(Mods: Sorry in advance if this is posted in the wrong place, but I didn't see a dedicated storage forum. Please move if necessary.)

I've been thinking how best to store my LEGO sets that aren't on display.

At the moment I have three large plastic tubs (largest is probably 35L, with the other two around half that capacity) holding ALL of the pieces from the disassembled sets, plus the instruction manuals. There is no organisation whatsoever. This means if I want to rebuild any of the sets for display then I have to scrabble around amongst thousands of LEGO pieces to find the bits I need. Obviously this becomes very tedious very quickly!

I don't build sets very often, and I don't build MOCs: I just have a few sets on display for a while, then dismantle them and build some of the others for display. Therefore, in my particular case a storage solution where all of the bricks for each set are kept together would be best, as opposed to sorting my entire collection by colour or shape or whatever in tiny drawers.

Ideally, I would like to use a separate plastic storage box for each set. Obviously there is no one-size-fits-all box that would be suitable for every size of LEGO set, however I'm trying to determine what the sweet-spot would be in terms of box capacity and/or dimensions. I don't have many sets (around 30 at present), and those I do have tend to be the larger ones (mostly Star Wars UCS sets and larger SW spacecraft; some modular buildings; plus things like GBHQ and the Ferris Wheel, and a couple of large-ish Technic sets).

Has anyone been crazy enough to organise LEGO in this way, and could offer some advice?  ?

The boxes I've been looking at are the Really Useful Box range (http://www.reallyusefulproducts.co.uk/uk/html/onlineshop/fullrange_rub.php), as they are sold by many different retailers in the UK (where I live) and seem reasonably priced. So for example, would the 4L box, which holds a ream of A4 paper, be sufficient to contain all of the pieces of the GBHQ, plus instruction manual?

I guess the obvious answer would be to just buy a box and test it out, but the thought of extracting the 4000-odd bricks of the GBHQ from the over 100,000 bricks I have is not something I would look forward to! I'm hoping someone in the community may have done something similar, or would have a better grasp of how much space LEGO sets take up than I do!

TL;DR: If you had to store all of the pieces for each of your disassembled LEGO sets in a separate plastic box, what capacity/size of box would you use (assuming most of your sets were 1000+ pieces)?

I use zip lock bags inside various sizes of these Sterilite modular drawers. Big sets (UCS/Modulars) I might split into multiple bags just like they come originally. If ther is extra room in a drawer it might have 2 sets in it. Zip lock bags would work with you current storage bins just mark the bags with what set it is and put it back in the bin. 

Zip lock bags, black permanent marker and plastic storage tubs work for me

Put the manuals in a file folder or cabinet of some type. Manuals piled with bricks is not ideal.

I put the manuals in a ziplock with the stickers and 1-2 pieces of cardboard then lay them in the drawer on top of the ziplocks withe the pieces of that set. It makes it easy to see what sets are in the drawer.

11 hours ago, whoisbiggles said:

Zip lock bags, black permanent marker and plastic storage tubs work for me

This is my solution. 

My life wouldn't function without zip lock bags.

12 hours ago, whoisbiggles said:

Zip lock bags, black permanent marker and plastic storage tubs work for me

 

10 hours ago, Rodeogeorge said:

Put the manuals in a file folder or cabinet of some type. Manuals piled with bricks is not ideal.

This is my exact process.  Sets are in ziploc bags and labeled.  I put similar themed sets in different tubs. IE all Star Wars are together to find them easier.  I bought a garage sale file folder cabinet a couple years ago and again, put similar themed manuals together and label the folder for easy finding.  I buy Christmas ornament containers from Walmart after the holidays to hold all minifigures and accessories.

Thanks for the responses so far. ☺️ 

I'm seeing a lot of love for Ziploc bags!

They're not as common here in the UK, although they do seem to be available from Amazon UK, and I'm guessing most places sell equivalent own-brand versions that I could use instead of the official J&J product.

I guess the question then becomes: which size Ziploc bags are you using, as they seem to have quite a large range of different sizes. Are you using multiple bags per set, or is there a certain size of bag that would comfortably hold all the pieces for something like GBHQ or one of the modular buildings?

32 minutes ago, binary_storm said:

Thanks for the responses so far.  

I'm seeing a lot of love for Ziploc bags!

They're not as common here in the UK, although they do seem to be available from Amazon UK, and I'm guessing most places sell equivalent own-brand versions that I could use instead of the official J&J product.

I guess the question then becomes: which size Ziploc bags are you using, as they seem to have quite a large range of different sizes. Are you using multiple bags per set, or is there a certain size of bag that would comfortably hold all the pieces for something like GBHQ or one of the modular buildings?

You may have to break the larger sets up into multiple bags. I tend to use 1 gallon bags. a few sets take more than 1. I have also found 2 gallon non-namebrand bags that I have been using to gather sets like UCS sets and larger Star Wars sets.

Zip lock bags are just giant sandwich bags. You could use plastic shopping bags also and double bag them to guard against tears. I would color code the labels for quick identification with colored labels or white labels colored with ink pencils  i.e. magic markers. Every  pence saved is a pence you can use for buying more Lego.