Shopping Lists

This is something I've been fiddling with for awhile, and finally have a workable item, so I thought I'd share with the locals. I've been wanting to make a shopping list for awhile, since I always shop at the same places for the same items. Originally, I started with an itemized list and checkboxes, but it was way too complicated. That evolved into a categorized list written according to the layout of the store, which is how I always used to make my lists, but if I wrote an item in the wrong place on my list due to space, it would typically be forgotten.

I guess I should back up ... I need lists. I need things written down. When I get in the store, my mind is on such overload that if it is not on the list, it will not be purchased. I am crippled without my shopping list, seriously the most I can handle without a list is about three items, max.

So, after using this list for several months, I'm thrilled to say that it has made my life MUCH easier. (Though only in the area of making grocery shopping lists ... I assure you, everything else is still chaos.) I even made checkboxes at the top to remind me to bring recycling back to the store and remember to bring my shopping bags. I also a special checkbox for eggs, because that is the one item I was most always likely to forget.

These lists are specific to the Johnson City Wegmans and the Vestal Parkway Giant (which I will continue to call Giant until they change the ginormous sign in the front of the store.) Maybe they'll work for other stores, too. Notice that on the Giant list, there's a category called "Aisle 1", because there is such a variety of items in that first aisle (juice, applesauce, granola bars, rice cakes), I couldn't think of what to call it!

The lists are two-up on a page, so they can be printed out and trimmed in half. I keep a stack in the kitchen and write meal plans for the week on the back.



Download Wegmans list here.



Download Giant list here.