To ask for the simplest way to organize a fuckton of lego?

[WickedWytch]

Personally I’m in favour of building a house from lego at the bottom of the garden where all the stuffed toys can live but the dc aren’t appreciating the genius of this solution.

In the meantime is there some kind of logical and simple way to organize it all that 3 unmotivated dc and an adult who can’t distinguish ninjago from chima can all manage to follow?

We’ve tried the Oh FuckIt (trademark) system of leaving it all over the floor. But despite the obvious advantages of free burglar proofing, it feels time to try something a bit more sophisticated.

So what works? Sorting by colour? By stud combinations? Filling a skip?

I have a massive box. All the lego lives in there in an insortes mess.

No point in organising it, as they will inevitably tip it all out over the floor again within twenty minutes, whether you have them in one box or a hundred.

Shove it all in a crate with a lid. When they're done, scoop it all back into the crate and close the lid. A long handled dustpan and angled broom are perfect for this.

Then put the crate directly under a windowsill. That way, you don't just have a burglar wounding system, you have an inbuilt alarm as well.

Watching. We're still on duplo so I'm a novice. May just delegate the problem to DH when the time comes, it would give him an excuse to play with it 😂

I recommend getting shallow trays of some sort, for your own sanity. The sound of DC rummaging through Lego that's knee deep is enough to shatter nerves!

We have two large shallow trays/tubs - kind of like under bed tubs, in one we put special pieces and figures and in the other we put standard bricks.

We have loads, and the stuff in the DC bedrooms is simply sprinkled liberally everywhere to ensure I rarely enter into their bedrooms. We ended up with boxes of it downstairs, though, and one weekend I went nuts and bought a Really Useful tower thing from Hobycraft (see below). I also colour-coordinated the lego with the drawers, so all the yellows, whites and gold are in the yellow drawer, all the building instructions in one drawer, all the people are in one drawer etc. I try not to listen when the DC ask me to sort the lego in their bedrooms in the same way because the one downstairs took 14 years off my life expectancy.

It warms my cold, dead heart to see such organisation.

www.hobbycraft.co.uk/really-useful-rainbow-storage-tower-8-drawers/604123-1000

I rotate the sets after spending far too much time tidying my eldest son's room. So half the sets are now sorted in boxes or bags with instructions in plastic boxes in the loft. Half the sets and a lot of mixed Lego sorted by colour and a couple of craft boxes for special bits.

I think my mistake was encouraging creativity. I should have trained at least one of them to obsessively categories.

I really don't see the point of 'sorting' Lego, apart from by actual set of course.

We just have one of those drawstring bags which opens out into a mat and it all goes in there.

Ds likes to watch YouTube videos of things like...."How to build ....he finds it easier if there is a bit of a system, otherwise I'm not sure he would even attempt it!

Now before I can offer any assistance, I need to know if this is a Metric fuckton or an Imperial fuckton?

....plus if it was in a big crate, the whole lot would be tipped out daily.

What do people do with all the teeny tiny (shitty) bits of Lego Friends and Harry Potter crap? They’re not even proper bricks most of the time. Hoover?

Iv heard the bin is good at storing things.. obviously this is in an ideal world.

Seen as we are not though... I have no bloody idea apart from the fuck it scenario with a big plastic box in tow

DS likes to freestyle with his Lego and while he is happy to build to the instructions he always then wants to "improve" the finished product. He also inherited a box of mixed bricks from a friend. But the problem with the Fuckit principle is that all the little bricks sink to the bottom of the box and you can't find anything.

So we have 3 of the shallowest Ikea Trofast trays and use those for general bricks. We've also got a selection of marge tubs and similar which can sit inside the trays. One has wheels & windscreen, one has minifigs & accessories and one has lights and fancy bits like that. Others sometimes hold the bits of a complete set if we've sorted one out. Instructions live in an old wallet file. Gives a balance of organisation and Fuckit when tidying up. No one has time to sort bricks to a LegoMasters standard unless they are paid for it.

Theoretically we also have a tall lidded box for finished things and works in progress. In practice his room is an obstacle course of part finished space ships and satellites.

One of those magic boxes: www.box4blox.com/

You probably need a few iuf you havwe lots.

Thank you for posting the question OP, I've been scratching my head over this a while. Currently we have 4 rooms of the house covered in lego and I need a system! Watching all responses with interest... we can't go the fuckit route though as have too many special sets that we want to keep together (currently 'on display' across my house)

Like op, I also have failed to produce/nurture a DC obsessed with sorting and organising and a 40 year old who is the most enthusiastic player.

I'm going on a long-awaited day off to Ikea on Friday with the sole mission of solving the problem.

DH became absolutely obsessive about this. We now have several of thos eworkmen's sets of drawers that are supposed to store nails and screws and widgets. He sorted everything into type or brick or accessory. then DC used the lego and it all got messed again. DH spent hours re-sorting it. This went on for months.
These days I just scoop it all up together - if a piece fits in a compartment, it goes there.

Never ever leave it on the floor. There is no pain like a bare foot on a lego brick.

I like the innovation of the box4blox Bertie but with the volume we are dealing with, I don't think it would touch the sides from a storage perspective... unless it's meant as a quick sorting tool?

Apart from standing on an upturned plug,! OUCH!

@SmarmyMrMime
Kids play with the top 3 inches.
😂
Brilliant. Modern parenting and consumerism encapsulated.

We have Lego stacking storage bricks. All broken models get bunged in one.

I'm now pondering whether to keep the Lego Technic separate.

Just leaving this here from the meme thread

This is ours. It's from Ikea and we sort by colour. We also have a couple of specialised drawers - bases, chima, shinies, people, tyres and instructions. The rest are simple colours - except the brown/orange/purple drawer as we don't have many of those.

We find that even the smallest child can sort by colour so even if they're crap at tidying up (which they are) they can at least help a little. My husband is also THE MOST ORGANISED PERSON EVER, so if it goes a bit wrong he enjoys going in and fixing the mess! 🤷🏻‍♀️