The LEGO Sorting Dilemma

A LEGO Sorting Dream!

So I recently joined Pinterest.  It has been, for lack of a better pun, a Pinteresting experience (I couldn't resist such an awful and uninspired pun, I'm sorry).

As a part of my journey through this new facet of social media, I have begun a Pinterest board for LEGO Storage and sorting methods.  This is something that has plagued me for years - and in multiple ways.  For one, what type of devices are best for sorting LEGO (giant bins, small drawers, sealed bins or open air/access bins, etc), and secondly, what method to sort the LEGO itself.



Currently, I use a combination of bins with multipurposes. A couple of large Rubbermaid brand tubs for pieces to be sorted, some stackable, clear storage bins for sorting pieces based upon colour, some tackle-box style containers for minifigs I have built over time and loved, some other tool and tackle-box style containers for smaller pieces such as accessories and minifig body parts, and then some LEGO brand buckets for specific sets.  Oh, and then I have a glass cabinet for some complete sets, an old wooden typeset box for my most important/favourite minifigs, and a smaller wooden cabinet that houses some advent calendars that I haven't dealt with yet.  Also I have a table covered in loose pieces that I am using to build current projects/pieces from dismantled sets.

In short - my system is a disaster.  It wasn't always so bad, and in fact, I was once quite organized with my LEGO sorting.  As I have grown, though, my time for sorting LEGO has not kept pace (although my collection continues to grow).  I wager I may have more unsorted LEGO right now than sorted.

One of the reasons I have held off is that I have been waiting to come up with a really good sorting solution.  This, no doubt, is a challenge faced by many collectors, whose collections grow so large that at some point they are forced in to a position where they must find some way to manage the collection or be totally overwhelmed.

Below are two of the most helpful links I have found:

http://news.lugnet.com/storage/?n=707

This first article is a classic in the LEGO online community - and a pretty hilarious read for any LEGO collectors as well (or probably any collectors, for that matter).  As far as this scheme goes, I'm somewhere around stage 9, I figure.

http://www.wikihow.com/Sort-and-Store-LEGO-Toys

This next link is a bit more serious in nature, and references the first link as well.  I am not so certain that I understand the theory of the suggested 'sorting pieces by set' method - I guess if one wanted to recreate a specific set, it would be highly beneficial, or if you knew which pieces were in which sets, you could find the pieces that way as well.  But it does seem a trifle silly to me - I much prefer the by size, shape, and colour methods - although that can probably be a bit overkill.

Hopefully one day I will find a big enough chunk of time (probably a weekend) to actually sit down and properly sort my LEGO.  Until that time, however, I am stuck with my unsorted LEGO conundrum.