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View Full Version : What database do you use to organise your stuff



Petal
04-09-2009, 01:23 PM
Hi All,

I dont know about everyone else, but I have lots of beads, findings, wire etc and am thinking about using Excel, to keep track of costs and get more organised.


What do you guys use?


Jules x

mizgeorge
04-09-2009, 01:48 PM
Sorry Jules, but pmsl at the idea!

My organisation consists of a large drawer for receipts. Er, that's it. Apart from using my paypal history pages a lot.

But I now where absolutely everything is ;)

I do keep my findings pretty well sorted in craftmates caddies, the same goes for gemstones, jumprings and lots of other stuff - but most of it ends up on my workspace anyway. Every couple of weeks I put it all away, make bits out of the scrap and give myself more than 0.00004 square inches in and I feel very smug for about five minutes until it's all covered in stuff again.

The Bijou Dragon
04-09-2009, 02:09 PM
Excel.

My OH and I set up a system that when you tell it the parts of the item you're making it deducts it from the total and tells you when you need to order more, it also works out costing etc.

In conjunction with Access you can pretty much set them up to do anything you like and they're really not hard to use, I taught myself!

AlexandraBuckle
04-09-2009, 03:10 PM
I'll admit to being a bit of a fan of excell. i think I have developed a spreadsheet to cover just about every aspect of my life.

Trouble is, it takes me soooo long to update them all!

And if I forget to update them (like i did with the one that told me how much jewellery stock i had left) they soon get out of date :)

I now find it easier just to look at my stock levels :)

MuranoSilver
04-09-2009, 03:16 PM
Similar set up to George except I have a book keeper ;)

Di Sandland
04-09-2009, 03:56 PM
my OH has everything on Excel and has it set up to do costings and stuff but its on his laptop, which I never go near because I hate it with a vengeance. So we now have a system whereby I buy the stuff and when it arrives I throw the receipt on my desk somewhere and every couple of weeks I bundle them all together and throw them in his direction. By that time, some have gone awol and others have been drawn on with design ideas.

EmmaRose
04-09-2009, 04:09 PM
Handwritten. I can't seem to master formulas on excel, they never do what I expect. :(|
Em

Emerald
04-09-2009, 04:10 PM
Sorry Jules, but pmsl at the idea!

My organisation consists of a large drawer for receipts. Er, that's it. Apart from using my paypal history pages a lot.

But I now where absolutely everything is ;)

I do keep my findings pretty well sorted in craftmates caddies, the same goes for gemstones, jumprings and lots of other stuff - but most of it ends up on my workspace anyway. Every couple of weeks I put it all away, make bits out of the scrap and give myself more than 0.00004 square inches in and I feel very smug for about five minutes until it's all covered in stuff again.

That is deffinatley my idea of organisation x :Y:

Petal
04-09-2009, 05:03 PM
Hi All, :~:

Thanks for all the feedback on what you do, and don't do with your bits and pieces. :Y:

My OH, who used to be a programmer, suggested we use Excel and I must admit that, although its a pain with things like packets of 1,000 tiny beads, it seems like a good idea, but I know it will be a pain sorting it out! Up till now, I've just filed invoices in date order, (used to be a secretary), but its now got to the stage where I HAVE GOT TO GET ORGANISED. I've given myself a big smack on the butt today, as my room is a terrible mess and I've spent half my time looking for bits of paper, beads, findings etc etc. to finish some jobs I have at the moment. :o

Thanks guys

Love Jules x

agent_44
04-09-2009, 08:47 PM
Before I stopped selling my jewellery (after my runaway husband incident, I am planning on starting again!) I used to keep Excel spreadsheets of everything, all my components, materials, cost per unit, plus a spreadsheet of finished jewellery, cost price, sale price etc etc, plus a spreadsheet of sales and purchases for accounting. I am the first to admit however that I am extremely anally retentive!

At the moment I am working on my website and plan on incorporating it into a web based system that will manage all of the above, print receipts and invoices etc etc. I'm hoping I can sell it like a Zen Cart type system but geared up for Self Employed Designer Makers. Goodnes knows how long till I have something working though!

bustagasket
04-09-2009, 08:49 PM
At the moment I am working on my website and plan on incorporating it into a web based system that will manage all of the above, print receipts and invoices etc etc. I'm hoping I can sell it like a Zen Cart type system but geared up for Self Employed Designer Makers. Goodnes knows how long till I have something working though!

Stop being so bloody good at that stuff :-p#-o

agent_44
04-09-2009, 08:50 PM
Sorry!! :-p

bustagasket
04-09-2009, 08:53 PM
Sorry!! :-p

lmao just jealous hun[[]]

AlexandraBuckle
04-09-2009, 09:20 PM
Before I stopped selling my jewellery (after my runaway husband incident, I am planning on starting again!) I used to keep Excel spreadsheets of everything, all my components, materials, cost per unit, plus a spreadsheet of finished jewellery, cost price, sale price etc etc, plus a spreadsheet of sales and purchases for accounting. I am the first to admit however that I am extremely anally retentive!

