To mix up all the Lego into one big storage box?

[deathbylego]

The space sets, the police trucks, the three-in-one robot/dinosaur/sports car/propeller plane sets, the power mining underwater Atlantis space star wars stuff.

At the moment all sets live in their own clear boxes, in various stages of completeness (none really, actually complete). This means I cannot clear up the Lego, as only DS (8) knows where it should go and what piece belongs to what set, and this causes endless arguments. He has no organisational impulses whatsoever. The boxes are everywhere, and I feel my blood pressure rising as sets that should stay together become scattered. His room is a tip, boxes everywhere.

DH is horrified that I want to mix up the sets. But I am itching, ITCHING, to just dump it all in one big box and have done with it. I can feel my stress levels lowering just thinking about it. Then I could just say, 'Tidy up, DS', and he could toss it all into the Big Box. Done.

Please may I? I promise to keep all the instruction booklets.

Here : service.lego.com/en-gb/buildinginstructions/

Oh god! Noooo! Makes me twitch thinking about it. I must have issues!!

Lego - I have a bastard permanent limp from standing on that stuff in bare feet... Oh aye!

Definitely shove it in one box! I too admit to being a bit obsessive though and keep a drawer in the boy's bedroom for lego booklets. If they complete a model, it goes on to one of the floating shelves. If it stays half completed, for months on end, it goes into THE BOX.

I have, today, purchased a large underbed storage box. Bits of a Lego game that DS and siblings have scattered to the four winds are currently going into SBS. DH is not happy. Not.

DS, by the way, is very much in favour of the SBS. He really wants to mix it all up and make stuff out of the Lego ideas book. Plus he's too lazy to try and keep it all sorted by model number.

SBS is my partners term for having the shits ( squirty bottom syndrome) having even more worrying thoughts about lego now!

DS has all DH's Lego from the 70's/80's, plus loads of his own. We have a large plastic cake box for each of the 6 main colours, plus separate boxes for windows, doors, wheels, see through bricks, odd colours (orange etc) and minifigures. Instructions are in another box. It all lives in/under a metal Ikea cabinet.

DS has a bed sized piece of MDF under his bed, with castors on. It has baseplates all over and he builds a city or whatever on it. Then it gets rolled back under the bed when he has finished playing.

He is currently 6 and a bit lazy when it comes to dismantling and separating bricks into colours, but he will happily to rummage through all the mixed up sets in order to get the correct piece. I find it strangely theraputic to do the separating so it all works out well.

Did you know if you lose a special brick, you can look up the set and the piece's part number on the website and then email Lego in Denmark and they will send you the piece/s in the post. If there are a lot you have to pay but they sent us a "gold bar" and a "magnifying glass" totally free of charge last year. We were seriously impressed.

Good god dump it in a box, NOW!

YY to mixing it all up in one big box.
But faithfully ensuring that all pieces go into aforementioned box, so that they could be properly restored to original lego-family-set should the builder be that anal want to..

Also, did you know that the "proper" pronunciation of 'lego' is, in fact, 'lay-go'?
(friend's DH is Danish = home of Lego)

We don't have it in one big box but in a series of compartmentalised trays - some Really Useful Boxes with carboard dividers stuck in, as well as one of those plastic drawer sets that people use to keep screws and nails in.

DS and I spent a day classifying and sorting the lego by shape, and him telling me off for using the wrong names for them.

We have mixed up Lego from different sets, but sepperated it out into flats and bricks, studs, slopes, technic etc... It makes it much quicker and less frustrating for building. It does take a little bit longer to put away if there is a jumble of lego - but it is obvious where everything goes.

It was a labour of love, and I know we are fighting against the ever forces of entropy to keep it all seperated...but so far so good. I can now see the rug in my living room again.

Deathbylego - could on you

Good news that your DS is happy with the SBS solution, DH quite frankly sort it himself if he's that bothered

Nooooo!!!! Don't mix it all up!!! But don't leave it in sets either.

I went and bought a bunch of small clear plastic boxes and sorted them for DS in 'type' rather than set. (DS is only 5, so figure it's the least I can do.) When we want to build a proper one from the book we can then FIND the damn pieces we want. Ever try doing that with thousands of pieces all in the boxes?????

That still leaves your DS able to build whatever he wants, he can just leave a row of open boxes in front of him and fossick for the pieces he wants.

(Although I do have a dump it box where I put in any stray lego which then loiter until I can't face any other chores and sit there sorting!)

