I don't have a large floss collection. I buy floss for each project, unless I think I have enough left over from a different project.

Over the years I have inherited lots of floss from different sources, as well as purchasing even more. I keep the bobbinated (wound on little cards) ones in a plastic storage boxes sorted by number. The new/unused flosses are in baggies, also sorted by number.

I made myself an Excel spreadsheet. It is three columns: NUMBER/NEW/PARTIAL. Then, I listed the amount of each floss that I have. I took a few hours but it was worth the time and effort. There are many duplicates and I am missing a few colors.
I don't feel the need to have a "Master Set." There are some colors that I know I will never use.
I don't wind my floss on bobbins until I am ready to use that color.
I don't buy in advance; just to maintain a full set.
I keep a list in my wallet of frequently used or missing numbers just in case I come across an exceptional sale. Rarely happens these days.
If you don't have a store nearby and almost run out of a specific number; post a message. Most times one of the members of this Chat that they will send you.

I have an entire set of DMC floss colors on plastic bobbins in plastic boxes on a roll-around drawer unit by my sewing chair. There are 6 full boxes of floss. I also have several extra skeins of many of the colors that I use most often as well. This way I have the DMC colors I need when I start a new a new project. I don't buy kits anymore because a lot of companies use their own floss and the quality isn't very good. If a pattern I like is in a kit which is rare I buy the kit and toss the floss.
Every so often I go through all of my floss skeins and restock the ones getting low. When I start a project if I need several skeins of one color as listed in the directions I go buy the extras before I get started so I don't have to worry about it later.
I also keep several pieces of 14, 16, and 18 ct. Aida fabric for my projects. If it is a large project like 24 inches x 30 inches then I buy the Aida fabric by the yard.

Hope these ideas that I use will give you some suggestions. I have been stitching for over 30 years and these are what works best for me. Don't worry there are no Stitching Police to come and arrest you!!

Welcome to the wonderful world of cross stitching!!

I don't see any reason to have a master set. A friend gave me a couple of boxes of thread a few years ago. I only buy what I need.

There was a discussion on here a while back that had a link to a spread sheet. I thought I book marked the site but I cannot find it. I used it create my own inventory sheet. I keep my projects in a bin and I have the Floss A Way bags for any extra skeins and/or bobbins that I am not currently using. I put my empty bobbins on a ring in numerical number to use again on another project.

No need to reinvent the wheel. If you have Excel and want to provide your email address I can send you a copy.

Everyone has their own preferences and what seems ideal for one person may seem awkward to another. Personally, I prefer to store my floss in Floss-A-Way or similar 'baggies' because each bag can hold a few skeins of each floss and any cut lengths of floss can also be stored in the bags. I've got the Floss-A-Way bags numbered with a Sharpie and stored in numerical order in a pair of stackable plastic storage boxes.

Many years ago (in the early 1990's) I accumulated a 'master set' of the basic DMC flosses -- like you, none of the variegateds or metallics -- because I thought it would be good to have them on hand. It worked pretty well; for several years, when I began a project I usually had the floss on hand. Then I gave up stitching for several years while working on other hobbies & interests. The stitching bug bit me again a couple of years ago -- and when going through my stash of supplies I decided to discard at least half of the flosses because I realized that there are colors that have never been, and likely never will be used. I didn't actually discard them, I gave some to a friend who volunteers with after-school activities and then snipped some of them into short lengths and put them out for the birds to use for nest-building. Now, I purchase the floss I need for each project. I do keep a supply sheet of the colors I have; I don't carry it in my purse but refer to it when I begin thinking of the next project I'll begin.

So, I say that if having a master set piques your interest, go for it! When the floss is on sale purchase the additional skeins to fill out your set. FYI I was pleased to see that after 25+ years, none of the colors I had purchased so long ago seemed to have faded in color (this was DMC floss).

My personal choices above are based on being an avid but only occasional stitcher (working 2-4 projects a year) and living in a large metropolitan area with several Michael's, Walmarts and other craft supply sources in the area.

Happy stitching!!