At the moment I am working on my website and plan on incorporating it into a web based system that will manage all of the above, print receipts and invoices etc etc. I'm hoping I can sell it like a Zen Cart type system but geared up for Self Employed Designer Makers. Goodnes knows how long till I have something working though!

Sounds like an exciting project!

Di Sandland
04-09-2009, 09:49 PM
I think you might be onto a winner there, 44 old chap!

Lindyloo
04-09-2009, 10:17 PM
If you've put cost per finding item etc into a spreadsheet, wouldn't you have to keep updating every time the suppliers put the prices up? And wouldn't that just be a big pain in the :(|

agent_44
04-09-2009, 11:07 PM
Well yes, but when I entered new batches of stuff I had received, I would adjust the prices then. It wasn't a big deal, took seconds and worked well for me.

Ominicci
05-09-2009, 10:55 AM
Sounds a good idea. The banking software from Barclays (Quickbooks, that I haven't even loaded yet even thought I got it 4 months ago) is supposed to have a stock tracking facility on it, but I'm sure I will end up turning back to excel... You also NEED to keep a record of stock levels (raw material and manufactured goods) as you need to report their value at the end of the year in your tax return if you are running it as a business.

My brother is a web programmer and uses Quickbooks cos his accountant suggested it, but my brother hates it as a programme. Looks like you should persevere with your idea Agent.

bustagasket
05-09-2009, 11:19 AM
i use Sage at work, but it might be a little bit too involved for my stuff as yet

Di Sandland
05-09-2009, 11:32 AM
i use Sage at work, but it might be a little bit too involved for my stuff as yet

You have to go on courses to learn that stuff, don't you?

I tend to favour MS applications for the simple reason that once you understand how they work that knowledge is transferrable. Same keyboard strokes have the same effect in whatever app you happen to be using.

bustagasket
05-09-2009, 11:41 AM
Our bookkeeper used it when we first opened the garage and she would ask me to do the mundane imput stuff on it cos we have sooooooo much paper work from parts suppliers etc, then the accountant told us to ditch her as she was no good lol and said that i was already doing half her job so they would teach me the rest of it lol. So the lovely Jane came over and spent a day with me showing me the bank rec and vat stuff etc, with me making copious amounts of notes lol. So i have just grown into it.

amazingbabe
05-09-2009, 12:35 PM
My OH set all that up for me and i can't be bothered!!!! Then when i ran out of chain the other night i got a big lecture about it " why did i set that up for you if you are not going to use it?? If you used that now you would'nt have run out (bla bla) for gods sake woman thats like having a ferrari and no bloody petrol " Well i fell around the place laughing :rofl:

Dano
05-09-2009, 01:35 PM
my organization system is open plan filing and storage, with much wandering around muttering "come on dan where the **** did you put it aargh" then vowing to organize the workshop a bit, then putting the kettle on and promptly forgetting about it.

works for me!

EmmaRose
05-09-2009, 03:29 PM
Dano you are after my own heart LOL. Rubbish at at all that stuff!
Em

mizgeorge
05-09-2009, 04:21 PM
Oh Dano and Em, you have made me feel better!
I was starting to feel very inadequate in the middle there somewhere ;)

I'm quite impressed with myself today as my working space seems to have grown to about 6x4 inches. Which means I've either put a lot of stuff away or finished some stuff. Or it might just be that the pile of bits and pieces to one side is about to collapse all over me.

kymbi
05-09-2009, 06:59 PM
I love your description of your working space George and it rings a very familiar bell - I see pics of other people's work benches and they are all organised and neat, but mine is disgraceful, full of half-finished pieces, with work mats piled on top of each other! I had a poor selling weekend over the bank holiday and the upside was that I had a little more free time during the week so tackled the desk head-on....and increased my scrap pot no-end ;)

I won't comment on my organisation of paperwork as you would be horrified...I'm a fiend for keeping track of records - I was an accountant in my last life, nuff said #-o

agent_44
05-09-2009, 07:47 PM
Sounds a good idea. The banking software from Barclays (Quickbooks, that I haven't even loaded yet even thought I got it 4 months ago) is supposed to have a stock tracking facility on it, but I'm sure I will end up turning back to excel... You also NEED to keep a record of stock levels (raw material and manufactured goods) as you need to report their value at the end of the year in your tax return if you are running it as a business.

My brother is a web programmer and uses Quickbooks cos his accountant suggested it, but my brother hates it as a programme. Looks like you should persevere with your idea Agent.


I used to use Quickbooks, and I wasn't very impressed at all, and I disliked that I had dupication of data between all my spreadsheets and the Quickbooks data. That's why I thought I might do something myself.

CyberPaddy66
13-09-2009, 03:53 PM
You have to go on courses to learn that stuff, don't you?

Only if you want to be qualified, the application comes with all the help you need in the assistant files but you may need to hunt then out on the disks ;)

I used to set up Sage Line-50 for my customers when I was a Senior Network Engineer, I've never learned how to use the program but I found out pretty fast how it worked when things went wrong #-o

I keep suggesting it to the Mrs but she's happy with our Excel Worksheet for now, maybe in the future we can upgrade so to speak :lol: