Could my inventory be any messier?

The question: does anyone have a logical, brilliant, easy-to-use system for folder hierarchies? Every month I promise myself I will organize the freebie textures and furniture and Halloween decorations and house-builds and "HOOO!" sound samples, etc. but I quickly become overwhelmed, curl into a fetal position, eat chocolate and weep.

My closets and cupboards and offices are a mess in RL, too, so don't tell me to just go with a logical system. What is that? How do people organize their inventories?

If someone has an outline/organizational map that shows which folders and subfolders go where (and I can understand it), I'll send you a special treat I built myself!

good luck.

I just use search LOL
nearing 30K in items (and that doesn't include the things still boxed up etc) I gave up trying to organize it

I too have messy cupboards, chaotic dressers, and cluttered shelves in RL...

There are a couple of really great classes in SL that teach how to organize inventory using subfolders. Off the top of my head the three schools I can recall with classes on this are:

*^ASL^ (Academy of Second Learning - taught by Gaia Rossini)
*NCI
*Dreams - taught by Golda Stein

I've taken all of them and although I tend to be very organized to begin with, I always learn an additional tip or two

I also have messy inventories, SL & RL.


For SL sometimes I go through and just delete everything called object, I figure if I didn't care enough to name it, I don't need it.

I also go through and delete multiple copies I tend to accumulate of trees, landscape objects etc. Searching "ponderosa" in my inventory could bring up 100 duplicates of the same library item if I didn't do that every so often.

Here's a thread with some tips,

/327/05/241738/1.html

Also, the hardest part is usually actually doing it! Taking the 1st step. Just decide to do one thing next time you log on. Someone (I forget who) mentioned opening up the filters window and unchecking all the boxes except one, say 'Landmarks'. Delete the ones you don't need, then organize the ones you want to keep into sub-folders. Shops/Fun Places/Hangouts, etc.

You're on your way.

Next time you log on, organize your shoes, etc. One day at a time and it won't seem such a daunting task. I finally got mine under control last week, and I feel so much lighter.

Folders on top of folders and sub folders.

I also number my folders from foot to head. Like 1Shoes and then 2Clothes 3Hair --- 4 Builts and on and on so when I look at my inventory they are listed foot to head.

Of course within those main files I have subfolders like in the clothes -- I have Costumes and Shirts and Sweaters etc... after a while I began naming my clothes folders after the designers like [DE] or [Blaze] each of these folders would of course have their own subfolders of how they were packaged....

I don't mean this in a bad way but it sounds to me like you are disorganised generally. I would start by fixing your RL cupboards - if that succeeds then perhaps there is hope. I would say if anyone is asking this question and has more than a couple of thousand items then they are already too far lost unless they spend weeks sorting it out.

The best method for being organised is to start out that way and maintain that disciplined organisation as you collect stuff. The best inventory organisation strategy in the world will not work unless it is strictly followed.

Discipline is the keyword here - there are no shortcuts

/me hangs his head in shame.

Yes, I'm not organized. I can juggle 11 projects at one time, as well as keep two dozen employees busy on billable assignments. But the logic of how one decides that honey goes on the top shelf and ketchup goes on the second and cereal goes on the bottom totally escapes me.

Once I understand a system, I can follow it. Designing that system is where I have trouble.

awww *hugs* on the upside there is a good chance you have artistic leanings

Go into ever folder category

Make a folder called

"To be sorted"

and stuff everything in it.

The just pretend like it doesn't exist until its time to make "to be sorted 2"

rofl and lmao

ROFL sounds a lot like me
I just look for an empty spot and shove whatever item is in my hand, into that spot
same with my fridge LOL

I gave up on my inventory a long time ago
I do have some subfolders, but if someone else were to try to find something they would be lost
because it has been mine from the birth of it, I kinda have an idea where things are

hehe I did that, made to be sorted and misc folders, which ended up being sub folders of stuff that needs to be sorted from a specific date
like for instance if today I were to collect all my "junk" I would put it in a folder, the folder would be named march 10/08 and that folder would be put in the to be sorted folder LOL

I have a few that still needs sorting, strange thing is though, because I date the folders it helps to find stuff LOL

I think my brain is wired differently than organized folks

You mean messy'er ??

