How to Catalog Your Stuff
Get tips on how to keep track of books, CDs, DVDs, and other possessions.
I saw a bumper sticker, “He who dies with the most stuff, wins.” I didn’t know that. Darn. I thought he who lived a full, meaningful life with enriching experiences and deep relationships wins. Knowing who has the most stuff takes forever and is a lot of work, unless you keep a catalog.
Why Keep a Catalog?
We need catalogs for many different reasons. We catalog our things for insurance, to prove what we owned when our vindictive ex moves out and takes everything. We track what we’ve loaned to others. And we keep a list because we forget what we own and don’t want to buy duplicates (says the guy with six copies of William Shatner’s first album, The Transformed Man).
Some people keep a catalog to review all their stuff and feel superior to all the poor people who don’t own as much stuff. Billionaire Harry Helmsley and his wife Leona would reportedly sit in their New York penthouse and count the buildings they owned. Self esteem at its finest!
What is a Catalog?
A catalog is a big list that you alphabetize so you can find stuff. You could write it on a piece of paper, but then it gets hard to add new items between existing items. If you already own Biker Boyz and Biker Zombies, you need to be able to add a new item between them when someone gives you Biker Babylon: The Wild Ride for your birthday. Keeping a catalog will come in handy if your house ever falls over and sinks into a swamp. You’ll have a list of everything you own, so the insurance company can work quickly. They’ll be forced to skip right over the part where they accuse you of incomplete records and will go straight to the legal loopholes that let them avoid paying.
How to Create a Catalog
Keep your catalog on computer. I recommend using a spreadsheet. Use one spreadsheet for everything. Put the name of the item in column A, and the type—DVD, CD, book, appliance, computer equipment, unique clothing—in column B.
If you want to list just one kind of item, for example your books, sort the spreadsheet by column B, or use the spreadsheet “autofilter” command to show just the rows that say “Book” in column B.
An electronic catalog can also synchronize with handheld devices. Sync your book catalog and when you’re in the bookstore, you can add new items or look up what you own right then and there.
How to Search Your Catalog
Search your catalog by searching the spreadsheet. A single word will do if you can’t remember the whole title. Is it The Anne Huffington Guide to Debutantes Gone Wild or Christina Hedberg’s Debutantes Galore? Just search for “debutante” and you’ll instantly realize you wanted Vendela Vida’s Girls on the Verge. (Available now for $.01 on Amazon.com!)
How to Add New Items to Your Catalog
It’s easy to forget to add new items to your existing catalog. I get so excited over my birthday Oreo ice cream cake that I forget to enter my gifts in my catalog. Then I forget what people gave me and end up buying yet another copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
The solution is simple. Keep a piece of paper and pencil stashed in your bookshelf , your CD rack, your DVD collection, or in the drawer where you put your exciting underwear. Whenever you add something new, jot it down on the paper. Then add an item to your to-do list: “enter catalog into computer.” At your leisure, grab the paper and start typing.
You needn’t enter items in the right place in alphabetical order. Just type them at the end and when you’re done, sort the spreadsheet.
How to Use Your Catalog to Track Loaned Items
You also use a catalog to track loans. When you decide to loan your rare CD of Blink-182 ballads to your friend Bernice, make sure your name is on or in it. That way, when she finds it while unpacking after her move to Paris, she can remember you fondly. In your catalog, add a column C, Location. You give Bernice the CD, and you type “Bernice” into the location column. Then when Bernice is strolling down La Champs-Élysées after midnight and gets abducted by aliens, you can sort your catalog by location and quickly find everything you’ll need to replace. Just change the location from “Bernice” to “Wish List.”
You can also use the same paper-and-pencil trick for loans. You don’t need to rush to your spreadsheet the moment you loan something. That could look like you don’t trust your friend and care more about your CD collection. I do it anyway, but you can just jot it down on your paper and enter it later.
Use Library Cards for Frequently Loaned Items
If you loan out certain items a lot, make a library card for them. I often loan my copy of The Minto Pyramid Principle, the best book ever on structuring writing. It sells for over $100, so I actually want it back. I put an index card in the book and jot down the borrower’s name. The index card goes into a file of checked out books, or into my spreadsheet, or if my friend doesn’t return the book, it goes to Guido, The Enforcer.
Mac Users Have a Leg Up
If you own a Mac, check out Delicious Library at delicious monster. It lets you scan any product with a barcode and puts the item and its picture into your catalog. If you subscribe to my forthcoming newsletter at https://getitdone.quickanddirtytips.com/newsletter before January 10, 2009, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free copy of Delicious Library.
To recap: track your catalog electronically so you can add new items and search it easily. Add new items when you purchase them, or record them on paper for later entry. Loan items out by noting who has them directly in your catalog. You can also keep many inventories together in one spreadsheet, using sort, search, and filtering to narrow your focus.
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
RESOURCES:
- The William Shatner Sing-a-Long Page Squidoo (link The William Shatner Sing a Long Page Squidoo)
- Girls on the Verge – (link Girls on the Verge by Vendela Vida) – Girls on the Verge by Vendela Vida
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith – (link Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith) – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem)
- Champs-Élysées – (link Official website of the Champs-Élysées) – Official website of the Champs-Élysées
- The Minto Pyramid Principle (link The Minto Pyramid Principle) – The Minto Pyramid Principle
Man with Tablet image courtesy of Shutterstock
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About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
