How do YOU deal with inventory?

[Senobia Xenga]

Hi, everyone - 

After five years, I'm making a (semi) serious effort to get my inventory under control. It's only at 52K - not as bad as some, but far worse than others. 

Over the years I've heard a lot of tricks and tips about what people do to sort theirs. I've found most of it doesn't work for me. I don't like storing stuff away where I can't see it - like in boxes or texture organizers or that magic closet I bought for close to 1K lindens when it came out. Same for scripts/pictures/LMs on notecards - not for me.

So what do you do? Put things in their place as soon as you get them? Hoard a bunch of stuff and sort it later?

Share your knowledge with us.

But if you have a magic "Sort Inventory Now" button that you could share, that would be even better.

Thanks.

[Madelaine McMasters]

52K?!

Throw stuff away!

I've been here six years (3.5 in my current incarnation) and have less than 10K things. In the last year, I doubt I've used more than 500 of them.

[Tari Landar]

Umm...I don't

Ok, on a more serious note...

Right now my inventory sits at, roughly 85k, and that's *mostly sorted. Considering there have been times when I was well above 500k, I'd say I'm doing good. (and for anyone interested, no, having a larger inventory does not slow me down, or cause thins to take forever to load, however it might, on a system worse than mine, which is not top of the line to begin with-phew, long run-on there)

When I do sort it, I simply move things into folders. I box things up that I only use at certain times of the year too, but mostly I have found the folders option to work best.

What I do is open two inventory windows, then I make folders. I start each new folder name off with !, because it lists it at the top doing it that way, right under my system folders(aka, makes it easier to find). I have folders for clothes, folders for specific kinds of building materials(textures, sculpts, mesh, etc..) and things like that. I actually don't shop much, especially for clothes. So I probably have a much smaller amount of clothing than many people will. My inventory consists of a lot more materials for building and creating than anything else.

I'm a sentimental sort of sap, so I save lots of things, including some very, very old things from my first sl account-and a couple after that during my "I like sl.. no it's boring" phase early on. Those items are boxed, because it's not likely I'll ever use them again, but I like knowing I have them. I'm a collector   Plus, a lot of them are things you can't find on the grid anymore.

The only folder I haven't yet sorted, well not very well, is my objects folder. It's still pretty random. One of these days I'll get to it.

[Czari Zenovka]

In SL 7 years as of May 1 and I have approximately 8K worth of inventory (and a lot of that is awaiting my packing strategy - @OP I know you said you didn't like putting items where you can't see them, but that is what has worked for me.  My all-time favorite packing items are the THinC boxes...LOVE THEM!!!!)

I used to be able to keep my inventory to around 5K but I have a bunch of textures I need to either dump or put in one of my texture organizers.   In my RL home I tend toward minimalism so keeping my inventory down has never been difficult for me in SL.

ETA:  This post was to the OP; I just tagged off Maddy's post.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Pack stuff away that you use rarely then make folders, subfolders, sub sub folders, whatever works for you.  When you get something new, put it in its place immediately.  If the folder it comes in  (particularly for hair, or outfits etc) isn't descriptive enough, change the name or add words to it that will jog your memory.  For instance for hair, i add things like "over the should braid with bangs" next to teh style name.  I sort hair in a hair folder with folders for color then general styles: updo, ponytail, long etc.

I do use texture organizers and boxes, because my inventory would be 500k or more if i didn't.  Most of that is copies of sims i've built and building supplies though.  I can't remember when i had only 50K lol.

[Kyrah Abattoir]

10 Years in sl, my inventory hover around 32000 objects. My best advice would be to take a day every now and then to sort at least one of the main sub folders. Notecards, Landmarks, check your Oject folder for all those "Object" in it, rez them to see what it is, if it's worth keeping, give it a proper name and pick it back up, otherwise, to the trash.

Personally i store hairs, eyes, and makeup in sub categories of the "Body Parts" folder and clothes in clothe type folders: shoes, pants, skirts, dresses, etc...

Do not dive in expecting to fully sort it, it's better to do a little at a time.

[Wandering Soulstar]

One simple thing I have found that helps to keep my inven under control is a periodic cleaning of all those notecards, LMs, animations, pose stands, etc that come when we buy things. No reason to have LMs to stores repeated in the folders of every outfit I have bought there. For the notecards that may contain useful information, I try to keep just one. If you have multiple items from the same store odds are the nc is a repeat.

