Towels, a Roomba, dinner, and translation

I saved about $400 by dyeing my towels instead of replacing them

My towels were faded, but still perfectly good.

I took a picture, showed AI the color I wanted, gave it the weight of each batch, and had it work out how much dye to use.

What I got out of it: About $400 saved, no ruined test batches, and the color came out right the first time.

Why AI was useful: I could have Googled dye instructions, but this let me work from my towels, my measurements, and the exact color I was trying to get.

I may have saved the cost of replacing my Roomba

The rear wheels on our Roomba are almost worn smooth.

I took a few pictures and used AI to help figure out what was wearing out and what replacement parts might work.

What I got out of it: I may be able to replace one worn part instead of buying another robot vacuum.

Why AI was useful: I did not have to guess what to search for. I could start with a picture of the actual problem.

I made dinner without another trip to the store

We had naan bread and a pile of vegetables from the garden.

I showed AI what we had and used it to help figure out what would go together with ingredients already in the fridge.

What I got out of it: Dinner from food we already had instead of another grocery run.

Why AI was useful: I did not have to find a recipe that happened to match what was sitting on my counter.

I turned a pile of garden vegetables into a list I could actually cook from

I took pictures of what we had picked and asked AI to identify everything as closely as it could.

It got one thing wrong. I corrected it, and we moved on.

What I got out of it: I had a clean list of what we had without identifying every single thing one at a time.

Why AI was useful: I could give it the whole pile at once instead of searching vegetable by vegetable.

I translated something I could not translate myself

I needed some community information translated into conversational Mexican Spanish.

AI translated it, then I had it translate that version back into English so I could check whether the meaning still held up.

What I got out of it: I could share information with someone I would not have been able to communicate with directly on my own.

Why AI was useful: I could translate it, check it, and fix anything that looked off without bouncing between several different tools.

None of this was especially futuristic.

I saved some money.

I avoided a couple of extra errands.

I used things I already had.

I fixed a few small problems faster.

That is mostly what AI looks like in my life.