Which app does everyone use for their shopping lists and why?
Specific Use Case - I love to purchase new movies on 4k when released.
I tried putting the release dates in Omnifocus, but it wasn’t really a “task” in my mind. I also didn’t see a benefit of mixing projects and tasks with a shopping list.
I tried putting them in my calendar, but the same thing. Do I really want a line item in my calendar for a purchase date? (Unless of course, we are speaking about the Apple Keynote, entirely different story haha)
The easy option would just be to order it in advance from Amazon or wherever and just have it arrive. But this is about 3 months out. Thoughts?
I do this in OF, but I pre-program in more flexibility. I name my task something like, “check if Endgame is available to stream” and set a defer date only. I’ll just guess at the release date, too, rather than spend time looking it up. I don’t have any resistance to completing this task because it’s so easy and it’s no problem if I get to it a week or a month after the task becomes available. And then I kind decide if I actually want to watch or buy it after knowing I can, and I don’t schedule a task for doing that; I’ll just add it to a watch list and deal with the watch list when we are actually sitting down to watch something.
I use AnyList. (Review here.) Free, available for Mac/iOS/Android, and there’s an inexpensive subscription to use with (a) the Mac app and/or (b) have editable lists among family members.
It also has browser extensions for major browsers that imports recipes and then creates or adds to shopping lists, with items sent to the correct areas (eg Dairy, Frozen Foods, Condiments), and you can import recipes from web pages or emails and it will ingest the ingredients and put them on a shopping list for you.
I wrote about it (and included screenshots for the iOS and Mac apps) here and here.
I use AnyList, because it integrates with Alexa and the Watch. I have lists for movies to go see; shows to stream; books to read; etc. But, AnyList doesn’t have a reminder feature – which is what I think you are looking for.
Simplest free thing might be to create a Reminder. If you’re concerned the reminder would come and go without noticing, then use Due which is better for nagging.
I frequently pre-order books and videos on Amazon. They do not charge until the product ships, and they usually ship so that the product arrives exactly on the day it is released.
Another vote for AnyList. I’ve been using it for years for my shopping lists and find it works exceptionally well.
Specific Use Case - I love to purchase new movies on 4k when released.
I would tend to use OmniFocus in this case. Having an action such as “Order ” that has a tag of “Amazon” (or maybe “Online Purchase” to make it more generic) and a defer date that corresponds to the date the movie is available (or available for pre-order).
I use Apples Reminders quite a lot.
For long term reminders, which seems to be what you’re looking at here, I have a separate list & set an alert on each item so I can keep it out the way.
I keep a calendar specifically for “odds and ends” – things that I want to keep track of, but don’t want in my main calendar. Most calendar programs let you turn off calendars if you don’t want to see them for a time.
I love AnyList. This app is so incredibly powerful and flexible.
I also love being able to share lists with my wife as well. Since Things and OmniFocus don’t offer collaboration features, in addition to shopping lists we may use it for shared to do lists or a family packing list for vacation.
+1 for Anylist. It is simple, smart, and free. I share the lists with my wife and as we add things and check things off they show up in real time on the other’s phone.
I’ve tried AnyList, OmniFocus, DEVONTHink Checklists, OmniOutliner, Paper, Apple reminders, and just about every specific Grocery list app available on iOS. I think I tested something like 20 of them trying to find a replacement for SplashShopper the first time it stopped working due to lack of development.
Why do I keep coming back to it?
Allows me to set a number of different stores where the same item can be found and when I select it as needed it shows up in ALL stores and whenever it’s bought it’s checked OFF in ALL stores.
Quick view to see what’s needed by store or by all stores.
No cloud. It syncs via WiFi to the Mac Os Desktop version but does not require a cloud or subscription.
Keeps multiple lists easily
That number 1 option is the one thing NO OTHER app has ever done properly that I’ve found. Things most shopping list apps do that I don’t care about and in fact get in my way:
Shared lists between family members
Cloud sync
Tracking coupons
Tracking prices of things
Tracking what aisle an item is in in each store
Separating items by area (dairy, vegetables etc)
There are things I don’t like about it but overall it’s what I need and want.
However it doesn’t do the reminder portion you are requesting.
For me, I’d just pre-order on Amazon and be done with it.
Items in Anylist lists can be tagged by store, including multiple stores. So it’s a simple matter to Filter by store to see list items. And yes, when you cross off an item it crosses it off everywhere.
I used AnyList for awhile and liked it though I ended up switching to back to Reminders because I wanted to be able to use on my Watch without paying the subscription. Reminders has been great for my needs. And with iOS 13 I’m going to try breaking it into different stores with items as subtasks. In the case of preordering a movie or something available at a certain date it’s easy enough to just add a reminder date.
I highly recommend Our Groceries Shopping Lists. I still use location-based tasks in Omnifocus, but this App is great for keeping track of and sharing multiple lists.
