Here's my approach (for what it's worth)
I assemble sets by series. Start at series one and finish that before moving on.
I buy cards that look good when displayed. No wiriting, no creases no serious miscut. I can take a softer corner if it's not noticeably discolored. Generally I collect cards that would rate a 5 or better but may go to a 4 for high dollar stars to save some money.
I keep them in 3" binders raw. I only buy raw unless it's a higher dollar card involved (i.e. 1956 Mantle, 1963 Rose etc.). I still crack it, but I save the little paper grade panel and put that in a pocket at the end of the set for reference.
For me this helps to have little victories along the way. I can feel okay if I get all the low numbers of 1961 and put off the high numbers while I start another set. So far this has worked for putting together a set from every year from 1954 to today - excpeting 1957, 1958 and 1959. I haven't started on those.
Again, what it does is allow me goals. I will have the 1956 set finished by next week (only six cards remain), a 1960 set finished by June (25 cards remain) and then I can work on the 1961 high numbers until the end of the year.
next year....getting started on 1957.
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