Sunday, January 28, 2018

Organizational progress

Since blogging started for me in 2011, I've moved from New York City's Upper East Side to Hoboken to a rental in my current town to purchasing right here in Essex County, NJ.

As a result, my collection has been on the move multiple times, boxed up and never really finding a permanent place until now.

The one drawback to the house we purchased is that there isn't really an office or room for a man cave. I always wanted one, but it wasn't necessarily a "must-have" on our checklist when looking at houses. The real estate market here in the Jersey burbs is super competitive, and a house that checks off every box just isn't realistic, especially when within a certain budget.

What my house did have is a "finished" attic. I say "finished" because it was probably finished about 40 years ago, complete with ugly yellowish/orange carpet that still resides in there today. There is also an unfinished portion good for storage of Christmas decorations and old baby clothes, and a bathroom with a cast iron tub that must weigh a few tons. Seriously, that thing is never moving, at least not whole.

I did manage to carve out a small corner of the finished part of the attic for my card collection. While it'll never be the perfect spot and someplace to chill, there's no reason I can't use it to be more organized, especially for a place to quickly store cards coming in and going out. I admittedly fell behind the eight ball when sorting, and as a result, cards piled up and it became unwelcome and daunting.

While far from done, I'm on the right track. Here is everything in December:
And here is everything as of last night:
See? Still a ways to go, but much more manageable. And I now have a process for anything unsorted that I can get to a box at a time versus just being so overwhelmed that I don't do anything.

And how ugly is that carpet? Gross. But on the list of things the house still needs, this isn't even close to the top.

Eventually I hope to get a desk in there, and maybe even a TV to watch some games while sorting. For now, I'm happy with the progress!

8 comments:

  1. Congrats on the progress. Eventually you'll make that corner of the attic into your own "man cave".
    Not sure about you, but I'd get a TV up there before replacing the carpet... no matter how gross it is. I really enjoy "playing" with my cards when I can have a game or movie playing in the background.

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  2. Nice work on the organization. Yes, that carpet is ugly but I'm with Tom on this, get you a TV up there before anything else. Or, if a TV won't fit, get yourself an iPad or something and just sit it in the floor next to you while you scan, sort, and do what-have-you.

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  3. Looking good, I'm going through the same stuff. I'd love to be at a point where all my stuff is in card storage shoe boxes, rather than actual shoe boxes. Do you like the shoe house or whatever it is called?

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    1. Yeah it's the shoe house. So far I like it, as well as the sorting tray.

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  4. DON'T sit ON the floor ;) find a cool chair or shaggy rug. Those shelving units are heavy duty. Great choice! I hope you can make that space your own, enjoying it more that you expect too!

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  5. Good job! Here's giving you courage and energy to keep going strong!

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  6. Congratulations on the purchase of a home. Looks like you made some serious progress. Wish I had some attic space to play with, because I've got a bunch of shoe boxes I need to deal with myself.

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