Listen, we all know that you have a stack (or two stacks... or twelve stacks) of Magic cards sitting on your desk right now. First of all, there is NOTHING wrong with that! But how long has that stack been sitting there? If you pick up the stack(s) and there's an outline of dust on the desk where the pile sat, then this article is for you.
I am here today to encourage you to organize your Magic stuff! Now, you may immediately think, "I'm not an organized person. I can't do this. I'm out."
BUT WAIT!
I'm going to tell you the secret to being organized. The secret is: CONTAINERS
Put everything in a container. That's it. And while it might cost some money to acquire useful storage containers, we're talking about your beloved Magic collection here. We all know we spend WAYYYYYY too much money on cards and accessories (absolutely no judgement, I'm right there with ya), so maybe you could consider passing on those new playmats that you don't really need right now and instead pick up a few storage containers to help get your stuff organized.
Let's get right to it, shall we?
Containers & Bins
Wine Rack
One thing that all Magic players have way too many of, are playmats. But there is an easy solution for playmat storage and organization! Wine racks!
Your playmats can be accessible but also organized and put away when not in use. And wine racks come in all different sizes, so just find one that works for you and your space.
Shoe Storage Box
I use a couple of clear plastic shoe storage boxes that are essentially just little drawers for keeping the things I use the most often (InfiniTokens, dice/counters, my "stacks" of random Magic cards that I'm going to eventually do something with, extra sleeves, etc.) handy but off my desk.
I like using clear bins so that I can see exactly what's in them and the above drawer style bin works great for my space. But if that's not exactly what you need there are bins in all different shapes, sizes, and styles. Just be sure to check the measurements of your space, the bins you'd like to use, and maybe even what you plan to store in the bins so that it all fits properly. You can find clear, plastic storage bins lots of places. The bins pictured below are from Amazon (left) and Walmart (right).
Also, you may already have stuff at home right now that you can use for storage containers. For example, I use a lot of Dragon Shield sleeves, and they all come in a box which can't hold a 100 card sleeved deck, but the box can be reused to hold extra sleeves (you know the extra few that come in each box or some that didn't come in a box at all), or your favorite/most used tokens, or maybe even (part of) that stack of cards sitting on your desk right now???
Here's one of my bins with my stuff in it:
Which reminds me to tell you to LABEL things. Just use sticky notes! It makes everything sooooo much easier to find. Trust me, you'll thank yourself later.
Shelving
Now, I'm giving you all of these suggestions based off the assumption that you already have some sort of shelf to keep everything on. Maybe you don't have a shelf but keep your stuff in desk drawers or on a table/desk- that's fine. Storage bins can be in a drawer, sitting on a table or even just on the floor stacked.
For those who might ask, I keep all my Magic stuff on a Kallax shelving unit with inserts here and here from Ikea.
If you're looking for shelving that's more budget friendly, something super simple works just as well and will look amazing if you're keeping it ORGANIZED!
Ready to get organized?
If you're inspired to do some organizing (and I hope you are), I encourage you to START SMALL. Organizing can get overwhelming really quickly, so just work on one small area/shelf/box at a time or start slowly acquiring some storage bins over time and eventually the hard work will pay off and you can go from this:
...to this:
And one more thing- while you're at it, DUST YOUR DESK OFF. I know it's filthy because I'm sitting here looking at mine which is also filthy.
We are all in this together!