No sure if it has been said but make sure the box is is big and shallow and clear - the biggest under bed storage box you can find (Ikea good for this). It is impossible to find specific pieces if it more than 2 or 3 pieces deep in a box The largeness means it is easy to swoosh it about to find pieces and the low sides make it easy to access.

We had a variant of SBS as kids. 2 or 3 large laundry baskets which contained all the Lego subdivided into ice cream tubs by colour/type eg. Red bricks, wheels, windows, figures.

Instructions were kept in a shoe box.

My brother (aged 32) is now happily rebuilding all the kits and his house is covered in them (there are 3 of us and all the kits got amalgamated) this is ironic as he was always a free range builder whereas I like the structure of the kits. Little sister- not sure what she liked.....

Where can I get a copy of this Lego ideas book everyone keeps mentioning?

And, for lost bricks, seriously, try Bricklink - they even have spare parts for 70's, 80's and 90's sets. Can't link as I'm on my phone, but it's the best site ever for Lego addicts. I've even managed to get a replacement part for a 70's set of my Mum's that was missing one piece!

My husband spent all day yesterday sorting out dd's lego into colour coded boxes. He made up all the Harry Potter sets that she has, and the collectible lego house that's worth a fortune on Ebay and then he placed everything on shelves around dd's bedroom and in our basement. He was the most relaxed I've seen him in months.

Personally, I wouldn't give a monkeys as I think there's more to life than anally keeping lego in sets. DH, on the other hand, would be MORTIFIED if I messed up the sets and didn't comply with the colour coding for the random sets he's bought over the years.

When I was young I remember my mum frequently spending hours sorting lego into different boxes and colour categories. She had the time but even when I was 7 I thought it was pointless and weird.

Nowadays I throw it all into one big lego box. Life is too short. You have my permission.

I am so glad my DS has never been into Lego. (Sorry I know that brings nothing to the thread but just wanted to add that as I'm sure you all wanted to know that)

If anyone invented an electronic Lego sorting device they would make millions.

You saw it here first!

Really marathonrunner? I'm trying to actively encourage it in DD (5) and DS (2). Am I nuts? It seems to me like the most versatile toy ever (less so if you keep all the sets separate though...)

I'd love lots of boxes of sorted by colour, but wouldn't you need absolutely loads to get that satisfying sift... sift... sift?

It all goes in one box at ours, mixed in with Duplo so DS and DD can play together. We've had some great afternoons playing Lego. It's the longest either of my kids has concentrated for.

Love this thread. I love Lego.

DH wanted very complicated storage and bought fishing tackle boxes to store all the non brick bits. I spent days trying to sort it all. Finally bought ikea boxes and sorted by colour and most little random bits, wheels etc in the fishing tackle boxes. We have tones of Lego.

When we were moving from Budapest last summer a Danish family who work for Lego and that I knew from school ended up renting our house. The only day they could all come to view the house was a Sunday and also my birthday. The wife had been on the Friday and knew we loved Lego. They arrived over with a huge set of a town for me and a space shuttle for DS. Both sets have never been sold commercially. So cool. DS and I have started the space shuttle but keep getting distracted. May do some today.

My current plan is to build some of the big sets and put the models on shelves in DS's room.

I like the look of that Lego sorting box and may buy that and the Lego Ideas book and that can be our summer project.

Dtwin 1 8 has 4 boxes containing Power Miners,Star Wars,Atlantis,Alien etc.We have a few half dismantled fav models eg the alien space ship clinging on.Have loved the way he cannabalises everything.

Bil is uber strict with dnephew.He has all his models made up and has been known to erm glue!!!!!!!They are strictly forbidden to break them up or mix.Seeing our boxes causes him deep distress but my dc really use their imaginations.

We also have friends with walls of tool boxes and all Lego sorted.

I've gone with the boxes as I did have a tantrum akin to the op and had a mad but satisfying box mixing afternoon,it was a kind of protest thing against said bil and friends.

I'm kind of thinking the time may be right for some sorting but do you do shape or colour.I'm erring towards shape. Would like some storage box links please.No Lego thread is complete without them imvho.

DH bought a clear topped plastic tool box with an interior that can be customised. This means that all lego pieces get stored in colour coded sections in this tool box.

It's great www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=265481

The instructions are stored in a folder with clear sleeves.

... I just wish DS would put all the pieces back in the box once he pulls them all out to find the specific piece he was after.