How Do You Balance Your Collection And Clutter?

I've been meaning to get around to some stamp sorting, page printing and actual affixing of stamps (with mounts) to some album pages.

What's been holding me up is that the area that I've chosen for working on my stamp collection is way over-cluttered with other things, e.g. books, bills, papers, computer stuff, etc. So, my first order of business is to clear away the clutter. This is a daunting task for me since it's been piling up for so long.

Do any of you struggle with balancing the non-philatelic clutter with your stamps, supplies, catalogs, albums, etc. in the room where you work on your collection or am I the only one who is trying to tame the paper tiger?

Thanks.

Well...i know the collections are all in one room..the clutter is in closets and trunks,computer paper boxes and plastic sweater boxes downstairs..they are the expendable young troops we put in the first wave...i keep it but I honestly don't know when I am going to get around to sorting lower catalog stuff ..when I keep finding good stuff !!

I keep extra bulky stuff in 30-gallon Tupperware tubs, stackable in a closet. In the tubs I have old albums, album pages, shoe boxes filled with glassines, and a few cigar boxes.

I've got on a table next to me a small 5-drawer plastic container I bought at a Wal-Mart (I think) for a few bucks and keep different kinds of loose material in different drawers-- one for kiloware I trim off of envelopes I've received from purchases from other collectors, another drawer with the same postage that for some reason wasn't cancelled to be soaked and then considered Mint NG, one for revenues I throw in there when I buy a small lot for the one stamp I'm looking for, and another one for mint and used stamps I've taken out of my primary albums when replacing with something better.

And I'm STILL horribly, horribly unorganized. Especially right here on my computer desk where I have recent purchases in a pile, protected, but in a pile, 2 albums on their sides- My main US album and my Scott Specialty Series for US Revenues. Up above in cubby holes at the top of the desk, I've got 2 more albums- one for Match & Medicine, one for Cut Squares (I have the pages and a few lots I've bought, but never even started to look at them. I also have a cubby hole with a few stock books, my Armstrong's Wash Frank book, a cigar box for putting extra revenues with nice dates (sooner or later I want to organize them to try to build an entire calendar year), and a couple of stockbooks. Another cubby hole with excess mounts, glassines, small notebook pages with pockets, stock cards, etc.

I really need a place for just mounting materials. For my main US Album, I've got a hingeless Hagner album (I don't think they're in print any longer, but it was a great hingeless album for the price, so I don't need mounting materials, for that or rarely for that, but for the Revenues, Match/Medicine, I use mounts for the better material, and hinges for some of the cheaper material.

Hope to get some nice ideas from this thread-- thanks for posting it.
Ray

Well, I have a desk for holding the clutter (a laptop computer, printer, headphones but mostly stamps). The nearby sofa, a TV Dinner tray and the plastic lid I put over my office trash can all serve as extra desk space when I am cataloging/mounting.

What is ridiculous is that I have a stamp desk in my room as well, which is also covered with stamps.

My desk is always cluttered up.



The bedroom cupboard is 75% full of stamp 'Stuff' which leaves just 25% for clothes [Who needs them anyway?]

As long as no one touches my drawers !



Londonbus1.....not those drawers, silly !

Mr. Smauggie, What exactly is a stamp desk? Is it similar to a rolltop desk? I'd like to see one so I can
request one for Christmas one of these years. I've already made my wife promise me that I'll get my own room in the next house that we buy. Every man needs a "man cave".

Smauggie you remind me of my son Steven, he is moving from an apartment to a townhouse...but even with two bedrooms..the scenario is not going to change !!

Londonbus..clutter ? your area looks like an army locker ready for inspection compared to me !!

LOL! Phil is right ... your idea of "cluttered" would make Martha Stewart guffaw!

Hahaha! I agree and will not be taking pictures of my stamp space...LOL Impressive to say the least Londonbus! Excellent hyper-organization *Jealous*...thinking about the times that will come when the children are able to do things for themselves !But not wishing time away!...there are much more stamps to collect in the meantime ;) I spend more time organizing the things that are meant to keep me organized lately(boxes, baskets, envelopes, catalogs, etc.) than spending with the stamps themselves. It's hard to keep up- everything is labelled "a project"...but organizing one enough to get done is the problem...Oh the day will come...

Well teacherbaba, what my "stamp desk" really is, is a small wooden computer desk (no drawers or anything). The added advantage is that it has a board under the desk (to place the keyboard supposedly) surface that rolls out, increasing my desk-space by 60%.

Philb, I designed the 'Locker' myself so it was always going to be easy to keep abreast of things !
Then I got a friend to put it together and another to Sponge-Lacquer the correct shade of wood. Voila !

Still, I did make one or two small mistakes....but mostly it's OK.

Now I need to find my own room to put it in !

Londonbus1

You guys have some nice setups for your collection work. I assure you there will be no pictures anytime soon of the war zone that I call a hobby/work/gaming desk. Clutter you say? hehe, more like what you would expect after a tornado has been though the area.

is that unoccupied flat space on your desk londonbus1, I have forgotten what it looks like. My flat space never sees the light of day!

The photo's of my stamp area that I've posted in the past on another thread here (I'm not sure which one it was)are of a tidy and clean computer/stamp/coin/gold nuggets desk that will be fondly remembered,after two sets of holidays (one for 2 months followed by one for 10 days)the stamp/coin/g n/computer desk looks like a bomb hit it,littered with unopened mail also with four months of Aussie FDC (I save these in sets of three)that I collected at the P.O. last week and half completed Aussie FDC albums so it will take me some time to clean it up.
Mick I think you can be proud of your mess for if you had seem my deck you would cringe with disbelief

I live mainly in the basement. I have a huge bookshelf that I build myself to sit all my albums and everything stamp related. There is allot of books too. When I need some space I throw books in boxes. I have no table, only a computer desk and another small desk. I work on my collections standing up over the freezer. It's a Sears Coldspot from the 70's still running. Only the small desk look clutter. It's where I put among other things the stamps I want to sell or auction or the one that are currently offer. All the time I spend on SCF or in my stamps I listen to Radio Classique, the classical music radio channel in Montreal. Daniel