Keeping It All Organized

[#1]

Hi all,

With the new sold orders page just rolled out to everyone, I've been thinking about ways we keep our orders organized.

I recently bumped into the Etsy EcoTeam's blog and found this post about keeping organized: http://blog.ecoetsy.com/2011/01/bus-tips-lori-keeping-it-all-organized/html All the gorgeous photos in this post make me want to run home and whip my craft area into shape!

How do you keep your invoices, shipping stations and packages organized? I'd love to hear it! Link to photos if you have 'em.

xo,
Danielle

[Former_Member]

Lots of great ideas on staying on top of things. I don't have that many orders yet through etsy, so I am doing fine in that area. My challenge is keeping track of the inventory and the various different channels I use for selling. Most of my stuff sell out of Etsy and some times I get confused. Keeping them in order and having that organized is what I am working on now.

[SpiritualGems]

Sure wish I had an extra room for all my jewelry stuff! Unfortunately, I'm forced to work out of my very small livingroom and kitchen, using fishing tackle boxes, my kitchen table, and anything else that I can get my hands on. I wish there were storage ideas for someone like me who works out of the main part of their home.

Anybody have any ideas?

[saltandginger]

Excellent tips from everyone! Not surprisingly, I love the idea of using magnetic spice tins to keep things organized in your kitchen or craft area as shown on the EcoEtsy link :)

VintagePrecious - what a cute idea to store business cards in a pretty teacup!

I mostly work out of a spare bedroom (I'm lucky to have the space!) - I keep recycled boxes and packaging materials, plus the rest of my supplies in the closet until I'm ready for them. I use the top drawer of a filing cabinet to store all of my small items - tape, address labels, ribbon, fabric scraps, scissors, etc and keep all of my hardcopy receipts organized by year in the bottom.

I really love the new look of the Etsy Sold Orders page! Between that & Paypal shipping, sending items is so much easier - I just print my label from home, keep the part with the shipping price on it as a receipt, then use the bottom half of the receipt with my/customer's address on it as an invoice inside the package along with a handwritten note - this reduces the amount of paper I'm using and has been very effective in case something happens to the outer label.

I love this thread! Please keep the tips coming :)

[JaneWearJewelry]

Getting organized is one of the things that holds a lot of us back I think! I'm so blessed to have a room all to my creative beast ;)

Plus, monthly I try to evaluate myself and my progress and that helps me to keep sane ;) If any one wants my eval... you can get it here...
http://makesilverjewelry.com/evaluation.pdf

I'm putting together more of my personal help tips for my newsletter peeps!

[SpiritualGems]

Hey, Jane. I just tried your link and it didn't work. You may wanna check it out. :)

[EviesToolEmporium]

What an inspiration! Thank you for sharing the article and the blog is wonderful!

[RowanOliviaJewelry]

I make jewelry and my office/studio looks like a tornado hit it every day. Its awful. I'm also running out of space for all my beads and findings. I'd love to find a bookshelf with lots and lots of narrow shelves, because right now I have stacks and stacks of bead boxes. Help! Short of having custom cabinetry made for me, what options are there for people who bead?

By the way, if you already print out a copy of the Invoice when you sell something on Etsy (I do, so I can have them there when I'm making the item, because people often request special things), then you don't need a copy of the second half of the Paypal shipping receipt. It wastes your precious stick on labels. So you can set Paypal so that it only prints out the label and not the receipt. Then, at the end, it prints out a list of all the items mailed during that session - so you have all your package tracking numbers and names right there. This saves you a lot on those stick on half sheet mailing labels, since you are now able to use both labels for printing out mailing labels now (just print half your labels, and then turn the label sheet around and print the other half). I always print my Paypal shipping labels to PDF first, in case of printer craziness (I have a TERRIBLE printer that acts up all the time).

[HillCountrySilver]

I am enjoying this post so much that I joined the team!

I recently shipped an order and forgot an item. My computer died the next day (horrors now that I'm doing this full-time and very busy!). So I took the computer downtime and organized a dedicated shipping/packing area in my studio. It has been wonderful! I print shipping via paypal on 4-per sheet labels and set the printer to two pages per sheet. The shpping receipt from paypal goes on the back of my etsy invoice along with cut and pasted convo info for personal items. I haven't had any problems with those tiny shipping labels either. Completed orders go in a monthly file and then get put away after logging all sales at the end of the month, which is getting fatter and fatter each week it seems!
I have an antique bread pan with two sides: one for my daily "in" box and orders that must be made or oxidized (no running water down there!); and one for a holding area for orders partially filled, awaiting echeck payment, or shipping weight. Once they're done, they go in a bag to make the trek back to the house from my tiny studio on the back of my property

[CapeCodArtnNature]

i live in a very small space and try to keep it organized. i have an old desk that i use as mailing central, complete with a basket full of scissors, tapes of different kinds, labels and so on. one drawer has envelopes, one has the cards i send as gifts and under the desk part i keep a file box with orders and shipping info. i also have a small scale.

i have a second larger shipping station in the basement where i have boxes, etc.

