Setting AI Loose at Home
I've written about how AI changed the way I run my business. This post is about the other half of my life: the groceries, the calendar, the mail, and a theater group with about 6,000 members.
My Grocery List Fills Its Own Carts
All week I tell Alexa what we're out of. Then AI takes that list and fills my carts at the stores I use. It shops the sites I use, finds the cheapest version, and adds it to that cart.
I look everything over and check out myself. It never buys anything.
Twenty to Thirty Hours, Several Times a Year
I organize Theater Lovers, a Utah theater community that's been going since 2012. We keep a list of every upcoming show in the state. Updating that list by hand used to take me 20 to 30 hours, several times a year.
This month I rebuilt the website with AI. Now it tracks about 125 theater companies and keeps the show list current for me.
That's the spreadsheet I used to update by hand on the left, and the new site on the right.
I know a lot of people are against AI, especially in the arts. I think there are good ways and bad ways to use it. Taking 20 hours of data entry off a volunteer's plate feels like a good one.
The Small Stuff Adds Up
Appointments. AI reads my email and puts appointments on my calendar. School dates and everything else. This one is super helpful.
Facebook posts. I had Claude schedule out the Facebook posts for a travel group, so they go up on time without me remembering.
The mail. The post office emails me a picture of what's coming in the mail each day. I set AI up to read those emails and flag what I need to watch for, like important tax documents.
My Favorite Use: Websites I Can't Figure Out
I love setting AI loose on complicated sites I can't get to work. GoDaddy is my best example, and I wrote about what it found there in how AI changed the way I run my business.
What I Keep for Myself
AI fills the cart, and I do the buying. It flags the mail, and I decide what to deal with. Nothing gets bought without me.
That's the rule at home, and it's the same one I use at work.
What It Really Adds Up To
What I notice most is the mental space.
I have to remember less. Steve Jobs famously wore the same thing every day so he had one less thing to keep track of. I'm not saying I'm Steve Jobs. I'm a single parent, and anything I don't have to track is a gift.
That's what all of this comes down to. Less time on hold and less time fighting with a website means more one-on-one time with my daughter. And that is worth all the hours in the world.
Try One Thing This Month
Start with a list you already keep. Groceries and errands are perfect. The list exists, so AI has something real to work from.
Pick the chore you dread. Mine is checking the mail. I usually just grab the stack from the mailbox and throw it in a box at the house.
Hand it a website that frustrates you. Ask it to walk through your account and tell you what you're paying for. You may not like the answer, but you'll want to know.
Keep the last step. Let it prepare, and you approve. You'll trust it faster that way.
I'm not a tech person. I'm an instructional designer who got curious, and that's all it takes to start.
A Big Thank You to Leland
I learned to build most of this in Leland's AI Builder Program. If you've been wanting to go from generating with AI to building with it, I can't recommend the Leland AI Builder Program enough. Use the code megan-aibp-60off for 60% off.
I don't get anything in return for sharing that. It's just that good.
Want Your Team to Feel This Way About AI?
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