How do you keep track of which parts you own?

[howitzer]

This is something I've been wondering a bit, and the core question is in the title: How do you keep track of the Lego you own, especially the loose parts (not those in a set)? Do you have a meticulous bookkeeping in a spreadsheet/Rebrickable/whatever where you enter every part you acquire and remove every part you sell/break/otherwise lose, accompanied with careful sorting and storage? Or do you just have a feeling of what you own by knowing/remembering most of your collection, building a lot and generally playing with your stuff? Or do you just ignore the whole dilemma by buying more bricks whenever you need something you're not sure if you own it already?

I've been putting the sets I've bought and my Bricklink orders into Rebrickable, because that's easy and hassle-free way of keeping track of my Lego, but whenever I buy loose parts elsewhere or used sets where I'm not sure if there's missing parts, it becomes a real headache to keep track of all this. I mean, I could count every part and then enter them to Rebrickable but that's absurd amount of work and not worth the time required. I've been trying real hard to keep track of my Technic collection, as that's relatively limited set of different parts, but even that feels a real chore, and I won't even try with the System parts. This of course becomes a problem when I plan to build something and having several unfinished (or finished) projects going on simultaneously, meaning if I don't immediately find what I'm looking for, I'll have to spend a lot of time in search of those few parts I should have but no idea where, is it in a MOC or is it lost in a mixed bin or do I remember wrong entirely...

[Peppermint_M]

I have no hope!

I list my sets using brickset and I use bricklink to find out where parts came from. That gives me a clue if I should have the part I need in a MOC.

Loose parts and parts in MOCs are impossible to track, except through memory.

[dr_spock]

I keep track in my head. I would remember a part but not where I stored it or used it last.  Every now and then I would change my MOC design while I'm bulding based on what parts are within easy reach.

[koalayummies]

One method I frequently use while building: I'll often need for example 6 specific pieces and already have 4 of them in my hand but just need to know if I should keep searching the unsorted bins for more. So I'll use Brickset or Bricklink, enter/locate that part and view every set that piece has appeared in. It's easy enough to keep track of every set purchased. So that's one way.

[TeriXeri]

I add them to Rebrickable (it can synchronize from Brickset) , it gives a rough estimate of parts from sets.

The main thing that would be nearly impossible to track would be if X part is used in Y moc on a large collection. (unless the MOC is for example built digitally first)

Edited November 4, 2021 by TeriXeri

[AmperZand]

I keep track in my head, generally know where to look in my spares, and often buy extra parts through BrickLink, Bricks & Pieces etc. If I need specific parts for a MOC or mod that I don’t have, can’t find or can’t be bothered to locate, I’ll order them through BL, B&P etc.

My collection isn’t centred on sets; it’s minifigure- and loose parts-centric. So the methods that rely on set tracking like Brickset and Rebrickable don’t work for me. Besides, I’ve been an AFOL for a lot longer than those set tracking platforms have been around, so even if my collection had been set-based, it would have been a huge task to have retroactively catalogued my collection when those sites emerged.

[williejm]

It’s all in my head, which is why it’s not very accurate, lol 

[Mylenium]

18 hours ago, howitzer said:

How do you keep track of the Lego you own, especially the loose parts (not those in a set)?

Simple "It's in my head" bookkeeping. I find pretty much any other solution much to convoluted and time-consuming, be that locally maintained Excel spreadsheets or trying to upload inventories to sites like Rebrickable. Not worth the effort. Of course you have to have some sort of system and actually sort your stuff into your boxes and drawers, but no point in overdoing that, either.

Mylenium

[Pinnacle]

In my opinion, it depends on the number of parts one has. For me, it is almost a necessity to have a sort of inventory to keep an overview. I use BrickStore, and for me, it works well. It also counts the parts used in my MOC’s.

The programme also gives the weight of the parts, so I also know how heavy my creation is.  

[Jack Sassy]

I made an enormous mistake long time ago by storing all my parts in multiple shoe boxes. Whenever I need something I go through all these boxes. 

[BKu]

I am using a program called Brickstore. Very good program, I have over 50.000 pieces well described now and easy to find back in my storage drawers.

You can download it at: https://brickforge.de/brickstore/

[howitzer]

12 hours ago, BKu said:

I am using a program called Brickstore. Very good program, I have over 50.000 pieces well described now and easy to find back in my storage drawers.

