Through continuous iteration, I've learned that good product design also means knowing what not to build. I have very low tolerance in broken processes - but I also know it's easy to over-engineer solutions and create feature bloat; even, apparently, when you’ve been operating within those processes.

Case in point? My v1 tracked meals with calendar dates and buttons that automated seven new pages with filtered views by relative date ranges, so we had records but also targeted views. Cool, but classic scope creep. We actually don't need to know what we had for dinner on June 27th, 2025, how many times we've been talked into making mac and cheese, nor want to track each £5 trip to the Co-Op on our financial pages. Turns out database and content bloat helps no one, and the best MVP is always simpler than you think.

What's Inside:

• Meal Planning – Weekly menus with linked recipes, so "what's for dinner?" is already answered. Using Notion's web clipper, storing new recipes is a doddle. Does it automatically create a shopping list with those meals? No. I built that, but it was overkill.

• Family Calendar – Everyone knows what's coming up without having to ask. Working late? Microwave meal for three.

• Shared Goals – Household projects and priorities we're working on together

• Effort:Value Trade-offs – I'm on the AI agent train, (woo-woo), but, look, I’m not paying for Zapier integrations for something that takes me a few minutes manually. I did enjoy my first 1,000 free tasks scraping information into databases, after vibing with co-pilot. I really saw where automation adds real value versus when it's just shiny object syndrome.