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A dot a day keeps the clutter away

scottlawsonbc.com

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Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#71

Post by tim-fan »

Dnguyen wrote: post #70

This is a preview to show HN? I made an app that help me keep track of my home inventory. I try to keep it as simple as possible so I can stick to the process. The app keeps track of containers and items. Just like a file system, containers are folders and items are files. Of course you can have containers within a container. For example, my house has a garage. In it I have a rack of 5 rows by 7 columns of 27 gallon…

Hey me too, I also have a DIY inventory system, maybe yours is more developed. But I also had the concept of items for n arbitrarily nested containers.

I also track historical movements to see which items are never used.

Recently I've moved towards everything being stored in numbered bags, which are hung in order on a line for O(N) retrieval. For storage it tells you which bag to put it in, for retrieval it tells you where it is.

I'm thinking more and more the optimal system will have a physical as well as digital component.

Also, I feel this system would be great for shared workshops at work places and maker spaces etc. I was just rummaging through our lab at work today, there's so many parts in the lab no one would know about, if it was inventorised with a good integrated (AI?) search function the equipment could be much more useful/available.

https://github.com/tim-fan/hordor

Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#72

Post by hencq »

QuantumNomad_ wrote: post #36
scottlawson wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely see the appeal of an electronic version. I think it really depends on what you care about tracking. Food? Maybe use the same barcodes already on the product. Clothes? maybe RFID patches that are unobtrusive. Things that are subject to a lot of wear and tear and handled a lot will not work well with dots as they will come off, but I don't find that to be a problem for the front of storage boxes so it work…

> Clothes? maybe RFID patches that are unobtrusive. Decathlon and Zara both have RFID tags in their products. https://sustainability.decathlon.com/product-traceability-an... (Decathlon) https://www.inditex.com/itxcomweb/so/en/press/news-detail/7f... (Inditex is the parent company of Zara. Link is a press release from 2014.) So if one were to buy all their clothes at Decathlon (clothes for sports and other outdoor act…

A friend of mine used to once a year hang all his shirts with the open end of the cloth hangers' hooks facing forward. After wearing and washing them he'd hang them back with the hanger facing the other way. After a year he'd toss out any shirts that were still facing the original way and had thus not been worn.

Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#73

Post by deadfece »

pphysch wrote: post #13
jofzar wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imo NFC tags could be the easiest way of doing the same thing for bigger items, scan it when you use it, log it.

Or just a QR code sticker to a URL only accessible from your LAN

Homebox seems to be a good way to make that happen, FWIW. I looked at it for when I was moving house and it had way more than I needed. But it does support the QR code printouts.

Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#74

Post by taftster »

I need this for the junk in my life. Like, did I even use such-and-such thing in the past decade? If not, toss it out (ideally to a reuse store).

I'm trying to get to a place where I think of all my purchases as rentals. That it's OK, if justified, that a tool served its purpose one time, and if it doesn't get used again or goes to the donation center, I have received the benefit. Something that can be reused is then just bonus. If not reused by me, then at least, someone else can benefit from the good.

Switching my mental thinking to "renting" instead of buying items has help me be able to get rid of items which I haven't used in some time, reducing my footprint. I have a long way to go, but I come from a family of clutterbugs and it's just kind of baked in.

Dots would be useful in my scenario just to capture utility of everyday things.

Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#75

Post by Dnguyen »

tim-fan wrote: post #71
Dnguyen wrote: post #70

This is a preview to show HN? I made an app that help me keep track of my home inventory. I try to keep it as simple as possible so I can stick to the process. The app keeps track of containers and items. Just like a file system, containers are folders and items are files. Of course you can have containers within a container. For example, my house has a garage. In it I have a rack of 5 rows by 7 columns of 27 gallon…

Hey me too, I also have a DIY inventory system, maybe yours is more developed. But I also had the concept of items for n arbitrarily nested containers. I also track historical movements to see which items are never used. Recently I've moved towards everything being stored in numbered bags, which are hung in order on a line for O(N) retrieval. For storage it tells you which bag to put it in, for retrieval it tells you…

My system has a list mechanism as well. You can create a shopping list and add to it. Either scan barcode or AI Vision. You can add notes too, such as found at Target for $16.99 and Walmart for $19.99. If the items you add exist in the inventory, it will have the breadcrumb to the items and the quantity. If not, they're added as external. You can also create a camping list, and add the things you need. When you pack and check things off, they are checked out from the system. When you're done, uncheck will check them back into the system. Another use for list is for projects. You can have a list for your workshops and keep track what is being used and what need to be replenished. One more feature I have that could be useful for your workshop is related items. For example, when you look up soldering iron, you'll also see related items such as solder, wick, flux. That way you don't forget.

Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#76

Post by tshaddox »

For me, the hard part isn’t remembering how many times I’ve used a container or item in the last month or year. The hard part isn’t simply dedicating the time to comb through a bunch of stuff and get rid of the unused stuff.

Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#77

Post by _HMCB_ »

tshaddox wrote: post #76

For me, the hard part isn’t remembering how many times I’ve used a container or item in the last month or year. The hard part isn’t simply dedicating the time to comb through a bunch of stuff and get rid of the unused stuff.

The second sentence should read “is” not “isn’t?”

Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#78

Post by ghaff »

tshaddox wrote: post #76

For me, the hard part isn’t remembering how many times I’ve used a container or item in the last month or year. The hard part isn’t simply dedicating the time to comb through a bunch of stuff and get rid of the unused stuff.

I sorta know the stuff I use and don’t use. Had a kitchen fire last year and had to get the whole house emptied out for smoke damage mitigation. I’ve thrown out, donated, or recycled the better part of two large dumpsters worth of stuff.

For me it’s about getting into the mode of going through and parting with stuff.

Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#79

Post by LoganDark »

ghaff wrote: post #78
tshaddox wrote: post #76

For me, the hard part isn’t remembering how many times I’ve used a container or item in the last month or year. The hard part isn’t simply dedicating the time to comb through a bunch of stuff and get rid of the unused stuff.

I sorta know the stuff I use and don’t use. Had a kitchen fire last year and had to get the whole house emptied out for smoke damage mitigation. I’ve thrown out, donated, or recycled the better part of two large dumpsters worth of stuff. For me it’s about getting into the mode of going through and parting with stuff.

I've found it helps me to take photos of everything I'm parting with.

Re: A dot a day keeps the clutter away

#80

Post by apricot13 »

in my own organisation quest I found similar results, my "stick stuff to other stuff" box (it's real name has more swear words!) is the box with glue, tape, scissors, string, glue dots etc

I also keep a pair of scissors in there since there's no reason to look in two places at once.

my collection isn't quite the same categories since it's a hash of craft, electronics, DIY and just general household stuff so my categories are more about size and actions vs likelihood of use. I have "very tiny things", "smart devices", "covers, cases and stands", "cables modern", "cables ancient", "adaptors & extenders".

the best two boxes we've ever implemented: "gribbins: known use" "gribbins: unknown use" for the leftover bits at the end of a project or the spares for something you bought online all labelled in the known box and thrown into three unknown box. if your looking for something in our house its in one of these two boxes!

sometimes things are sub-bagged and labelled in IKEA sandwich bags because free colour coding others it's a free for all because we use it often

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