There has to be an easier way 1 1

[universal soldier]

Sweating my teats off tonight. I have a routine where I read, bag and board, catalog, and then into a long box. Every couple months or so, I file by alpha and end up having to make room in the boxes for new books by pushing everything forward a box until I get enough to make a new box.  damn you OCD 

What do others do?

[MattTheDuck]

I usually buy a new box when I'm getting close, then move some books from an existing box that's getting crowded into the new one.  Typically, the move will be all of a title where I have only 50-75 books or something, or maybe I'll have to start a new ASM box and move 50 books from the end of the old ASM box to the new one.  Initially, I try to create enough room in the right box for whatever I have coming in.  Hopefully, this doesn't create the kind of cascade you're talking about.

But overall I'm dealing with much smaller numbers than you are.

[shadroch]

Summon a minion. 

[wombat]

I just throw them in the fireplace after I read them. Easy peasy. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

You read them?

[Jemin]

On 8/30/2021 at 8:30 PM, universal soldier said:

Sweating my teats off tonight. I have a routine where I read, bag and board, catalog, and then into a long box. Every couple months or so, I file by alpha and end up having to make room in the boxes for new books by pushing everything forward a box until I get enough to make a new box.  damn you OCD 

What do others do?

I used to do this also but after 2 or 3 long boxes it started to get such a pain. I switched to boxing them alphabetically by the year.  Much easier.

[Arkham]

On 8/31/2021 at 11:30 AM, universal soldier said:

Sweating my teats off tonight.

[Pat Thomas]

I have to do the same thing. The key is having enough space where you can get to all the boxes easily and pull out several at a time. I try to fill my boxes about 3/4 full to give myself some leeway for awhile, but inevitably the time comes where I have to make a major shift. I've got over 40,000 of them, totally organized, so when I get to that point now, it's a pretty big project. But if I don't keep them organized, I get uptight about the horrible "mess" they're in.

[MatterEaterLad]

I go in cycles. It gets to be such a headache that I sell a bunch. Then when I've cleared some space, I end up buying more. Rinse. Repeat. Ad infinitum. 

[Lord Gemini]

I have my long boxes separated into various categories. I have a lot of Fantastic Four, so there's a category. Same for Hulk. I only put 250 comics in a long box despite there often being extra space. I have a single short box for "books to file" as well. I have over 9,000 books, and it's been working pretty well so far, though my "Marvel - Other" category may need to get split out in the near future. Maybe into "Events" and "Other".

[universal soldier]

On 8/31/2021 at 12:38 AM, shadroch said:

Summon a minion. 

[universal soldier]

On 8/31/2021 at 7:20 AM, Jemin said:

I used to do this also but after 2 or 3 long boxes it started to get such a pain. I switched to boxing them alphabetically by the year.  Much easier.

you just made my OCD kick into high gear.

[universal soldier]

On 8/31/2021 at 8:04 AM, Pat Thomas said:

I have to do the same thing. The key is having enough space where you can get to all the boxes easily and pull out several at a time. I try to fill my boxes about 3/4 full to give myself some leeway for awhile, but inevitably the time comes where I have to make a major shift. I've got over 40,000 of them, totally organized, so when I get to that point now, it's a pretty big project. But if I don't keep them organized, I get uptight about the horrible "mess" they're in.

Wow, 40K! I'm closing in on 12K right now and that is daunting enough. I try to keep enough space in the boxes but now I am out of boxes and space for boxes 

[universal soldier]

Thanks for the replies, some interesting thoughts and ideas. It never really ends though. I committed to mylar back in 2009 but still only have about half of my collection transitioned. Waiting on 2K of m2's and half backs from eGerber (likely shipped in mid-October). 

Even my boxes need replacing. The current boxes I find to be much less sturdy than the ones from the 80's. My shelving needs to change too (similar to the image below). The overhang on the back of the long box gets caught and rips the cardboard. I have a bunch with packing tape holding them together. Considering the move to short boxes. Lol, in short 

 

[shadroch]

I keep my books loosely organized. If I'm looking for a BA Invaders, I  generally know it will be in one of two or three boxes. By not being super-organized, I almost always come across a book or two I wasn't aware of and finding a hot book I wasn't aware of makes me feel better about my overall stock. 

[BoogieWoogie]

I really only have my Amazing Spider-Man and related series sorted. Everything else I have in unsorted boxes which is as nightmare-ish as it sounds. The couple boxes I have with CGC-level high grade books are useful but then it's 20 short boxes of... I don't know what.

Have you tried that? I wouldn't recommend it but you could give it a shot 

[The Lions Den]

On 8/30/2021 at 9:30 PM, universal soldier said:

Sweating my teats off tonight. I have a routine where I read, bag and board, catalog, and then into a long box. Every couple months or so, I file by alpha and end up having to make room in the boxes for new books by pushing everything forward a box until I get enough to make a new box.  damn you OCD 

What do others do?

Relax...  

[Amazing Cider-Man]

I stopped using long boxes many years ago. Too big and heavy to move around and always eat up space. I only use small boxes now. So much easier to deal with if you buy a lot of books at a time or have a habit of letting them accumulate. I'll often just add another box as a bridge between 2 others and move a little from the box before and after it.

[ComicsAndCode]

A different way of going about it...don't re-sort or categorize at all. Just add new additions to the end of the stack. Mark each box with a unique code (could be letters, numbers or combination of both). Have a spreadsheet of all your books with any information you wish to add and INCLUDE THE BOX CODE. Highly efficient way of locating your comics and no more having to shuffle books around across your boxes...added benefit is that it reduces risk of damaging comics by constant handling.

I would think that this is the way major dealers handle their ever-changing stock. Or some variation of it.

And yes, you have to create an inventory spreadsheet, but all collectors should be doing this already!

 

 

 

[lostboys]

 

It must be awesome to own 40,000 comics but damn...what does an old man do with 40,000 comics when the time comes to let em go? 

Theres gonna be an Ebay listing for your collection after youre gone from this Earth. The keys will have been weeded out and whats left will be sold in random lots of 30 books for $50.

The listing pic will be of hundreds of long boxes stacked to the ceiling in some ran down storage unit...boxes collapsing on each other..