So far I have began to limit the amount of fixtures I can acquire due to space, I’m planning on getting a storage unit.

So far I have began to limit the amount of fixtures I can acquire due to space, I’m planning on getting a storage unit.

Fortunately, we haven't quite got that bad, although we don't really collect fixtures, just lamps. But we're heading that way   

Yep..I really don't have much space left for collecting stuff.

Fortunately, we haven't quite got that bad, although we don't really collect fixtures, just lamps. But we're heading that way   

Space is definitely easier with lamps, I still have plenty of room for that. But on the other hand, I keep stubbing my toe into my street light fixtures on a regular basis as they took up space. 

My lighting collection doesn't take up that much space. When I was a kid I could fit most of it into a flat storage tote. Back then most of it was sockets, incandescent bulbs, and night lights. Since about 2018 when I started collecting HID stuff, it's gotten harder to store. Since HID bulbs and fixtures take up a lot more space. I probably have two medium sized totes with HID lamps and photocontrols. Mostly I collect NEMA heads though so those don't take up much space when broken down. I probably wouldn't collect cobras unless I had a shed or something to keep them in.

My bigger problem is I don't collect just lighting, but other stuff too, so yeah it gets out of hand. And sometimes I even forget what I have since it's packed away. 

My bigger problem is I don't collect just lighting, but other stuff too, so yeah it gets out of hand. And sometimes I even forget what I have since it's packed away. 

Tell me about it, there's been a few times I've come across something that I have no recollection of ever getting. Usually it's small things like neon bulbs or non-lighting electrical items but I have a GE 175w medium base metal halide that I swear just phased into existence in one of my lamp totes one day. 

Does a bear  in the woods?

It has gotten better moving into my new house, but back when i had a small room and a smaller closet i had bulbs stuffed in every corner of my room, but now i can reasonably stuff most of my collection into my closet and i have room for a few small pictures and more lamps. It is difficult for me to get any tubes longer then 2 feet to be safely stored.

It is difficult for me to get any tubes longer then 2 feet to be safely stored.

That's one of the reasons we don't collect fluorescent tubes, except for the rarer ones like the BC capped ones we had here years ago, there just isn't the space. Lamps (discharge and incandescent) take up far less space. Well apart from 135W and 180W SOX lamps, that is   

That's one of the reasons we don't collect fluorescent tubes, except for the rarer ones like the BC capped ones we had here years ago, there just isn't the space. Lamps (discharge and incandescent) take up far less space. Well apart from 135W and 180W SOX lamps, that is   

I mean your not wrong!

That is also why i some u bend, circline, and pl lamps is because they are more compact fluorescent sources, i could store a F90T17 in my closet if i tried but im not sure risk of that one, i would have to completely reorganise it to make it safer for a tube like that and a cluts like me. In my old bedroom you couldn't fit a F120T12 slimline on the floor wall to wall on one side.

Well I never thought it would happen to me but space has become a definite problem!
My condo has very little closet and storage space and my incandescent collection will no longer fit.
The boxes are starting to pile up in one of the bedrooms and now that I'm starting to collect fluorescent tubes I've created an even bigger bigger problem, especially with the F72 slimlines.
If anyone has any advice or suggestions on how to better organize my incandescents other than boxes jammed into closets I'm willing to listen.

Incandescents take space.  When I started running out of space on those I bought a bookcase from Ikea, with extra additional shelves, and adjusted the gap between the shelves to something slightly more than the height of the average cartons.  Also extended the vertical height up to the ceiling.  Its a relatively low cost investment that keeps them safe and easily accesssible, and with greater packing density than some other methods.  For fluorescents, I store these vertically in a corner of the room.  237 tubes in an area measuring 40x90cm I think is not too bad :-)  Some of the shorter tubes are double-stacked vertically.  But now that corner is full, and I have to stop collecting more FL.  On the rare occasion that something new and interesting comes into the collection then I make space for it by sacrificing one of the others, which can go to another collector.  This helps to improve the quality of the collection over time.  Attached a photo of all the 3', 4', 5' and 6' tubes.  8' are kept separately because the ceiling is too low to stack those vertically.  2' and shorter are in an area of similar dimensions, but lower height.

Great job James on organizing the fluorescents! Looks like you've made good use of the space that you have. As far as the incandescents go I'll have to look into something just like your setup. Thanks for the advice!

Bringing a 14 years old thread back to life, nice! xD

I was brutally thrown into a lack of room back in 2013. Without a basement to handle my stuff, I had to dispose of part of the stuff with little value and almost all the 8ft fluorescent equipment I had. I did keep one fixture and a dozen lamps or so thanks to a family member who kindly allowed me to take a corner of a barn on his property to store what I kept. But even then I still had to dispose of all but the really valuable fluorescents, plus a few of the brand new ones for future testing. To this day I still have my pre-1950 fixture and a few extra units. The rest of my collection wasn't that bulky, thankfully, so I was able to manage it.

That problem must've been pretty intense though, because it made me decide to stop the actual collecting. Without getting too philosophical, it's becoming harder for me to see the point of letting my stuff collect dust for decades. So as controversial as it may sound, I decided to actually use the lighting supplies I still have, and only spare the really valuable pieces that are likely to end up in a museum one day. After all, lamps are designed to provide illumination, so why not enjoy them, right? Though I probably have a stockpile of incandescent bulbs that'll outlast me.