Little Bit Nerdy Much?

You know how technology is supposed to help your life and make things easier? But sometimes it just seems to do the opposite?

Way back in my college days we had to take a computer course which covered productivity software like Wordstar and Lotus 1-2-3. It’s so crazy to think that I now use Microsoft Office products exclusively for work and home use. I mean, the basics were there, but except for word processing and databases, I wasn’t really sure what I could do with them for home use. Fast forward to October 2020.

With the pandemic, in order to reduce contact with other people, I’ve stocked up on some of my staples (diced tomatoes, spaghetti, and flour). This means fewer trips to the store. But I don’t have room to keep it all in my cupboards. So some go in the cupboards and the rest goes downstairs in the basement. But I worried that out of sight would mean out of mind and I would accidently start hoarding items and having them expire. With Excel I’m generally good enough at it to know what I want it to do but can’t always make it happen or I can read and interpret the formulas. What I wanted was a system where I could track what I have and when it’s time to buy more. A couple searches, some YouTube videos and voila! I have a workbook now with multiple spreadsheets. I didn’t build it but I modified it for what I needed. The first spreadsheet has a list of the items, the second shows how many items have been brought into the house, the third shows how many has been used, and the final one shows what I currently have in the house. Granted, I’ve only used it for about two weeks but so far, so good.

I also made a workbook for my book reviews. I have books I read back in 2018 that I haven’t officially reviewed yet. I read them but never posted reviews. How lame of me! So I put this together to keep me a little bit more organized. I have a spreadsheet for NetGalley and one for LibraryThing. Unless something really fantastic comes my way that I can’t pass up, I’m going to concentrate on my reviews and book club readings for the time being. As you can see from the screenshot below, I already have books to review with 2021 publication dates.

Screen grab of Excel sheet for tracking book reviews
Screenshot of NetGalley Spreadsheet

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All content Copyright held by Amber Stults 2008-2023 unless noted. Run on German Shepherd Power.