Stamp collecting doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby. You can enjoy collecting stamps with limited financial resources. Here are 10 really low-cost ways to start stamp collecting.

1. Ask your friends to use commemorative stamps on their mail when they write to you. Commemorative stamps are generally larger than regular stamps and are issued to honor famous people, places, or events. Because commemorative stamps are usually issued in lesser quantities than common smaller stamps, they are of much more interest to collectors. Tell your friends that you are a stamp collector and ask them to request commemorative stamps at the post office.

2. When you send away for offers that require postage or self-addressed, stamped envelopes, use commemorative stamps. You’ll get them back when the envelopes are returned to you.

3. Ask your neighbors, friends, and relatives to save their used stamps for you. You’ll find that most people will be happy to save their stamps for you when they learn that you are a collector.

4. If you know someone who gets letters from other countries, ask them to save those stamps. Always be on the lookout for potentially good stamp contacts, and don’t be afraid to ask them to go through their mail for you before they throw away all the envelopes.

5. Ask friends and family to save the envelopes from their office mail for you. Many businesses get a lot of foreign mail and regularly throw away stamps that have interest and value to a collector.

6. Ask your parents if they have any old letters with stamps on the envelopes. Don’t peel the stamp off the envelope. This will cause thin spots or tears, both of which ruin a stamp’s appearance and lessen its value to collectors. Always tear off the envelope corner so that there is paper all around the stamp, and make sure that all of the perforations are undamaged.

7. If you know other stamp collectors, ask them if they have duplicates that they are willing to give or sell to you. Many collectors have thousands of duplicates and they are often willing to help get new philatelists get started by giving them stamps or by selling them packets of stamps much more cheaply than can be purchased in stores or by mail.

8. Look for free stamps advertised by stamp companies. Free stamps are often offered along with “approvals,” an assortment of other stamps that you must either buy or return. This can be a convenient way to buy stamps. Note, however, that you usually have to pay the return postage if you return the approval stamps.

9. Check out stamp clubs in your area. Clubs may offer stamps as prizes, or have inexpensive stamps you can afford to buy. Some stamp clubs sponsor junior clubs the local community center, YMCA, or schools.

10. Consider starting a stamp club if one doesn’t already exist in your area. It only takes four or five other stamp collectors who are interested in getting together to learn about and trade stamps and ideas.

With free stamps and a few inexpensive accessories, such as a small album and a package of stamp hinges, even collectors with little money can have a great time.

So, what are you waiting for? Start collecting stamps today!

At all stages, be aware of the budget for your exhibit. Building your competitive exhibit is great, but it must be kept in perspective. My personal preference is to distinguish the exhibit through the level of research and knowledge involved, rather than how expensive the material is. When planning your exhibit, keep the following factors in mind. They are general by design; being too specific may force you away from that aspect of uniqueness that you need before you begin to form the exhibit within the accepted judging guidelines. Spending additional time with these items will pay off for you later when you are able to move through the “building” stage much more smoothly.

1. Know what you want to exhibit.

2. Know how to define your exhibit for the judges through the exhibit title and the title page.

3. Know how large your exhibit should be. The maximum number of pages allowed in the stamp show competition is a limiting factor; you need a solid handle on this before you build your exhibit. Then, get a feel for how much material you have that fits under the umbrella of your exhibit’s title.

4. Outline your exhibit. Your exhibit is a logical story that needs to flow like a book. What sort of story are you planning to tell? When you are developing your outline, you may want to begin to lay out your exhibit pages on stock pages, which allow you the flexibility of adding, deleting and moving the material at will.

5. Be sure that you covered everything included within your exhibit title and make sure you have not included anything beyond the title’s scope. Let me explain some pitfalls. Perhaps you are interested in the stamps of Bermuda and you want to build a competitive exhibit based on that interest. The first part of your planning (knowing what you want to exhibit) is under control for the moment. You then set a tentative title: no surprise, Stamps of Bermuda. That honest title is your way to explain the contents of your exhibit. To the judges, however, it suggests that you will be showing all the stamps of Bermuda, including the most valuable that may cost more than $100,000 each!

So, you need a subject that you can develop, preferably without undue expense and use titles such that you convey to the judges what they can expect and grade you against.

If the Bermuda commemorative stamps are your exhibit approach, presuming this exhibit is for a local show, you may use each of Bermuda’s commemorative set titles for the year span you choose to show as a major heading. Subheadings may be any minor varieties that you have. You may also have provisions for first-day covers or examples of some/many of the stamps that were used and are still on their envelopes.