[Rosie Eun]

Folders, folders, folders.

I spend a large percentage of my time in SL just sorting my inventory, which I rather enjoy, as it gives me an opportunity to rummage through the neglected corners of my wardrobe.  I have folders with maybe 4 levels of sub-folders beneath them to try and categorise stuff.

I tend to make outfits and save them, with the skin, shape, hair, whichever body part appliers are needed, shoes and so on, which means I probably have several thousand items as duplicates, but it makes changing looks far easier than if I didn't.

Oh, and yes, deleting the "unpacking" scripts, LMs, "About this product/me/my blog" notecards from folders after purchase clears out hundreds of items each time I do it. I make sure I have ONE copy of the LM saved to the LM folder and then chuck out the remainder.

Also, storing "essential" stuff to a single prim on my land - I have backed up my shape, favourite skin, body parts, hairstyles etc into a prim that forms part of my house, so in the event of a catastrophic inventory loss I will at least still look like I normally do. 

 

I seem to remember there being a "Find duplicates" option on Inventory Search a while back, but I might be imagining it. There certainly isn't one that I've been able to find on Firestorm. 

[Wandering Soulstar]

Side Note to Rosie -

Concerning your comments:

I tend to make outfits and save them, with the skin, shape, hair, whichever body part appliers are needed, shoes and so on, which means I probably have several thousand items as duplicates, but it makes changing looks far easier than if I didn't.

You do know you can save outfits as links as opposed to copies? The only time I put in copies is when it is an item that is modifiable (shoe colour for example) and I want to save it in that state.

[Nova Convair]

I tell you a secret.

If you want your inventory to shrink you have to delete stuff !

Of course you can start to put things into boxes. But will you ever remember what is boxed where and find one of this boxes, rez it and search the contents of it? Really? It's easier and faster to just delete it.

 

[Rosie Eun]

Hello - yes, thanks!  I do have a few outfits with links, but because I use a fair few mesh body parts I tend to tweak all the attachments like shoes and so on, and I wear lots of different skins, so it's simpler just to copy and mod the items for each look.

 

[Senobia Xenga]

I've gotten rid of, roughly, 2k items in the past three days so that's a good start...I guess.

Yes - folders are my preference, too. 

It's a neverending process, though. You delete 40 things and then open 40 more to see what they are and end up worse off than you started. 

I still have hunt gifts from 2009/2010 and holiday stuff I haven't opened from just as far back.

Yes, I realize that if I haven't used them in this long, I probably won't, but what if I WANT it and just don't know it because I haven't opened it yet?

And then there's the whole new free group gift at ________ messages that pop up from various groups during your cleaning time and you rush off to get it, only compounding your situation.

And new hunts starting all the time.....*sigh*

It's not that I really BUY stuff. I just find stuff to HOARD! 

More than half of it, as someone else said, is buildy stuff - sculpt sets and textures. Lots of which,  you guessed it - haven't even been opened yet. *laughs*

And the buildy stuff lead me to the 730470123423 items named "object" that I created along the way and forgot about. No, I don't rez them to see what they are - I just mass delete them. Just pointing this out so you all can get an idea what I'm working with lol.

Thanks for your replies so far.

 

[Dillon Levenque]

2000 in three days is a good start but unless you have a lot of time is probably not sustainable. When I go on a pare-down mission I just spend a few minutes each login deleting things before I do anything else. I probably don't get rid of more than 100 items at any one session, usually less.

I just start a the top of the folder and work down. It's not as efficient as going after the likely overloaded folders first but it's easy to do, doesn't make much time each visit, and is a good way to get familiar with how your inventory is organized. I usually wind up doing a little folder maintenance as a result of what I find.

Keep that up for a month or so and you might be suprised at how much better things look. I don't  have to stay at it as long because I use 10,000 as my limit (I'm about 300 over right now so it's time for some maintenance) but you might find the 'a little bit at a time' method easier to stick with.

[Dresden Ceriano]

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Senobia Xenga wrote:

I've gotten rid of, roughly, 2k items in the past three days so that's a good start...I guess.

Yes - folders are my preference, too. 

It's a neverending process, though. You delete 40 things and then open 40 more to see what they are and end up worse off than you started. 

I still have hunt gifts from 2009/2010 and holiday stuff I haven't opened from just as far back.

Yes, I realize that if I haven't used them in this long, I probably won't, but what if I WANT it and just don't know it because I haven't opened it yet?

