Priced my almost-buy list against actual cart numbers

2026-10-07 21:15

I keep a note on my phone with unit prices, ship windows, and stock status for the two things I genuinely reorder, plus a separate column for the stuff I keep almost-buying. Last night I ran the almost-buy column through the same math instead of lying in bed asking myself hypotheticals about it.

Three months of the maybes: roughly $410 sticker. Median ship time across 14 entries in my own log: 11 days, with outliers at 19 and 23. Two of them went out of stock while I was deciding, which I only know because I'd written the dates down.

My real cart is $62, lands in 4-6 days, and I've hit zero gaps since I started holding a 12-day buffer. Nine months in, 34 down, and nothing on the maybes list has ever beaten a walk after dinner plus the same boring breakfast.

Not telling anyone what to do. Just noting that the hypothetical version of my life is expensive and slow when I give it columns. Anyone else keep a no-list with actual receipts attached? Curious what your median wait looks like.

2026-10-11 01:40

I did a version of this with a notes-app “maybe” list and a dorm drawer audit. The almost-buys were all cute single-serve protein stuff: pudding cups, crispy chickpeas, flavored tuna.

Actual repeat buys: plain Greek yogurt, eggs, frozen edamame, rotisserie chicken from the campus market. The math that hurt was realizing I already owned 4 unopened protein powders from last semester.

Sharp question: which single almost-buy has survived three months and

2026-10-16 07:57

the dorm-drawer version is smart. Mine is a ziplock taped inside the pantry door, labeled "the maybe bag." Every almost-buy goes on the bag in Sharpie with the date instead of into a cart. If I hit that date and still want it, it graduates.

Out of 22 entries since January, I've actually bought three. The rest were boredom wearing a price tag. I totaled the skipped stuff and put it toward a pair of jeans two sizes down, hanging on the closet door where I have to look at them.

On a long stall, having a goal that's already paid for and doesn't invole the scale is weirdly steadying. Do you ever graduate anything off your note, or does the list just quietly become a museum?