It’s always the same pattern: After a few hours I decide to sort everything because it runs out of control but then I never do it again so it’s getting worse than before.
When playing RuneScape like 10 years ago I sorted my bank by item color. Once I started pressing the button to deposit everything at once (because it felt soooo easy) it looked like it was sorted by color but it was significantly worse, since the items I used the most were always somewhere I didn’t expect them.
Small chest size is literally the only reason why I don’t like playing Valheim. Factorio was the worst game so far. My factory worked but it was a diabolic mess that relied on me, sometimes refilling some random chests manually.
Speaking of the Minecraft hotbar:
(if anything isn't present, it's usually replaced with a block or other item)
Does it make sense? Not really. Does it make building with more than a few blocks a pain? Yes. Will I still do it? Absolutely.
Modded items can help. Like the paxel, which combines the pickaxe/axe/shovel into one tool. That frees up some space for extra modded tools like wrenches and the like.