How Do You Eat The Elephant??

I'm sure everyone has heard that old saying.  The answer is, of course, "One bite at a time."

In my case, the elephant is my effort to get some semblance of organization back to my collection.  I had the privilege of moving twice in 2013, thus putting an already maligned collection into more disarray.  Over the past two years prior to that, I picked up the remnants of a few, now defunct card shops.  In all, I have accumulated approximately 1.5 million cards since late 2011 (give or take a couple hundred thousand but at that point, what difference does it make?).  After the first move, 4/5 of everything went into a storage locker which, of course, cost monthly money to store my own collection (kind of like COMC but without organization, an audience, or customers.  Although if anyone is in Northwest Indiana and would like to drop by, I'd be glad to show you around.  It's only 6x10 and almost fully packed so it shouldn't take long since you can barely move in it.).  In the early fall of last year, I was able to unload about 1/3 of that mess, including all the unwanted football and basketball cards I could find at the time (meaning, I've since found more).  That left baseball in the locker and all the hockey, unclassified boxes, and miscellaneous stuff in my possession.  So between the two locations of my collection, I'm probably sitting on close to 800,000-900,000+ cards.

But here's the overall problem....I still just have too much.

(Prepare for another of my incoherent rants...)

I have intentions for everything, as most collectors do.  I have many plans for the collections I have started and tons of ideas for the collections I haven't.  I have stuff that doesn't fit into my PC goals that just sits in boxes, on shelves, on my desk, or in random piles collecting dust.  I have stuff I want to try and unload but just haven't found the time to do so.  I have sets I've started, with missing cards I've received, with checklists unchecked, and a big round-tuit on top.  I even have PC cards not in their respective homes (blasphemous!)

Hobby's are enjoyable.  They aren't supposed to be stressful.  My goal for 2014 was to have fun.  But my collection sometimes stresses me out.  I don't like looking at the disorganization because in all other aspects of my life, I'm hardly unorganized.  But for some reason, the cardboard gods did not grace me with the meticulousness I feel I should have as a collector.  I have a space just for my collection now and I need to utilize it to it's potential, not create another doomed room full of chaos.

So I say...NO MORE!  This insanity has to stop.  I want to enjoy my collection and have fun with it and to do that, I need to make some changes.  So I'm starting now.

First, I'm vowing to post at least 5 cards or more to my Collector's Revolution account at least every other day until I fill a Shoebox full of sale items.  There is no other way to get rid of unwanted stuff (besides giving it away).  I already have about 200 or so items on there for sale and have sold a handful of items over the past few months.  I may not sell it all.  I may not sell any of it.  But, at least I will try.  You never know until you try.  And with any of that money I may make...I will use for future card purchases.  No, really.  I will. I swear.

Not to get off subject but for anyone not aware, Collector's Revolution is a "newer" sports card collector's marketplace that is designed to be better than Ebay...I'm not sure how they have done so far but I'm fairly happy (and no, I am not a commercial for them or compensated by them in any way).  There are no listing fees, no final sales fees for items under $5, no re-listing fees, and you never pay more than 5% on a final sale.  They also sponsor affordable group breaks, offer seller incentives, a referral program, and you can choose to have your items featured.  While they don't have the traffic that Ebay has, I like my odds at selling things on my own terms without having to open my own e-commerce site.

Second, I'm going to stop buying retail products for the entire year.  There I said it.  NO RETAIL.  ONE YEAR.  I tried this once before and it didn't work out too well.  This time, I mean it.  Hobby only or online purchases for me on new products from here on out.  This is not only going to save me money in the long run, but also limit the over saturation in my collection of common cards that just take up monster box space on my shelves.  Now if someone buys retail for me, I'm not going to shun them.  But out of my own pocket, no way.

Third, I need to trade.  This is a trading based hobby.  They are called TRADING cards.  I need to trade, plain and simple.  I have one trade so far this year and need to start making more.  It will happen.  I just need to find a way to connect with the masses.  Hopefully I can move forward with my plan to post a regular "trade bait" post on the blog.  I would also like to update my trading lists with other bloggers and what they collect.  I know what some of you target but not everyone.  If you're reading this, don't think I know what you collect, and you want to trade, tell me about it in a comment or something.

Piggybacking off the trading thing, I really need to get updated as to what I have and don't have in my PC and non-PC cards.  I had originally started using Zistle back in 2009 when I went full steam ahead back into the hobby.  It is a great site for creating an online inventory of your collection (and no I'm not paid to say that about them either).  It is pretty flexible, allows some customization, and the support there is second to none.  Unfortunately, my use declined over the last couple years and that needs to change.  Again, it's the best site, in my opinion, for creating an inventory online without doing it yourself from scratch.  If I can start making a dent in finding out what I have, it will surely make it easier to pull off trades.

No, I haven't just reneged on my promise of no New Year's collecting resolutions.  These are a matter of life and death if I want to stay active in this great hobby.  I still stick with my original and only NYCR, and that was to have fun.  I'm going to make this as fun as possible for myself and slowly reintroduce The Real DFG to his collection.