Over the past six or seven years since I made my debut as a LEGO Nerd, I have accumulated a lot of loose parts. This has been accomplished through LEGO Store PAB Cup fill-ups, buying large Classic box sets, picking up parts and sets at garage sales, and parting out other various sets.
I don't have any parts count or inventory lists, but I'm estimating well over 50,000 pieces in the stash. That's a respectable amount of ABS!
Since much of my available LEGO building time is parsed out into small chunks, I need to work as efficiently as possible.
This means NOT spending time rummaging around for certain parts in certain colors.
This is time that can be better spent engaging in actual 'brick-clicking'.
So, here is a brief synopsis of the organization and storage system I have designed to better fit my building locations and methods.
The bulk of my parts collection is housed in these small 4-1/2 x 8 lidded boxes.
I acquired zillions of these from my last place of employment. They were product packaging for some medical equipment components, and were rescued from being thrown in the dumpster.
Each box is graced with an Avery label that describes its contents, along with bearing a large color dot.
This example is the container for 2xN bricks. When the box gets too full, I can break a specific part type out to place in its own new separate box.
Some of the boxes are for storage of assorted mixed parts in a given color. Some of these elements, especially smaller ones, are ensconced in their own separate small plastic bags.
For all of the commonly used smaller elements, I use these compartmented plastic containers that can be found for 3 or 4 bucks at Wal-Mart. Again, the containers are color-coded and labeled with what's inside.
For the really tiny parts, or for special elements that I have only 1 or 2, I use these smaller plastic containers, also sold at Wally World for a dollar each.
With this storage system at hand, I can easily collect the boxes and containers for each color to take to the work location, and have all the parts I need organized for working efficiently on all those MOCS.
I don't do any of my LEGO building at a dedicated workbench or table. Most of the work is done on a portable lap-bench that I can take anywhere around the house. Thus my parts system has to be highly compact and portable, as well.
Here is a picture of the general storage area for the system:
Right now, everything is stacked in half of a 2 x 4 foot closet. All the boxes and containers are easily accessible, but this arrangement definitely needs work.
But that's a subject for another post.
