Katelyn

Reorganizing My 100+ Postcard Collection

Over the years, between Postcrossing and Swapbot, I have accumulated a good amount of postcards. While I love to display them as I receive them, where do they go for storage?

When I started my mail journey, I was lucky to find a postcard album at a thrift store. I decided I would keep all of my international cards in albums as I received them, and the US cards would go in a cute metal napkin holder- it works very well by the way!

While that worked well for years, I am constantly moving around and I am also prone to just leaving things out, and this system wasn’t really working anymore. Because I like to display them, and I end up having my collection scattered in organized chaos, I didn’t want to put them in the album because I had forgotten what order I received them in.

Now that I am getting back into sending and collecting cards, I decided to reorganize my postcards not by date, but by country! This was really fun because I really didn’t know how many countries I had received cards from over the years, and putting them into their piles gave me a chance to enjoy reading and looking at the images again.

Opening the first album and seeing my first ever Postcrossing card is always a treat. It came from Australia and is still my only Australian card.

Another one of my favorites is from Germany, she looked at my profile and hand made a card for me. I am absolutely obsessed with it and it is one of my most special cards I’ve ever gotten.

Pictured above are all of my cards laid out. Three piles are from the US, though, organized by Postcrossing, direct swaps, and a separate pile for my cardboard postcards. It looks great all laid out and covers the entire coffee table. You may notice that they are all written-side up, and that is because I honestly care about the message more than the image on the back.

Of course I had to show a visual of the thickness of the cardboard cards compared to the standard postcards lol. You can truly write an address on a taped up leaf with a stamp on it and it will be sent through the mail. No, I am not kidding. Most of the cardboard postcards are cutouts from the sender’s favorite snacks or a box from a meal they recently tried for the first time. I have received a VHS cardboard cutout, and a cutout from a vinyl cover as well.

Internationally, I have received the most cards from Germany. They make up a large portion of the active members on Postcrossing, with the US and Russia coming in after. Overall, I have received the most cards from the US! The graph below is provided on Postcrossing for every user’s stats.

I organized my cards by country in alphabetical order and I got to see what I had collected all together for the first time. Below is some more data that Postcrossing provides. 25 countries besides my own is pretty neat! Especially the ones where I only have one card from. As you can also see, international mail can take a while to be delivered. Thank you Postal workers across the globe!

What’s better than postcards in nice albums? Postcards in an old shoe box, of course. Because that is the only container I had to store them, and putting them all together makes it look like I have a lot less than 100 cards in my opinion.

It was kind of underwhelming, but they are organized in a way that I will utilize them, and it will be a lot easier for me now. I’ve already rounded up my loose leaf postcards from around my room and put them where they belong.

I will put my most special cards in the albums like the handmade one as well as cards sent to me by friends, and they also fit in the shoe box so it is working out better than I had hoped already. Sometimes simple is better when it comes to organization.

Do you have an intricate organization system? Or are you like me and need less brain power to utilize the organization systems I have? Let me know in the comments and I will see you all soon!

20 comments

    • I send and receive most of my cards on Postcrossing, and yes it is free to use! The only thing you pay for is postage and the card you are sending. When you want to send a card, you are given a random profile and address, along with an ID code that the recipient will enter into the site when they receive your card.

      Once they enter the ID and send a little thank you message, your profile is then sent out to the next person wishing to send out a card. It is all completely randomized, and once your card has been delivered/received there is no way to access the address again. I’ve only had good experiences using Postcrossing, and I believe you can tweak your preferences to only send and receive within your country if you wish to save on postage.

      Another website I use for postcards and other mail art is Swapbot. It is a more personal platform where you get to choose the “swaps”, but I honestly feel like Swapbot can be daunting at first.

      I found these sites because I became obsessed with mail after becoming penpals with my best friend after she moved away, I watched so much YouTube and envelope artwork etc. where they would mention these websites and I had to check them out. 5 years later and I am still on them!

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      • Thanks for the super detailed breakdown, Katelyn! I actually looked into it and read a bunch of positive reviews on Reddit—it sounds like such a blast! 😊

        The only thing holding me back is that I don’t have a P.O. box, and I feel like I might really need one for this kinda thing. I used to send mail all the time but eventually stopped, and I honestly really miss it. I loved sending out birthday cards and little goodies to pen pals—basically anything flat that can fit inside an envelope! ✉️✨

        By the way, if you ever want to exchange mail, I’d be more than happy to be your pen pal!

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      • I totally get that, I use a P.O. box and it helps me feel more secure, and I’ve moved quite a bit since I started sending mail out and it helps to not change my address a lot🤣.

        I am down to send some mail! We can exchange emails or socials or whatever you’re comfortable with😋. My email is: k.mrateliff@gmail.com

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      • Hi Katelyn, I will reach out to you via email once I get the chance (I’ve been so busy lately). I picked up 2 postcards today in Banff for you and was thinking of you! I plan on sending you some mail.

        My email is hilary_harm_7@hotmail.com, and I will give you my address once we connect there. 🙂

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      • Oh my gosh that is so thoughtful, you didn’t have to but thank you so much! And I totally get it, my posts have been scheduled lately so I understand about being busy. There’s no rush!

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    • I don’t have a large circle, and when I travel I’m usually with them so I don’t send many while traveling either. I have sent a card back to myself a couple of times though as a souvenir! Thanks for reading

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