Inventory Organization Help

[Rowan Amore]

After nearly 6 years of doing absolutely nothing with my inventory, I've spent the better part of the last 2 weeks clearing out nearly 80,000 items.  Don't judge me, please.

I know many of you have mentioned your detailed folder systems.  I've yet to figure out a way to sort all the items I have.  I can figure out furniture and landscape but clothing is another problem.

Do you sort by type?  Dresses, pants, sweaters, t-shirts or some other way?   By store, color, season?  

I'd like some ideas as to how to even begin.  

Thank you all in advance.

 

ETA:  I may not get to reading your replies until later this evening.  I'm going cross-eyed after several hours of clearing and it's a bit hard to focus on text.  😬

 

 

[Lysistrata Szapira]

Aside from my favorite brands which get their own folder no matter what year I purchased their items, all of my clothing is sorted by year and then by type of item:  subfolders for formal wear, jewelry, costumes, short dresses, tops, etc.  I have subfolders under some of these as well, especially for types of jewelry (necklaces/bracelets/sets) or shoes (boots/heels/flats).   If I have a lot of one type of item from a particular store (but that store has not made it to favorite status) in a folder, I will usually create a folder for that store (example: Short Dresses>Pixi Cat).    I periodically sort through those folders and put into store brand folders if I have more than 1 or 2 items from the store.

I also have a folder strictly for Luxe Box items that have passed the purge test over the years. 

I purge about once or twice a year, and move items older than a certain age into a folder called "Older Clothes (not to trash)" because I simply want to keep some older items.  For example, I recently moved everything from prior to 2016 into that Older Clothes folder (still sorted into sub-types).  That folder really came in handy with BOM because I had held on to the higher quality system layer items I had from the pre-mesh days.  Let me tell you it was a beeyutch trying on every layer though to judge it. Ugh.  I tossed a lot, but surprisingly I have some really old system layers that do look good on mesh bodies. 

I use exclamation points in my folder names to keep my top brands at, well, the top, but inside each top brand folder, I have again separated out items by type (pants, etc.).

Under each year, I also have a folder for Halloween wearables, and I always set up a folder for wearable things collected during Christmas advent calendar marathons (non-wearable holiday items go into furnishings and outdoor decorating folders).  The next year I go through the prior year and purge anything that no longer fits my aesthetic.

I tried sorting by color in my short dresses/tops folders, but with so many things coming with color HUDs now, I quit because it was rather pointless.   I also don't classify by season beyond things that are obviously holiday-oriented.

I must confess that every year I have a sub-folder labeled "Snarky Shirts" because I love snarky shirts.   For my collections of gacha clothing items from The Time Before (tm), I keep them in folders labeled by the store & gacha names for easy locating. 

I find using the yearly method most efficient as that makes it easy for me to find where to start purging.  By now, items from 2016 and back have been sorted/purged multiple times so I don't need to sort them again.  I've already started working on purging 2020's items. 

 

 

 

[Orwar]

   That's how I do it, with plenty more subfolders where things get stuffy.

   I also strictly sort the folders by putting store - product name - colour to help me find things when putting together outfits. I also frequently discard clothes whilst browsing the inventory if I find reason to think that I'll never want to wear them again, such as one-off costumes I got for a certain shoot or event with a questionable quality to them. 

   When buying new things, if I can't be bothered to sort them into their correct folders right away (including renaming the folders appropriately to my system), I have a temporary storage space simply named 'To Be Sorted'. 

   I've been wanting to try out the CTS wardrobe for myself, I have some experience of using the interface to control someone else's clothing, but I've been saying that for ages and I just never get around to it.

   It's far from perfect, but it's certainly better than .. Well, not having a system .. Shudders.

[LittleMe Jewell]

50 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

I can figure out furniture and landscape but clothing is another problem.

Do you sort by type?  Dresses, pants, sweaters, t-shirts or some other way?   By store, color, season?  

For me, it is the furniture and landscaping that gives me trouble.

The only things I sort by creator / store are Skins and Makeup related stuff.

