Here's a simple solution: next time you buy soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, etc, buy two of them and put the one you're not using in a closet.

Or buy double the amount you bought last. You'll eventually stop running out of detergent.

When the first one runs out, replace it with the second, and go buy another. You have a buffer to remember to buy the item for your backup inventory.

And the remembering is done by means of a list on your phone. When you run out, add it to the list. When you're at the store, check the list.

Not techy enough for ya? Think of it as preserving state and passing it across time from "the you who knows" (senses a need) to "the you who does" (is at the store). Or as asynchronous communication with yourself.

Why not have the detergent bottle automatically add itself to your list on your phone when it runs out - it doesn't need to actually buy it on amazon. Seems convenient to me.

And if you want to get even more techy, get a google home and say "hey google, add soap to my shopping list"

I wondered, can you do that? Because there are a million kinds of soap. Can you say "Hey google, add tide xt extra bright in the HD bottle" and it understands?

If a "home automation" product can't add arbitrary text to a shopping list (something my phone could probably have done in 2004) then what use is it?

Do you happen to sell "Tide XT Extra Bright in the HD bottle" soaps? Because if not, why would you even suggest that? :P.

I mean, seriously, I know what soap I want to buy when I'm shopping. It might be a different one every week. And I definitely don't want my automated solutions to vendor-lock me.

Oh - I thought it would actually order stuff, not just put it on a list.

But if its just making a list, then what's the point? I can write on the slip of paper on the fridge anyway.

The list idea was part of the "you really don't need this overwrought solution" thread. Oops I gave away the agenda!

Or I just buy the automatic laundry soap ordering thing.

This doesn't work for me. I've tried it many times and I run into the exact same problem, just half as often.

The way this works is: when you run out of your primary X and pull your backup X out of the closet, you immediately add X to the shopping list you carry with you. Then when you're in a shop, you simply buy things that are on the list and put them in the backup closet.

This requires developing two habits: 1) adding a thing to the shopping list when you fetch the backup item, and 2) actually using a shopping list.

Now I sympathize with the fact that different people have problems with different habits, so if it really doesn't work for you, then I guess you need something else :). But the benefit of this trick (or "life hack") is that it's free to use, doesn't require any purchase to set up, and doesn't tie you to any vendor.

If I forget that I don't have _any_ soap, what would make me remember that I'm out of my backup soap?

Also, why not just have this automated instead?

Automation means you actually have to run out to get more.

A backup bottle means you never are out - if you remember any time during the 2-month period it takes to use up a bottle. Or have an automated system.

Automation could mean it analyzes your average usage, and when you will run out in (amount of time it takes product to get to you + 20% for a buffer) it will order more.

Or hell, when you are at 50/25/10%, order another.

And if you are uncomfortable with it ordering it for you, it could just add it to a shopping list for you.

I've actually semi-automated this in the past by having Amazon ship me products on a regular schedule. Pricewise, though, it makes more sense to just make a quarterly trip to Costco and load up the storage closet.

Because you are not beholden to billions of dollars of infrastructure just "working".

Like our cell phones, or cars, or electrical grid? Silly, that's called 'civilization'.

I'm already paying for it, either through my free will (through various services) or threat of violence (taxes).

Amazon recurring delivery sends me laundry detergent, toilet paper, soap, etc. on a monthly schedule. It I get to much I can pause for a bit.

We do the same with K-Cups, very useful, and something you quickly take for granted.

I have noticed that we pay more over the longer term however as we miss sales/discounts/etc that you'd get by ordering in singles. Don't love that.

That's a good alternative, I agree - but still, I need to click things manually. Solution in OP is fully automated.

I agree with you, and I see that you get the normal responses I also get when I bring these things up (Just remember next time! Make a list! Buy two times as much then just remember you are running low!).

But when there is a technology that can make things better for us, allowing us to have to remember less and do less, why not?

I buy a specific brand of cat litter, laundry detergent, paper towels, and toilet paper. And all of them I often forget I'm low on until it's too late, and I need to run to the store for a single thing.

You can give me all the "solutions" in the world and i've probably tried them, this has happened my whole life.

But then a technology comes along and takes care of this for me, and people are upset that it exists!?

Yeah, the retailer the automation buys from could jack up the prices, if they do that I'll stop using it. Yeah, it could end up costing me slightly more for the convenience, i'm okay with that. Yeah, there are other solutions that work well for other people, they don't for me.

And besides, there are tons of other uses for this kind of thing. The software doesn't need to automatically order it if you don't want to, it could just make a list for you if you'd prefer.

Well, you can think of the "buffer method" (initially buy 2 units of an item, always add 1 unit to shopping list the moment you fetch the backup one) as a life hack, a piece of technology that's really awesome because it doesn't require anything than just a very small shift in your habits.

That said, I think people - myself included - complain about this example usage because of all the uses one can come up in 30 seconds, this one is the least generally useful, and most ridiculous one, and this is the one that the authors decided to run their story with. For me, frankly, it's a bit pathetic.

It strongly reminds me of another example - BLE beacons. There are plenty of useful applications that are also obvious when you understand what it is, but what was that the companies (I won't name a particularly well-known brand from my area[0]) decided to run with? Pushing ads into peoples' phones when they're shopping.

It's as if people are purposefully trying to not use technology for good, and instead focus on the worst parts of our culture - greed, consumerism and exploiting others.

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[0] - There is also another, lesser-known BLE beacon brand in my area, which started their copy with industrial and medical uses. Well, after the success of the retail-oriented brand, they too decided to go with retail instead.

Maybe to you, but to me this is probably my favorite usage of this technology that I can easily come up with. In other words the way it will have the best impact on my day-to-day life (hell, if it stops the "run to the store for detergent" drives, it'll probably be better for the environment as well).

If this ever gets to the point where I can buy filament for it and print stuff myself, the first thing I'll be doing with it is hacking something together to order stuff as it runs out.

Just look at it from my perspective. To me it's like people saying they can use BLE for medical and industrial purposes, and everyone is shouting about how useless and anti-consumer it is...

I'm with you. I would not only like this detergent idea but would like counts/weights for things in my fridge, pantry, bathroom. So when I'm in grocery/Dept store..I can just look at my phone to see what I need or have Amazon order it automatically.

I could also know what I needed to buy for cooking meals that week. It would be super efficient.

When you are out, just order some more. When we were living in Beijing, they would have it delivered within an hour or two.