I think I kept buying fabric because I hadn't a clue what to do with what I had. So I quit buying fabric in 2001 and became a scrappy quilter.
Around 2006 I figured out sorting by color, photo is the result from then,in two closets. Believe it or not it has stayed fairly neat. I ruler folded mine. A fat quarter only folds once but can still be seen when stacked.
I had a shelf fail a few weeks ago which resulted with me taking it all out and straightening for the stash. It only took me about two hours and it was perfect again. And there was still too much
I'm thankful I found my brain and quit buying.
This spring some of the wonderful quilters here sent me some great scraps, just for the cost of shipping. It allowed me to add in fresh fabrics without particularly adding to my stash.
The right hand side now has four clear bins with my own precut squares in 4 sizes. Happy happy happy! And all that remains of folded stash fits in the left closet, which is still to big
upper left neutral was feedsack muslin which I traded to a member here for used shirts
another win win