And then there's the whole new free group gift at ________ messages that pop up from various groups during your cleaning time and you rush off to get it, only compounding your situation.

And new hunts starting all the time.....*sigh*

It's not that I really BUY stuff. I just find stuff to HOARD! 

More than half of it, as someone else said, is buildy stuff - sculpt sets and textures. Lots of which,  you guessed it - haven't even been opened yet. *laughs*

And the buildy stuff lead me to the 730470123423 items named "object" that I created along the way and forgot about. No, I don't rez them to see what they are - I just mass delete them. Just pointing this out so you all can get an idea what I'm working with lol.

Thanks for your replies so far.

 

---

You sound just like me.  I lost control of my inventory long ago and, at this point, getting it completely under control again would require more time and patience than I've got.  So, I developed a system a while back, which makes it much easier for me to, at least, be able to keep the new stuff I get from getting as messed up as my old stuff.

First. I created a folder named "! Dresden" and a folder named "! Stuff" (The "!" automatically makes them stay on top when sorted alphabetically), then, under "Sort", I unchecked "System Folders To Top".

I, then, created new folders with names the same as each System folder and filed them under my "! Dresden" folder (specifically, "Body" and "Clothes") and my "! Stuff" folder (everything else).

Then in my new, non-system "Body, "Clothes and "Object" folders I created a folder called "~ Old" (The "~" makes them automatically stay at the bottom), into which I put the entire contents of those three System folders.  Then, I placed the entire contents of my remaining System folders directly into their respective duplicates.

I, then, set up sub-folders in my "Body", "Clothes" and "Object" folders and transferred only that which I know that I regularly use into them.  (You can always move things later, once you realize you use them enough to warrant doing so.)

Once all my System folders were empty, in debug settings, I made sure "DebugHideEmptySystemFolders" was set to True.  (It might be already set that way by default in the official viewer.  In Firestorm, it's an option listed under Preferences/Firestorm/General.)  That way, whenever I receive something new, the System folder where its placed will appear, letting me know I've got something to sort into its rightful place.

This last part is crucial, because it acts like an alert, informing me of when I need to sort things... otherwise, I just forget to do it and never get anywhere.

...Dres (I do hope that someone will have found this to have been a useful tip.)

[Phil Deakins]

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Rosie Eun wrote:

Also, storing "essential" stuff to a single prim on my land - I have backed up my shape, favourite skin, body parts, hairstyles etc into a prim that forms part of my house, so in the event of a catastrophic inventory loss I will at least still look like I normally do. 

---

Like a house?

[Dresden Ceriano]

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Phil Deakins wrote:

Like a house?

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...Dres

[Stormm Firecaster]

Five years on this avatar and a builder, I am a bit over 96,000 items and that IS with a ton of items boxed up, which I hate doing as well because, it never fails you box things and the next thing you know, you need it and have to go hunting for it.

So, now I just organize the heck out of my inventory.  Folders, sub folders, sub folders for sub folders...lol  It can be tedious at first but once done if you automatically organise when you go shopping and automatically put together an outfit when you get a new one, you will be good to go.  I also use the CTS wardrobe to be able to quickly glance at a web page to see what I have outfit wise and just click a button and I am dressed, but that is a whole other topic.

[Senobia Xenga]

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Stormm Firecaster wrote:

  I also use the CTS wardrobe to be able to quickly glance at a web page to see what I have outfit wise and just click a button and I am dressed, but that is a whole other topic.

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That's the closet thing I mentioned that I never used....lol.

 

@Dillon - 

That was 20mins or so each login across 3-4 logins. The reason the number was so high (-2K) is because a lot of what I trashed were duplicates, notecards and calling cards. Not a lot of real 'stuff' yet, but I'm getting there!

[Dillon Levenque]

Only when you can come to terms with sending 'real' stuff to the trash can you begin the journey to freedom.

:smileyhappy:

All kidding aside, it does take putting yourself in a certain mindset, but it's so much easier having an inventory that contains only things you MIGHT be interested in than one that jumbles those up with a whole bunch of things you really aren't interested in that the effort is worth it.  Enjoy your pruning.

