Ever just get overwhelmed by your collection??

[gradejunky]

So long story short, my collection has slightly gotten out of control over the past few years. I have had smaller than normal living quarters for many years, and the collection would be in AC storage rooms for the most part of these times. The collection has grown now slowly from many $1 bin dives, and just regular weekly stuff. Now that I have been out of school for a bit, moved in to my own place alone again, and been working super full time for awhile I am just kind of swamped with the books I have that are not organized.

 

My permanent collection is all alpha-numeric, but the overflow is not organized at all. I try to do a bit here and there but time is limited due to mostly 60+ hr. weeks at work. I'm just a bit forlorn as I always thought the collection would stay neat and that is not the case anymore. Any peer advice would be great from those in similar situations, or those that have been here before and overcome the obstacle.

 

P.S. It is not a complete mess but It almost seems like a burden right now. I don't really know where to begin getting this mess together.

 

[kav]

There are key books in my boxes that i dont even know about. Once in a while I stumble across one like first deadshot or marvel premiere 15.

[revat]

1. cut a hole in a box.

2. Make a daily goal for yourself of sorting 30 comics (you can pick a different #, but make sure you can do it everyday). Just grab a stack (from anywhere) and go. Put your keepers in alphabetical in your perm collection, put the rest sorted in your read/sell boxes. Try to do it at the same time everyday, like right before you go to sleep or right when you wake up, or right before the gym or whatever. Make it a daily habit. The routines help with your sleep and your energy levels when you're working a lot too.

3. SCHEDULE one time a week where you can go to town on your comics for like a full hour or two while you watch tv or listen to music or cry quietly to yourself. On this day, don't let it take the place of the '30' from above.

[gradejunky]

3. SCHEDULE one time a week where you can go to town on your comics for like a full hour or two while you watch tv or listen to music or cry quietly to yourself . On this day, don't let it take the place of the '30' from above.

 

 

Good advice all of it. Especially the after the workout part. I do physical labor, but do not get in to the gym ever. This is something I know I have to change soon to get centered.

[SkunkApe]

1. cut a hole in a box.

 

 

[seanfingh]

So long story short, my collection has slightly gotten out of control over the past few years. I have had smaller than normal living quarters for many years, and the collection would be in AC storage rooms for the most part of these times. The collection has grown now slowly from many $1 bin dives, and just regular weekly stuff. Now that I have been out of school for a bit, moved in to my own place alone again, and been working super full time for awhile I am just kind of swamped with the books I have that are not organized.

 

My permanent collection is all alpha-numeric, but the overflow is not organized at all. I try to do a bit here and there but time is limited due to mostly 60+ hr. weeks at work. I'm just a bit forlorn as I always thought the collection would stay neat and that is not the case anymore. Any peer advice would be great from those in similar situations, or those that have been here before and overcome the obstacle.

 

P.S. It is not a complete mess but It almost seems like a burden right now. I don't really know where to begin getting this mess together.

 

 

Yes. My small home looks like a comic shop exploded and i set up a bed in the back.

[bronze_rules]

hoarders gotta hoard

 

I consider it an achievement to be able to dump or donate stacks of paper products (books/comics etc) every few years.

 

[iggy]

1. cut a hole in a box.

 

 

 

[gradejunky]

There are key books in my boxes that i dont even know about. Once in a while I stumble across one like first deadshot or marvel premiere 15.

 

I'm stumbling across a lot of $$$$ items, but am OCD and want to make sure that I don't sell a better copy than is in my perm. stash. I am ready to sell stuff, but not at all really due to this overflow problem.

 

 

[Lazyboy]

There are key books in my boxes that i dont even know about. Once in a while I stumble across one like first deadshot or marvel premiere 15.

 

Wow, I wish I could find some Batman 59s that I had forgotten I had!

[kav]

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

Keep the books that you just cannot part with.

Try and maintain no more than 3 collecting focus goals for the rest.

What's left after that, get rid of and raise some cash.

Of course if you can't bear to part with anything, then you got problems.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Yes, I do get overwhelmed.

[thehumantorch]

1. cut a hole in a box.

2. Make a daily goal for yourself of sorting 30 comics (you can pick a different #, but make sure you can do it everyday). Just grab a stack (from anywhere) and go. Put your keepers in alphabetical in your perm collection, put the rest sorted in your read/sell boxes. Try to do it at the same time everyday, like right before you go to sleep or right when you wake up, or right before the gym or whatever. Make it a daily habit. The routines help with your sleep and your energy levels when you're working a lot too.

3. SCHEDULE one time a week where you can go to town on your comics for like a full hour or two while you watch tv or listen to music or cry quietly to yourself. On this day, don't let it take the place of the '30' from above.

 

Good advice. I'm trying to sort about 100 long boxes from collections we've bought. Every time I walk pass the pile I stop and sort for 5 minutes and it's starting to add up.

[gradejunky]

Of course if you can't bear to part with anything, then you got problems.

 

 

[dupont2005]

Yeah, From like 2008 -2010 I was buying comics in bulk and went from my 6 longbox childhood collection to something like 35-40 longboxes. I could no longer keep track of what I had and was buying a lot of doubles. I wasn't reading even a fraction of what I bought. Nothing was in order anymore. It took up so much space. It was hard saying goodbye but I got rid of most of it. Dwindled it down to two bookshelves, that I think hold about 3 longboxes worth each. Now I have both shelves packed, some comics in my closet, 3 longboxes, and a growing stack on the floor because I have nowhere else to put them. Time to get rid of some comics. I like keeping the collection trimmed to just the two bookshelves.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

I like to keep my collection manageable. Having way too many books somehow seems to be collecting & hoarding for the sake of it.

One has to be ruthless and be prepared to focus more. Less is more in lots of things, and way more enjoyable. If you are in to reading them and absorbing the pop culture of the actual books it's the only way for me. I have a stack of approx. 50 unread books which never seems to go down as I read between 1-2 per day and am always buying, but then I prune when I get too many. As a result I really enjoy the books as they were meant to be enjoyed and don't get swamped. I know many won't agree but it works for me, and keeps things fresh and enjoyable. I'm not interested in money or investment so my outlook is different I suppose.

Considering I have been collecting for over 50 years my collection is very modest.

[jcjames]

 

Yeah, it comes in cycles it seems.

 

My problem is like this - any key or important book that I want to keep, I see it as the book itself and want to keep it for my PC. And any junk/drek book that I have, I only see the money that I paid for it - and I can't bring myself to throw money away.

 

 

 

 

[letsgrumble]

Once my collection helped me relax, get my mind off things, but keeping on top of it has become ongoing work. I hunt issues for runs that I probably will never complete. I'm obsessed with grade. I buy supplies and keep obsessive care of my books, I maintain a spreadsheet to manage my collection, and now I'm always updating it. I'm a lost soul. Only death will emancipate me.

 

In all seriousness, I'm having a good time... most times.

[entalmighty1]

Once my collection helped me relax, get my mind off things, but keeping on top of it has become ongoing work. I hunt issues for runs that I probably will never complete. I'm obsessed with grade. I buy supplies and keep obsessive care of my books, I maintain a spreadsheet to manage my collection, and now I'm always updating it. I'm a lost soul. Only death will emancipate me.

 

In all seriousness, I'm having a good time... most times.

 

This. I have around 3,000 books now, but everything is alphabetized and catalogued on a spreadsheet. Don't worry about the endgame, just start on it. You'll make progress before you know it.