This is a tool to help you track your purchases of craft supplies to help you make sure you are not purchasing more than you need. It is primarily used to help people work through what they have at a faster rate than they purchase new supplies, but can also help maintain a healthy supply once the stash is under control.
This is a spreadsheet I created for you to use to help you track your fabric purchased and fabric sewn (You can actually track any craft supply or anything that is hoardable). The goal is to keep it as simple and realistic as possible to set yourself up for success. It is simply yards in / yards out (or meters – you decide!). I recommend not even getting technical with fractional yardage. We’re also not tracking the dollar value of the yard or the type of fabric. the simpler it is the easier it is to abide by.
This spreadsheet has a lot of geeky formulas to get it to tell you exactly where you stand with your permission to buy. I locked those formulas so they don’t break and left certain input cells so you can customize the sheet to your personal goals. If you are an Excel guru and want to change anything on your sheet, the password is “Admin”.
How to use it:
*I will be attaching a video to this listing as soon as I am able, that explains how this works for those who prefer videos.
Multiplier:
My own personal goal when I created this was to sew twice as much fabric as I buy and my rule was that I couldn’t ever get below that metric. But you don’t have to have the same goal. If a 2 to 1 ratio is too extreme you can decrease your multiplier to a number like 1.5 and that would give you a little more buying power while still shrinking your stash. If you are happy with the size of your stash and just want to maintain it, then you would enter a 1 in the multiplier field and this would keep you to a goal of only buying as much as you make. If you need to rapidly diminish your stash then you can increase your multiplier to 3 or 4. All the formulas will update based on your multiplier.
Units:
If you use the metric system, just change the Units to Meters and your chart will speak your language (providing it’s still English 😉
You can also change it to Skeins of yarn or Patterns, or whatever craft supplies you might be hoarding over there.
Other Inputs:
To fill out your sheet you simply enter the date you purchased or used your fabric (optional), and the description of your action, like where you bought fabric from or what item you sewed. Then fill out the yardage in the corresponding bought or sewn column. Once you input a description, the formulas to the right will populate and let you know what your current standing is. It’s that simple! I love the feeling of earning the right to buy fabric, and this does just that.
If you want to print your chart to keep your tally in your sewing room to then input into Excel at a later time you can do that, It’s formatted for printing. Do whatever works for you!
Compatibility: This spreadsheet is supported in Microsoft Excel. I understand it should also work in iWork Numbers, Google Drive, LibreOffice and Dropbox mobile (The last three are free). It is not supported in OpenOffice at this time. Please email me if you find any bugs. I want to keep this updated and working smoothly for as many people as I possibly can. Thank you!
Tag #STASHSHRINKER on Social Media