dEssence

Interactive guides for the things you save

Twenty-two practical guides, each built around a calculator, test, sorter, or generator you can use right on the page.

Start with the three below, or scroll down for the full set by topic. Every page works: press the buttons.

The three flagships

Open them and use them. The interactives work.

CALCULATOR A clay price tag hanging from a loop of string

How much are you overpaying by buying things at the wrong time?

We all buy the badge and feel clever. A UK group checked 175 Black Friday deals for a year and 83% were the same or cheaper on an ordinary day. Put five purchases in and see your own timing.

Open the calculator →
AUDIT TEST A tilted clay pile of cards, stacked in no order

Take the Family Admin Audit

Booking the dentist takes ten minutes. Being the only person who remembers the dentist takes all year. Twenty jobs, two questions each, and a card you can put in front of somebody.

Take the audit →
GENERATOR A clay saucepan with a recipe card standing in it

The 7-Day “What’s for Dinner?” Generator

It is half past five and nobody knows what dinner is. Your dishes, arranged across the week by how long they take. Invents nothing, leaves honest blanks, prints for the fridge.

Build a week →
Each card below is one article: the topic, the format, and the interactive that carries it. Tap any title to open the page.

Shopping

4 articles

Use a calculator, checklist, or quick test to make the next purchase easier to time and track.

School & family

4 articles

The emotional section. Highest chance of links and shares, lowest tolerance for anything that sounds like marketing.

Places

5 articles

The section that needed rethinking. Google Maps is good at collecting places and bad at ordering them, and that gap is the way in.

INFO · EXTRA2.11a

What to save about a place besides its name

A place card where a “you will still remember this in six months” bar fills as you add who recommended it, what to order and when it is quiet.

CHALLENGE · EXTRA2.11b

The saved places cleanup: 15 minutes, one list

On-page timer, three rules, a counter of what you deleted, and a tally card at the end.

GUIDE · EXTRA2.11c

How to plan a weekend from places you already saved

A three-slot day builder (morning, afternoon, evening) that warns you when the three are nowhere near each other.

Things to watch

3 articles

Turn an endless queue into a short list you can actually choose from and finish.

Recipes & dinner ideas

3 articles

The competing free meal planners all hand you somebody else’s food. That is the whole opening.

Travel

3 articles

Keep bookings, confirmations, dates, and saved places together before the trip begins.

Bills & renewals

3 articles

See upcoming charges clearly and decide what is still worth paying for.