New Storage System

[jet660]

My sis gave me a call today saying my room is being rearranged for new furniture and trashing old paper and what nots. Since I am away for grad school in NYC, I can't do much now in the process. However, I am planning to create some space for new and old stuff in my room during winter break. I need some suggestions or advice in maxing my room space. Should I take out my 1/48s, 1/55s, 1/60 v.1s, transformers, mospeada, gundam, and etc and display them? Flatten the boxes or throw them away? Should I store my books in boxes (which they are in) or put them on a book shelf. What do you do with your massive dvds, tapes, cds? I feel I am going to become an interior decorator when I get back. All inputs and pics are welcome!

Edited October 17, 2008 by jet660

[Golden Arms]

My sis gave me a call today saying my room is being rearranged for new furniture and trashing old paper and what nots. Since I am away for grad school in NYC, I can't do much now in the process. However, I am planning to create some space for new and old stuff in my room during winter break. I need some suggestions or advice in maxing my room space. Should I take out my 1/48s, 1/55s, 1/60 v.1s, transformers, mospeada, gundam, and etc and display them? Flatten the boxes or throw them away? Should I store my books in boxes (which they are in) or put them on a book shelf. What do you do with your massive dvds, tapes, cds? I feel I am going to become an interior decorator when I get back. All inputs and pics are welcome!

I live in an apt.with my brother and have a massive toy collection as well as comics and dvds. I'm somewhat of a hoarder and keep all of my toy boxes. I simply bought a storage unit and keep 90% of my toy boxes, as well as toys that aren't displayed in there. I plan to go through it and either sell older toys I no longer want(1/55's) or trash the boxes of toys I don't care too much for( 1/72 mac plus toys, ver 1 1/60 yamato's). Unfortunately, its the newer Yamato 1/60's and 1/48 boxes I plan to keep which take up the most space. I'm considering getting a house once my lease expires, so I have some time to weigh what I plan on keeping and what I no longer want.

You could keep the boxes, flatten them, and leave the toys in the plastic trays. You could also buy large storage bins ( I have several of these) and store your toys in those. The bins would be perfect if you plan on ditching the boxes. If you aren't too strapped for cash I'd suggest purchasing a small storage unit and storing alot of your things there. That way, you wouldn't be too pressured to part with anything, and you would have time to go through what you want and what you plan on getting rid of.

I hope this helps. I love these type of questions, because it is one we collectors all have to face at some point.

[sharky]

There is one project you should consider doing although it does take some time. One thing I did with my CDs is to put them in a large CD storage binder. I prefer the Case Logic brand. After ripping all of my CDs onto my hard drive I took the CD and booklet out and chucked the jewel case. This alone saved a huge amount of space for me. Of course I kept my Macross CDs and games intact in their respective jewel cases. As it was, I wasn't even listening to most of my collection because it was sitting on the shelf. have all my music available whenever I care to listen at home or on my iPod. Now, I don't even buy new CDs anymore unless it is something special such as a Macross import. You might still want to back up any downloaded music on some CDs or DVDs in case your hard drive crashes one day.

I prefer to keep my movies in their original cases as a lot of them are special collector type cases and/or they have extra booklets etc. If you don't care so much about the cases you can get a storage binder that is similar to the CD ones. They typically have pockets for the booklets as well. The best thing I did was to get cheap DVD storage shelf units from Walmart. You know, those MDF, ready-to-assemble, jobs. They don't cost a whole lot. What I like about them is that they have a minimal footprint because they are really only designed for CDs and DVDs so they are not very deep. The one thing I don't like about the particular one I got is that the shelf spacing is such that you cannot make all the shelves spaced for DVDs only. I got rid of any VHS tapes since I don't even own a VCR anymore. Anything like home movies I transferred to my computer and I backed them up as well.