Regardless of how you start or which direction you go, Gather up all your incoming parcels and envelopes and ask all your friends and relatives to save theirs for you, too. Even if you only plan to collect mint-condition stamps, all the used varieties you obtain can help you see what is available and give you some material you can use for trade. And, if you’re lucky, you may find something especially interesting in the mail that you can show to your friends. After that happens for the first time - whether it’s a particularly nice, pictorial postmark or a badly printed stamp - and you show it off, you may see interest among your friends and family increase considerably.

Almost all new U.S. stamp issues are available at your local post office. I hesitate to say ALL of them are available, because the post office that has ALL of them on hand is rare. Nevertheless, you won’t find a more convenient place to shop for stamps. Leave it to the U.S. Postal Service to have a store in every town!

When you begin purchasing stamps for your new collection, be sure to tell the postal clerk. In fact, tell every postal clerk as you utilize his or her services. You will eventually find that one clerk tends to take better care of the stamp collectors, while others may show no interest at all. Catering to the wants and needs of stamp collectors is usually far down on the clerk’s list of priorities, but the basic good nature of that one clerk can help you. Today, each clerk has his own consignment of postage stamps and one clerk’s stock may include more commemoratives or other items of interest, while the next clerk may opt for the more basic designs. If you are looking for a particular stamp or set of stamps and one clerk does not have them but the next clerk does, the two clerks can swap stamps of the same denomination. The U.S. Postal Service considers postage stamps “accountable paper”, so each clerk must account for all the stamps consigned to him or her.

By all means, don’t press the clerk for special service. You, as a stamp collector in a normal queue of postal patrons, rate nothing extra. Perhaps commenting, however, on how nicely the USPS-issued uniform he or she is wearing compliments their eyes may rate some extra help. It’s worked for me.

After doing all this schmoozing at the local post office, you should have enough mint stamp sources to decide if you want to continue collecting them. If so, the U.S. Postal Service offers traditional-mail and Internet-based ordering from its Kansas City Missouri depository. The mailing address is USPS, Stamp Fulfillment Services, P.O. Box 219424, Kansas City, MO 64121-9424 and the Web address is http://shop.usps.com. Request to be put on the mailing list for the free quarterly publication, USA Philatelic, which depicts all U.S. stamps currently available from the USPS mail-order division.

The most important rule is to be sure that your storage area is dry and not subject to extreme temperatures, either hot or cold. Moisture and temperature are the enemy.

Even though you may be new to this, you need to have some idea of just what you’re planning to store. If you only plan to collect single postage stamps, your stamp housing should reflect this. If you collect multiples of postage stamps, such as a block of four stamps, large strips, or even complete sheets, you will need to design your housing to accommodate larger, more floppy items. And, if you collect covers - first-day covers, event covers, or inauguration covers - you will need to provide a home that will accommodate the bulk of items that are multiple thicknesses of paper each.

If you have friends or relatives that already collect stamps, look at how they house their collections and ask why a particular approach was taken.

While I don’t want to overplay buying an album or supplies to make your own album, after you begin to shop and notice that it is possible to spend more for an album than for the stamps that go into it, you will need to know why certain types of albums are better or worse for your needs.

Some basic, before-you-start things to consider:

Just what is available on the marketplace? You may spend time designing exactly what you want, only to find out it’s unavailable.

How expensive are various types of albums and album making supplies? If you are not purchasing locally, be sure to figure in shipping costs.

If you want matching album binders across the board, what is available?

How easily can you update your album pages with new issues or varieties of older material? Flexibility is definitely an issue.

Finally, before beginning the housing process, here is a list of things that should be kept away from your stamps and covers. While some of them may seem like a good idea none of these items should be used.

Ballpoint pens. You must press hard to write. Therefore, you will leave an impression in any soft surface under the pen’s point. Don’t write on any stamps or covers with anything. Write on envelopes in which you keep stamps or on slips of paper that you keep with the stamps.

Clear plastic tape. Both the permanent and the removable types of this tape will leave residue behind and even if it is not visible to the naked eye, the acids in the residue can deteriorate the surface it is on. Tape and stamps do not mix.

Masking tape. Although seemingly removable and while it does leave less residue than clear tape, the longer it is attached, the less removable it becomes. Removing old dried-up masking tape from any paper surface is not pretty.

Paper clips. These, along with other metal fasteners, leave creases in your paper items. If left for a long time, paper clips may even rust, indelibly staining the surface they are on.

Photo albums. The “magnetic” pages are adhesive-coated papers that use PVC and acidic adhesives that will cause rapid degradation of stamp paper. Use only acid-free paper in whatever housing you decide to use.

Allen Jossim of Covington Stamps is a 12 year ebay seller who also runs the Online Auction Forum where additional information is available.