Confused and bored........

I_collectstamps11 ,

If you are looking for ideas on how to mount/keep/sort/etc your stamps here a few ways I do it.

Pre printed pages/albums.  Here is a page from the US Presidents Album. I think these pages are still being printed yearly.

Problem with printed pages is there is usually one spot for one stamp/block. but excellent pages nevertheless.

If you want to collect topics, for example, "stamps on stamps" the stock sheets with pockets are ideal. You can place stamps in

any configuration you see fit. Also have the advantage of being able to move around since there are no hinges involved.

You can insert small white ups if you want.

Lets say you might want to specialize in one particular stamp. US definitives/Xmas are an excellent example.

Here I have taken the 2004 Xmas ATM pane of 18. Now there are only 4 stamps in this set, but you can find 18 collectable

varieties. No album maker prints a page for this so Hagner stock sheets are the perfect answer. Again you can insert your white ups.

Also allows you to replace with better stamps when they show up. Black backed Hagner sheets are best.

Most of the stock pages come in 1 - 8 pockets so the possibilities are endless. Your imagination rules.

And as I.M.DeBear mentioned if boredom is a problem get yourself a few pounds of US definitive kiloware and start looking for those collectible

varieties. Hope you can find an idea or two from this post.

Any questions don't hesitate to post here and someone will be able to help.

Boy, can I relate to quitting / restarting / quitting / restarting ... I think that it is a very common story with most stamp collectors as they go through life. Fortunately, it is the sort of activity that you can begin, then set aside for a while, then pick up again where you left off, then put it down. I imagined that I would have plenty of time for collecting once I retired ... but that is not really the way retirement worked out for me.

There are so many different ways to arrange, preserve, display and enjoy a stamp collection. I started with a simple H.E. Harris beginner album, then moved up to the Statesman (and moved all my stamps there), and then moved up to the 2-Volume Standard (and I had to move all my stamps again). Those 2 volumes eventually became 11, when I added in all the supplement pages for each year, and glassine interleaves to keep stamps from catching on each other, and then I wanted spaces for all the minor varieties, and everything on one side of the pages, so I started re-making the album. There are so many things that I would have done differently if I had a glimpse of the future when I was young -- but then again, we don't have that view into the future to guide us.

If I was starting over, from the beginning, knowing everything that I have learned over the past 40-something years of collecting, I think that I would use good quality loose-leaf stock pages in good quality 3-ring binders, and use the stamp catalogue to guide me as far as arrangement on the pages. I love the look of bound albums and stockbooks neatly arranged on a bookshelf, but ultimately, what matters is the stamps themselves. My printed albums comprise many pages of paper without stamps on them, and it would be much less work and shelf space to display the stamps that I have, instead of volumes of pictures of stamps that I don't. The nice thing about loose-leaf pages is that it is easy to insert or rearrange them.

The other thing to consider before you dive into making your own pages is to look at the pages that Bill Steiner makes that are available online for what I think is a reasonable price. You can download the page images, and print them as you wish to use them. You could even print the pages only for the stamps that you acquire, instead of printing out all the pages for a country at once. It is one alternative to making your own pages ... which can be fun, but is very time-consuming.