Ep 79: I Liked Calendar to Sheets… But I Found a Better (Free) Way
In a previous episode I talked about using Calendar to Sheets to pull my Google Calendar into a spreadsheet, and I loved it—until a billing issue made me pause and ask ChatGPT, "Is there a cheaper alternative?" Instead of suggesting another subscription tool, ChatGPT proposed something I hadn't considered: writing a simple Google Apps Script to pull the data directly, for free. As someone who doesn't code, I was skeptical, but ChatGPT wrote the entire script for me and walked me through the setup step-by-step—and when I hit errors (like "Cannot read properties of null" because my sheet name didn't match, or the script pulling 30 days instead of the full next month), ChatGPT translated the technical jargon into plain English and showed me exactly how to fix it. What started as "find me a cheaper tool" became a completely free, customized solution that gives me better visibility into my freelance schedule, and the biggest surprise wasn't just replacing a paid subscription—it was realizing that with the right question and a little guidance, I could solve the problem myself without needing to learn to code or spend hours troubleshooting.