How to Organize LEGO Instruction Manuals

If you’re wondering how to organize LEGO instruction manuals, this post is full of helpful tips and suggestions to keep the instruction books neat and tidy!

Toys in general can be pretty tough to organize, but of all of the toys my boys have, their LEGO collection has probably taken the most time and effort to figure out over the years! We finally settled on a strategy that is working for us (which I talked about in detail in this post), but I recently re-organized the LEGO instruction manuals, so I thought I’d show you our updated system for those!

How to Organize LEGO Instruction Manuals

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

So before we even get into how to organize, the first question is…

LEGO Manuals: To Keep or Not to Keep?

Like all LEGO organization, I feel like this question will depend on how the kids play with them and what their/your personal preferences are.

My boys don’t consult the manuals very often after the initial build, but it seems like every time I am about to throw them out, they come asking for one, and it causes me to keep them around.

(Also one time I had the audacity to suggest out loud that we get rid of the manuals and both Donnie and the Cs vetoed that idea before I could even get the full sentence out of my mouth, so at least for now, they’re staying. 😉 )

The Keys to Our LEGO Instruction Manual Organization System

1. Choose the Right Supplies

Here are the supplies I used to organize our LEGO manuals:

• Large file box
• Hanging folders
• Label maker (I used my older one for this project, but I also have this newer one and love it. More on this below.)
• Silhouette Cameo + adhesive vinyl (optional)

2. Make Sure the Container Isn’t Overstuffed

The biggest reason that I decided to tweak our LEGO manual storage system is that the file box we were previously using was beginning to get full. We could still fit all of the manuals inside, but something about it being a tight-ish squeeze kept us from maintaining the system we had set up.

For a while, the boys had been really good about putting the manuals back when they were finished, but when it started to get full, it became harder for them, so they (and I!) were more likely to throw the instruction books on top of the box to be dealt with later, which made for a mess at the bottom of their playroom closet.

I upgraded to a larger file box with plenty of room to grow that still fit in the designated spot in the closet, and suddenly they began maintaining our system again.

3. Put Like LEGO Manuals Together

Anytime I’m organizing anything, one of the first things I do is to put like items together so they’re easier to find. For LEGO manuals, this could happen in any number of ways, depending on the types of LEGO sets you own.

I ended up organizing our manuals by theme– so all of the Star Wars sets are together, all of the Ninjago sets are together, all of the Nexo Knights sets are together, etc. After I had the manuals separated by theme, I put each theme in its own hanging folder and arranged them in alphabetical order.

We have a few building sets that have manuals but that aren’t LEGO, so their building pieces are stored somewhere other than in our LEGO bins. These manuals get a hanging folder in the file box too, but I simply put their tabs on the opposite side to make them easy to distinguish.

4. Label!

This step happens in conjunction with step 3, but of course it’s going to be easier to find the manual we’re looking for if all of the folders are neatly labeled!

Hand written labels definitely work, but if you’re looking for a more streamlined look, label maker labels also look beautiful!

I started making labels for our LEGO manuals several years ago, so for consistency’s sake, I used my older label maker for this project. I’ve had it for years, and it is still going strong!

A little over a year ago, I upgraded to this fun label maker, which I love because it has tons of cute font options and just takes the pretty factor up a notch. 🙂

As a final touch, I used my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine + adhesive vinyl to make a label for the outside of our file box to make it immediately apparent what’s inside.

That’s it! It’s a simple system, but it really makes it easy to keep our LEGO manuals organized, and it’s simple enough for the boys to help maintain the system as well.

I know there are many ways to organize LEGO instruction manuals effectively, so I’d love to hear your favorite tips and strategies in the comments below!

[Psssttt… Don’t miss our top 100 tips for organizing every single room in your house!]

Happy Organizing!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.