How to organize the things you want to buy
The problem is rarely capture — it is that the list grows and never shrinks, until opening it feels like work. What follows is a structure that stays usable.
Separate by decision, not by category
Most people sort by what a thing is: clothes, home, tech. It reads tidily and helps with nothing, because you never shop by category — you shop by project. A kitchen you are fitting out, a trip in six weeks, a birthday.
Sort by the decision instead. A cart per project answers the only question you actually ask a list: what is left, and what will it cost.
Give things a way out
A list that only grows is a list you stop opening. Three exits keep it honest:
- Bought — mark it and it leaves the cart, but stays in your history so you can find what you paid.
- Not now — save it for later, out of the way but not deleted.
- No — remove it. Something you rejected six months ago is not information.
Keep the maybes out of the decisions
A slow-burning want and an active decision do not belong on the same screen. Saved-for-later exists so that browsing does not pollute the list you are actually working from — the cart stays about the thing you are trying to finish.
Review it when it is cheap to
Once a project is done, close it: mark what was bought, drop what was rejected. Five minutes at the end of a project is worth more than a monthly tidy you will not do.
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Try it
One cart for every shop you buy from. Free, and it works on the web, your phone and in Chrome.
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