ForumsTips & TricksA TD Grocery List
A TD Grocery List
| Author | Message |
|---|---|
|
Salgud |
I got fed up with all kinds of problems with the iPhone app, SplashShopper, which I had used for a long time, even back to my Palm days when it was HandyShopper. But development had stopped a while back and is slow and clunky by today's standards.
Why did I choose to use TD as my grocery list? I needed a few key features that I had trouble finding in a single app after a couple of hours searching the App Store (reviewing only highly rated apps). The features I needed were: 1. Multiple stores per item - I shop for groceries in 4 different stores, 2 King Soopers (one on the way home from work, the other closer to home), an Asian market and Costco. Many of the items I buy overlap these stores. 2. List sorted by area in store (making it easier to shop. Some apps have a aisle number feature, but that only works in one store. Since I shop in so many, I decided it would be easier to have store areas, like produce and meat and canned goods, that would apply in any store.) 3. A "Weekly" list for items I buy virtually every week that I can easily add to my list. 4. I want to be able to easily add a new item without having to enter each item and all it's attributes individually, since one of my major complaints about SS is that it took quite a few clicks to add a new item. In TD, I can just clone the item and make the necessary changes. 5. I wanted backup for my master shopping list as I have lost it in the past, and with over 200 items, it tasks a while to recreate. Most of the iPhone apps that have this capability require the purchase of a desktop app for $20. Since some of the apps themselves cost $10, this seemed a little excessive for a grocery list. The only app I found that had almost everything I wanted was ListPro ($5), but for backup, it requires a $20 Windoze app and, according to the reviews, had a pretty steep learning curve. So I decided TD had all the features I wanted, was free, and YIPPEE!, no learning curve other than the time it took to figure out which fields to use to get what I wanted. And I also knew it is stone reliable. So here's how I set it up. It was simple. I created a new TD account. A free one works fine for this. I created a folder for each distinct area of the store: Produce, Meat, Frozen, Breakfast, etc. These areas are not necessarily how I think of them, but where they occur in the store. Then I created a Context called "Weekly" and Tags for each store (so more than one store for each item). Assigned the Weekly Context to the appropriate tasks. That's it. Before I go shopping, I run down the appropriate store list and star the items I want. I can do this online or in the iPhone app. (Don't use the Completed checkbox for anything.) I have a Saved Search for context Weekly on the cloud app and I just Multi-edit to Star them. If I forget to do this at home, it's a few clicks on the iPhone app to select the Weekly context, and then I have to Star them one at a time. Still pretty easy & quick. I select my Starred list, sort it by folder and filter by the Tag for the correct store. Voila! I have my in-store list, and as I move through the store, I move to the appropriate folder in my list. I used it at the store today to test it out. Worked great! Just like I wanted it to. It does what I want, it cost me nothing, took very little time to set up since I already know TD and I have my shopping list. It works as well and any shopping app I've ever used. Just proves how flexible and powerful TD is! |
|
M |
If you can add tracking of UNIT PRICES BY STORE -- you'll have me. And my everlasting worship.
|
|
Salgud |
Fortunately, this is not a feature I needed. If I have budget concerns, I just add up the rounded up/down prices in my head.
Some of the iPhone apps have this. If you search for "Shopping" in the App Store, you'll see dozens of them. The problem is, finding one that isn't garbage. I always check user ratings before I research further, because is most users don't like the app, it's almost always because it has serious problems. |
|
Ann |
@M: if you do have an Android phone, you might try ToMarket...
It has all features that Salgud has in this Toodledo implementation, and unit prices by store. You can also set up the aisles for each store like you come by them... But I must admit it takes some time to set up everything... |
|
KatBoy |
I also do this; have a second, free account for groceries and other shopping. Like you, I've tried millions of shopping apps but TD does everything I need and it's easy to compile list (I also use starring method).