Or Messier .. in which case You have it easy !

Go Endeavour STS123 T-minus5hrs 23mins ..

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html]


Good luck on the inventory !

C'mon .. first nightime liftoff in 10 years ..

GO Endeavour !

T-5hrs 16mins

I have around 15,000 items, and can't seem to get below that... I've been working sporadically on organizing my inventory; it's quite time consuming. I go to a sky platform or sometimes sandbox, start rezzing things, and usually end up getting distracted by IMs.

One thing that I've done that made the decision process easier for me is I decided to adopt, with minor changes, the hierarchy system that SLX uses. So I've set up folders and subfolders with the same names as SLX, and if I'm not sure where something should be filed when I'm organizing, I look it up (or a similar item) and see how it's categorized in SLX.

When I'm organizing, I open up 3 Inventory windows, one for the folder I'm organizing (e.g. Objects), one for the folder that the sorted items will go into, and finally a third window to check for duplicates. I have sufficient screen real estate now so that I can put all three windows side-by-side.

But my Objects folder is still quite daunting. Landmarks too has been getting out of control. And Textures... Oh my.

Btw, eating chocolate sounds much more exciting.... What kind of chocolate do you eat?

Ok my theory on this is EVERYTHING and i mean everything should be caterogised... if you cant catergorise it then you shouldnt have it!!

Within Boday parts i have seperate folders for Hair, Skin, Body Shapes, Eyes, Other Stuff (eyelashes etc) .... within the hair foler I have several other folders.... for me I have black/red (which is all the hair i have in the usual colour i wear) ... then everything else is organised into formal, up, down etc

I just delete calling cards so that folder is empty

Within clothing I have accessoriesith the following sub folders : Jewellery, tattoos, hats, belts, Hair accessories

then i have a bikini folder.... that doesnt have sub olders cos i dont have many

then a dress folder with sub folders call : shrt, medium and long.... then within them i have other folders.... eg the long folder has casual, cocktail and formal

then a lingerie older which has colour sub folders

Then i have a folder called outfits which has sub folders called : with shirts: with skirts, with jackets, casual, work etc.... i only put stuff in here that i dont want to split up... otherwise when i get an outfit i split it into tops and skit or pants and name both folders the name of the outfit and place them accordingly

Then a ffolder called pants anf jeans (sub folers : dress pants, jeans, capris, shorts, casual pants)



*laughs* i could go on... but as you can see EVERYTHING needs to have a place.... i also took an idea from here and have a basics folder with everything i normally wear all the time plonked in it

Event my objects oler has its own set of folers from boxed up clothes to house/furniture and landscaping (that has subfolders) to random fun stuff

My building folder has textures which has like 20 sub folders and several sub sub folders



BUT.... i have been doing it this way since i joined... so it is easier for me... it has always been organised

I have about 18,000 items now and started out with a what I thought was a good system - I will describe my hair and clothing areas...

My hair was organised in sub-folders by designer - I just seemed to remember easily that a particular hair was a type from that designer.

However my clothes were organised a bit like this: -

Accesories
Beachwear
Bedwear
Underwear
Footwear->Boots
Footwear->Shoes
Formal
Casual
Themed->Fantasy
Themed->Gothic
Themed->Victorian
etc...
(You get the idea)

All was well until I started having difficulties finding clothing items at about 12,000 items. Arrgh! I could remember how it looked usually and the designer of the item but not which category often - was it a fantasy gown, a normal formal or a gothic?

I had aprroximately 1000 outfits and another simillar amount were hairs. However I had no problems finding my hairs.

So at 12,000 items I reorganised my clothing folder.
For a woman like me this was unbeleivable pain. It tooks weeks but I reorganised all my clothing by designer under a few top level categories seperating the obvious ones like footwear from gowns. It would depend on whether that designer was an often purchased from designer or whether there were only one or two items from that them.

So now I have a large folders of things like Last Call, Nicky Ree, etc which seems at first really hard to find stuff under but my mind seems to find these items better than before.

My point here is that our individual brains tend work a little differently from each other I think - you have to organise your inventory in a way that suits the way you think of an item when you first come to look for it.

Hope some of that made sense

I'm a big believer in folders and sub-folders, they are our friends. I also use storage prims and Thinc boxes.

