Cardboard Jigsaw Puzzle Storage Ideas

Jigsaw puzzle storage is something you have to think seriously even before your first child starts a collection of jigsaw puzzle. Otherwise, down the line you and your child will almost certainly end up with missing pieces. Not to mention the potential of having these pieces scattered everywhere.

Here we give you tips and advice on storing and organizing cardboard jigsaw puzzle.

Storing and Organizing Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces - My Method.

For cardboard jigsaw puzzle storage, I recommend you to store the jigsaw puzzle pieces without the original box because storing them with the boxes poses several problems:

• Box can get damaged over time even after reinforcing each corner with a tape.
• Storing in a box takes a lot of space since each box takes up more storage space than the component inside it.
• Possibility of spillage when the box is accidently dropped

Therefore, we recommend you to store jigsaw puzzle pieces without the original boxes as follows:

• Put the small jigsaw puzzle pieces into a ziploc bag. Don't forget to cut part of the puzzle box which contains the puzzle picture and put that in the bag for a reminder on how the puzzle should look like.
• Put the bag in a container or a drawer.

However, if you still want to store jigsaw puzzle with the original box, you can do these followings to minimize the problems described above:

• Put all the small jigsaw puzzle pieces of the cardboard jigsaw puzzle in a bag before putting them into the jigsaw puzzle box to eliminate an accidental spillage nightmare.
• Store the puzzle box side by side (not on top of each other) on the shelf with the longest side touching the bottom of the shelf. This way, you increase the durability of the box and make the jigsaw puzzle box more easily accessible. Do not to stack them since the one located at the bottom of the pile will be damaged from bearing the weight of other boxes. Furthermore it is more difficult to pull out the jigsaw puzzle stored in this way.

Jigsaw Puzzle Storage Using Store-Bought Jigsaw Puzzle Accessories.

Storing unmade jigsaw puzzle pieces is the easiest and cheapest. You can follow what I suggest above.

But how about storing unfinished or finished cardboard jigsaw puzzles ?

In order to do so, I suggest you to get store-bought jigsaw puzzle accessories to save you some frustration down the line and to make jigsaw puzzle assembling convenient for you.

To store unfinished products, you would need either a jigsaw puzzle roll-up mat, or a jigsaw puzzle caddy or carrier.

JIgsaw puzzle roll-up mat is like what the name suggest. It consists of felt mat with or without vinyl backing and elastic. You assemble your cardboard jigsaw puzzles on the mat, and roll them up to store the unfinished assembled products. At around $13-17 a piece, jigsaw puzzle mat is the cheapest jigsaw puzzle storage system you can buy to store your unfinished jigsaw pieces.

Jigsaw puzzle caddy or carrier, in the other hand, is three times more expensive than jigsaw puzzle mat. But they are ten times better. It consists of jigsaw puzzle boards with felt surface and a carrier which look like a little suitcase. Jigsaw puzzle enthusiast should consider to invest on this type of jigsaw puzzle storage system.

To preserve or store finished products, you have two choices:

• Frame it and hang it in your house for your friends and family to see.
• Place the finished product on a jigsaw puzzle board, and then load them into a jigsaw puzzle case. One case can usually hold 10 finished jigsaw puzzles.

Tips for avoiding the scattering of jigsaw puzzle pieces.

Jigsaw puzzle pieces can be one of the main source of mess in the house. To avoid the mess, apply this rule in your household:

• One set of jigsaw puzzle at one time. This means that one set of jigsaw puzzle has to be cleared up before the kid pulls out the next one. This will avoid the mixing of various set and will prevent the pieces from scattering all around the house.
• Do not allow your children to carry around pieces of jigsaw puzzle in the house. Try to contain the mess in one designated place.
• Put a piece of fabric underneath the 'jigsaw puzzle play area' when your family is working with a lot of very small puzzle from cardboard puzzle, or better, use the jigsaw puzzle storage mat. This way, it is easy to clean up when the activity finishes.

And last but not least, if you have a child who cannot yet understand your instruction, put the jigsaw puzzle at the high shelf so that your child will have to ask for it.

Happy playing, and hopefully, no more lost puzzle pieces ... (and no more mess) !

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