Ask HN: Is there an app that reminds me where I stashed stuff?

#1

Post by micwawa » Sat, Jan 09, 2016, 10:29 PM UTC

I'm looking for my Allen wrench, but I can't remember where I put it. I have limited random access space around my house, and so I stash rarely used objects in clever places. I'm hoping there is a simple app to whom I could say "I'm stashing the Allen wrench in the purple jar above the fridge" and then two months later I can say "where is my Allen wrench" and it will say "in the purple jar above the fridge."

I've googled a bit and found list apps that don't quite serve the purpose. I'm not a app developer, but I would guess this should be fairly easy to build.

Re: Ask HN: Is there an app that reminds me where I stashed stuff?

#2

Post by taprun » Sun, Jan 10, 2016, 3:44 PM UTC

Sounds like a spreadsheet would work quite well for this.

Re: Ask HN: Is there an app that reminds me where I stashed stuff?

#3

Post by spydum » Sun, Jan 10, 2016, 9:39 PM UTC

notepad/dictation/search? pretty sure the issue is you will NOT make mention of where you placed stuff. Often we misplace stuff because it's tangential to the task, and we're in a hurry to transition back to the main focus.

Re: Ask HN: Is there an app that reminds me where I stashed stuff?

#4

Post by eecks » Sun, Jan 10, 2016, 9:55 PM UTC

I might build this..

Re: Ask HN: Is there an app that reminds me where I stashed stuff?

#5

Post by micwawa » Sun, Jan 10, 2016, 11:53 PM UTC

spydum wrote: post #3

notepad/dictation/search? pretty sure the issue is you will NOT make mention of where you placed stuff. Often we misplace stuff because it's tangential to the task, and we're in a hurry to transition back to the main focus.

Tangential exactly (which is why something like a spreadsheet would never work.) I've tried using notes but then I often forget exactly which note I used or how I had planned to access it later. But I imagine myself being able to quickly tell the app "I'm a stashing X at Y" without a lot of cost.

Re: Ask HN: Is there an app that reminds me where I stashed stuff?

#6

Post by teapot01 » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 1:27 AM UTC

I have a solution that would work for this, it's not quite ready to launch but I would suggest the biggest barrier to any app trying to service this market is the effort of writing this down into an app.

I think the simplest solution is the notes app on your phone.

Re: Ask HN: Is there an app that reminds me where I stashed stuff?

#7

Post by joefarish » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 12:32 PM UTC

You could create a simple Google Form which saves this to a Google Drive Spreadsheet. Only really needs three columns: Thing, Place, DateTime

Re: Ask HN: Is there an app that reminds me where I stashed stuff?

#8

Post by spydum » Tue, Jan 12, 2016, 1:53 AM UTC

micwawa wrote: post #5

spydum wrote: post #3

notepad/dictation/search? pretty sure the issue is you will NOT make mention of where you placed stuff. Often we misplace stuff because it's tangential to the task, and we're in a hurry to transition back to the main focus.

Tangential exactly (which is why something like a spreadsheet would never work.) I've tried using notes but then I often forget exactly which note I used or how I had planned to access it later. But I imagine myself being able to quickly tell the app "I'm a stashing X at Y" without a lot of cost.

http://www.guidingtech.com/20562/search-create-edit-notes-si...

for those with an affinity for ios. seems like notes and siri are actually a viable solution. No idea how many notes ios can hold, or how search performance goes?

Re: Ask HN: Is there an app that reminds me where I stashed stuff?

#9

Post by micwawa » Tue, Jan 12, 2016, 4:27 AM UTC

spydum wrote: post #8

micwawa wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangential exactly (which is why something like a spreadsheet would never work.) I've tried using notes but then I often forget exactly which note I used or how I had planned to access it later. But I imagine myself being able to quickly tell the app "I'm a stashing X at Y" without a lot of cost.

http://www.guidingtech.com/20562/search-create-edit-notes-si... for those with an affinity for ios. seems like notes and siri are actually a viable solution. No idea how many notes ios can hold, or how search performance goes?

This has a chance of working, provided I give hope of having a curated notes list.