So guys I have a question for you… I have 2 big 4x4 binders… that are side loaders; and also 2 smaller 2x2’s that I want to put my favorite/ most prized cards in.
So my question for you is… if you were to binder your cards… How do you organize them? When I was very little I used to list them in order of things like; Type: So starting off with Grass type’s… Then listing them in order from first form, to final form/ evolution… But now I want to do something much different so that I can keep all my “like” cards together. So like my Rayquaza’s together, my Palkia’s together, my Dialga’s together, My Yveltal’s together; etc…
But how would you guys go about doing this?? I need some help here. I was thinking alphabetically but then keep thinking to myself… I’m always getting new cards weekly/ bi-weekly… And it’d be a TON of work to constantly keep moving EVERY card starting with the letter of the new card and all the one’s behind it back one or two spots, just to add one or two more cards.
Different binders for each is the only way to not have to move them. You will always eventually run out of space if you just skip a few pages. Or put them in set order so you know how many spaces to leave for your missing ones and new sets are always at the end.
One of things I secretly enjoy the most about collecting is having tons of cards sprawled out on the floor and then organizing, sorting, and putting them in binders. When I got back into collecting about 4 years ago, I started by Pokedex #. The organization fit my goal of having one of every Pokemon. It didn’t matter the set, I just wanted a complete pokedex. This goal was accomplished pretty quickly and eventually all the cards made their way back onto the floor and were resorted.
In my opinion, as a set collector the best way is to organize and binder your cards by set. I even go as far as leaving blank spaces in my binders for cards that I don’t have. Some of my sets are only half complete, so those binders are very light and every other space is a blank space (usually a reverse holo). Here is why organizing your cards in binders by set and then by card/set # is the best way:
A - It looks nice
2 - You can find any card in your collection in about 10 seconds
D - It is a method that gives everyone ease of access to finding cards in your collection and it’s universally understood.
It really depends on what you’re collecting. If you just collect your most favourite cards the sky is the limit on how to organize it.
It can be a real hassle, I think I’ve overhauled and reorganized my Bulbasaur collection binder over a 100 times (also just due miscounting between cards, to keep space for what I miss). In the end I settled with how I have it in Excel.
Sorted by art/set, sorted by language, sorted by edition.
For the Base Set Bulbasaur it is like:
No Rarity (still empty), Japan Base, First Edition, Shadowless, Unlimited, First Edition Dutch, Unlimited Dutch, 4th Print
I try to keep promo cards like CD Promo Venusaur grouped together with the Black Star WotC variation; because art.
My other binders, one just holds Dutch Base Set is organized on checklist because that’s the most normal way to do it. My ‘bulk’ binder is sorted by set. Non holo, holo, reverse holo. This so I can easily pull cards out of it when I sell them or need to do a trade.
Before I moved over to collecting PSA slabs I had my Pichu collection binder in date order. I also used date order for my Shared Artwork collection binder. The downside to this approach is when you find new cards you didn’t know existed when you first put the binder together - especially if there are hundreds of cards split over multiple binders.
If I collect individual sets though I’ll have the cards in numerical order, starting with the energy card then for each card under that umbrella the reverse variant (if applicable) then the regular variant. The downside to this is when TPCi introduce an alternative artwork card - the recent Professor Elm’s Lecture league cards which were released last week are attributed to the Lost Thunder set, which was originally released last year.
So here’s my problem with sorting, and ultimately what I think I’m going to come down to doing. So I have a select few Pokemon that I REALLY love. Like Rayquaza, Palkia, Dialga, Mewtwo, Charizard, Yveltal, & Darkrai. So the thing of it is… is I really want to keep all those cards/ prints together. Now as far as all my other cards go. I have plenty of other cards that have pairs as well. But mainly I want to keep my Pokemon cards listed in some sort of ordering. Which I think I’m going to stick with my original thought of Favorite Pokemon binded first. And then take some of my more/ most expensive cards that I have and put them in the smaller 2x2 binders that I have. I don’t have enough rare cards yet to fill 2 full 4x3 binders. Which I think those can hold a total of 480 cards totaled. And I think I’m going to go that route first and see where that leads me, because trying to organize my Pokemon cards by series/ set would just be far too difficult for me because I’m JUST getting back into the swing of Pokemon cards. I can BARELY remember what Pokemon card I got from which pack week to week. The only one’s I can remember are Hidden Fates because they’re clearly my favorite pack thus far… Besides obviously someday owning my FAVORITE card in the entire Pokemon card collection, which is a PSA 10 Rayquaza Gold Star from Ex Deoxys. That is my ULTIMATE dream card. And I’ll never be able to afford one I know that for sure.
But I think that’s how I’m going to order my cards. Is somehow order my cards in order of my favorite; to basically least favorite with cards that are very expensive/ rare in another smaller binder. I think that’s my only logical way of doing it because I would then be able to add more cards to my collection then if and when I actually get more without having to move EVERY single card from the front to the rear 2/3 cards back just to add 2/3 new cards. I’ll just start them off in a newer page towards the back, and I’m also going to use like page markers that you could put in books to hold your place; with a label on it stating which cards are on that page. That way I can just simply hold that tab marker and pull on it to go to that specific page and know what is on it/ near it.