Inventory Management 101

UPDATE: SL for Nowt has moved! Please bookmark the new blog. This page will remain here, but all new inventory posts will be on the new blog.

This page is another ongoing project, and will be dedicated to inventory management in Second Life.

By the time our avatars are just a few days old, we will probably have acquired a bewildering amount of ‘stuff’. Pretty quickly, as we discover freebie blogs and start whizzing around the grid, that ‘stuff’ accumulates into ‘OMG I’ll never sort all that!’ dismay, and we resign ourselves to having awful, messy inventories.

It doesn’t need to be that way. I’ve been blogging my way through a massive inventory-sorting marathon. I began with 30,000 items, and in two days got that down to below 20,000. I have a long way to go yet, but I’m sharing hints and tips that I’m finding and using along the way, and this page is designed to help you sort and organise your inventory, too.

Don’t worry so much about the old stuff for now. Start right this minute and carry on that way. You can get to the old stuff later. Begin with the notecarding tip in this post, and we’ll work through that inventory and whip it into shape!

General inventory posts

Inventory icons explained (now updated to include Viewer 2 icons)

My Inventory-sorting exploits

I’m on a mission! – the one where I had that initial panicked moment on realising my inventory was 30K and out of control. Includes a few useful tips on creating multiple archive boxes, deleting the obvious stuff, and a few sorting questions to ask yourself.

Update, and a useful tip – the one where I figure out what to do with all the landmarks I get when I’m shopping, and how to use notecards as a great inventory-management tool.

Oops… – the one where I added 600 items in two hours on a freebie spree, and explained the way I was going to blog suggestions for filing and sorting as you go along.

Skins: Frick Fabulous Freebies – the one where I blog about three great skin and shape packs, and use them as an example of how to weed out what you don’t need, and sort and file what you do need. A must-read post, if you’re following this inventory-management series.

Why inventory-sorting is so flipping important! – the one where I sort through the result of a one-area freebie binge in which I picked up 193 items and threw away 135 of them: all duplicates.

Save money on texture uploads and ID your archived stuff – the one where I show you how to upload 16 textures for just 10L$, and use them to quickly identify items you have archived.

Stealth Inventory Bloaters! – The one where I realise that checking all the boxes when creating an outfit is not a good idea.

Stealth Inventory Bloaters! (part 2) – The one where I find out why size matters.

Baby Steps – The one where I walk you through how to sort out the resulting mess of boxes and folders from the two mega Valentines hunts that took place in Feb 2009.

Quick n’ Dirty Inventory Catalogue – The one where I find the perfect way of remembering what my outfits look like.

Inventory sorting: Little and often – Do it now! – The one where I bug you to spend 15 minutes right now, sorting out common annoyances. Also, a tip on using inventory filters.

Weeding the Shoe Bed – The one where we dig into the back of our virtual closets and throw away all those old newbie shoes we haven’t worn in the proverbial month of Sundays.

The Sock and Undie Drawer (and a special note about beachwear) – The one where we rummage through our knickers ;)

Moving On – The one where we ditch ‘those old things’ that we simply don’t wear any more.

The 10 Fling Boogie – The one where we make a new rule for ourselves: “I will not log off without having deleted something from my inventory”.

Digging Deeper Into the Shoe Rack – The one where we sort through fatpacks of shoes to chuck out all those extra bases, unwanted sizes, invisiprims, and alpha masks.

Wish You Were Here: The Landmarks Post – The one where we ditch all of our old landmarks and start afresh You’ll be amazed just how many you actually have!

Hints & Tips: Working with inventory in Viewer 2 – The one where I find out a way around that annoying unmovable sidebar in the new SL Viewer 2 and show you how to get old style inventory windows back.

Pre-Logout Routine – The one where I try to get you to form a new habit that only takes a minute or so before you logout.

Brushing it under the carpet – The one where we sort out and get rid of the visual mess of hundreds of folders that makes you think you’ll never sort everything out!

Notecards – The one where I send you head-first into your Notecards folder to trash all those special one-week-only offers from two years ago!