Sunday, August 4, 2013

Data Entry Angony

I walked into the milk house the other day after seeing an unfamiliar car down there, thinking someone might need help. The elderly lady greeted me with "Oh, are you new here?"

That happens sometimes. Folks don't always see me as much as Keith because I am often stuck at the computer doing the other farm work...data entry.


 

 


I HATE data entry.

The majority of it is related to our farm store. When folks make a purchase they fill out a sales slip, wrap th appropriate payment in it and shove them both into our lock box at the end of the counter. If Keith or I are nearby we help them but most of our sales are self-serve. Most sales slips are easy to read like the ones Keith fills out.

 
 

But then their are the ones done by the slobs always in a rush that make my life total hell. Ones like this one. Completed my herself I am embarrassed to admit.



Each item purchased is then entered by me into our Quicken system

I HATE Quicken

I have never taken an accounting class in my life or a typing class let alone a word processing class. I basically have no class. I did have ten years of Hospice nursing management experience but with a full time CEO to help me. Without her I would have never made it through  the horrors of balancing a budget on the backs of the terminally ill.

I HATE Budgets.

But in order to keep this farm alive and well so that we can sell it to some one else (Please God) or keep it alive and well so Keith and I can remain here in the future without killing ourselves (Please PLEASE God) I have to do those tasks that I abhor. I will reward myself based on the number of entries I complete. For every twenty sales slips I get a cookie, or another  cup of coffee or a walk outside.

For every 30 slips I get to surf the net for "Hobo Tunics in Plus Sizes" or  " How to Make a pillow from an Old Grain Feed Sack" you know, really important stuff I need to know. I set all kinds of data entry goals like, I'll work on Quicken every morning for two hours first thing...as soon as I get this weeks soap orders wrapped and mailed...or as soon as I go brush my horse...or as soon as we put away four hundred pounds of frozen meat in our farm store.

There is always an excuse NOT to do Quicken. But if I do not do it then we can not cash the checks or use the cash for those trivial things like paying our bills. So I  plunge through day after day reminding myself that when we get our tiny little farm where we are producing food just for the two of us, all data entry will be done with a pencil in an old fashioned ledger book.

I LOVE old fashioned ledger books.


PS Saponification Sunday will return next Sunday

11 comments:

  1. Yours are much more artistic, though.

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  2. LOL!!!


    Just..... lol (a lot!)

    P.S. I am an accountant Donna and I sooo do the same (I reward myself with soaping ingredients though) and I love old fashioned ledger books too xx

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  3. That sounds like a terrible job!

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  4. I have the answer; become a 'prairie farmer'. Plough-up the whole acreage in Spring (first entry), sow maize (second entry), harvest in early Autumn (third entry), sell (forth entry). The rest of the time you'd be on holiday!

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  5. Funny how you should bring up bookkeeping this morning. I was just telling my DH that I was going to apply for a part-time job as a bookkeeper at my Mom's church and he looked at me and said "Don't you REMEMBER how much you hated doing that?!" and then something to the tune of, "I'll pay you whatever they would just to keep the bathroom clean!".

    Hmmm.... Guess I'm not sending in my resume this morning.

    Good luck with your paperwork. I'll be thinking of you when I go through our much smaller pile of farm receipts today (or tomorrow, or next week, or on the night of April 14th).

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  6. Tom, thanks for noticing. My talents are often lost here in Pig World

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  7. Topcat . Sure would be nice if you lived closer. I could wrap soap or something in exchange for your services!

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  8. Cro. Why did I not consult with you before this whole farm venture? You Europeans are so much more pratical

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  9. Carolyn. My goal too is a much smaller pile of paperwork. Good luck with the bathroom cleaning. One job I've forever given up on.

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  10. I, too, have a reward system in place. I can have lunch after I clean the house...I can have chocolate after I write a chapter...I can read a book once I finish writing my post...

    I think it keeps me from feeling guilty for enjoying my little pleasures, because I accomplished something first :)

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