Author Topic: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?  (Read 10960 times)

Offline Brian

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LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« on: June 19, 2013, 11:23 AM »
After having our basement flood this spring, it reinforced to the Mrs. that my "crap" takes up too much of our storage areas in our house.  That said, I've been going through everything over the past month and have recently come to the stash of LEGO boxes.  I really only got into LEGO over the past couple of years, as our daughter loves putting them together and it is a fun thing to do with her.  Plus, I've gotten more and more into the sets in general and seeing all that LEGO can (and has) done with not only Star Wars, but other licensees.

Now, we've pretty much gone about the idea that once we've put them together, they stay together and are played with, displayed, etc.  I've always kept the boxes with the booklets and extra pieces, just in case I'd need to take them apart/pack them up or whatever.  That being said, they are taking up a lot of space so I'm considering pitching them and just putting all the booklets and extra stuff in a rubbermaid or something.  I was curious for those of you who have been in the LEGO game longer, do you keep the boxes or condense things down?  Do you keep all of your sets built, or disassemble them and put them back in the boxes?  Just trying to decide which way to go.  Thanks for any advice.

Offline EdSolo

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2013, 11:43 AM »
I've kept all the boxes, but I have disassembled my sets and moved them once, and will probably have to do so again.  This time around, when I reassembled them, I part all the extra parts in a gallon zip lock bag.  I have also put boxes inside boxes to save some space, but they do take up a lot of space, especially if you have every set.

Offline Rob

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2013, 11:50 AM »
The only packaging I keep is Gentle Giant... because you can't resell or move them without it.  Everything else is recycling.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2013, 12:39 PM »
I've been on this debate myself, over LOTR sets...  They certainly hog space.  :-\
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Offline ZevZev

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2013, 01:37 PM »
We're looking at "wall papering" the play room/office room with the covers of LEGO set boxes. I was keeping them in case I resold them, but that's not going to happen.

Offline Mikey D

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2013, 02:10 PM »
My sets yes, my sons' no.
Common sense isn't so common

Offline Diddly

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2013, 02:30 PM »
Keep the instructions, toss the boxes, though that's a habit carried over from the 90's before they had digital instruction downloads on Lego.com.

I actually recently packed up a majority of my sets. Bought a rubbermaid bin and some large ziploc bags and basically placed one set in each bag (or 2/3 sets per bag, depending on the size)
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Offline Dave

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2013, 04:40 PM »
I've kept most of the boxes, but flatten them.  All of the instructions are kept together on a shelf for reference.

I'm still debating if I should just pitch the flattened boxes or keep them.

Offline Pete_Fett

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2013, 09:49 PM »
I keep the flattened boxes as well - when I take a set apart they go into a zip-lock bag.

I don't have that many sets, so keeping the boxes isn't that big of a deal, but I think if it ever got to be a big deal, I might consider tossing them.
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Offline DoctorPadawan

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2013, 12:39 PM »
I have kept three boxes (Death Star, UCS R2-D2, and UCS B-Wing; the former still "expanded" and the latter two flattened), but have tossed all the rest.  Even flattened, the boxes still take up a lot of room that I really don't have.  I'm at a point now where I have stuff sitting in the floor instead of on shelves (the space behind my computer chair looks like a Lego Creator House shantytown), so real estate is at a premium.  I definitely keep all the instruction books, as well as any other inserts (mini-comics, posters, etc), and let's not even get started on the tackle boxes full of extra pieces. :)

Offline Mike Shaeffer

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2013, 01:03 AM »
Just started getting into the bigger sets the last few months. I have kept the boxes so far. I'm usually not a "keep the packaging" guy, but it feels wrong to part with them. Especially since they hold the booklets and the extra pieces.

That being said, if it becomes a major problem, I could get rid of them.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #11 on: September 10, 2013, 07:28 PM »
Condense is my advice...  Put paperwork and such into small ones, small ones into larger ones, larger into big ones, and so on.  I tend to throw out boxes of sets that linger and hit clearance unless I can fit them into a big box of some sort and it not be an issue.  I do this about a series at a time...  like for The Hobbit line I did this for that whole line putting it into the biggest box.  I threw out the Tree box as I recall, kept the rest for the most part.
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Offline bigj22

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Re: LEGO Sets - Do You Keep the Boxes?
« Reply #12 on: September 21, 2013, 07:17 PM »
OK Here are 2 options. 1. Put smaller boxes into larger boxes to save space. The boxes mean nothing when putting your sets away. Use ziplock bags like everyone else. However 2. If the boxes are from the 1990's and early 2000's, then sell them. You will make some money. Anything after 2005 ish is worthless.