^ This. Also, I tried setting up a whole Trello board for my branch last year and it was honestly such a letdown. People just flat out refused to use it or they would accidentally archive my lists. It was not as good as expected and I felt like I was babysitting adults. For your Friday deadline, you really dont have time for a learning curve. I finally gave up on fancy apps and just used a browser extension to share an Amazon cart.

• set up one shared cart link
• tell everyone it closes Thursday at 4pm
• if its not in the cart, it doesnt get bought I actually had to look up the steps again recently on Smartphone Board because I kept messing up the permissions. Its super helpful for that kind of stuff. Just keep it simple or they wont do it and youll be back to the sticky notes... good luck with the boss tho, cheapskates are the worst.

Unfortunately, I had massive issues with shared docs before... coworkers always deleted my entries by mistake. It was a mess. If you want something that wont break:

• Just use Amazon for everything.
• Use a tool to share amazon cart so they can add items without you doing the legwork. Honestly, it is not as good as expected nowadays, but for a cheap boss, Amazon is really your only move.

Over the years, these two free options worked best:

• Google Sheets: Accessible but prone to accidental deletions
• MS Forms: Provides structured, clean lists Forms usually handles requests most efficiently.

Lol I was literally about to post the same thing. Glad someone else brought it up.

Same here!

Same here!

Just saw this and man... I feel your pain. I spent years trying to get my team on the same page with supplies and it was usually a total disaster. Unfortunately, even the shared cart stuff was not as good as expected for me because people would just delete things or leave random junk in there for months. It is super frustrating when you are just trying to be organized and people wont meet you halfway. Quick tip from someone who has been there: just make one public Amazon Wishlist and tell everyone that if it isnt on there by Thursday night, it isnt getting ordered. No emails, no shouting. Since your boss is cheap, I have been using PriceDropCatch lately to snag things when the price dips. It saves a few bucks which usually keeps the higher-ups from breathing down my neck. Hang in there, you will find a rhythm eventually.

Honestly, I felt this in my soul. I had a similar nightmare at my last gig where my boss was so cheap he basically wanted us to use the same pen until the plastic melted. I totally agree with the others saying Amazon is the move for a zero budget setup. It works well because everyone already knows how to use it, so there is basically no learning curve for the tech-hating crowd. I personally found that keeping it simple was the only way to survive that Friday deadline rush. What really saved my sanity was:

• Setting up a single list they could just view.
• Using PriceDropCatch to prove to my boss I was actually saving him money.
• Refusing to accept any request that wasnt sent through the official link. Just curious tho, how many people are you actually trying to manage here? Also, is it mostly just the basics like pens and paper, or are they asking for weird specialty stuff that makes it harder to track?

Would love to know this too

Regarding what #4 said about "Lol I was literally about to post the..." - honestly, I was right there with you yesterday. It is so frustrating when you try to be organized and people just... dont. I actually tried to solve a similar supply mess once with a full PostgreSQL database running on a Raspberry Pi because I wanted perfect data integrity and automated restocking alerts based on usage delta. Unfortunately, it was not as good as expected because my cousin, who basically thinks a mouse is a paperweight, refused to touch it. Instead of using my beautiful UI, he just:

• Wrote ink orders on greasy napkins
• Shouted toner needs across the warehouse while I was wearing headphones
• Left a sticky note on the server itself saying "need blue pens" It was a total technical nightmare and it honestly broke my heart to see all that clean code go to waste while the supply closet remained a chaotic void of mismatched highlighters and dried-up markers. Just a complete mess tbh...

Back when I was at a medical clinic, the budget was non-existent and the staff was... well, let's just say they still used fax machines by choice. I tried the Google Sheets route once and it was a mess because people kept overwriting each other's lines. Safety was my main concern tbh, especially since I didn't want anyone messin with the actual account or seeing the billing info. What eventually saved my sanity was a simple cart sharing tool. It meant I could let them shop but I kept total control over the final submit button. For a zero budget setup, sticking with Amazon is usually the safest bet since everyone knows the interface. The tool Share-A-Cart worked well for us because it didnt require my coworkers to have their own business accounts or anything fancy. It just generates a code they send to you. Just a heads up though, even with safe tools, I always did a final scan before Friday. Coworkers love to add the most expensive version of everything if you dont watch them like a hawk. It is a decent middle ground between a messy document and a full-on procurement system.