Hey everyone!

Okay, so I know the catalogue is updated when you own the item at some point. If I want to fill my catalog, am I supposed to just go into every shop every day and buy everything up? I guess until I start finding some repeats? What is the best strategy?

Thanks!

Yes I bought everything until I found repeats.  I also dropped all the items at the train station so my other players in my town could catalog it.  It helped me later when I wanted to change furniture or do a large order for my other town.   Instead of 10 items at 5pm I had 30 items.

To get Gracie unlocked I bought out everything that had a sold out sign in the store to get to the 100K goal.  It's easy to spend 10 K or more in one day.

I used Moridb.com catalog.  Went to the store and used the catalog to find what I was missing.
Added a catalog for each type of item.  Example shoes/socks and just added the items that I was missing.  It made it easier to have only the missing items showing.

The badge says 80% but it's more than that.  Make sure to catalog all the gyroids and as much music as you can.  The Easter Set was the one that got the mayor to gold.

Thanks stitchmaker! I have yet to add an additional character to my game so that's something to look forward to. I didn't realize that additional characters didn't share the same catalog. Thanks for the tips!

Some other ways to get free stuff:

Shake your non-fruit trees every day for three furniture items
Check the Policy Station every day
Write your villagers letters every day, they may send you a gift in return
Run errands for your villagers [and open their deliveries !!]