No space! posted by Triskelion

[CSJournals-migration]

How do we manage our growing CGC collections?

 

Because of the nature of my work, over the last several of years my comic and CGC collecting activities have been constrained by an inability to have CGC's I purchase online delivered direct to my residence overseas (I have them shipped to my hometown address).

 

So over the holidays, I went back home, eagerly anticipating opening, storing and registering CGC's I'd been processing and having graded over the last 12 months. Ended up sorting through over 250 slabs. The feeling was awesome, and I have to admit there was a considerable amount of excitement as I opened dozens of boxes (from CGC, Metropolis, Worldwide, and a host of other folks I'd transacted with), saw the number of books I was registering growing (200 before, 460 now), and my overall points/set rankings jump up significantly in just a few days.

 

Which now leads to a somewhat pleasant albeit real dilemma: How does one sustain this hobby going forward? As I'm sure most of us would appreciate, unslabbed books and boxes take up a huge amount of space, not to mention CGC's. I currently have nearly 500 slabs stored in about 1/2 a dozen jumbo-sized airtight plastic containers. While I'm sure my purchase and collection this year will be nowhere near the level it was in the last few years (ie was able to complete a few sets I was targetting to date, and now really just focusing on upgrading), this still poses a problem in the future. I've sold a few items here and there, but unless I either win the lottery or go into more active selling/trading of the CGC's and books I'm willing to part with (something I dread), I will run out of storage space. Its an even bigger problem where I come from (Manila), where the comic and CGC collecting community is very limited.

 

This will be top of mind for me over the year.

 

Happy collecting!

 

See more journals by Triskelion

[Tnerb]

It is nice to see another journal from you Triskelion. I am sad to say I know exactly about your woes on storing. I recently condensed and rearranged my apartment ( i did this to add a dartboard to the decor.....well and play), fortunately this allowed my to find room for another 5 more comic boxes. The problem is do I use that room for new books, or graded copies. I have labored with the idea of finding a two bedroom apartment but then my rent increases and I have less to spend on my hobby. Not to mention the thought process of possibly looking for a new job.

 

As for storage that is always a possibility and one I have used in the past, shelves are another good possibility and one that I am utilizing now. of course now i am running out of wall space. I have closets but they are currently filled with Star Wars figures and vehicles. I figure I give myself another year to seriously have to come up with a solution, maybe by then you will have an answer and I can trouble you for that decision.

 

Thanks for Reading

 

Tnerb

[Triskelion]

Nice to hear back from you Tnerb!

 

Thinking the same thing, will definitely do some research and scan the boards for storage ideas this year. Reaching the point where I'm seriously considering getting one of those hydraulic home use compactor shelving units to maximize space (haven't gone this route yet, but I think I'll lose out in arguments against my wife to use limited shelving space available at home soon, especially since I'd already pretty much utilized one whole room for my collectibles).

 

I guess ultimately it becomes a balance between utility and aesthetics. 3 years ago I'd purchased 5 IKEA wall-mounted DVD glass shelves (stores about 200 DVD's/Blu-rays each) which look really slick, but nevertheless occupy a lot of wall space where I could alternatively use for standard shelving to house books & figures. I'm just thankful that my wife and kids are into e-book readers nowadays, which minimizes the need for other kinds of hard copy books in the house. Still, space is shrinking....and it pains me to imagine being able to display, or even have relatively accessible, only a fraction of my books (with the rest kept in storage).

 

 

 

 

[Tnerb]

I went the IKEA route as well. Although the shelves I got were not the DVD shelves. If you back track to my one journal about storage I believe I added a photo. If not my next journal about storage will probably have one. I rearranged and arranged again in the hopes some space would magically appear. It hasn't. Good luck, and it is always good to hear from you.

 

Tnerb.