Hi!  I'm a mom of three small boys, soon to be four and all of my kids love Legos!  I've really been struggling with how to sort the Legos into their sets so that they can pull out the boxes one at a time and build from the booklets without having to dig through a huge tub to find the small pieces.  I finally solved my problem!   I got this box at Michaels and it works perfectly for sorting the small sets. And the boys actually keep them separate too.  We still have a box of regular bricks so they can build creatively, but I love this as my kids will sit and build one set from the instruction booklets.  The case was originally $40, but this week it's on sale for $20.  

 

 

 

 

Now, any tips on how you sort the bigger sets?  We have only dived into the small $10-$15 sets so far, but I don't have any thoughts on the larger sets and how to keep them divided for easy building.

I like the way you did that...looks very clean and great for your application!

not sure on bigger sets...maybe big ziplocks in the original boxes? Most of us display our collections and the used sets waiting to be sold go in ziplocks with a 3x5 notecard with set number, inventory and notes etc etc. then stored in a plastic bin as I try to keep costs down.

Anyway welcome to brickpicker and thanks for contributing.

First off, welcome to Brickpicker!

 

In regard to these containers, they look great! Very practical and they appear to work really well for what you are doing. Really good idea, seriously!

 

For larger sets I`d probably suggest larger plastic containers. Yes they can be expensive, but I`m certain I`ve seen cheaper ones (would have to think about where) that have snap on lids. Only a few dollars each, not $8-10+. The main reason for this is because as you`e already figured out I`m sure, they are clean and tidy. Ziploc bags can work if you have the right system (for example bags into 1 larger plastic container) but you would likely have to store instructions separately to avoid wrinkles. If you can find a line of containers like these that are bigger, that would be my best suggestion, nice and tidy and very easy to store well.

 

Keep up the fantastic work mom!

We use these, or something very similar.

http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=472&ProductCategory=250&section=1

 

There are several sizes and they stack nicely.

There are plastic shoe boxes that go on sale for $1 each that would fit a large set very well. Not sure about the intructions though.

Very cool idea.  Thanks!

for the bigger sets you could divide each book into a container. the modulars should fit. each floor per container.  I'm cheap, I use ziplocks.

We use these, or something very similar.

http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=472&ProductCategory=250&section=1

 

There are several sizes and they stack nicely.

I do like using Sterilite for storing just about everything really.

I love this. I never saw that before. I am a mom too:) but I am definitely the bigger addict in our house:) I use the sterilite containers or ziplock for my daughters sets. Most of mine are on display except I swap out monster fighter and winter village for their respective seasons. My son is harder on his sets and everything constantly gets broken apart and mixed together. My OCD hates it but it really is the point of Legos, to be played with so what can you do:) I am definitely going to go to michael's and check that case out. Thanks for the tip!

That's pretty awesome. I once was messy and disorganized as a young lad. My mom would always tell me to be more organized and careful, even to this day!

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Thank you all for the great organizing tips!  I'm really thinking about the zip locks as a temporary solution, but my kiddles are a bit hard on bags (as well as booklets!) so I don't think they'll last all that long.  I love the sterilite cases, I might have to look into that.  Though I am hoping to find something a little more compact as we don't have tons of space for storage.

 

One more question - what is the best way to "preserve" the booklets?  My kids riffle through the pages all day long and they look a bit worse for wear.  Also, is there a place on the internet to print out copies of what may get destroyed eventually?  Or should I just start scanning in page by page before I give them their booklets?

Thank you all for the great organizing tips!  I'm really thinking about the zip locks as a temporary solution, but my kiddles are a bit hard on bags (as well as booklets!) so I don't think they'll last all that long.  I love the sterilite cases, I might have to look into that.  Though I am hoping to find something a little more compact as we don't have tons of space for storage.

 

One more question - what is the best way to "preserve" the booklets?  My kids riffle through the pages all day long and they look a bit worse for wear.  Also, is there a place on the internet to print out copies of what may get destroyed eventually?  Or should I just start scanning in page by page before I give them their booklets?

 

It might be more time saving to get a super cheapie Andriod tablet and use Brickpicker's scanned manuals whenever one goes missing. Works for us.

I belive there is a section on lego.com that has the instructions uploaded.

Thank you all for the great organizing tips! I'm really thinking about the zip locks as a temporary solution, but my kiddles are a bit hard on bags (as well as booklets!) so I don't think they'll last all that long. I love the sterilite cases, I might have to look into that. Though I am hoping to find something a little more compact as we don't have tons of space for storage.

One more question - what is the best way to "preserve" the booklets? My kids riffle through the pages all day long and they look a bit worse for wear. Also, is there a place on the internet to print out copies of what may get destroyed eventually? Or should I just start scanning in page by page before I give them their booklets?

A few sites that have free instructions:

• Official LEGO Website - has most of the more recent sets
• Brick Instructions.com - they have a nice browsing function, but I don't really know about the depth of their database
• Let's Build It Again - a decent amount of older manuals
• World Bricks.com - Probably one of the more sophisticated sites, fairly similar to Brickset
• BrickOwl - a recent startup that has mainly newer manuals
• BrickSet - Same as the Offial LEGO Database, but might be easier to browse and find sets
• BrickPicker - Haven't really explored this unfortunately, but I am assuming it has a large number of sets, given the huge database

You probably should get your instructions if you just type something along the lines of "lego <set number> instructions manual" into Google.