Data Entry Is Kinda Boring, But Oddly Mindful

Matthew Walfish
2 min readJan 4, 2022

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#66DaysOfDataScience || Day 1

New Year, New… oh forget it.

Last year I started doing the popular DS challenge trend, so I wanted to pick it up again for reassurance that I’d continue to develop my skills, and learn new ones.

Today, I spent time on an important phase of Data Science: Data Entry/Collection. I am building my first dataset from scratch! Last year, I saved up all my receipts from grocery shopping. I am entering the items, prices, and categorizing them so that I can analyze it later. New thoughts about my project came to mind today, as I was mindlessly entering data.

example from my spreadsheet

One, I’d like to see what the price is on a national average for the most common items that I buy. I can then compare the price against the prices in New York City, one of the most expensive cities in America.

Second, I wanted to see how much the cost changed over the year.

Third, what are common trends in my grocery shopping? What categories do I buy the most? Does that reflect my nutrition overall?

Also, thought it would be a good idea and see if supply chain issues affected prices. So, I will have to web scrap for some of the news and find out if there were any fluctuations in prices.

My goal for the project was to practice analysis and visualization using Python. Perhaps, I can maybe create some kind of model and anticipate what my spending might be over the next year, or if inflation might change things… I’m not sure… I’m just thinking and evolving as time goes on.

Next: more data collection and data entry to finish my dataset.

-mw

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Matthew Walfish

Software Engineer. Retired Dancer. Marathoner & Yogi. Photo Lover. Dog Dad.