Personal demand forcasting
June 12, 2021 3:45 PM   Subscribe

Any recommendations for a system that will help me keep track of when I've done something (ie: bought coffee or cleaned the stove) and it will tell me when I might want to do it in the future?

I know this kind of thing exists for big corporations. When I order something on Amazon it prompts me to "subscribe" based on how often people normally buy it. I can kind of do it manually by downloading my Todoist data and looking at when I check things off. This idea came back into my mind because I'm trying Tody based on a MiFi Ask recommendation and it needs this task periodicity as an input.
posted by BasalGuilder to Technology (5 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just in case nobody suggests a programmable solution, I'll mention what I do manually with Trello. I have a "Recurring" board with Weekly, Irregular, Monthly and Yearly lists. Each card's description has a code like "(Mon) Put trash at curb" or "(BWN) Move money to Savings" or "(20) Pay Amex" or "(July) Renew Auto Registration". By the way, BWN = Biweekly Non-Pay-week.

So every weekend I just go through my Recurring Board and move appropriate things to my Immediate board. When they are done I move them back to the appropriate Recurring board list. The Trello Activity for each card will show the dates of those movements.

Sometimes I will have occasion to adjust a frequency (e.g., BWN to BWP because some independent company changed their schedule).

Trello even has a "Butler" tool that lets you design a "Move to Immediate Board" button to make this easier (you're limited per month if you're using free Trello, but I usually slip in under the max except once in a while, then I just the Move button manually).

Before this I tried other systems but the trouble was my real life didn't match up with the frequencies those apps provided (theory not equal reality) and so it was frustrating. I find this system more relaxing. But YMMV.
posted by forthright at 7:47 PM on June 12, 2021


I downloaded an app called Sweepy recently (possibly on the advice of a previous Ask thread) that basically does this, it’s meant for scheduling household chores but you can add whatever tasks you want and have them recur as often as you want—there’s a meter that gradually turns yellow and then red depending on when you last completed the task.
posted by music for skeletons at 8:41 PM on June 12, 2021 [2 favorites]


Not a technical solution, but can you estimate the frequency at first? Then when it alerts you and it looks like the coffee pot is still clean, adjust the timing. Over a few months you should be able to figure out the timing for every task.
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 8:54 PM on June 12, 2021 [1 favorite]


For a *very* not-technical solution...there's a number of things I physically write on, first so I can start tracking the time, and then so I can make predictions. There's a dog food bag in my kitchen, ie, that has "Bought May 3, Run out June 15 or so". Wrote that on it on May 3, when I brought it home.

Needless to say, I live alone.
posted by Mogur at 7:36 AM on June 13, 2021 [1 favorite]


This feels kinda Exist-y.
Maybe not 100% but in the same ballpark
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:08 AM on June 14, 2021


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