I don't know if I will ever be as organized as Benita from the blog Chez Larsson, but I aspire to! I really like how she makes tackling large projects manageable by breaking them down to smaller tasks.
Here, she shows step-by-step how to keep small items organized and yet easily accessible. Though she is organizing her son's legos, the method could apply to nearly anything.
Benita explains:
I figured that the bins the Legos were semi sorted into took up too much space in the larger bins so Ziploc bags were the way to go. The air could be pressed out of the bags before zipping them and then stacking them into the large bins....We did quite a big sort out a few years ago so we had a pretty good system already. The regular bricks were sorted by color, the little Lego men were sorted together with their hair-dos and outfits in one bin, the animals were in another etc. It was still a bit of a mess though and quite a lot was unsorted or just shoved in random plastic bags.
...now it was just a matter of getting the stuff out of those mixed bins and bags and sort those where they belonged. All the odd pieces (curved ones, printed ones, hinged ones etc etc) simply went into three large bags. Some sets that were already together in plastic bags were transferred to Ziplocs to keep them semi intact.
For full instructions and more photos, check out Organizing Wille's Legos on Chez Larsson.
(Images: Benita of Chez Larsson)
Things Fall Apart: Living Alone in a Space After a Breakup
Juan's Garage Turned Modern Guest House
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Commercial Flour Sa...
10 Picnic-Ready Salads to Eat Outside
Recipe: Thai Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry
I would get my kids' toys organized and within no time flat, I'd have to start all over again once they'd taken them out to play with them. Legos in particular are hazardous to adult feet!
If this works for Benita, my hat's off to her!
Woah - I am one of the most organized people I know, but this seems a bit overboard! Isn't part of the fun of playing with legos being able to find the right piece?
Yeah but her kid is an adult! I read her blog so I know this fact, but it must sound weird to AT's readers the way she organised the Legos.
Yeah - this was organized for semi-permanent storage, not for a household in which they get used every day or week or even every month.
You beat me to it. Yep, and this would be a major waste of time for a young one, lol. Still, it does provide some great inspiration. I organize my various cords this way & label each bag. I also have a small storage box for various pieces of hardware organized this way. Keeps the extras out of my toolbox (picture hangers, knobs, hinges, etc) plus nails & dif type screws). Now I can actually find something when I need it & there's no more buying duplicates.
Cool for a collector, bummer for a kid.
I think the level of organization you impose on your stuff needs to accurately reflect how you use the stuff. Periodically I take the things I have randomly collected since the last sort, and get them organized so that I can find everything when I want it. So now, for instance, all my 12 inch square "scrapbook paper" (I don't scrapbook, I mess around, but that's what it is called!) is in one box in my crafts armoire, instead of a pile here, in a drawer there, under that stack of fabric... But my jewelry findings are in easy to get to containers. If I overly sorted and bagged them, they would be real neat, but they would be a pain to actually use when needed. You have to find the balance.
What a waste of time, space and energy! Those legos, il not used, could be played right now by a happy kid. This stuff is expensive, why not give it to somebody who will be delighted to play with it NOW? We have too many things that we don't need in our houses. Let's get rid of them, our life will be nicer, simpler, happier.
I would like to know more about his cat-head-shaped cat bed.
As previously mentioned, her son is 17 or 18, so this is really an storage method so he can keep the Legos until he feels ready to get rid of them. Go easy!
Benita said in the original post: "Lego was such a huge part of Wille’s life for over ten years and he wants to keep it all but it does take up SO much space." - if you read her blog you'll know she's pretty ruthless when it comes to donating stuff or giving it away, so this stuff obviously means a lot. I think we're all allowed an heirloom or two!
I only organized special Lego bricks; the rest were just dumped on a bedsheet. Clean up meant grabbing the corners of the sheet, and dropping the whole thing into a big plastic bin.
This hyper-organization looks looney to me.
Just as a note, Benita's son is in his late teens and she's putting the Legos in long term storage as he doesn't use/play with them as often as he did as a younger child.
I love this. :) Then again, I am a just a wee bit obsessive about ordering and sorting stuff. I know others have already commented on this, but wanted throw my hat in, too. The issue is how detailed should the organizational taxonomy be? Depends on your "client," I thnk!
I started out with a somewhat sophisticated organizational system for my kids' toys. But as they grew up, I wanted them to be able to take responsibility for their own clean up. As that progressed, I realized that my sorting and storage system needed to be a bit simpler. Now we've settled on a two-tier storage solution. One tier is the sort by purpose (e.g., doll play; dress up play; board games; books; musical instruments; arts and crafts). Then within that we MIGHT have another level of sort, but only if it's a meaningful sort for the type of play. So, for example, dress up play is separated into clothes vs. tools. But that's as far as we go.
Except for books and board games and certain art supplies (which are neatly stacked), every other category just gets tossed into its appropriate bin/basket. We then slide away the basket or close the storage bench and-ta da! -- no visual mess.
It works for me, and it works for my kids most of the time.
But sometimes I still sneak into their rooms and organize the books by genre. :) I don't hold them to it, though. Too hard for them, and the goals are: tidy enough to please mommy's eye, and easy enough for the kids to do it mostly themselves.
I totally want to know the cat-head-shaped cat bed. seems pretty unique!
the cat head bed was a special promotion by Whiskas cat food. you can occasionally find them on ebay -- know this because i've been wanting one ever since seeing it on Benita's blog.
I got some tubs like those in the first photo to hold hats, mittens, leashes, etc in our coat closet. Tip: if you need every inch of space, those angled sides are a real waste. I need to find clear plastic boxes with perfect 90° angles.
(Also, there's nothing wrong with keeping your toys, Une Femme "Libre". Just because he may not be playing with them now, he may have a creative use for them later, or kids of his own in the future. Why buy expensive Lego twice? And am I the only one who now and then thinks, "ah, I wish I still had _______!")