You can download it at: https://brickforge.de/brickstore/

That seems nice and is probably the best tool out there for cataloging and managing your collection. I don't think it solves the problem of needing to manually enter all bricks you buy in mixed lots though, which gets really tedious really fast. In my dreams it could be combined with the Universal Lego Sorting Machine by @sqiddster

 

[Alexandrina]

Massive (not-yet-complete) Excel spreadsheet. I have a sheet with inventories copied from Bricklink and sanitised, a sheet with the spares copied from Bricklink, a sheet for Bricklink purchases, a sheet for Pick a Brick purchases and a sheet for job-lots, all collated using formulas into a master list that has every part I own (or will do, when I catch up with the backlog and finish it!)

Whenever I get a new job-lot, I copy my Master List into a new spreadsheet, counting the parts as I sort through them and adding new entries to the list as and when I come across new parts. When I'm done, I can copy that list over the top of the master list, and copy the part numbers/colours/quantities into the job-lots list so that all calculates correctly.

The upside of my method is complete flexibility. I get to list whether or not I have the stickers applied, whether I'm missing a piece or have an unadvertised extra, which variant of a part I had in my set. It's especially useful for those sets where you get a random part included (like the chocolate frog cards in the newer Harry Potter sets).

The downside is that it's a beastly file. I HAVE to turn automatic calculation off otherwise I'm waiting nearly a minute for it to recalculate the workbook every time I make even one change.

[BKu]

On 11/10/2021 at 6:39 PM, howitzer said:

That seems nice and is probably the best tool out there for cataloging and managing your collection. I don't think it solves the problem of needing to manually enter all bricks you buy in mixed lots though, which gets really tedious really fast. In my dreams it could be combined with the Universal Lego Sorting Machine by @sqiddster

 

You are right, I still have to do all the sorting by hand, do the registration into the Brickstore by hand. It's all a hell of a job, but I am finally able to trace back my parts.
Other huge advantage is that when you have a part list of a project, the part list can be deducted from the total inventory list. Every part below zero means you don't have stock (enough) of it.

The above machine is all our dream, and it's good to have a dream.......................

[BrickG]

Gave up years ago. It's a full time job to keep track of it all and I'd need to dedicate a whole room or two...

[ShaydDeGrai]

On 11/3/2021 at 4:40 PM, Peppermint_M said:

I have no hope!

I list my sets using brickset and I use bricklink to find out where parts came from. That gives me a clue if I should have the part I need in a MOC.

Loose parts and parts in MOCs are impossible to track, except through memory.

I'm pretty much in the same boat here.  I've been amassing parts for the better half of a century now.  My BrickSet registry is always incomplete (I'm terrible about updating it) and I rarely bother registering duplicate copies there, but after decades of pick-a-brick cups, buying parts by the k-box, bulk bricklink buys, assimilating other's collections after they/their kids have lost interest in the hobby, and just generally scooping up targets of opportunity, I have no idea how much I have these days, let alone what the individual parts are.

I've spent enough of my life just sorting parts, I think cataloging them all would push me over the edge (how many cheese wedges are there in a kilogram again??) plus, now I have a little one at home who routinely supplements her collection with parts "borrowed" from my own so even if I tried tracking everything, the complications caused by my beloved source of domestic entropy means any given part might well now be part of the furniture in her dolls' house or inside the vacuum cleaner, and not associated with any other Lego at all.

I'm pretty organized about the stuff I use on a regular basis for MOCing, but I don't really "track" my consumption (other than thinking thinks like, "hmm, running low on white 1x4 tiles, better pick up a couple hundred to fill up this slot in the tray before I actually need them..." and add them to the "watch list" for my next trip to a pick-a-brick wall or brick-link surfing trip.  As for the more esoteric stuff, I gave up keeping track of that a long time ago.  I've got a pretty good memory so I'm usually pretty good at recalling the basic, "don't I have some of those?" sorts of questions, but the further removed any given part is from something I use in bulk in a color I favor, the more likely it is that I'll just order a new one off the web if I need one rather than spend a week trying to find it in my shoeboxes of one-offs and odd-balls.

[Toastie]

On 11/15/2021 at 6:52 PM, ShaydDeGrai said:

I'm pretty much in the same boat here.  I've been amassing parts for the better half of a century now.  My BrickSet registry is always incomplete (I'm terrible about updating it) and I rarely bother registering duplicate copies there, but after decades of pick-a-brick cups

Pretty much the same here - but then it stops; no bulk orders, and BL orders were/are targeted specifically at what I need (x2 just for being safe ;) for whatever reason.