I use many supermarkets and local shops to buy the same items, depending on availability, so using tags for multiple shops works perfectly. Recently I've been experimenting with noting prices, using the Note field. This is fairly basic, ie Date/Shop/Price I use the TD iPhone app for my main list, so use Ultimate ToDo App for the shopping list. This *was* working perfectly up until a few weeks ago so may have to find another one. Also just noticed it's no longer in the App Store... Like the idea of using folders for aisles/sections and shall be tweaking my list; thanks for the tip. |
|
M |
Thanks, folks...
I have an iPhone, not Android. I've starting using Shopper (still on the free version) and there's lots I like about it -- and, so far, the developer seems receptive to hearing my ideas about what I DON'T like, so I have hope for this app. I had hoped to lessen the number of apps I use by doing this in Toodledo, but maybe that's just not appropriate. |
|
grizzlypapi |
I gave Shopper a look out of curiousity, but it doesn't have the ability to filter items by store, only areas/aisles. That's a dealbreaker for me. Too bad!
This message was edited Sep 01, 2012. |
|
M |
GrizzlyPapi -- adding the ability to hide ITEMS by store was one of the things I suggested to them, that they seemed to like. We'll see if they ever actually IMPLEMENT. It's got its problems, but I'm giving it a go, for now.
|
|
Salgud |
Posted by M:
GrizzlyPapi -- adding the ability to hide ITEMS by store was one of the things I suggested to them, that they seemed to like. We'll see if they ever actually IMPLEMENT. It's got its problems, but I'm giving it a go, for now. Not sure what the difference is between "hide items by store" and "show items by store", if any. If they're the same thing, then I'm with you. BTW salgud = grizzlypapi (names for my 2 different TD accounts) |
|
wav |
If you're on Android and unit price and price history and multiple stores is important to you, I finally settled on Mighty Grocery. Little bit of a learning curve but it also has free online sync. The pro version is just a few bucks, I think. I tried many Android apps for efficient grocery shopping and this has been working for me for several months.
|
|
EllenH |
@Salgud
Many thanks for your post (original post of this thread). I have been using SplashShopper for years and was really getting tired of it. Once in a while I would look around for a replacement but nothing ever did it for me. Your post was an inspiration and made me sign up to try it out. I am just starting out and am amazed at how well it seems to fit my needs. I'll have to use if for a while in real life to be sure. I have more than 400 items and never cleaned them up. It was quite simple to get them all into TD and a breeze to set things up as you said. And the iPhone/iPad app is great. I am quite pleased to be able to edit my lists on both devices, something I couldn't do previously. I couldn't even edit the lists on my desktop machine before, so this is really much better. |
|
us4w_1352436350 |
How do you use 2 accounts? Do you sign in an out of TD? (a hassle)
|
|
Purveyor |
On a computer, use two browsers, e.g. Chrome and Firefox. You can have a different account in each browser.
On an iPhone, use two apps (Toodledo and Todo), or use the Toodledo app for one account and use Safari (or another browser) to access the other account at the mobile website htttp://m.toodledo.com. On the iPad, the full website is usable. |
|
us4w |
THANKS!!! for you quick reply!
|
|
Salgud |
As posted above, I have 2 TD accounts, one paid, for work, one free for my grocery list. But the 2 don't seem able to co-exist on my iPhone. I have the TD app on my iPhone, which I use to access my work account, and I access the grocery list account via Safari and the mobile website. Or I try to access the grocery account via Safari. It doesn't work most of the time. After a couple months of using this combo, now the Safari account keeps jumping back to the work account, and I have to log out of the work account and log back into the grocery account. Every time I want to add to my grocery list. Kind of defeats the purpose.
I have cleared cookies in Safari 3 times now to fix this. The first time, it worked for a few weeks. The last 2 times, minutes. Any suggestions? This message was edited Jan 01, 2013. |
|
Salgud |
I think I fixed the problem. I downloaded the Chrome browser on my iPhone, and opened the mobile TD site. It works, so far, and doesn't insist on reverting to my paid work account and keeps my settings, which Safari wouldn't do. Keeping my fingers crossed...
|
You cannot reply yet
U Back to topic home
R Post a reply
To participate in these forums, you must be signed in.