Here is roughly my clothing & shoes, off the top of my head.  I also have some things sub-divided by BOM versus Not - things like tops/bras and pants/leggins

My clothing is sorted by type:
- Dresses & Skirt Outfits
  -- Casual
    -- Mini
    -- Above Knee
    -- Tea Length
    -- Long
  -- Formal
    -- Mini
    -- Above Knee
    -- Tea Length
    -- Long
- Pants & Shorts Outfits
  -- Pantsuits & Outfits
    -- Casual
    -- Formal
  -- Short Outfits, Rompers
- Individual Pieces
  -- Lingerie, Undies, Socks/Stockings
  -- Tops & Bodysuits
    -- Sweaters
    -- Summer Casual
    -- Summer Dressy
  -- Bottoms
    -- Shorts
    -- Pants & Leggins
    -- Skirts
-- Coats, Jackets, etc..
-- Accessories (hats, scarves, masks, gloves, etc..)

Shoes (only the Heels are sorted by color):
- Heels
  -- Multi-color 
    -- Pumps (open & closed toe)
    -- Slings, Dressy Sandals
  -- Black, Grey
    -- Pumps (open & closed toe)
    -- Slings, Dressy Sandals
  -- Reds, Oranges
    -- Pumps (open & closed toe)
    -- Slings, Dressy Sandals
(repeat for more color groupings)
- Boots
  -- Winter Casual
  -- Cowboy Boots
  -- Ankle Boots
  -- Below Knee
  -- Thigh-high
--Casual Shoes
  -- Tennis Shoes
  -- Ballet Flats & Slip-ons
  -- Sandals
  

Edited October 29, 2021 by LittleMe Jewell

[Fritigern Gothly]

My sorting method, because a picture is worth a thousand words:

[Eddy Vortex]

I generally sort by clothing type then sub-divided into styles or cuts. It's easier for an alt who owns one body.

It becomes a bit hairier when you own multiple bodies like Greg does. The sorting method here is by clothing type, then by body fit, then style/cut. He also has a separate folder for children's clothes.

[Kathlen Onyx]

I thought my clothing folders were organized. By looking at this thread I see I am nowhere near organized. I simply have them in folders labeled "full outfits" Pants, tops, shorts. 

You guys have taken it to a new level. LOL!

[Fritigern Gothly]

13 minutes ago, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

I thought my clothing folders were organized. By looking at this thread I see I am nowhere near organized. I simply have them in folders labeled "full outfits" Pants, tops, shorts. 

You guys have taken it to a new level. LOL!

If that works for you, then it's a perfectly fine way of organising your stuff. 
I, however, get confused quickly and lose track of what I have and where it is, so I actually need to organize my inventory the way I do. 

[LittleMe Jewell]

19 minutes ago, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

I thought my clothing folders were organized. By looking at this thread I see I am nowhere near organized. I simply have them in folders labeled "full outfits" Pants, tops, shorts. 

You guys have taken it to a new level. LOL!

I have over 16,000 clothing items (actually much more since a lot of that is in boxes), about 3000 shoes, another 2000 or so in Accessories, etc.... For that much stuff, I have to have sub-folders of sub-folders of sub-folders, etc....

Edited October 30, 2021 by LittleMe Jewell

[Rowan Amore]

Thank you all so very much!  I'll definitely be using aspects of all of your systems.  The hardest part for me has been cleaning out each and every folder of LMs, notecards, scripts and sizes I will never use.  It will be 2 weeks come this Sunday, working several hours each day and I'm not nearly done with that part.  

When I finally emerge from the depths of hell, I'll post a pic of my neat and tidy inventory.

Thank you all, again!  😘

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

Thank you all so very much!  I'll definitely be using aspects of all of your systems.  The hardest part for me has been cleaning out each and every folder of LMs, notecards, scripts and sizes I will never use.  It will be 2 weeks come this Sunday, working several hours each day and I'm not nearly done with that part.  

When I finally emerge from the depths of hell, I'll post a pic of my neat and tidy inventory.

