Most people I know start every January with a New Year's Resolution. Some friends I know want to exercise more, hope to lose weight, or commit to saving money. While I wish to also meet those expectations, I thought of a resolution that can be a win-win for myself, my family, and local groups looking to raise money.
In late December I was cleaning my collectible room, which is also our family room and daughter's play room. As I was cleaning and organizing my autographs, I realized 2 things:
1. I need a larger room.
2. I need to refresh the displays with updated items and photos.
I noticed that I had baseballs displayed of players that mean nothing to me, I had photos of players that are no longer in professional sports, I had plenty of current player items that were hidden (ie, Current Bruins and Celtics Items). So it was time to re-organize, update and purge.
The first thing I accomplished was cleaning of the current items and replacing of outdated items. This was easy because I had frames in which I can easily switch photos, ball cubes for the newest baseballs and labels so I could easily identify the autograph. The frames I purchased were the Format brand which are usually $5 and under at stores such as Michaels, Walmart and Target. Format frames have easy to pop glass and only need a small nail to hang. Ball cubes of all sizes can be found at sporting good stores (Dick's sells them starting at $3.99.) I highly recommend investing in any type of label maker which can be found at any office supply store.
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| Ray Allen autographed photo in 8x10 format frame. |
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| Labeled autographed baseballs in cubes |
The second thing I accomplished was create shelf space by taking down and separating items by what i want to store and what I want get rid of. By doing this I added about 20 square feet of shelf space, to which I created more room for new bobblehead dolls and of course Bruins Stanley Cup autographed pucks.
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| New shelf space for Bruins Autographs |
As I was purging items I categorized them into 2 areas. The keep, but store pile and the give away or sell pile. While I sell a very small portion of my autographs, I do offer many up as donations to non profit organizations that are hosting fundraisers in the form of silent auctions, etc.... This is always a win-win for all involved. So take some to time to organize, refresh and prioritize what you want and need, and guaranteed you'll feel accomplished and maybe a little heavier in the wallet.
