Binder Numbering System

By Matt Gilman

Trading card binders have always played a significant role in the storage of my collection. It’s where I store my important cards with the rest kept in boxes. There used to be a time where I would just stick cards in a binder without any thought to organization. But, when it came time to find a card, I would have to sift through fifty or so binders just to locate it. This was becoming time consuming and frustrating. That’s when I thought about ways to make it easier to find cards and created this binder numbering system. This has been very useful for finding what I need in a timely manner.

What is the Binder Numbering system you may ask? Let me show you! As you can see, this is a row of binders on my shelf with a piece of painters tape on each. On the painters tape there is a number. This number coincides with a number in a notebook that tells me what team, player or set is in that binder. I also expanded the number of binders I use so each binder has an individual team unless I have a couple of teams that have smaller amount of cards then they get combined.

So if I wanted to look up Baltimore Ravens rookie cards, I just need to locate binder 15 and this is what I would find and only find. Unlike before where I would have to look through every binder to find the Ravens.

And that’s it. It’s simply sorting your cards that you want to put into binders, putting a number on the outside of the binder, then noting what that binder contains. Simple, easy, and useful for any collection big or small. The numbering system has made a huge difference in my collection and how I can locate my cards. I think it can be a great asset for you as well.