Thank you all, again!  😘

I get rid of the landmarks, notecards, and unneeded sizes the minute I unpack a box or get a folder.  My problem is taking the time on lots of stuff to actually unpack it and do something with it.

I'll be interested in how you break down furniture and landscaping.  

[Annalise Evergarden]

8 hours ago, Orwar said:

   That's how I do it, with plenty more subfolders where things get stuffy.

   I also strictly sort the folders by putting store - product name - colour to help me find things when putting together outfits. I also frequently discard clothes whilst browsing the inventory if I find reason to think that I'll never want to wear them again, such as one-off costumes I got for a certain shoot or event with a questionable quality to them. 

   When buying new things, if I can't be bothered to sort them into their correct folders right away (including renaming the folders appropriately to my system), I have a temporary storage space simply named 'To Be Sorted'. 

   I've been wanting to try out the CTS wardrobe for myself, I have some experience of using the interface to control someone else's clothing, but I've been saying that for ages and I just never get around to it.

   It's far from perfect, but it's certainly better than .. Well, not having a system .. Shudders.

Jebus....I should let you sort my invo for me. lol

(This is a joke. owo I know better, don't worry.. or do I?)

[Lindal Kidd]

My Outfits folder is my go-to for putting on a look these days, because assembling a new Outfit takes so much longer than it used to. Once I have clothing I like, and have accessorized it and added hair and makeup, I'll save the whole thing as an Outfit.

My Outfits folder is organized like this:

1. General type: Casual dresses, dressy dresses, cocktail dresses, formal wear, swimwear, casual pants outfits, dressy pants outfits, business outfits. One for costumes, too.
2. Within each general type, outfits are divided by season: Spring, summer, fall, winter
3. Each outfit's name includes:
   1. General description: Long sleeved, ruffled, knit, wrap dress, etc. etc.
   2. Color
   3. Name and/or maker's name
   4. Info about body or head

For example: Long slv red silk top, blk slacks - Diane - LG - Genus/Lara

I will save EVERYTHING, especially any HUDs. That way I can use the HUDs to choose a manicure, lingerie, shoe color, makeup, etc. Once I've done that, I'll detach most of the HUDs. If I'm using the Maitreya body, I'll also create a new Save Stick to save the body settings, and include that with the Outfit as well.

[Mollymews]

i have learned to use My Outfits as a fast access into my Inventory

like if I want to change the texture on what I am wearing. My Outfits Wearing. Right click on the garment name and pick Show Original. Puts me into the folder in my Inventory, the garment name in bold text, the HUD in the same folder

[Krystina Ferraris]

12 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

After nearly 6 years of doing absolutely nothing with my inventory, I've spent the better part of the last 2 weeks clearing out nearly 80,000 items.  Don't judge me, please.

I know many of you have mentioned your detailed folder systems.  I've yet to figure out a way to sort all the items I have.  I can figure out furniture and landscape but clothing is another problem.

Do you sort by type?  Dresses, pants, sweaters, t-shirts or some other way?   By store, color, season?  

I'd like some ideas as to how to even begin.  

Thank you all in advance.

 

ETA:  I may not get to reading your replies until later this evening.  I'm going cross-eyed after several hours of clearing and it's a bit hard to focus on text.  😬

 

 

I need to do that too ASAP.
For clothes I have a system similar to my rl one 😀 a folder called Wardrobe and subfolders called Underwear, Tops, Jeans, Dresses, Jackets, Formal, Outerwear, Shoes.

I also have a Folder for Jewellery, not that I have many as I don’t wear much in RL either lol 😆 

[Ceka Cianci]

I finally have mine where I'm only using the default folders and putting my sub directories in those..

 

When it comes to clothes, in my clothing folder, I'll usually do something like,

!!                Outfits!!!!!!

Then

!!               Jackets!!!!

!!                Tops!!!!!!

!!                 Bottoms!!!

I can move the order by the amount of space between the fist two exclamation points. I like everything more in the middle rather than on the side when I'm looking for it..

