Plenty of people start every birthday with "what did I give last year?". Events that happen a few times a year leave few memory cues, so the answer does not come. After a few years, repeats happen.
The trouble is that the record is scattered
The clues usually exist somewhere: an order history, a photo, a card statement. But they sit in different places and none of them records who it was for or why. Searching takes long enough that you give up.
Four fields are enough
Detailed notes do not last. These four are enough to make next year's decision:
- What you gave — "a book" or "a scarf" is already useful; the exact product is optional
- When — the date, so you can see the season at a glance
- The occasion — a birthday, an anniversary, something brought back from a trip
- How it landed — the one that pays off most next time
Go past good or bad if you can, and note whether it actually gets used. Something received warmly but never used is exactly the kind of signal worth keeping.
Keep the ones you did not choose
The option you considered and passed over is next year's candidate. Recording why — too expensive this time, unsure about the size — lets you pick it back up when the constraint changes.
Pick one place and keep it there
Notes that live across a notes app, a calendar and photo captions are notes you cannot search. One place per person is faster in the end.
That is what Cherimo is for. Gifts move through candidate, planned, bought, given and skipped, and each one keeps the date, the occasion, the reaction, the amount and a note. Ideas can sit as candidates indefinitely, so you can write them down the moment they occur to you. Likes and dislikes live in the same place, so you can compare while deciding.
It is all private to you. There is no sharing, so neither your plans nor the options you passed on are visible to anyone else.