Inventory Control

Hi Chic,

I notice, like me, you enjoy collecting things on hunts across the grid.  I'm interested in how you keep your inventory under control.  Mine is exploding!!!  Any tips would be much appreciated :-)

Ask and I answer:

My inventory is currently at 20,000. It WAS at 15,000 after my last purge, but I have been getting so many lovely review items of late that it is growing. I make a concerted effort to keep my inventory low and well organized. Having 100,000 items does you little good if you don't know what you have or where it is *wink*. I also from time to time go through my whole inventory to weed out old things which -- while great at one time -- are no longer up to current standards. This is a project. I don't love it, but it does get me back in touch with what I have.

Whether review items or hunt prizes, I am very picky about what I keep. This is a personal choice; I am a minimalist at heart and I live that way in our other real world. So as I go through hunt items I toss anything that is not my style, that I don't like, that is poorly made or that I think I could never use. I keep anything that is nicely made, creative and that I hope to use in the future. I sometimes keep things I do not blog when they are new in hopes of using them later.

At the same time, I often toss items that I do blog (oh no!). Yes, I admit it. There are some perfectly lovely items that I feature that don't stay in my inventory -- things I think you will like, but that I will most likely never wear again. I do not have three red turtleneck sweaters for example. I keep the one I like the best, the one with more layer options perhaps or nicest textures and best fitting collar. The others go into database purging territory.  I often (and this is a good trick for bloggers) keep additional colors of outfits packed and in with the unpacked example that I featured.  I have also been known to REPACK extensive outfits that I might want to use again in the future but that have lots and lots of pieces. Chandra's and  Ghanima's designs come to mind :D.

And unfortunately, the database continuously  misplaces items. No that is too kind. It loses them, for good. I have a not too short list of things I loved that are gone.

Those 20,000 items are not just clothes and furniture favorites. They also include things I have made and sold. They include a ton of textures (some purchased, some hunt items) and lots of vendor photos. I would say a couple of thousand items are in those categories. I also have a very large collection of poses. The same rules apply there. If I have a pose very similar, one gets tossed. I go through new poses just like clothes and throw away the ones that don't fit me. Hands in hips and elbows in knees happen to me a lot, those long arms I started out with are still a part of me and sometimes problematic.

So that is my long answer. My short answer? Just keep what you love!