Using Beeminder to ensure I use what I pay for

Akrasia
1

A lot of times I’ll try out a program, like the free trial, think that I’ll use it in the future, so sign up for a $5-15/month service. But that adds up really quickly, and I usually forget to use the service much at all, so it’s just a waste of money. :grimacing:

A Beeminder goal is the perfect solution! Now I just track how much time I spend using the app or website using either RescueTime or Tasker, and log that to Beeminder. That way I either get my money’s worth of use from the program or I at least give myself enough time to fully explore the app and decide whether or not it’s useful for me. If so, I appreciate how much benefit I get from it (since I’m now prioritizing making time to use it!), and if not, I cancel. I’ve been this out lately and it’s working really well so far! :smiley:

4 Likes
2

Great idea! I have used Beeminder to make sure I return my Netflix blurays on time.

4 Likes
3

I have done a similar thing with returning video games via mail to Gamefly. It works wonderfully and ensures that I get my moneys worth.

4 Likes
4

But why do you feed that information into Beeminder instead of just looking at the time in Rescuetime?
Do you have a monetary penalty on that goal?

5

Even without a monetary pledge, a Beeminder graph will remind you of something that you thought was important to spend time on. Just looking at the Rescuetime might not even tell you that you spent 0 hours on something this week, because it’s geared to telling you where you did spend your time…

2 Likes