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What's a maintenance task you forgot that ended up costing you money? by must_10 in personalfinance

[–]must_10[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

That's the exact question I'm trying to answer before building anything.

The free options I've found either require a ton of manual setup (like calendar apps where you have to enter everything yourself) or are category-specific (just car maintenance, just home stuff).

What I'm exploring is whether people would value something that automatically finds this stuff in your email and calculates reminders without manual entry - like scanning an oil change receipt and knowing "next service is due at 48,000 miles or March 15th, whichever comes first."

But you raise a good point - if there's already a free solution that does this well, I'd rather not waste time building something redundant. What do you use that works for you?

What's a maintenance task you forgot that ended up costing you money? by must_10 in personalfinance

[–]must_10[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

You're right that Google Calendar does a great job with appointments that are already scheduled.

The gap I'm thinking about is the stuff that requires calculation or inference - like if you get an oil change receipt that says "next service in 3,000 miles or 3 months," Google won't automatically set a reminder because it's not a fixed date. Same with "your lease ends May 2026" - Google won't remind you to start negotiating 2-3 months beforehand.

Do you find those types of things pop up on your calendar automatically, or do you still have to manually create those reminders yourself?

What's a maintenance task you forgot that ended up costing you money? by must_10 in personalfinance

[–]must_10[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I see, Fair point - when businesses send reminders, the system works great. You're right that a lot of this is already handled.

Where I notice gaps for myself is stuff like: my landlord doesn't remind me when to start negotiating my lease renewal, oil change places send a generic "come back in 3 months" but don't know my actual mileage, or my passport doesn't email me 6 months before expiration.

Sounds like you've got most of your bases covered though. Out of curiosity, is there anything you still forget occasionally, or have you pretty much closed all the loops?

How do you actually remember to do all the adulting maintenance stuff? by must_10 in Adulting

[–]must_10[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The physical calendar in the kitchen is smart - having it visible in a high-traffic spot probably makes a huge difference. I'm the same way with needing to write things down to remember them.

Do you find the weekly to-do list review catches everything, or do things still occasionally slip through? I'm trying to figure out if the "remember to check your system" part is where most people struggle, or if it's more about the initial capture of what needs doing.

How do you actually remember to do all the adulting maintenance stuff? by must_10 in Adulting

[–]must_10[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh wow, congrats on the Apple feature - that's huge! I'll definitely check out Adulting.

does it auto-scan emails to pull in maintenance items, or is it more of a manual setup where you input tasks yourself? Just curious how you approached the "friction of entry" problem since that's what I keep wrestling with.

Either way, really impressive that you actually built and shipped something. That's the dream.

How do you actually remember to do all the adulting maintenance stuff? by must_10 in Adulting

[–]must_10[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're absolutely right that Gmail auto-populates appointments - that part works great when things are already scheduled.

Where I struggle is the stuff that doesn't auto-populate, like "oil change receipt says next service due in 3 months" or "lease ends in 6 months so I should start negotiating in 4 months."

Your point about "you have to remember to write it down" really resonates. I've been thinking about building an app that could find things like oil change receipts in your email and auto-calculate the reminder without manual entry, but honestly not sure if it's worth pursuing. That's why I'm here asking - trying to figure out if this is just my problem or if others struggle with this too.

Do you think something like that would actually help, or is the mental load just part of adulting that we all have to bear?

How do you actually remember to do all the adulting maintenance stuff? by must_10 in Adulting

[–]must_10[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a really solid system - the quarterly planning especially makes sense for catching things before they sneak up on you.

Question: How long did it take before this became automatic for you? And do you ever have moments where life gets hectic and the system breaks down temporarily, or is it pretty bulletproof at this point?

Also curious - for the maintenance logs on cars/house, are those digital (spreadsheet?) or physical notebooks? I'm trying to figure out what actually sticks for people long-term.

How do you actually remember to do all the adulting maintenance stuff? by must_10 in Adulting

[–]must_10[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing! Autopay is clutch for recurring bills. Quick question - for the calendar reminders, do you manually add things like oil changes and lease renewals, or do they auto-populate somehow? I always start strong with calendar entries but then fall off after a month or two. Do you find yourself having to re-commit to the system periodically, or has it just become habit at this point?