The easiest way to keep track of things you want to buy is one list that accepts anything, from any store, app or conversation. It should take five seconds to add to, and it should remember why you wanted each item. Most of us have the opposite: an Amazon list, a cart full of "save for later," a dozen Instagram saves, a note called "buy," and a camera roll full of product screenshots. Here's how I pulled all of that into one place, plus a system for gift ideas and a simple rule that stops a lot of purchases before they happen.
Why your wishlist ends up in five places
Every store wants to own your wishlist. Amazon has Lists. Etsy has favorites. Most clothing sites have a heart icon, and your cart has a "save for later" section that quietly grows for years.
Each of those works fine inside its own walls. The trouble is that wanting something rarely happens inside a store.
It happens when a friend pours coffee from a kettle you like, or when a podcast host mentions a backpack. It happens when a reel shows a lamp with no link in the caption, or when you walk past a shop window on vacation.
So the wants scatter. Some become screenshots, some become store hearts, some end up among your Instagram saves, and most are held in your head for about a day. A few weeks later you remember wanting "that lamp" and have no idea where you put it.
What a good list of things to buy actually needs
Before picking a tool, it helps to know what you're asking it to do. After a lot of trial and error, I think a list of things to buy needs five qualities:
- It accepts anything: a link from any store, a screenshot, a photo of a shop window, a name someone said out loud.
- Adding takes seconds. If it takes longer than the moment of wanting lasts, you'll skip it.
- It keeps the why: who recommended it, what it's for, which size, what it cost when you saw it.
- You can find things by description. "The green lamp from that reel," not a product name you never knew.
- It separates yours from theirs. Things you want and things other people want are different lists with different jobs.
No single tool nails all five, so it's worth being honest about each option.
Four ways to keep track of things you want to buy
A note on your phone
The humble option, and honestly not a bad one. A note in Apple Notes or Google Keep called "Want" or "Gifts" is fast to open, works offline and holds anything you can type or paste.
It also shares well. Apple Notes lets you invite people to collaborate on a note, which makes a household list easy.
Where it breaks: screenshots don't sit comfortably in a note, links show up as bare URLs, and after a year the note is a long unsorted scroll. You only find things if you remember the exact word you typed.
Store wishlists and "save for later"
Store lists are great for one thing: buying from that store. They keep the price, the stock status and the checkout button together.
As your main list, they fail. Nothing from another shop fits, and the list lives inside an app you only open when you're already in a buying mood. That's the worst possible time to review what you want.
A universal wishlist app
A universal wishlist app lets you add items from any online store to one list. GiftList, for example, lets you paste a link from almost any online store, is free, and runs on the web, iOS, Android and as a browser extension. Giftster is built around families: everyone in a group keeps a list, and others can mark items as bought without the list's owner seeing.
These are the right tool when the point is sharing. A birthday, a wedding, a holiday gift exchange where you want to avoid three people buying the same thing.
They're weaker for the private, half-formed stuff: a lamp with no link, a book a colleague mentioned, something you're not sure you want yet. Those still end up as screenshots.
Screenshots
Which brings us to the method almost everyone actually uses. A screenshot is the fastest capture there is. One press, and you have the product name, the price, the photo and often the store.
The catch is getting it back. Product screenshots end up buried among receipts, memes and boarding passes, and the camera roll can't tell you which ones were things you wanted. I wrote more about why the screenshot habit fails, and if you've already lost one, here's how to find a screenshot you took months ago.
| Method | Works with any store | Speed to add | Keeps the why | Easy to share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone note | Yes, as text | Fast | Only if you type it | Yes |
| Store wishlist | No | Fast | No | Sometimes |
| Universal wishlist app | Online stores | Fast | Partly | Yes |
| Screenshots | Yes | Fastest | No | No |
How to keep track of gift ideas for other people
Gift ideas are a different problem, because the moment you learn what someone wants is usually months before you need it.
Someone mentions in March that their bread knife is hopeless. In December you're standing in a store with no idea what to get them. The information existed. It just wasn't anywhere.
Here's the system I use:
- Capture it the moment it's said. A screenshot of the message, a one-line note, a link if there is one. Don't wait until you're home.
- Give each person one place. A folder per person beats one long gift ideas list, because when their birthday comes you only want to see their stuff.
- Add the context in a few words. "Said this at dinner in March. Size M. Hates yellow." Future you will not remember any of it.
- Put the occasions in your calendar. Birthdays and anniversaries get a reminder two weeks ahead, which is when you open that person's folder.
- Mark what you bought. Otherwise you'll give your brother the same book two years running. I have done this.
The two-week reminder is the piece that makes the rest pay off. A gift ideas list nobody opens is just a nicer-looking pile.
The 30-day rule for things you want yourself
For your own wants, the list has a second job: slowing you down.
The 30-day rule is a common personal finance habit. When you want something non-essential, you write it down with the date and wait 30 days. If you still want it after a month, you buy it with a clear conscience. Quite often, you won't.
What surprised me is that the rule only works if you trust your list. The pressure to buy now usually comes from a fear of losing track of the thing. Once you know it's saved and findable, waiting stops feeling like losing.
A few small additions help:
- Write down the price when you save it, so you notice when it drops or quietly climbs.
- Note where you saw it. Half the value of a recommendation is who made it.
- Prune once a month. If an item has sat there for 30 days and you feel nothing, delete it.
That last one matters more than it sounds. A list you never prune turns into what Christian Tietze called the collector's fallacy: saving starts to feel like progress, even when nothing happens next.
Where Reminari fits
I build Reminari, so take this with the appropriate grain of salt. It's what I use for my own list now, because it handles the messy middle that the other tools skip.
You save the way you already do. Share a product page from any app, or take a screenshot. Reminari keeps the link with its title and preview image when the page provides one, and it reads the text inside screenshots on your device, so the product name and the price shown in the image become searchable.
You can keep a folder per person for gift ideas, and you find things by describing them rather than remembering the exact words. Or you just ask: "What did Sam say she wanted?" The answer comes from your own saves, with the sources shown underneath.
It won't track prices or import your store wishlists, and it doesn't replace a shared registry for a wedding. It's for the scattered, everyday kind of wanting. Reminari is free to start and Android first, with iOS in active development. You can join the early access list.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best way to keep track of things you want to buy?
Use one list that accepts anything, from any store, app or conversation, and that takes seconds to add to. A phone note works for text, a universal wishlist app works for online stores, and an app that reads your screenshots covers the rest. The tool matters less than having only one.
Is there a wishlist app that works with any store?
Yes. Universal wishlist apps such as GiftList and Giftster let you add items from almost any online store by pasting a link, and both are built for sharing lists with friends and family. They work best for products with a link. For things you saw in person or in a screenshot, you'll want something that handles images too.
How do I keep track of gift ideas for family and friends?
Write the idea down the moment it's mentioned, keep one folder or list per person, and add a few words of context such as size or where they saw it. Then set a calendar reminder two weeks before each birthday, so you actually open the list in time.
Does the 30-day rule really stop impulse buying?
It's a habit rather than a proven method, but it works for a simple reason: many urges fade within a month. Writing the item down with the date makes the wait easier, because you know you won't lose track of it. If you still want it after 30 days, buy it.
