No complicated software here

You know... I've been a software developer for 20+ years and have written a lot of software in my time. So, decided several years ago that I need something to manage my inventory and let me know what sales I had and when the print/original sold. I started layout the database, the user interaction, etc. However, it's been over two years and I still haven't written it.

Why? Simple. I don't want to. After spending the entire day writing software, the last thing that I want to do is go home and write some more. I need to improve my painting skills, work on my inventory, spend time with my wife/dogs, etc. Not enough time in the day for it or the inclination to write the software.

So, this weekend, evaluated what I really needed to do and how to achieve it. I realized that all I needed was to track my list of items that I had for sale and track what item sold at each show. Excel spreadsheet works just great for this. So, I spent about 1/2 hour and entered everything in Excel. Easy and done.

The point of this post is: Even though you may be able to do something, is it really the best use of your time to do it? Part of the program that I was planning to write was a tracking system to help me manage my task lists for shows, painting, inventory management, etc. I could spend hundreds of hours doing it.... or I could just buy a $40 program to automatically do it for me. I opt for the program.

So, is there something that you need to do and realized that it may be more cost/time-effective to "outsource" the work?