piles and piles of trade envelopes and boxes waiting to be written about but I can happily report that the number of non-scanned trade packages is in the single digits.  Considering the madness that was the group break over the past few weeks, that's a solid accomplishment as well.

So far, so good.

But it's when we move into the other room - the room that houses the majority of my cards that things get messy in a hurry.  For starters, here are my four main bookshelves (two stacked on top of each other) that house the majority of my card collection.

I apologize for the blurry photo but you get the idea - lots and lots of binders.  Unfortunately, without taking each binder out, I have no idea which binders hold complete sets, which hold sets I'm actively trying to complete, and which just hold random, nowhere near finished sets.  That needs to change.

Before I can do that though, I need to organize all the cards that aren't currently in binders.

Opening up the first of two cabinets, you can see things are mostly in order.

All things considered, it doesn't look like my organization is really too far behind, right?

Wrong.

See, the other cabinet is where I've been stuffing all my "random cards" that I've been acquiring - whether via trades, surprise packages, random packs/boxes that I've opened, and unclaimed group break teams.  What you see is only the start - most of those stacks go back two or three columns...

A total disaster.

Even worse, my binders have spilled onto a second bookshelf - and that's something that I need to fix as well since I don't really have any room for more sets without eliminating some of the binders....

So, as you can see, I have my work cut out for me.

The first step that I need to complete is to get all of my binders updated (and then double check my want lists).  From there, I need to figure out which sets I'm not going to collect and then remove them from binders.  After that, I need to sort all those stacks of cards (this might actually happen before I decide which sets to collect and which sets to ignore).  After that, it'll be a process of putting sets I want to keep in binders (and probably buying lots more 9-pocket pages and binders).  At that point, I'd guess it'll be necessary for me to build myself a new bookshelf - but that's so far down the road that I won't worry about that aspect for now...

In the meantime, as a I start the process of reorganization, you can expect to see some stuff made available on the blog (and possibly on eBay and/or Listia).  I don't want to keep all my extras and unwanted cards anymore so I have to figure out an efficient way to get rid of them (while hopefully filling in some of the sets that I do want).  I'm sure I'll have more information about what I have available (and what I need) as the organization process continues.

Will I get anywhere on this project before the next school year begins?

I sure hope so - and maybe by making my plans a bit more public on the blog that will force me to actually get something accomplished (even if I don't end up getting everything organized).

Oh and did I mention I'd like to start some binders just for Reds' team sets?

And that to do so will require me to make full checklists for all the Reds in various sets...

*sigh*

Guess I better get busy.