For starters, the first thing to do is read about the hobby. Visit the Beginners section for a list of on line sites to visit. These selected sites should give you some inkling of what you are getting into.

Next, flush out that drawer and look for your mails -- unread or read, it doesn't matter as long as those small colorful squares on the right-side of the letter envelopes are still intact. Oopss . . . don't rush . . . never attempt to manually detach the stamp! Doing so would only ruin them and give you frustration in the future.

Contact your friends, and tell them to save their mail covers for you. Never forget that friends could really be that helpful once they know that you are into stamp collecting.

Visit a local post office and ask if they could furnish you a bulletin of new issues. These are sometimes given free to the public. Else, they could be purchased for a minimal cost. Also ask if they could handle sort of a standing account for new stamp issues.

From the post office, the bookstore should be the next itinerary. Buy a stock book and a tong. The tong will hold the stamp when you place them in a stock book. Never handle your stamps with bare hands. Natural oils could cause stamp discoloration.

These will do for the time being.