 

[irihapeti]

i dont build so I dont have masses of building resources. like none

all my stuff is clothes and accessories and some toys/things I play with/on. So pretty much my inventory I control with My Outfits

i make a Outfit. When I no longer wear the outfit that was the bestest thing evah at the time then I delete the Outfit bc fickle (:

when I delete the Outfit then I delete everything that is not part of another Outfit

+

is a few things that I get/keep that are not part of a current outfit and I keep bc is quite nice and when I find something to go with it then will be ok. But if after some days/weeks and I still cant find anything to go with it then delete

when I do get new stuff that I like then I keep the original folder/box in a box of its own in a box with all the stuff by same shop/designer. Which i keep in a folder called Boxes. the boxes I label with shop and also put !!! dont delete !!! on the name. Just to remind me when I am in a really agressive mood (:

+

if i get stuff as a gift then I Wear within a login session or two at most. I make snap calls. Do I like this? Yes or No. Is this similar to something else I already got? Yes or No. Is this similar thing of better quality than what I already got? Yes or No

If is No at any point then delete. If is Yes to Like or Quality then delete the other one and replace the Outfit with new/better thing. Sometimes they not similar but they go with the Outfit. So by delete/replace then the Outfit is refreshed

i dont make any real distinction between stuff I pay for and gifts. If is better then is better. What I might of paid dont change that. So in the delete bin it goes and dont matter how much it cost

+

bc I get mostly mesh these days then am aggressive about delete all the other sizes in folder. I have originals in my Boxes folders if I ever do decide to change my size

am ruthless also about excess alphas. Like I try to only have 1 copy of the same alpha. Same other layer types. Same with LMs notecards, etc like others mentioned also

when I do a clean out then I empty my Trash straight away. No regrets. When I dont do this then end up second guessing my own self later on. Which usual means I am tempted to get it all back out again lol (:

+

I found that when I do this then my Inventory is less than 2000 own items. And even then 2000 is a lot of stuff to wear. So am working on getting it down to 1000 stuffs to wear at any one time

[Tamara Artis]

Thank you for starting the thread and reminding me I haven't done any big cleaning since uhm... I think last fall or summer. But it still looks pretty neat:) 

I have the main folder called !MY STUFF and it sits on the top of the inventory, inside there are *Animations, *Build, *Clothes, *Hair etc. inside each of these folders I have subfolders, the first subfolder in every main folder is called !Box where I put original boxes from items in case I need a new copy. Then for example the Build folder has its own subfolders: Decorations, Furniture, Garden, Houses, each of them has more subfolders, so furniture has Beds, Chairs, Lamps etc. 

Now I don't sort them all the time, but when I buy a new item I move the original box in the !Box folder and unpacked folder goes in its own appropriate folder so I only deal with the items that are outside the subfolders but in their own main folder. 

Same thing is for notecards and landmarks; there are tons of folders and subfolders so I will sort the notecards that are inside the system folder but not in one of the folders I created. 

From time to time I use filters in the inventory and take a look at the scripts, notecards and landmarks only, from there I can do a mass deleting of duplicates and not needed items. I delete most of  the landmarks for shops, many designers have landmarks in their profile pics so simple right click on an item in your inventory will give you the creators name and you can teleport from their profile pics. I also delete the sizes from mesh clothing because I always wear S. 

Another useful thing is renaming the folders and adding my own keywords, it helps when putting a new outfit or searching for that specific statue I used ages ago and have no idea what its called. 

Hope it will help you a bit

[Lewis Luminos]

Subfolders, sub-subfolders, sub-sub-subfolders.

And never log out without properly sorting and filing what you got that day because if you don't do it NOW you'll never do it at all.

When I first joined SL the best piece of advice I was given was "keep your inventory tidy". I always have done and I've never regretted it.

[Arabella Robonaught]

The first thing I do immediately after a purchase, is  put the date on the item and a small description, then put the item into its correct folder.  When I do a search for a particular item, it is a bit easier to locate in my inventory.

I Keep many folders for example, my "clothing outfits" folder has many sub-folders like "Hats/coats/accessories"; Costumes"; Evening Wear", etc.  All my homes go into a folder and I have a sub-folder listed "furnishings."  In this folder I have folders that list each room, i.e. bathroom, living room, bedroom.

I also keep a notecard listing my favorite clothing Items with sub-titles like:  Vintage, Shoes, Pantsuits, Swimwear, Gowns, etc.  I list hair, shoes and other accessories that go well with these outfits.  Hope this is a bit helpful :-).  Unfortunately now I'm in the process of cleaning out my landmarks - so many places have gone out of business.

[Mitchell Indigo]

Would any of you who attempt to keep your inventories organized show us pictures or video of your organized inventories?

[ZoeTick]

NO