I haven't reached a point where I need to manage my toy boxes. It seems I kept moving into larger and larger apartments and/or houses. Right now I have tons of space as I have an entire bedroom for nothing else by my toys, books, and collectibles. I always keep the original boxes of my toys because I usually get tired of something on display. I want to be able to put it back in the box and take something else out for display. Besides, I tend to move around a bit, and nothing beats the original packaging for protection during a move.

My next storage project will be to get a bookcase and start to organize my books. I just have them stacked up in boxes at the moment. I'm not sure if it's preferable to keep them upright on a shelf or stacked flat in a box.

Edited October 17, 2008 by sharky

[jet660]

@ Golden Arms - Currently 99.9% of my toys are in their original boxes except the 1/60 VE-1. That box was too huge when I had to ship that one back from HK. Agree that some box designs are more appealing than others (i.e. 1/48s). The most appealing and best box design in my collection is the Transformers Collection Series 0-21. Yamato could learn from Takara in that department. Once I go back, I probably have to think which to keep or get rid off. You are right that 1/48s are huge. I do have several big plastic bins that I put my other toys in which are in boxes too. Do you think it is a good idea to flatten the boxes and put them in a plastic box or put in a narrow corridor?

My family is wary of using a storage unit. My dad's stereo and camera printing equipment was stolen when we were moving into our new house when I was young. It cost him couple grand to buy his stuff and I remember he wasn't a very happy camper losing his stuff. However, it is not a bad idea if someone needs a temp storage place for the time being to sort out stuff.

You are right that collectors like us will have to face how to manage space. The challenge is to prioritize what is important to us.

@ Sharky - Ah, the famous Case Logic system as I always say. I started doing that before I left for grad school especially with used dvds from blockbuster. Do you have an issues with scratches when pulling the dvds in and out? Like you, I only purchase Cds and Dvds that have special interest to me. Right now my cds are either in a drawer or in a specific anime plastic box.

I had a chance to look at those MDF dvd shelves at walmart before. The prices are reasonable and easy to assemble like you said. Ikea is not a bad place to look at too, if there is one near by you. I am thinking about displaying my audio and movie collection in my room because right now it looks really bland. When I was shifting through my audio stuff, I decided to keep my VHS tapes and laserdiscs since it took a long time to find and buy. It was sentimental value to me when I was a kid.

Storaging your audio and movie files on the computer/laptop is always a good idea. Especially if you traveling. I learned this well over the years. Two things I dislike is selecting music that you like if you have a huge collection and losing your files if your computer gets corrupted/crashes. Backing up your files is so critical.

My opinion is to have your books upright on a bookshelf. If you have alot of books, like me, having a bookshelf system will save you alot of space and make the room look clean and visually appealing. In my case, my sister and I agree to possibly turn my room into a library/entertainment room with a bed in it since I might not come back to home often especially if I get a job in NY. It just make sense to devote some time in making a "playroom." I would recommend to buy/find some clear plastic coverings for your books that has high value to you to minimize them from turning yellow or being affected by other molds. You should display your collection as much as you can.

[VF-18S Hornet]

Self storage for the things you don't have room for.

[big F]

I have for a long time had all my cd's stord as lossless recordings on a harddrive. It's great and obviously can be saved where you like etc.

As yet I havent trashed all the jewel cases like I did my computer disks but, I have now copied all my DVd's to harddrive too (well several drives). The cases are bulky and along with my cd's take up several of those plastic tubs with the sealble lids you can get from the hardware depots. I am going to be moving soon so bulking down would be a very good idea.

As far as books are concerned I just have a standard book shelf. Magazines unless uber special get turned into pdf's and saved on harddrive and the originals get sent to the local recycle bins. thus I have freed up nearly a whole book case. Toys I saved all my old stuff and only a few boxes of the newer stuff as they too take up space. Models take up loads of space and I keep them in the plastic tubs anyhow. The ones that are going to be built are under the bed ready to go. Anything except the realy old (i.e 80's and 70's) the boxes get binned after use. The old ones get used for other things as storage boxes..