Making Grocery Shopping Great

Hi! I'm here today to make your life a little easier. What? You are always looking for things to be easier in your life? Well great! You've come to the right place. :)

A long time ago when I was a blissful newly-wed my husband and I used to do our grocery shopping together. We'd meander up and down the aisles buying what was on our list and anything else we wanted. Time was never important. We enjoyed our bonding time at the super market. Fast forward to us five kids later and that happy time has come and gone. I cringe if I have to take all the kids to a store and even shopping with my husband has lost its appeal. Bottom line-- Grocery shopping is a chore. I dislike it. Somehow having five kids and very little time sucked all the fun out it.

Being an organizer like I am, I decided the only way I could make grocery shopping a tad "funner" was to add some organization to it. Here's how I did it:

First off I started with this cool doo dad. It's a dry erase board on my refrigerator. I really can't take credit for this brilliant idea. My sister-in-law has one in her house and I copied her. Thanks, Michelle! So anyway, the purpose of this board is for everyone in the family to write down grocery items as we run out. I try to avoid in-between visits to the store and like to only go once a week if I can help it. This doesn't always work out but training everyone to write down what we need helps tremendously. Hmm, apparently my son wants some car stickers and I need rubber gloves. Random? Yes. Typical? Yes. :)

This past year I have had a new baby at my house and trying to think of meals that A) my family would eat and B) were quick to make was becoming increasingly difficult. So I decided to make a table of all the meals we liked to eat and divide them amongst the days in the month. I tried to come up with at least two for each day so we could have more options. This has worked out great and it has taken all the guess work out of meal planning. Plus, my kids don't have to ask me what's for dinner anymore. :) Oh and in case you're wondering, yes, we do eat breakfast for dinner every Sunday. My husband cooks that day and he only knows how to make breakfast. Yummy!

With my handy list as my guide, I then turn to my kindle fire. Using ColorNote I type in all the menu items needed for the week as well as the things that were written on the dry erase board. Since my meals don't change from month to month I can save the list and reuse it the following month for the same week. Brilliant! I usually put all the items that are found on the same aisle on the same line for added convenience. One quick tap and the item crosses itself off. It's very cool. I can also move items up and down on the list so I can arrange my list by order of the aisles in the store. And yes, I do that. I am that geeky, er organized. ;)

With these three simple ideas grocery shopping has become slightly more enjoyable and much quicker too. Here's one more tip: Become an early morning shopper. If you can get to the store before 9 am you will shave at least 15 minutes off your trip. 

Use that 15 minutes to have a piece of chocolate while you read your favorite book. You've earned it!