Designers and Storing kits

[mom2triplets04]

I've come to a problem! I have been buying kits from many places and have found that some designers do sell in other places.

I'm having a difficult time finding things on my computer.

How do you store your kits? Are you storing them by company then designer?

How do you find if you already have the kit? I have bought some kits from two different places yup downloading that kit twice.

Also when you buy from like the buffet each month. How are you labeling it on your computer? I was making a folder called September Buffet. But when it's time to actually scrap it's easy to look in the September Buffet folder but when I'm buying more kits I have been duplicating. and I can't seem to find the kit again if it's in the September folder.

Ok, I need help. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[bestcee]

I store all my kits by Store -->Designer

Gingerscraps​

Gingerbread Girls
Miss Fish
Magical Scraps Galore
Tinci Designs
etc.
​

Each designer goes in the place I'm most likely to buy from them. So, Heather Z Scraps sells at 2 places. I'm most likely to buy from her at Gingerscraps, so even if I buy from her other store, I add it to her Gingerscraps folder. I usually add something to the file name to indicate the other store, so in this case I would add MM at the front. Then, those kits would sort at the bottom of her folder. Easy to check before purchasing (or using in a GS challenge!), because I'm only looking in one folder. If it's at both stores, I file it like normal regardless of where I purchase it.

For things like the Buffet, I add SBmonthyear at the end of the file. So, September's Buffet is SB0922. Then, I can search my kits for the buffet kit with SB0922, but I can also file each kit under the designer.


That said, I have purchased a kit twice, here, before. It's obnoxious, but it's rarer when I stay organized!

 

[mom2triplets04]

Thank you. That helps. I need to rename and move stuff around.

 

[wvsandy]

I used ACDSee and it allows me to categorize files by designer. Therefore, for ex., I leave files in the store or Buffet category and categorize to the artist. This gives me a full list of products that I have purchased. Note CarolW's files

 

[FormbyGirl]

Mine are organized the same way bestcee (Courtney) does it and it works well for me. If I purchase a kit for a designer from another store I keep it in the Gingerscraps folder under the designer but flag the other store in parentheses at the end of the kit name.

 

[Kristi Martin]

Honestly it makes no sense to my brain to store by designers or store. Many designers sell at multiple places or leave one store and go to another so organizing by store is the least effective to me. Organizing by designer name also doesn't make sense because when I am looking, for example, a birthday kit I don't want to look through every designer to find one.
So... for me I organize by kit name and then put broader themes into folders.
I name them like this... kit name; designers initials and that way if I am looking for a kit by a certain designer I can still search for say, Connie Prince because all of her kits I have ended with CP.
If it is a birthday kit I will also add that theme to the name so it would read; Birthday- Kit Name- Designer initials. Sometimes I will also add the initials of the store at the end too so something from here I would add GS but I am finding the store initials aren't as helpful as they used to be so no longer do that as often unless it was a freebie kit which helps me recall where it came from.

My kits are normally sorted by name or theme alphabetically and then it is very easy for me to see if I already have a kit.
The folders I have are things such as each holiday, season, birthday, beach, food and a few more.
This way when I am looking for a Birthday kit I can go to the Birthday folder and browse through what I have and easily also see who the designer is since their initials are behind the kit name.
Here is a graphic so maybe it makes better sense.
Notice that the folder for the current daily blog download has a - in front it as that makes it easier access to it since I am adding to it each day. Once the downloads are done I take off the - and then it sorts alphabetically.

Sorry I can't seem to get my screenshot to properly add to the post. It added about a bazillion lines of code instead.

 

[breoni]

This is a great question and I love seeing everyone's responses. My current system is pretty easy. When I download the kit, I save it with the designer --> name of kit --> store purchased. For example: MFish Wordy Frames GS.

This way, all of the designers' kits/templates are all grouped together. And it's easy for me to do a search to see if I already have the kit/template.

The part of my system that fails is when a designer retires or moves to another website. But at least this keeps me somewhat organized.

Good luck!