[Former_Member]

Call the waaahmbulance! I have space envy now, more than ever! I live in a 2 bedroom flat in London with my husband and 2 year old. My "studio" is a sideboard and a bunch of green cardboard boxes from Ikea (gotta match the lounge/dining room decor, dontcha know?), which I share with Husband's MA / work docs; and the dining table, which has to be cleared off for every meal.

My biggest organisation problem at the moment is keeping an inventory of what I have. I have recently picked up a couple consignment gigs with some boutiques and that has thrown my old method completely out the window. Can I face a database? Ugh.

Anyway, pics very inspiring. Thanks for sharing! I shall continue to dream of having A Room of One's Own. xo

[Former_Member]

I was just thinking, ahhhh!! How am I going to get organized when this weeks edition of Etsy Success is "Keep Organized".

Coincidence? Think not.

Time to get to work!

[ILoveYoYo]

I have a lot of stock and bought plastic document boxes from the Staples. Each color fabric has a box. I also bought beautiful ikea drawers at sale and I put and organize my finished appliques by colors.

My best working system is the shipping controlling for now. I have couple of stores here and my paypal connect to my Hotmail. I opened 4 folders at Hotmail. Shopping, Etsy, Paypal Orders, Shipping .

When I have a sale I move order and paypal payment to Paypal orders (after I finish to prepare the order).

I use paypal to shipping labels and when I get the e-mail from paypal about shipping, I move it to under Shipping. Each week I check my shipping folder and if it's delivered I delete it. This way I can check if any shipping has a problem.

All my shopping confirmation is going to under shopping. Especially if you buy from eBay after a while they delete your purchases. This way i can place an order every time from same seller.

[Former_Member]

babybandito says

Call the waaahmbulance! I have space envy now, more than ever!

----
aHAHAHA! Me too!

QUESTION: What the heck is "click to ship"? How do people do this online shipping stuff, I need to figure this out! Sounds like it would be a lifesaver for me! Any tutorials or how-tos would be MUCH appreciated! Thanks!

[Former_Member]

I can't wait to see it in action in my shop. Thank you for everything you are doing to make etsy constantly evolving!

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much for all the tips! This is definitely something I need to work on!

[Former_Member]

This is very timely because I just got fed up with the clutter and got somewhat organized. My challenge is sharing an 1100 square foot house with a husband, large dog, and two very nimble and curious cats that like to get into everything! So, I have to keep everything behind a door so I have my beading in one spot, pmc in another, and my kiln is on a cart and I store it in our basement and trot it out when I need it. I love, love, love the container store!

[Former_Member]

I too have a very small space about 1200 sq feet and I have a significant other, 2 almost teenagers and a 2 year oh and the cat. My sons room is currently storing some of the boxes and packing material. Our living room has some of the jars in it. The bedroom I have most of my stuff. The smaller stuff is on a peg board and I have things in an organizer in my closet. I also added shelves. My work space is the kitchen table. Oh how I would love to have a space dedicated to my crafts. But spring is almost here so some of the bigger things I work with (jars and grapevine balls) can go out in the shed.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the posting above. We carry eco-friendly, non toxic and biodegradable tape (made from cellulose). I just posted 1 of our tape last month or so but have not gotten much visibility. So should anyone like to learn more about our tape, you can also visit us on ecopackstore.com. We carry all eco-friendly shipping/mailing products.
Moon Lee, EcoPackStore.com.

[Former_Member]

I would like to know how you keep track of your customers who purchase things off, and on Etsy? Like ones that drop by your house, or that call you on the phone; or for those of you who do shows: how exactly do you track that valuable customer information?

[Former_Member]

I'm in the midst of finding a creative, time and cost effective way to package my merchandise. I sell vintage clothing, and I want to ship items in clear plastic bags- to protect the merchandise from water damage.

Do any of you know of any companies I can check out? Or any plastic alternatives that will do the trick?

[JLMPHOTOGRAPHS]

Great information!

[Former_Member]

I am an organized person and have my craft room sectioned off in categories, but ohhh, to have the stuff in those photos. So, jealous. I do tab pages in my craft books and organize them in the order that I want to do the projects. I also bin and label all completed items that I have taken pictures of, so I know right where to find them when an order comes in.

[Thecookiecouture]

WOW!!! great inspiration, one of my dreams is to have a room like those on the pictures ; ) and few days ago I order some boxes to organize my working station, and in this web site www.organize.com I found great deals and they offer 2 days free shipping, check it out!!

Thanks Danielle for the great info, and Happy to read all of improvements on Etsy!!!

[Former_Member]

I'm a lot more organized mentally than physically and apparently I am a lot more organized than I thought I was. But I think I'm nowhere near as organized as I would like to be to make things more fluid.

[sibstudio]

TaraHutchJewelry
I keep an old school accounts & records book that you can get from any office supply store for off Etsy sales. It's portable, always available to write down an order, phone number, address, quarterly tax due dates. etc. and easy to access when there's no computer.