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.

Why It's So Hard to Keep a House With Kids

When I had one kid, I quickly learned that the time that once existed for all the things that needed to be done around the house evaporated into almost nothing. There are three kids now, and even though only one is at home during the day, not much has changed, because we are three times the mess we used to be. I am extremely fortunate if I manage to carve out an hour to get something done.

Last week, I was just that lucky and used my hour to clean out the coat closet and the shoe bin. I stashed away all the winter hats, gloves, snow pants and boots. (Because it's like, MAY.) Everything sorted and stored in the basement, and I gave myself a little pat on the back for a job well done. Now ... this is not a fun task. This sucks. And everyone has to do it, it's not like I'm over here doing something extraordinary and unique and special. It's just putting away the winter clothes, but the effort and the time it took to actually get it done was monumental.

So.

I managed to get another bonus hour of time today. This time, I cleaned out the linen closet and started on the kids' rooms. I'm almost done with middle child's room, opened his nightstand drawer to put something away and find - his winter gloves.

WTF?

So.

I have to take the gloves all the way into the basement, unstack the bins and put them away with all his other winter gear ... in addition to all the other stuff going on today. Oh! Did I forget to mention the mess made by child #3 in order to get any task completed? Yeah, add that bit of fun to the mix.

A hurculean effort to get one stupid chore completed, and then add one more thing on top. Now - multiply this teeny tiny example by one hundred. Because that's what it's like. All. The. Time.