diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 491788d..b54a4cf 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 node_modules/
-.DS_Store
-
-.env
-config.env
\ No newline at end of file
+*.env
+__pycache__
+.DS_Store
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/util/categories.csv b/db/util/data/categories.csv
similarity index 100%
rename from db/util/categories.csv
rename to db/util/data/categories.csv
diff --git a/db/util/products.csv b/db/util/data/products.csv
similarity index 100%
rename from db/util/products.csv
rename to db/util/data/products.csv
diff --git a/db/util/regions.csv b/db/util/data/regions.csv
similarity index 100%
rename from db/util/regions.csv
rename to db/util/data/regions.csv
diff --git a/db/util/insert_file_contents.py b/db/util/insert_file_contents.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..680c44c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/util/insert_file_contents.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import csv
+from psycopg2 import sql
+
+# function to read from a given csv file into postgres
+def insert_file_contents(conn, cur, file_path, table_name, column_count):
+    with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8-sig') as f:
+        reader = csv.reader(f)
+        header_names = ""
+        first_row_accessed = False
+
+        for row in reader:
+            # get row values from first row of reader
+            if not first_row_accessed:
+                header_names = [item for item in row]
+                first_row_accessed = True
+                continue
+
+            # execute table insertion for each row of csv based on number of columns
+            if column_count == 3:
+                cur.execute(sql.SQL("INSERT INTO {table} ({h1}, {h2}, {h3}) VALUES (%s, %s, %s)".format(
+                        table=table_name,
+                        h1=header_names[0],
+                        h2=header_names[1],
+                        h3=header_names[2]
+                    )),
+                    row
+                )
+            elif column_count == 1:
+                cur.execute(sql.SQL("INSERT INTO {table} ({field}) VALUES (%s)".format(table=table_name, field=header_names[0])), row)
+            else:
+                raise
+
+    conn.commit()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/util/main.py b/db/util/main.py
index aae21f1..1db62e7 100644
--- a/db/util/main.py
+++ b/db/util/main.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import psycopg2
-from psycopg2 import sql
 import csv
 import os
+from insert_file_contents import insert_file_contents
+from psycopg2 import sql
 
 # read data from environment if present
 env_path = "../../.env"
@@ -26,45 +27,9 @@ os.close(fd)
 conn = psycopg2.connect("dbname=e-commerce-092122 user=mikayladobson")
 cur = conn.cursor()
 
-# read and print data from selection
-cur.execute("SELECT * FROM users;")
-for i in cur.fetchall():
-    print(i)
-
-# function to read from a given csv file into postgres
-def insert_file_contents(file_path, table_name, column_count):
-    with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8-sig') as f:
-        reader = csv.reader(f)
-        header_names = ""
-        first_row_accessed = False
-
-        for row in reader:
-            # get row values from first row of reader
-            if not first_row_accessed:
-                header_names = [item for item in row]
-                first_row_accessed = True
-                continue
-
-            # execute table insertion for each row of csv based on number of columns
-            if column_count == 3:
-                cur.execute(sql.SQL("INSERT INTO {table} ({h1}, {h2}, {h3}) VALUES (%s, %s, %s)".format(
-                        table=table_name,
-                        h1=header_names[0],
-                        h2=header_names[1],
-                        h3=header_names[2]
-                    )),
-                    row
-                )
-            elif column_count == 1:
-                cur.execute(sql.SQL("INSERT INTO {table} ({field}) VALUES (%s)".format(table=table_name, field=header_names[0])), row)
-            else:
-                raise
-
-    conn.commit()
-
-
-insert_file_contents("./categories.csv", 'category', 1)
-insert_file_contents("./regions.csv", 'region', 1)
-insert_file_contents("./products.csv", 'product', 3)
+# read contents of each file into postgres
+insert_file_contents(conn, cur, "./data/categories.csv", 'category', 1)
+insert_file_contents(conn, cur, "./data/regions.csv", 'region', 1)
+insert_file_contents(conn, cur, "./data/products.csv", 'product', 3)
 
 print("Database insertions executed successfully.")
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d7fbe13..a1a50bd 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
   "scripts": {
     "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
     "start": "nodemon server.js",
-    "seed": "cd db && node seed.js"
+    "seed": "cd db && node seed.js",
+    "populate": "cd db/util && python3 main.py"
   },
   "engines": {
     "node": "v16.13.1"