Tips: Cut your quilt scraps for best use & storing

I have been researching to figure out the best way to store my fabric scraps.  They are piling up quickly, and I want to use them if I can. My first big find was that many quilters pre-cut their scraps into usable strips or squares.  Sounds great, but I am still trying lots of new things and wasn't sure what sizes to cut them.  Then I found a helpful blog post on "The Voice of Quilting" by Pat Sloan. 

She had gone through similar research to mine, and took it one step further and researched what would be used most often in quilt patterns. She came up with the following list for herself:

• 2" squares
• 2.5" squares
• 3.5" squares
• 5" squares 
• 2.5" wide strips (like jelly rolls)

What qualifies as scraps?  That varies from quilter to quilter, but may also vary depending on how much you still love the fabric.  I have found it interesting how even "ugly" fabrics often look good if cut into small enough squares!
The size you choose depends on the size of the scrap you have to work with.  Of course, if you have the time you can also take smaller scraps and sew them together to make a scrappy square in the sizes listed above.  The uniform sizes store easily in shoe box size containers, and take surprising less room to store than the raw scraps.  Win-win.   

I hope my research project helps you too.  If you have found any other pearls of wisdom on this topic, please comment and share your ideas!
Ann