What is the BEST way to organize and store Playmobil?

[Aspie4Jesus]

 

I have over 200 different sets on one shelf in my tiny 1 bedroom apartment.  I have a few of the larger sets (Hospital, Grocery Store, Suburban House) put into large containers.  Sorry Playmo fans but the boxes are just too BULKY for the amount of storage space that I can save for.  I would like to know what is the best way preferably for storing and organizing such a HUGE collection.  I also haven't even opened the new School set, gym, ect.  I still have in the original box the garage, car wash and other related sets.  Do you keep your sets together as a set, do you sort them by category, type, ect?  How do you do it?  I need ideas that I can actually borrow and I may find a better way to store my collection too. 
Aspie4Jesus 

[bonniebeth]

This is a great question! You'll be relieved to know that throwing away the boxes does not disqualify you as a collector.  I don't keep boxes either. There just isn't enough room.

Just to clarify, do you want to find a way to store them so that all the parts are kept together for each individual set, or do you want to group sets of a theme together, or do you want to categorize by parts, or what? There are many ways to organize it. I categorize by parts, with animals in one container, people in another (divided into subcategories) plants in another, etc.

[tonguello]

Well my system is pretty basic. I have a closet full of boxes (ALL OF THEM  )
And a I have 2 showcases where I organize the sets byt theme. The big sets like houses and ships are in plastic containers in another closet. Can't display EVERYTHING. 

[bonniebeth]

Me again.  I just realized you asked if we keep them together by set, etc. i think it just depends on your purpose in collecting, what is the best way to do it. My purpose in collectingis to make a big zoo diorama, which will hopefully be set up permanently someday. So every time, I buy a set, it is for parts I think I can customize to use in my zoo. Therefore, it works best to organize by category, which means I have very large, 20-gallon containers.

If you are planning to customize the little people, as some here do, then lots of tiny drawers for sorting wearables, hair, heads, and arms are useful.

If you plan to collect several themes, then you may want to organize by theme, which will also mean big boxes. And if you are collecting with the thought in mind of selling them eventually, you may want to try to keep sets together.

No matter what, I advise having a special place, a special drawer, where you put all instructions as soon as you have finished putting a set together. There's nothing worse than having a large, complex system x building with no instructions because you misplaced them. 

[Wolf Knight]

Bonnie is right! It all depends on your purpose in collecting!

I categorise my collection mostly by parts...I have little chests of drawers for keeping all the same little pieces together, I place the larger similar parts in plastic see-through boxes (its easier to make photostories and dioramas this way),  I display klickies and other items by category on shelves in my playmoden (because its always great to be able and see your collection), I have complete sets in plastic bags but these are mixed up (the bags I mean, they are not seperated by theme) and I also have MIB sets mixed together (its great to have MIB and remember how you got it)... I try to keep most of the boxes but I move them at my parent's summer house about 25 kilometers from where I live...

[skypurr]

I try to make dioramas mainly and I have large plastic tubs of different themes, but within that, seperate lots are stored in zip lock bags. eg different shops have all the building parts and contents together etc. not necessarily what came with the original set. 
I also have all figures in tubs or bags according to type - victorian males, victorian females, fairy tale males, fairy tale females etc. and then drawers of extra parts, animals, food, hats etc.  It does make for a lot of tubs, drawers and bags, but at least I usually have a fairly good idea of where things are.  My problem is that a lot of the tubs are on high shelves and cupboards so I struggle to get them down! 

Elaine

[Sylvia]

I did a search on "storage" and found some topics with excellent - and in some cases, eggcellent - ideas.


Collection storage
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=498.0

Great storage boxes
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=5224.0

Cheep cheep, figure storage.
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=1017.0

new storage I built today 
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=2698.0

[Bolingbroke]

All my complete sets are currently in a big box in the attic, each one of them in its little plastic bag. Once we move to a bigger house, I hope to put them on display.

The rest is kept in storage boxes and drawers. I tend to buy more than one set of each if it's the theme I collect. I use these sets for customising, playing with etc.

[basilsdad]

I try to make dioramas mainly and I have large plastic tubs of different themes, but within that, seperate lots are stored in zip lock bags. eg different shops have all the building parts and contents together etc. not necessarily what came with the original set. 
I also have all figures in tubs or bags according to type - victorian males, victorian females, fairy tale males, fairy tale females etc. and then drawers of extra parts, animals, food, hats etc.  It does make for a lot of tubs, drawers and bags, but at least I usually have a fairly good idea of where things are.  My problem is that a lot of the tubs are on high shelves and cupboards so I struggle to get them down! 

Elaine

Elaine, I think we are cut from the same cloth.  This is exactly what I do.  I am fortunate to have a storage room in the basement.  It must be so difficult to organize in a small apartment.  My problem is that I hate to take anything apart once I've built it.  Will have to learn from Gaston, that I cannot display everything. 
Joe

[Tiermann]

Everything is organized by type of part for me these days, it's taking up one wall in my living room these days just for the storage boxes.