Here's the thing about boardgames. They come with lots of small pieces. Small, easily losable pieces - turn tokens, counters, dice. Or you spend five minutes separating out colours of meeples or tokens before you can even lay your board down. And as games are expensive, the last thing you want to do is have to hunt down a new copy of a costly or out of print game because one of those crucial pieces has disappeared. Substituting matchsticks or buttons for counters might work, but if you are playing a game with complicated rules or an anally retentive partner, you might not enjoy it as much if half those pieces just don't look right.

So, what to do? We tried getting ziplock freezer bags from a local supermarket to store and separate pieces, but these are designed for big tasty sandwiches and not tiny little meeples so will not fit neatly into boxes. Then, when I was browsing around online on how to use a heat-gun (and if you don't know what this is, it's really not as exciting as you're currently imagining) I discovered that tiny storage bags are really popular with scrapbookers to keep their bits and pieces in one place, and they're easily available online. Wilkinsons have a small range of craft and card-making items amongst which is a variety pack of several 'embellishment bags' perfect for larger pieces, but for tokens you may want to use small size embellishment bags such as these from Storage4Crafts.

What about things that don't fit in the box? Some games such as Memoir '44 can come with nice kit bags to house expansion packs, but with others you'll end up with lots of tiny boxes of tiles, pieces and cards. And while I fear minatures, these need homes too. As a crafter I swear by Really Useful boxes - come in lots of sizes and colours, stackable, click to seal so they won't open of their own accord, and so tough they can take the weight of Big Daddy carrying a really, really big steak. You can get these from WH Smith, Rymans, Hobbycraft, and all kinds of places - these are perfect for holding several bits and pieces next to wherever your games live. I find many products made especially for crafts to be expensive and sometimes flimsy, but my Really Useful boxes have survived many, many house-moves.

Finally, learn to keep your games clean! You can get special sleeves for card-based games (particularly handy if you play a lot of fast-moving games like Lost Cities or Dominion) but before you consider doing so remember that food, particularly anything greasy, and card do not mix well. Keep your drinks safely away so you don't knock them over while dealing, and instead of having that double pepperoni while you play, get the loser to make it for you afterwards.