When I was little we had every lego set known to man. Literally. that was about all we had to play with. We had small storage bins made for tools and for bolts and nuts etc, and each peice had its own drawer. It was exesive to a fault. We had a drawer for the "one peices" and for the "two peices" and for the "three peices" and then one for "people" and one for "long peices" etc... it goes on and on. What was strange is that we liked it that way when we started building something... it was easy to see what we were looking for and very easy to do the "I need a two peice to make this wall" and have it be right there. But I had a hard time with taking things down. So most of the time we would spend two days building something, and then leave it made for a month or more because we did not want to take it apart. lol... it was less about putting it all back in the drawers and more about loosing the time we invested into it. My mom is saving them for my little brothers kids. (Who, by the time he has any, my kids will be out of highschool. Never really did understand that... but mom and I don't get along when it comes to stuff... she is a rediculiously organised pack rat... where I am a simplifier. I have a few things that are really well made that I take really good care of. She just has a lot of things.)
My son, who has a three gallon bin full, does not give a hoot about having them organized... so I just let it all go. They are all in one big bin now.
Love Val
Edited to show one more example... you know those little tubes that you place on the form, and put under the iron to make coasters and things? My mom has all of those teeny, tiny tubes in a craft box with drawers, all sorted by color. I have not seen anyone use them in 4 years. But in her office they sit. lol...