Fluffy Tush Clothing

As tax-time has quickly crept up on me I found myself buried in a sea of invoices, receipts and bank statements, without a good system to input them. I knew from last year this isn't something to get behind on yet somehow I did. I was using excel when I started my business and it worked well in the beginning. As sales increased I quickly outgrew it and desperately needed something that would not only handle the revenue and expenses but that would also invoice, keep track of inventory without me manually having to deduct it after each order was completed AND something that would allow me to track my items so I could remain complaint with the CPSC. I had been using an app that was great for compliance but I had to duplicate too much of my information. Entering each snap, bodysuit, shirt and piece of fabric I buy TWICE is just too time consuming when you are trying to be a wife, mom to 3 and business owner with no employees.

I found Craftybase and it has been amazing! I was overwhelmed at first because I had to go back and enter everything from the entire year. It took me a couple times of getting on the program to figure out the best way to do it. I sent numerous emails to one of the creators of Craftybase, Nicole, and she was always very helpful and friendly. Don't hesitate to use the support form within the program to ask any question you have, she is great!

I wanted to walk you through the process that I use to maybe help make the learning curve for others a little easier. They offer a free 14-day trial so I strongly recommend signing up for it so you can walk through it while reading this. I started by clicking on the contact tab and entering the stores/ suppliers I use most often as vendors. To do this you just select "add contact", select vendor from the drop-down category menu and enter as much or as little information as you want about each one. Next, I went to the expenses tab and selected "add expense". Here you will enter the vendor and date and then click "add expense item" and a new window pops up. When you go to fill in the "material" field you will click "add new material" and another window will pop up. Now stay with me here!! I promise once you do this a couple times it goes really fast and it will make organizing all your necessary information fabulous! In this new window you will enter the code (I use the UPC from my receipt), category (which you can create; mine are fabric, KAMsnaps, kids blanks, adult blanks and office supplies), quantity, and then make sure the "consumable" box is checked. Now you can click "save material" and it will allow you to enter your inventory information (amount paid etc) so Craftybase can keep inventory for you as the items are used. You will continue entering all of your fabric etc as "expense items" and then you can enter discounts from coupons, tax paid and shipping if any of those apply. I had to go back and do this with all my receipts for my fabric as well as the blanks I use. You will want to enter all your expenses this way but if they are office supplies/ items that you don't take inventory on, make sure to uncheck the "consumable" box. Next you want to go to your projects tab and enter the item you are making or have already made. Click "add project" and fill out all the information about your item. Save it and then click "create recipe". From here you can add whatever materials are part of the item (snaps, elastic, fabric etc) by clicking "add material". Keep in mind all of this is building the bones of your information so you won't have to do this all the time. You can add variations of the item so say you are making a shirt that comes in 5 sizes and 2 colors you can add that variation to it and you are done, no need to recreate it again!! It will calculate what you should be charging as well which is a bonus. Now when someone buys an item from you, go into your order tab and add the item, taxes, shipping and any other information you want to include. Since I make children's items I use my DOM/ batch# as the order code. I was using a wonderful app for tracking my items for compliance and it worked really well. However, I found I had to duplicate information in order to track expenses, inventory and my items for compliance. It was taking up too much time for me with the number of items I use in production so I have switched to using Craftybase. If I need to go back and find an item they are all under my orders and when I need to get information to fill out my taxes they are all listed without even having to do any sorting of a spread sheet!

an example of expenses sorted out in categories

 

DISCLAMIER: I am in no way affiliated with Craftybase, I am just a happy customer and work-at-home-mama that wants to help others out by making managing this part of your business easier. When you use my referral code (f4940363) or referral link, it does give both you and me 10% off our monthly fees so make sure to use it or someone else's that you know and get the discount!