# Quickbooks



## FarmFam (Feb 12, 2012)

Today I finally setup quickbooks for our garden (40x60) and have all the plants listed in items, showing what I paid per plant (breaking down seed cost per plant etc.) and was wondering how everyone else was doing the logging, we are planning on selling at a roadside stand this summer so i wanted to track how much we sold, what is the best seller etc. We went with quickbooks because we did all the state/fed paperwork to get tax id #'s and such, did I stray in the wrong direction or is this something people are using. not sure how im going to track sales from an inventory of plants as we are selling the harvest not the plants (until I build the greenhouse this fall)

any suggestions or comments?

Myke


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## Vance71975 (May 24, 2012)

Quickbooks is what most small businesses use, its a great program once you learn it. Good choice!


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

I wouldn't have chosen that for the purpose, but it'll probably work if you don't get too frustrated with it. Tax IDs to sell from a 40' x 60' garden? Methinks you might be into overkill...

Damage from one groundhog (tax ID unknown) $47.50
Insect loss from Mexican bean beetles $27.50 amortized over the regrowth rate of Blue Lake Beans on a three month scale.
Sale of one cucumber $1, water cost .12, seed cost divided by 22 cucumbers .02, fertilizer from cow free, cost of cow $512.
One garden hoe $20
One garden gigolo $25
Beer for snails $8
... say, this is beginning to sound like a secret service job...

I will say that you will have some fun documentation to show how you lost money.


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## FarmFam (Feb 12, 2012)

the reason we went with the tax id is that a couple of the markets we were going to use required it and more.

for quickbooks i was just wanting to do something like
cost of plant $1.00 x 40
sale of vegetables from plant $150
profit $110
then i would take the cost's of water, stakes, etc into account and come up with the true profit/loss

maybe i am over-thinking this, but being an IT person i tend to do that.

thanks
Myke


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## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

I don't really think you are over thinking it. You are right in that you will get a more accurate profit/loss record...although it's likely that you will even miss some losses. It happens, easy to forget to get reciepts or add something in....like the......beer....for the......snails.......of course 

One of the businesses I had had products and I used those features of Quickbooks. Although it was a while ago and I don't remember all the details I do remember liking it well enough. You can really see where you are losing money the fastest and decide if that product is worth it or whether you need to adjust what you are doing or how much you are charging.

It is also handy to see trends over time. I would reckon that it is just as good or better than keeping hand written journals especially since it does the calculating for you and you can also export it for tax purposes if you want to....or at least have the figures if you do your taxes yourself.

In my opinion if you are having to get a tax ID to sell your produce or livestock you may as well keep records like a business...should. LOL

If I remember right, you can also put notes in on each item...so you probably have a way to record when you planted the plant as well that year. That could be handy over time as well.


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## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

Last thought. One good thing about keeping good records is that if for any reason you are flagged or "randomly selected" for an audit....the dudes they send to inspect your records...when they find out everything is in order, it's really fun to see the look on their face.

Especially when they show up all grumpy because they think you owe them money and they end up leaving telling you when they will cut your check.....muahahaaaaa!


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

With a 40' x 60' garden, I doubt a tax man will come after you and ask for your books. However... speaking as one who has owned a business for close to twenty years, sales and use tax receipts and accounting of those is a constant battle. It'll likely be more so for you with a soft product and cash sales, which is where many tax dodgers live.

I use a separate invoicing program, a couple of spreadsheets, and then use Quicken only for aggregated results. Not only does it allow triple redundancy in case of software issues or data crash, it keeps the little stuff little. If you are building a business to do the accounting, you are in the wrong business.

I find the whole FED ID thing silly anyway, as it attempts to force the businessperson into pigeonholing their business, so that it is easier for the tax people to rip it off. Some businesses just cannot be properly categorized. Even though I deal with computers and programming, my ID reflects "paper products" since the support fees I charge are built into ticket stock price. GE went from lightbulbs to credit cards.

As a side note, I'll buy you a cup of coffee if you make a profit. With our garden, I could have just buried the money in the soil and been more profitable.


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