I really tried to get everything printed into folders (love specific polybags glued to magazines for the less aged) - and then decided recently - to just leave it alone. Why and for whom on Earth am I doing this? Since 50+ years? For me. OK. Maybe some folks from outer space (or family descendants) will find it very appealing to dig-up all that well organized, categorized stuff. The compression forces of the decades of LEGO catalogs alone may turn them into crude oil way before this world turns into something ... different (-> The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!) - who knows.

Ah the BrickSet registry. In the beginning, I was crazy about literally getting every single brick registered - and without cheating! For what? To know where I am? To know what I have? I mean, everything is placed into boxes and much more so around me in this room. And my memory is - at least judged from my very own experience - not yet down the drain. So I do find stuff. Not necessarily THE piece in THAT color, but - usually close enough. And then these boxes pile up when I play ... and when I need to do other things, look at the total mess, it is typically a feeling of "What a mess - it will take you hours to unfuck this." And then, a little later: You'll never, never ever grow up. With a smile. Turn off the lights, thinking: I never ever wanted and want to grow up. The mess is what LEGO is all about.

All the best,
Thorsten 

[Peppermint_M]

I am looking now at my "to sort" pile and it is making me quite nervous. The beast grows and it has all of my purchases from the past two years.  So I know parts will be in it, but I also have to hunt them down "old School" style!

[MAB]

I find something else that works well is cutting down on the number of parts I keep / store. I purposely ignore some colours that I will never use, and I often ignore parts too. Why keep bright yellow or lime bricks if you are unlikely to use them, especially if you have enough yellow or green bricks when you do want to use a similar colour. Of course it is nice to have more shades, but if you rarely use them, or the colour does not come with enough part types for your style of building, then forget the colour. I got rid the few handfuls of sand red and blue bricks I had as there is not enough variety in the parts and I also did not have enough basic bricks to do much with anyway. I also get rid of a lot of the fairly standard red, blue, yellow, green. If you have enough for what you need then you have enough, so storing ones you are not going to use is a waste of space. Same with some parts. There are wheel bases or speciality parts I will never use, so I don't keep them. Even some plate sizes I find I so rarely use, 2x14 and 2x12 plates for example. I find I either use the longer 2x16 or can make do with combinations of smaller ones. I also tend to keep a lot more 1x4 and 1x2 bricks than I do 1x3 and 1x1 bricks, as I tend to use the even numbers much more than the odd numbers. Of course, sometimes you need an odd length but not as many as even lengths. Might as well sell them on rather than leave them unused and taking up space.

[MayItBe]

I add all sets I buy into rebrickable set list, and all my bricklink orders too. Easy to track what bricks I ownand their quantity 

[XG BC]

i have it in my head. it is enough for a rough estimate. usually i dont build mocs that big that i need to plan so i will just build in studio and then irl and then make changes to the model based on parts i own/will buy

[Generaltrons bricks]

On 11/3/2021 at 5:30 PM, dr_spock said:

I keep track in my head. I would remember a part but not where I stored it or used it last.  Every now and then I would change my MOC design while I'm bulding based on what parts are within easy reach.

Im very much the same, too much to recall where each item is for the most part unless it was something paticularly interesting or of special design.. maybe a one off part.. hard to forget

[LAKAbricks]

Insane as I am, I am trying to register all my parts (give or take...). For the time being, I am nearly through the sets. Parts collected and registered, taken notes of missing or replaced bricks.

Once through the sets, I will count the loose parts (and sort those bricks that have not been that yet) - coming from different sources. I use Rebrickable for the parts. This way, I can see if I have other sets in the collection, that might be interesting enough to find the parts for. Eventually to sell sets from themes I have no interest in. I also will check up, if I have some parts to complete sets that miss some bricks.

Final aim is to find out how big the collection is. I have a rough estimate, though I would like to get closer to the actual number.

It takes a lot of time, no doubt about it. Sometimes breaks are longer that I would like them to be, but it can drive you crazy...

[Good and Swordy]

I don't keep track in a list, etc unless it's an important part. Otherwise, I just keep them stored in bags by type in my Lego drawer and minifigure parts boxes.