I put all my good clothing into the inventory Clothing folder by designer. I've also started taking snapshots of some of the outfits, if the designer didn't include a picture with the clothes. It's faster for me sometimes to just click on the picture to see which outfit this is.

I keep shoes in their own folder, again sub-folders by designer.

I have a folder called Freebies and one called Not Yet Opened. This comes in handy when you're out shopping and you don't want to tp back home to open it up just then. If what I just bought comes in its own folder,then right there and then I open up two Inventory windows and move it from Recent Items to a folder.

I try to delete a few things almost every night. Only way to keep your sanity and it sure feels good to get rid of the junk.

I did once go to public sandboxes and deleted over 5,000 items in about 2 weeks. Most of those were freebie duplicates. When I first came into SL, I think I picked up half of all available freebies!

We all revise how our inventories are set up. I'm thinking of rearranging some of my folders(must be the SL version of spring cleaning fever). Just keep trying different methods until you find one that works best for you.

oh i love this thread!

I sometimes sit and have a clear out , if i havent worn it in 6 months i ditch it- im like that in r/l too. (or yard sale it or give it away and make it someone elses junk)

Recently i gave my partner the bright box storage system...i saw it around and about at peoples yard sales...seems a brill idea..BUT he is yet to use it...hmmm..so maybe its more complicated than it looked when i bought it.

Ive been thinking about making a box..and just filling it with all my store stuff,vendor items..and leaving it inworld NOT in my inventory. The firnisture for the rentals we do really doesnt need to be in my inventory, so i figure it can sit in a box until required .

With photos , my partner made this texture switching frame..its huge..and ive named each frame by catergory ie: resort photos of our homes we rent, me & him, events and so forth...if i want one i just haul out the frame and copy the photo, that saves a lot of space AND made me go through them all and NAME them. (was FUN too seeing all the newbie ones of us)

ANYTHING copiable ive deleted to two copies-amazing how many chairs of the same type i had!

I have a hard rule to keep my inventory below 5,000 items and I'm currently around 3,400 and feel like I have a lot of stuff...lol. Two points off the top of my head at this point in the thread:

1. Storage boxes are your friend. Whether you then keep the box/es in your inventory or, like me, store them at home....they are THE biggest help. In addition to putting a copy of everything I own (that is copiable) as a backup in them in case SL decides to eat my inventory, I ~also~ put ANYTHING I do not use regularly in one. Assorted avatars, holiday supplies, that dress, hair, shoes, etc. that seemed like a good idea when I bought it but not can't understand why....but I don't want to ditch them yet....go in there as well. That alone will bring down inventory immensely as you can stuff 100 items into a cube and it only counts as 1 item (or prim if you store it externally).

2. Others have mentioned sub-folders. ESSENTIAL! The latest class I took on inventory control really stressed that having items in sub-folders really helped inventory load more quickly.

(By the responses in this thread, I'm pondering holding a private class on inventory control )

That's a great idea! I will try that!Anything dark, dark, dark.

+++++

I am extremely impressed by the elaborate systems some of you shared to organize clothing and hair and jewelry. Maybe it's an SL guy thing (Or maybe because guy’s clothes generally suck in SL?), but I only own four pairs of shoes, three pairs of pants, a few undies and a few dozen t shirts that I made myself. Oh, and one very sexy hair style. (/me makes irritating clicking sound with tongue and winks.) I’m not a big clothes horse in RL either.

Thanks, all y'all for these great ideas!

Oh my.

That, and... your listed location cracked me up.

As for my inventory, I keep it at or around 5,000 and don't shop very often. I mix and match outfits. I delete calling cards, note cards, landmarks, and anything I haven't bothered to rename from "object."

Everything has a folder or a subfolder, similar to those described above. If I am buying something, i file it right away before leaving the store.

Lastly, for big reorg projects having two inventory windows open is a godsend. If you need somebody to jabber with while you're reorganizing hit me up

Any more messy than it already is?

Oh, I'm sure it could - just try harder.

Make one folder called "My Stuff" and put everything in it.

OR (more advanced)

Make two folders - "My Stuff transferable" and My Stuff not transferable" and sort accordingly.

My issue is my inventory often is hungry packrat place and sorting it is incredibly annoying.