I'm automatically itemising my grocery bills

O

omnom

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Bramley, Johannesburg
Our grocery bills are crazy high and we don't know why...

So, being a software developer, I thought, "Why can't I process my Checker's Sixty60 receipts into a database... And while I'm at it, let me do some OCR on my physical receipts."

It turns out that things aren't that simple. State of the art OCR is actually terrible for this task. But I have got something kind of working for me... and it occurred to me that maybe this is something other people need.

So I'm asking -- is anybody else interested in this? The basic idea is you send your receipts (scanned photos or forwarded emails) to the service email address, the service processes them into a database, and I give you a report showing exactly how much you're spending on eggs, cigarettes, alcohol, chocolates, etc.

I'm really just a lurker on the forums and it's not clear whether I can post links here, but I've set up a site that explains the process - is it OK to post links here, or should people just DM me if they're interested?
 
omnom said:
Our grocery bills are crazy high and we don't know why...

So, being a software developer, I thought, "Why can't I process my Checker's Sixty60 receipts into a database... And while I'm at it, let me do some OCR on my physical receipts."

It turns out that things aren't that simple. State of the art OCR is actually terrible for this task. But I have got something kind of working for me... and it occurred to me that maybe this is something other people need.

So I'm asking -- is anybody else interested in this? The basic idea is you send your receipts (scanned photos or forwarded emails) to the service email address, the service processes them into a database, and I give you a report showing exactly how much you're spending on eggs, cigarettes, alcohol, chocolates, etc.

I'm really just a lurker on the forums and it's not clear whether I can post links here, but I've set up a site that explains the process - is it OK to post links here, or should people just DM me if they're interested?
Click to expand...
You can post the link, it's fine..

I am interested in this, though what I would prefer, is some added functionality where I can push these items to a shopping list as well, for the next time I go shop.. then, if that shopping list could total up the spend from the previous shop and when done with the new shop, give me the total difference, if any, between the new and previous shop, to track price differences, it would be even better..
 
WAslayer said:
You can post the link, it's fine..

I am interested in this, though what I would prefer, is some added functionality where I can push these items to a shopping list as well, for the next time I go shop.. then, if that shopping list could total up the spend from the previous shop and when done with the new shop, give me the total difference, if any, between the new and previous shop, to track price differences, it would be even better..
Click to expand...
Yeah I have tons of ideas similar to that - I've noted your feedback. I am also keen to do price comparisons between grocery stores, notify you when there are specials on stuff you buy regularly. But I don't want to waste my time writing code that nobody is going to use.

Right now, even with a very basic level of analysis, it's honestly just helpful to be more aware of how much we're wasting on non-essential purchases (hint: a lot).

I have set up a site at https://paywise.co.za to explain the process I currently have in mind. I set this up in 2 days so please let me know if anything is unclear!

If anybody is keen, please sign up as a beta tester -- or just subscribe to the newsletter if you only want to see something working.
 
omnom said:
Yeah I have tons of ideas similar to that - I've noted your feedback. I am also keen to do price comparisons between grocery stores, notify you when there are specials on stuff you buy regularly. But I don't want to waste my time writing code that nobody is going to use.

Right now, even with a very basic level of analysis, it's honestly just helpful to be more aware of how much we're wasting on non-essential purchases (hint: a lot).

I have set up a site at https://paywise.co.za to explain the process I currently have in mind. I set this up in 2 days so please let me know if anything is unclear!

If anybody is keen, please sign up as a beta tester -- or just subscribe to the newsletter if you only want to see something working.
Click to expand...
Signed up..

Android app..? iOS app in future to make the process a little simpler and cut out the email bit..?
 
WAslayer said:
Signed up..

Android app..? iOS app in future to make the process a little simpler and cut out the email bit..?
Click to expand...
If there's enough interest, definitely. The email support will still be necessary for online grocery delivery services - Checkers Sixty60, Pick n Pay asap!, Woolies Dash... Also Makro sends emails, whether you order online or buy in store. It's very easy to automatically forward these emails to my service, so you will never have to worry about them.

Edit: Thanks for the sign up :D
 
P&P provides text-based receipts on the app. Makro and Builders provide then via email.
 
deesef said:
P&P provides text-based receipts on the app. Makro and Builders provide then via email.
Click to expand...
The problem I face is we buy consumables/bulk from Checkers Sixty60, dairy/bread from local Pick n Pay, veg/meat/gluten free from Woolies food, then some special stuff from Spar, etc.

