Quickbooks Help...non inventory items

[John Coloccia]

So most of my work revolves around "non-inventory" items. I buy them for a specific job, either a new guitar or a repair. Even the handful of things that I DO have in "inventory" (like strings, nuts, electronics, etc) could just as well be tracked as a non-inventory item.

Do I really have to setup a different non-inventory item for every screw, nut and bolt I use? Isn't there a way to just have a catch-all item and just enter the cost and sale price at the time I create the invoice?

[Raymond Fries]

I used to have a scrollsaw pattern business and used Quickbooks for 11 years. I tracked all of the odd stuff like this in spreadsheets and just made a GL entry at EOY. Items like paper for the patterns and depreciation. The paper remained as office supplies till EOY then I made a GL entry for the COGS. To answer your question, I believe you could use a generic account for all of the miscellaneous stuff with no problem. I would call it something like miscellaneous hardware. Only problem is the IRS wants to know how much of this went into COGS so tracking detail might be difficult. That is why I used a spreadsheet. It was easy to keep track by each item and the formulas did the math. I had a final number for COGS.

Good Luck.