[Mr Amore]

As with other distinguished physicists, I make copies of one outfit. To the untrained eye it may appear my avatar is wearing the same clothes all year round, but he's changing between copies of the same outfit.

I have friends who tweak/change their avatars weekly, in those situations you'd want to arrange your clothing into categories for quick access.

In my case, an avatar will have a 2-3 year lifespan. And I will make him lots of outfits(casual, roleplaying, nude) to change quickly. Since mesh bodies happened I don't wear/remove individual items, I change Outfits. Even if the only variation is a white, or black shirt, it's a unique outfit. But, my Outfits make use of links, so they all refer back to the same pair of boots/pants/accessories/body parts. Which are arranged into folders by Store Name or item type.

Accessories have their own folder, because I pick up so many trinkets I''ll forget what I have otherwise. Clothing are listed by Store.

 

Here's a fun fact, so few women play male avatars when they realize men have a selection of a dozen shoes across the entire grid, it's a complete culture shock.

[Nalates Urriah]

You do know that SL is an inventory game? (Ref)

What I have found is everything I buy has an expiration date.

When BOM was being developed people were saying keep the old stuff because we will be able to use those old skins and system clothes with BOM. Well... yeah but... a lot of old stuff looks really bad. While I was making outfits in early in my SL life (2010?) I hadn't started separating the stuff I bought by year. When I started looking to see if I could use older stuff with my new mesh body and head... I find I generally do not like older stuff. New stuff looks so much better. So, now I have to dig out old stuff to delete.

Now the new stuff I buy gets separated into dresses short, mini, micro, medium, long, gown etc. by YEAR. I labels my Outfits with a Year and month so they sort oldest first.

[Rowan Amore]

It's helped that I started the clean from the bottom and am working my way up having set filters to newest items at the top.  I never even though of doing anything by year.  I guess if I like something enough and it still works, I'll keep it.

 

[Jordyn McGregor]

I organise by store and if I tend to buy excessively from there, I sub-organise by item (ie dresses, tops, pants etc).  If I don't buy from them a lot, then I have the generic "Pants" or "Dresses" folders.  

Decor and other things are also organised that way.  Store and then item/room type (ie kitchen, chairs, bathroom, tables etc).

I *may* be a little bit pedantic.

[Rowan Amore]

2 hours ago, Jordan Whitt said:

I organise by store and if I tend to buy excessively from there, I sub-organise by item (ie dresses, tops, pants etc).  If I don't buy from them a lot, then I have the generic "Pants" or "Dresses" folders.  

Decor and other things are also organised that way.  Store and then item/room type (ie kitchen, chairs, bathroom, tables etc).

I *may* be a little bit pedantic.

Years ago when it WAS organized, I did have clothes grouped by store.  No sub folders but this time around I will be doing that.  

As far as furniture, it'll be more COUCHES, BEDS, TABLES and then Living room suites, bedroom suites, etc.

At the rate it's going, I may be done by the new year.  😆😶😫

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

At the rate it's going, I may be done by the new year.

Which one?

🤣😂🤣

[Laurel Aurelia]

I've also started organizing by store earlier this year. For me its far less overwhelming for me to say I'm going to organize my Pixicat folder than all my dresses. Eventually I will go in and sort those store folders into sub folders that will be the same across brands so when I search "cardigans" all my cardigan folders pop up. But we'll see if that actually happens. Honestly I feel like I wouldn't mind doing a bit of purge. In real life, I love throwing stuff away. 

 

[Mahala Roviana]

I struggle with outdoor furniture. Like, is a hammock furniture or landscaping? I "work" on my inventory about once a week but it stays a mess.

[Jordyn McGregor]

3 hours ago, Laurel Aurelia said:

I love throwing stuff away. 

I just cannot bring myself to do that.  You never know when you may need a cremation oven after all!!!  I box everything up, which has really paid off with BOM cos I have EVERYTHING hidden away and have been able to dig out and use my old system layers from forever ago again.  Except I cannot for the life of me find my favourite League jeans that I used to live in....and it's KILLING me!