Inventory Organization Ideas

How to Organize your Inventory or Supplies

When it comes to managing your inventory or craft supplies, I have a lot of spreadsheets to help track your items in excel, however since I previously had a business selling handmade jewelry, I understand there’s a lot more work to storing, organizing and keeping track of physical pieces and finished products.   

Whether you have a handmade business, product based business, or just looking for some tips on organizing your craft supplies or other small, hard to manage items, keep reading for my favorite tips. 

Over the years, I’ve accumulated a lot of jewelry making materials – beads, pearls, crystals, chain, gemstones, stringing supplies, tools, findings, well let’s just say shopping is one of my strengths!  So as you can imagine trying to organize all these things has been a challenge.  

I have tried various ways to organize my materials and would like to share some of my low-cost favorites with you today.

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Re-Purpose Old Jars:

These lovely jars are the perfect size to fit small materials and they are glass so I can easily see what’s inside.  (Remember, part of the problem when you have sooo many materials, is remembering what you have!) 

*TIP – You may have to wash the jars several times and let them air out so your materials don’t end up smelling… spicy, Lol.

Plastic storage containers:

Anything that has small cubbies and plastic lids is good.  I use the black container to store a variety of light color shell beads and the blue container has a variety of black beads.

*TIP – Dividers are your friend when you are organizing small items.

PhotoGifMaker_20191017100235904
PhotoGifMaker_20191017100235904

Plastic storage containers:

Anything that has small cubbies and plastic lids is good.  I use the black container to store a variety of light color shell beads and the blue container has a variety of black beads.

*TIP – Dividers are your friend when you are organizing small items.

shoe closet-edited (2)

Plastic Shoe Organizer:

Okay, this is the best thing ever!  You can find a plain, plastic shoe holder that can be attached to the inside of a door and it’s relatively inexpensive.  I love that I can see what is in each little shoe cubby and I try to organize each compartment and row into categories.  This works out perfect for me, because my little work space is in a nook right next to the garage, so the shoe holder hangs on the door that leads to the garage. 

*TIP – If you have small kiddos in the house, you might want to leave the bottom shoe cubby’s empty, since little hands can easily reach inside.

Plastic Rolling Cart:

This colorful cart, with 10 plastic drawers measures about 3 feet, 2 inches high.  I found this at walmart for about $50. 

Caution – You really do get what you pay for sometimes.  Although I love this cart, the drawers fall out of the track often and would be even more frustrating if you try to fill the drawers with heavy materials.  Since most of my materials are light weight, it’s not too much of an annoyance.

What I like about these drawers is I can easily remember categories of materials by the color of each drawer.  So my tools go in the top/orange drawer, silver findings have their own drawer, gold plated had their own drawer, all different types of chains and beading wires have their own drawer, etc.  

The other great thing is the cart rolls, so I can slide it right next to me while working at my table and then move it back to a better place when I’m done.

*TIP – I don’t really use the bottom drawers for anything but plastic baggies, organza bags, cards, etc., due to a little toddler in house who likes to get into trouble*

Within in the drawers, you can keep materials organized in plastic baggies, or use small plastic containers, as pictured.  You can also place a nice basket on top for extra storage and the 2 side rails could hold those hanging jewelry organizers.

PhotoGifMaker_20191017100017024
PhotoGifMaker_20191017100017024

Plastic Rolling Cart:

This colorful cart, with 10 plastic drawers measures about 3 feet, 2 inches high.  I found this at walmart for about $50. 

Caution – You really do get what you pay for sometimes.  Although I love this cart, the drawers fall out of the track often and would be even more frustrating if you try to fill the drawers with heavy materials.  Since most of my materials are light weight, it’s not too much of an annoyance.

What I like about these drawers is I can easily remember categories of materials by the color of each drawer.  So my tools go in the top/orange drawer, silver findings have their own drawer, gold plated had their own drawer, all different types of chains and beading wires have their own drawer, etc.  

The other great thing is the cart rolls, so I can slide it right next to me while working at my table and then move it back to a better place when I’m done.

*TIP – I never used the bottom drawers for anything, due to a little toddler in house who liked to get into trouble*

Within in the drawers, you can keep materials organized in plastic baggies, or use small plastic containers, as pictured.  You can also place a nice basket on top for extra storage and the 2 side rails could hold those hanging jewelry organizers

Plastic ice cube trays!

This is another simple solution for keeping small pieces at your finger tips. 

The only problem is they don’t have a lid, so they could easily spill. Plus, I like to keep my supplies, especially silver in plastic baggies or containers with lids.  If you have small items, ice cube trays may be something that works for you.

What About FINISHED Pieces?!?!?

So, you may be wondering what about storing finished pieces?  Back when I was still running the jewelry business, I had split items into 3 plastic containers – one for Earrings, Necklaces and Bracelets-Wine Charms.   How you decide to organize your items will also depend largely on what it is you are storing and creating.  I would take a look at what you sell most often, and find a way to make it easiest to find/get to those items.  

What if your materials or products take up a lot more space than jewelry?  If you sell large items, what are your tips for managing and storing your inventory?  Post or send me a reply and I’ll add more of your own tips to the post!

How to use Spreadsheets to Streamline your Inventory Process

Back when I was running my jewelry and wedding wine charms business, inventory was always one of those things that just sneakily crept up and started causing issues, especially after going through busy holiday and wedding seasons. 

In this video, I go over some of the challenges I faced when tracking inventory for my business:

Why Even Track Inventory?!?!

Depending on what type of product you sell, there are many types of inventory challenges that could come up (as I’ve seen with countless small businesses over the years).

Here are a few issues you may be struggling with that can be avoided by using an inventory tracking system for your small business:

*Running out of raw materials without realizing it, then having to remove or deactivate listings so no one could buy them (and missing out on sales, yikes!)

*Wasting time searching for materials, that caused open orders to be delayed.

*Tax Time Nightmares – an organized system for tracking inventory and COGS (cost of goods sold) will save you a ton of time & headaches during tax season. 

Hopefully you’ve gotten some great ideas on how to physically and digitally organize your inventory and supplies!  Are you doing any major organizing in your craft room or office right now?  I’d love to see your pictures or organization ideas, so comment or reply.  

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