FLOSS! My favorite thing about cross stitching, until colored and the hand-dyed or painted fabrics came in.
FLOSS, oh beautiful floss! When I began stitching on 1952, I was only taught outline stitch to outline animals that had been handed down generation after generation in my mother's family. In my dad's family, they first taught me how to hand sew a seam, then sew on buttons, then to make hand-sewn button holes. My mother was very critical, which came close to stopping any interest I had in any sewing. But my great-grandma and grandma had the patience of saints. I did the same kinds of stitches over and over because I always got something new to do as a reward. My mother would say things like "Your button holes look like pig's eyes" or the big insult, "Pick a smaller needle, Suzanne. The one you chose looks like a crowbar!"
After figuring out that a lot of folks did not cry during sewing, which was turned to as a restful time after household chores were done, I found that I liked sewing! I was spirited away to California at age 6, no stitchers, except my mother, and I stopped stitching. She came back from a trip to Europe that she and my dad took in 1955 with a new Necchi sewing machine. Until high school, I was not allowed to touch it. Ah, hah! She wanted to teach her Girl Scout troop to sew, so she finally let me use her Necchi at last! I learned all that I could. An old man in a repair shop taught me to thread my old machine, eyes closed! It was an old White Rotary machine converted from a treadle to electric. I was off and running!
My older brother and I were sent to spend Summers with my aunt and uncle near San Diego and at their ranch near Ramona, Cal. Both were artists, but My aunt loved cross stitch! She taught me and it was cross stitch and finding old and new floss wherever I went! My family has loved DMC for generations. About 15 years ago, my DH encouraged me to buy an entire set, so I did it gradually. I now have what we call The Great Floss Monster. I use the little "bobbins and write the DMC numbers on them. I do not keep other manufacturers' floss because it confuses my need to keep things in order. I donate them. This summer I hope to teach Girl Scouts to cross and/or embroider. I know that I cannot to buyneachna little project, but plan to proved 14 count Aida, neeedles and material for embroidery then cross stitch! My class has grown to an approximate number of bobbin boxes of 30! With roughly 108 per box I dropped the eight because I hate math (our baby at 42, has a degree in Pure Mathematics), I have 3000+ cards of floss. Now I overdose if I see that I need just one skein!
Many skeins were tangled messes or skeins bought for a project and filed. I was gifted the entire set of Weeks Dye Works (overdyed floss that I love). I keep that separately and am slowly filling up our entire beach cottage with all my sewing stuff!
I loaned my new at 15 years ago Necchi to my friend and quilting neighbor. FLOSS is best anyway as long as it is kept away from any smoke (especially cigarette, but run out of the house with your floss if the house is burning and don't forget the baby). Floss keeps well with this system. Other stitchers have their own storage. My husband saw a big storage cabinet at a thrift shop (my birthday was the 21st and I get paid on the 27th). If he doesn't try to buy it again on Wednesday, I will. Otherwise, I saw a dresser at a discount store that would be great! Don't give up the floss!!!

I use the “Darice floss and craft Organizer” 17-compartment plastic containers for my DMC floss storage which I put on Plastic ( not the cardboard) bobbins and put the DMC color numbers on the bobbins. Like Syagel, I have 6 boxes for all the DMC floss colors. I also have an extra one of the organizer boxes that I titled, “DMC Spares”.
On top of all that, I have another set of DMC flosses at our other small place up north so I don’t have to keep taking my floss back and forth when we go North. DH - in concert with Santa Claus - bought me a Craftsman Tool box on wheels for me to keep all my other cross stitch supplies in.

I have a complete set of DMC floss, also. I don't refer to it as a "master set," it's simply my DMC floss. It is one skein of each DMC floss that they manufacture. I store those skeins on numbered cardboard bobbins in 5 Darice 15-compartment floss boxes. I didn't know there were 17 compartment boxes, Bermuda, I'll have to look for them. And I don't know why mine fits in 5 boxes and you have 6! I store any extra skeins in a plastic storage box with a flip lid in no particular order and not on bobbins. I just dig through it to see if there is an extra skein for the color I happen to be looking for at the time. If I am starting a new project that calls for several skeins of floss of one or more colors, I will buy all new skeins and not use the one in my boxed set. I want to be sure they are all of the same dye lot, so there is not even a slight variation in color in any of the skeins. I will either buy them from a local cross-stitch shop or JoAnn Fabrics or Michael's. If none of them have the colors I need, I will buy on-line from ECS or one of the other online cross-stitch websites. Replacing colors depends on how often you use them, and how much you use in each particular design. I have some colors I've never used, and others like 310 - Black that is used often, especially around Halloween!
I also have a complete set of Sullivan's floss in another 5 boxes. But I don't think I need a spread sheet to keep track of what I have.

I squeezed some duplicate DMC colors in there,
Especially Ecru, Blanc, B5200, 310 (Black) and a few colors that I seem to go through because of my existing WIPs, Iwo Jima with all the different shades of blue for the sky( including Blanc for the clouds,) all the browns and tans for “Sacred Hour.” I checked out here on ECS but they aren’t carrying the plastic compartment boxes; those are at 123Stitch.