Organized?

[corsair]

Do you keep your loose LEGOs organized? If so how? Do you sort by color, brick type, etc? Just put them in tubs or do you have something more organized? Anyone have pics of their organizational system?

[BobaFett2]

Do you keep your loose LEGOs organized? If so how? Do you sort by color, brick type, etc? Just put them in tubs or do you have something more organized? Anyone have pics of their organizational system?

They're organized. I tend to build and take apart my stuff quickly so I can build more, so I have a lot of disorganized pieces. And I tend to knock over the precariously stacked buckets and trays...

[Mantisking]

Do you keep your loose LEGOs organized? If so how? Do you sort by color, brick type, etc?

Color and brick type, depending on quantity.

Just put them in tubs or do you have something more organized?

You know those organizers for screws and bolts? I use those.

Anyone have pics of their organizational system?

Not yet, but I should at some point.

[koromo]

Um many attempts over many years. At the end of the pre dark age I had three large bins out of necessity to put it all away in storage. Only technic got a separate bin.

Now my assembled sets for SW are in bins 1 per movie. My parts are broken down by color or color group. When I finish refurbing a room I'm the basement I hope to get some parts cabinets used for bolts like mentioned above.

[dr_spock]

I use stackable plastic containers. I don't have a lot of pieces. So bricks go in one, plates go in another one, Technic parts in another. Little bits into those nuts&bolts organizers.

[legitimatealex]

I keep mine in stackable plastic shelving units, and for smaller pieces, like technic pieces, studs, minifigure accessories, hairs, etc. I keep in bead containers. I sort them by type, like 'vehicle parts,' 'wheels,' 'plates,' 'shrubbery.' Only the regular bricks do I sort by color.

[BobaFett2]

My TECHNIC parts are all in bags by color because I lack space for them. I have a LOT. My pins and axles, axle connectors and pin connectors, nuts and half nuts, and a few other parts are in a bin. Other parts are mixed by types, and my 2xX plates are organized within three colors, my 1xX bricks (beams) are sorted between Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Old Greys, and the other colors. My hinges are split in a few different things. My accessories are too. I might start sorting minifig parts.

[yohowie]

Bass Pro Shops has an in-store sale this Sunday Mar. 13 only for their 360 and 370 Utility boxes. They will be 4 for $10 with a limit of 12. That is only $2.50 per box plus tax. These are great for sorting and storing small parts. Also Walmart has various sizes and bundles of Sterlite storage boxes marked down from $5 to $2.50 a bundle.

[possum]

I use Sterilite drawers like this, they are 12"x12" and about 2.75" high. If you remove the top they are stackable. I found one with 6 drawers that is on wheels, and added a smaller one to the top. It rolls wherever I need it, and some of the drawers have snap-close lids. I cut pieces of cardboard to use as dividers & taped them in place...works great if used with bigger parts (tiny ones slip under the cardboard in the spots where I got lazy). Once my collection got too big for those 9 drawers, I found a cheap screw cabinet at Lowe's Hardware. It's got two sized drawers and nearly 50 in all. That works great for the Technic pins, studs, small plates, etc. My wife picked up a great stacking container for me for xmas that I use with my minifigs. The individual "drawers" are about 6"x4" and 3-4" high. They have clips on the end that lock them into a stack; when you put another drawer on top it acts as a lid when locked & there is a handled lid on the top drawer. Works great, but I don't know where she got it or who makes it.

As for sorting, I don't do it by color but by type. I find it's easier to find a red 1x2 plate for instance when it's among other 1x2s as opposed to other reds. If a drawer gets too crowded, I will then split it out into light or dark colors of that piece.

[nonzerosum]

I'll chime in with the perspective of a parent... My son is very particular and doesn't like his sets mixed up, so our system may not work for most people, but is great for us. We keep all the boxes and open one side only on which we affix velcro dots thereby making a self closing box. When he wants to break apart a set, all the pieces go back into the respective box for another time. All boxes are lined up on their sides in his closet, organized by theme and then size of the set. He also has a couple of buckets of non-set mixed pieces that live in their original buckets.

[vynsane]

Storing sets in the box was so much easier when I was a kid, with the tray inserts and such.

I currently have two types of storage solutions that I use. I have two of these bad boys for large pieces:

Stanley® Tool Organizer.jpeg

And four of these for smaller pieces that I have an abundance of (one solely devoted to minifigure pieces/accessories):

workforce-23-compartment-organizer.jpeg

That's the 14" version. I also have another eight of the smaller size, which come as a set of four with a carrying case - meaning I have two of those sets. That's for the really small pieces (plates 1x2 and under, cheese slopes, greeble pieces, etc.)

This setup is good for me right now, because I don't really have a place that can act as my LEGO area, so it's portable.

[NIGELTTF]

All my basic bricks as well as plates above 2X2 in tubs, sorted by color. Then I have my "usual suspects" xtra deep hardware organizers, by color, for small plates and basic slopes and "L" pieces. Double Sided hardware organizers 1 for minifig bits, one for circular pieces, once for arches. One Jumbo Tackle box for wheels, One Jumbo tackle box for windows and doors. Drawer cabinets for animals, baseplate, large aircraft/space, large architectural pieces, train stuff, and paper stuff like sails. Loads of divided storage trays. Shoeboxes for overflow. And a footlocker for train track.

As well as one closet full of unopened sets.

I never subcribed to sorting basic peices by color. When I sit down to do a project, I don't think "I need a bin of 1x4s," I think "I am making a white building with blue trim. I need my white bin, my blue bin, my blue usual suspects box, and my window and door tacklebox."

[fraslund]

I have bought a bunch of random containers from various places. My main goal is easy access to bricks while I am building. I usually just stack like colors and bricks and rip off what I need, make a huge mess like the swedish chef, then clean back up. :)

[natelite]

Very original. You're right. It is easier. No need to rummage through a box of greens looking for a 1x4. Good idea!