Help: Working On Collection In Small Space

Hello!

I am a fairly new collector! I inherited a large collection from my grandfather and have really taken an interest. I work on my collection 2-3 times per week for a couple hours at a time.

The problem is that this hobby takes time and SPACE. As I am not living on my own yet, it is is difficult for me to make progress, because I am having to spend more time taking out and cleaning up.

Do any of you experienced collectors have any advice? In my head, I am imagining some type of portable work station that I can safely cover up between work periods. Does anything like this exist?!

Any help or feedback would be GREATLY appreciated!

well if you have more of a hoard than a collection. I use a lot of long card file type boxes and clear plastic tubs so you can see whats in there.

You will find the link below to be of some use.

https://goscf.com/t/46512

Thank you! That link was very helpful :)

OK, in an effort to help a fellow collector, I will publicly confess... I still live at home, too. And no doubt I am much older than you, too (Massachusetts is very expensive to live in... other factors involved in my case).

Anyhoo, I also have little space... sort of. My bedroom is tiny, and my stuff has spilled over into other rooms in the house (much to my mother's at-times consternation). Model train stuff is up in the attic, where my brother's room was. My sister's old room is where the computer and bookshelves are, which in addition to books have scale model car kits and 3-ring binders of stuff in them.

So it CAN be done... I could do it BETTER, but for now it works.

So stick with it, you will find a way! :-) :-) :-)

PS - word of advice... do NOT end up with TOO MANY hobbies!

Jenny has a really nice affordable storage idea which you saw on the link.

@nells250 yes my mom gets very irritated and expects me to pick up everything every time. Unfortunately I do not have any storage space outside my small room :(. I liked the library catalogue idea though

JRodriguez, welcome to the forum! Somewhere here in SCF a number of members posted pics of their stamp room. Some are quite* messy and disorganized. My stuff often gets a tad unruly but my wife is very supportive. I have a folding card table I often use and when I want to give stamps a rest but not clean up after myself, I drape a spare blanket from the sofa over the table. It's not a solution but it's something. Not sure if your mom would go for that ... ?

Perhaps you can locate a clean or new file cabinet that will fit in you room. Many file cabinets have casters or casters can be added to them. You can store your stamp materials in the cabinet and roll it into a corner or under a table or desk when it's not in use. When you want to work on stamps, you roll it out and the top of the file cabinet can be used as a work surface.

If you need more space to work, a folding TV table can supplement the file cabinet and then be easily folded and stowed when you're done.

Oh this is a good idea. I was worried that putting a blanket over the material might not be safe.

The blanket works very well for me. Let us know if you build something and post a pic.