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).