Posted: 11/8/2012 2:32:36 PM EDT
What are some good methods to keeping inventory. My wife and I both are great at going to the store and buying stuff we already had without realizing it. 
Im trying to think of a system that I can keep track of and simplify things. How do you guys do it? |
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build yourself a spreadsheet, like isles in a market, and break stuff down...to the smallest denomination possible where it comes to food, I use Buckets/cans/pouches or whatever and end it with "Servings"
Store it on a thumb and back it to a re-writeable CD. It'll take time when you get into spare parts for cars, generators, oil, etc, but it will be worth it. |
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I agree with the others.
I created an excel spreadhseet and it keeps track of everything. For example, Hard Red Wheat Berries - I know how many pounds we have on hand, how many cups that is, how many calories and how many loaves of bread it will make. I have a free app on my ipod (Sheet2) that allows me to carry the spreadsheet with me, so if I am out, its easy to know what we need. (I do the same with ammo and reloading components) |
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Quoted: I acquired a bar code scanner with the intent of using it for inventory. There are open source UPC code databases that can be used, and you can just leave the scanner at the pantry and just scan things in and out. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Do you have a link to the open source upc code database? |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I acquired a bar code scanner with the intent of using it for inventory. There are open source UPC code databases that can be used, and you can just leave the scanner at the pantry and just scan things in and out. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Do you have a link to the open source upc code database? Oy - it's been a while. Let me five into my bookmarks when I get into work tomorrow. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Wasn't there a smarthphone app that would scan upc labels and compare prices? I don't know if it could easily be set up for tracking inventory but I recall reading about people scanning products to compare prices in their area. Had a relative burn a lot of gas running around town for the best prices and overall the tank of fuel spent during a weekend mostly killed the savings I think. I don't have a nice inventory sheet, I guess I kind of go by the par level mentioned above. My shelves for canned goods are all together so I know when I need a new flat of x. Ammo cans of the same size hold various calibers and I try to keep the cans full and work on filling more cans. They are all stored in the same area and the ones that are not full tend to not have the lid latched so I can look in and figure out how much it would take to fill it up. But I fully agree a spreadsheet would be better and it is something I consider worth learning anyway because I am working on keeping up my computer skills and being able to actually work with programs vs. having to relearn the program I have not used for years. |
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My ammo, fuel, and foodstuffs are managed via an Excel spreadsheet. A while back I picked up a bar code scanner, label printer, and the software needed to plug inventory data into Excel.
Ammo is the primary reason I started using a spreadsheet, and managing ammo inventory is the primary reason I got the bar code scanner. Currently, as I use ammo or acquire more I make changes manually on a netbook, and that's pretty darn tedious. Once set up, I'll use the factory bar codes on commercial ammo and generate my own for reloading components or finished ammo. When I grab four boxes of rimfire, five boxes of 9mm, and five boxes of 223 to hit the range with my daughter it will be much simpler to scan the codes as we load up the range bag versus doing it manually  Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Ok, looks like there's about 3 open source databases - I'm thinking this is an CDDB/Gracenote situation.
http://eandata.com/ Internet UPC Database UPCdatabase.org Note that the last 2 have the same name but with COM or ORG as the TLD. There are a number of apps that will scan UPC's and give you comparison shopping; I assume it might be possible to pipe the data to a spreadsheet or database. But for what we do, it's probably easier to just rely on the amateur databases and add our own data as appropriate. |
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If I can remember tonight, I will try and get a link to the spreadsheet I use in the restaurant for inventory/food purchasing. I might have to modify it some in order to use it as an actual spreadsheet as we use specific inventory, costing, p/l software. However as most have said it wouldn't be too difficult to create your own spreadsheet and just keep track that way. You can also add your own formulas, specific to you items, etc.
I am however interested in this UPC scanning idea for my own personal items. |
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Making and printing barcodes was easy. All you needed is a barcode font. We did this years ago. I think we used a "3 of 9" barcode font. Bought a few serial port pen scanners for $25. Nowdays they are probably USB. I'll look to see if I still have it.
This looks promising. |