Getting Started March 18, 2026

5 Things I Do With AI Every Single Day (That Have Nothing to Do With Work)

I need to be honest about something. When I first started using AI, I thought it was for, like, serious business people doing serious business things. Writing reports. Analyzing data. Whatever it is people in suits do all day.

Then one Tuesday at 5pm I was staring into my refrigerator like it owed me an answer and I thought... what if I ask ChatGPT?

That was the beginning of the end. Or the beginning of the beginning. Depends how you look at it.

Here are five things I now use AI for every single day that have absolutely nothing to do with my business. These are the things that actually made me fall in love with it. And I'm giving you the exact prompts so you can steal them.

1. The "What's for Dinner" Problem

You know the moment. It's 5pm. You open the fridge. You stare. There's half a bag of spinach, some cheese, and chicken thighs that need to be cooked today or they're going in the trash.

Old me would've spent 20 minutes scrolling recipe blogs, reading someone's life story about their grandmother's garden before getting to the actual recipe, and then ordering pizza anyway.

New me opens ChatGPT (chatgpt.com, free) or Claude (claude.ai, also free) and types this:

Copy this prompt: I have spinach, cheddar cheese, eggs, onion, and chicken thighs. I don't feel like going to the store. What can I make for dinner tonight that takes under 30 minutes? Give me ONE really good option, not a list of ten.

One answer. Clear instructions. Done.

On Sundays I go bigger:

Copy this prompt: Plan 5 weeknight dinners for two adults. We like Mediterranean food, nothing too spicy, no shellfish. Give me the five dinners and a grocery list sorted by section of the store.

That "sorted by section of the store" part? Game changer. No more zigzagging from produce to dairy to produce like a human pinball machine.

2. My 10,000 Photo Problem

OK so I had photos on three phones, an old hard drive somewhere in the closet, iCloud, and a laptop folder called "PHOTOS MISC" that I had not opened since 2019.

I am a photographer. This is embarrassing.

Google Photos fixed it, and I didn't have to pay for anything. If you have a Gmail account, you already have Google Photos at photos.google.com. Free up to 15GB. If you need more storage, it's $1.99/month for 100GB. Not bad.

Here's the thing most people don't realize: Google Photos already has AI built into the search bar. You don't have to turn anything on. It's been there this whole time.

Type "beach" and it finds every photo you've ever taken near water. Type "birthday cake" and there's every candle you've ever blown out. If you've tagged people's faces, type their name and it pulls up every photo of them across years.

I typed "Christmas" one afternoon and found a photo of my mom from 2011 that I had completely forgotten about. I sat with that photo for a really long time.

Apple Photos does the same thing if you're an iPhone person. It recognizes faces and objects right on your phone. Free. Already there.

You've probably been carrying around AI in your pocket for years and didn't know it.

3. The Notes I Could Never Write

I know what I want to say. I always know what I want to say. Getting it out of my brain and onto paper in a way that sounds like a human being and not a Hallmark card is the problem.

Now I give AI the situation and let it give me a first draft. Then I fix the parts that don't sound like me. The whole thing takes maybe four minutes.

Copy this prompt: Help me write a thank-you note to my neighbor Sandra who brought us dinner when I had surgery last month. She made her famous chicken soup and dropped off flowers too. I want it to sound genuine and warm, not formal. About 4-5 sentences.

Read the draft out loud. If any sentence makes you cringe, change it. I usually change one or two things and then it's done.

For the ones that are harder. Like saying no to something you really don't want to go to:

Copy this prompt: I need to decline a wedding invitation from a coworker I don't know well. I have a conflict that weekend. Write a brief, warm response that doesn't over-explain or make excuses. Gracious and clear.

That "doesn't over-explain" instruction is key. Without it, AI will apologize six different ways and you'll sound like you ran over their dog.

4. When My Sister Sends Me a 3,000-Word Article at 9pm

Love her. Not reading that right now.

But I want to know what it says. So I paste it into Claude (claude.ai, free) and ask.

Copy this prompt: Here's an article. Give me a 5-sentence summary of the main points. [paste the article below]

Five sentences. Done. I can respond to my sister's text like I actually read it. (Sorry, Stef.)

For long emails from your HOA or your insurance company or whatever your kid's school sent this time:

Copy this prompt: Here's an email I got. Tell me: what's the main point, what do I actually need to do, and is there a deadline? [paste the email below]

That deadline question has saved me more than once. Important dates love to hide in the fourth paragraph behind three sentences about nothing.

5. Gift Ideas When My Brain Goes Blank

Every single year. I know these people. I have known them my entire life. And yet I stand in Target completely empty.

Now I describe the person and ask.

Copy this prompt: I need a gift for my mother-in-law. She's 68, recently retired, loves gardening and historical fiction, doesn't like clutter. Budget is $50-$75. Give me five SPECIFIC gift ideas, not categories.

"Not categories" is important. Without it you get "consider getting her a book" which, thank you, groundbreaking. With the instruction, you get actual titles, actual products, actual ideas you can act on.

For the person who genuinely has everything:

Copy this prompt: Gift for someone who says they don't need anything and means it. They're 55, active, well-traveled, financially comfortable. Something thoughtful they wouldn't buy themselves. Under $100.

It won't always nail it. But it gets me unstuck, and honestly that's all I need. I can take it from there.

The Whole Point

None of this is fancy. None of it requires you to learn anything new. You type into a box the same way you'd text a friend, and something useful comes back.

ChatGPT is free at chatgpt.com. Claude is free at claude.ai. Google Photos is free at photos.google.com. You can sign up for any of them with your Google account in about two minutes.

Pick the one thing from this list that would actually help your life tonight. The grocery list. The thank-you note. The 47 articles you've been meaning to read.

Try one. See what happens.

Written by Jennie Slade, founder of Soft Tech

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