out of milk

remember that time you ran out of toilet paper and it was your turn to buy it? out of milk syncs your household's grocery list with everyone, so you don't have to worry about running out.

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out-of-milk

Inspiration

Being a group of 4 college students, we've all experienced the disappointment you feel when you go to grab ice cream from the freezer but someone else finished it. Living with roommates can be cost-effective, socially advantageous, and just cool in general. But, it can definitely suck especially when looking at groceries. Other days, you look in the fridge and realize the milk you thought you got last week was actually two months ago. The cauliflower you bought to try out a new recipe already started rotting. Or you thought you had brownie mix but turns out you don't and now you don't get to have brownies :( . That's why we made it out of milk! It's a way to sync grocery lists between household members, keep an inventory of items, and tell you when you're running out!

What it does

By logging in and creating a roommate group with your other household members, you can add shared items you usually buy, how much you buy of them, and when you buy them. Then, as everyone uses them, they can update the group shopping list when it starts getting low by entering the quantity left. Roommates will then get an SMS notification saying that they are about to run out if they are getting close to 0. The same thing will happen if it's been a while since you've bought something and no one has posted any updates about it! That way either you get a reminder of something you have and forgot about or something that you should buy!

How we built it

  • ♡ Databases using SQL and CockroachDB.
  • ♡ CRUD (REST) functions using Java Spring Boot.
  • ♡ BootStrap template (HTML/CSS/JS) for the front-end and changed it up.
  • ♡ Twilio for the SMS messaging for notifications
  • ♡ GitHub for Version Control, Pull requests, Merges, Releases, and Pages
  • ♡ Domain.com domain: outofmilk.tech
  • ♡ Figma for prototyping (https://www.figma.com/file/cMgu9aGb6PXBL6cqrij1nn/Out-of-Milk---Prototype?node-id=0%3A1)

Challenges we ran into

  • ♡ At first, trying to configure CockroachDB with a Windows OS was difficult. We struggled with it until we realized that it would be less difficult to just do it in a Linux environment. So, we switched to Ubuntu.
  • ♡ Only one of us knew SQL and the other one was comfortable using Java Spring Boot, so we naturally tried to combine our skills. That appeared difficult because it was hard to communicate at first, but we got through it!

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • ♡ It works! For the longest time, we genuinely didn't think we would get it to run.
  • ♡ The HTML/CSS is good-looking!
  • ♡ We learned new skills (Ex. SQL, Java Spring Boot)
  • ♡ Team bonding B)

What we learned

  • ♡ We learned new skills (Ex. SQL, Java Spring Boot)
  • ♡ Most documentation is good but difficult to understand. That's why sometimes a random video with less than 1k views on YouTube is better.

What's next for out of milk

  • ♡ Making more spaces! Right now, there's only a kitchen but that's not the only place people share items (ex. bathrooms and other living spaces)
  • ♡ Switching the front end to React Native so it can be on mobile!
  • ♡ Maybe making event shopping lists? For when everyone should bring something

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