Apps like 22seven can tell me I'm spending e.g. 10k at grocery stories, but they can't tell me exactly what I'm spending that 10k on. What I've hacked together is a way to read all my physical receipts and combine them with email receipts into a single place, which lets me figure out how to manage our budget WAY better.
 
I think this is a great idea. 'Groceries' is the biggest variable cost month to month, and potentially the biggest expense the average person can save on.
 
It's an excellent idea. But the core problem is that when u are doing your grocery shopping you are stuffing everything in your cart and then checking out and paying whatever your total is.
What u need is a fixed budget for groceries.
The way we do it is we have a set amount that we spend every month on groceries, electricity and water. Grocery budget is then broken down into a weekly budget.
 
omnom said:
Our grocery bills are crazy high and we don't know why...

So, being a software developer, I thought, "Why can't I process my Checker's Sixty60 receipts into a database... And while I'm at it, let me do some OCR on my physical receipts."

It turns out that things aren't that simple. State of the art OCR is actually terrible for this task. But I have got something kind of working for me... and it occurred to me that maybe this is something other people need.

So I'm asking -- is anybody else interested in this? The basic idea is you send your receipts (scanned photos or forwarded emails) to the service email address, the service processes them into a database, and I give you a report showing exactly how much you're spending on eggs, cigarettes, alcohol, chocolates, etc.

I'm really just a lurker on the forums and it's not clear whether I can post links here, but I've set up a site that explains the process - is it OK to post links here, or should people just DM me if they're interested?
Click to expand...
This is already been done at retail level for some retailers via direct integration within, or with the pos. However, not directly for customers, but of course intel for the shop(s) themselves.
 
I'm extremely drunk so apologies if the below doesn’t make sense.

I've used 22seven, FNB's built-in analyser, and Discovery Bank's built-in analyser.

My problem is that I have R4k budgeted for incidentals. Whether restauarants or clothes or ad hoc drinking or treats for my dog or entrance fees at an entertainment place. I don’t need the resolution of how I spent that money. All the AIs try to figure out whether it was spent on coffee or clothes or tacos but I don’t care. All I need to know is that it didn’t go over budget. All the AIs make extra work for me when I have to go recategorise transactions that they’ve split up into minute subcategories that I don’t care about.
 
bwana said:
Why do I need a fixed budget for groceries?
Click to expand...
I was commenting on the OP's issue.
What I was trying to say is rather than shopping and then wondering what u spent on, u can do it the other way around... watch what u are buying.
If u dont want to have a fixed budget it's upto u.
 
joker08 said:
It's an excellent idea. But the core problem is that when u are doing your grocery shopping you are stuffing everything in your cart and then checking out and paying whatever your total is.
What u need is a fixed budget for groceries.
The way we do it is we have a set amount that we spend every month on groceries, electricity and water. Grocery budget is then broken down into a weekly budget.
Click to expand...
A fixed budget is definitely a great idea -- but how do you decide what a reasonable fixed budget is? That was the problem I faced, and why I decided I needed insight into exactly what we are buying -- so that we can figure out what was reasonable, and what wasn't. And then monitor whether we are sticking to the budget or not, and if not, why.
 
omnom said:
A fixed budget is definitely a great idea -- but how do you decide what a reasonable fixed budget is? That was the problem I faced, and why I decided I needed insight into exactly what we are buying -- so that we can figure out what is reasonable, and what isn't.
Click to expand...
More like a median/range would be more logical e.g. R400-R600 seeing you don't always get chems with each round. With that number I would budget with the R600 but aim for R400...
 
I'm curious. I definitely think there is value here and also have a couple of ideas on how this can generate valuable insight over time.
Perhaps highlight/showcase some of the potential benefits?
 
When I had nothing better to do with my life years and years ago, I used to manually split grocery bills by type incl fruit and vegetables,.juice , cold drinks etc. This was in the microsoft money phase. I had data like this until I switched to 22seven. So I have data for probably 10 years like this.

In the last few years, I still split my grocery bill by type , but food is food, and things such as pool chemicals, etc is categorised as such and it's easy enough to do on 22seven. Even created custom categories to tag by family member for certain type of things. So it doesn't take as long as before

I personally wouldn't use your service only because what I do currently meets my needs and I don't feel the need to back to my obsessively OCD (yes double obsessive) way again.

Just note that that you are dealing with the PI of subjects,even as a free service, so you better have a proper privacy policy and everything else in place too.

Good luck though.
 
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