7 Tips On How To Write A Proper Grocery List
Grocery shopping is like getting a root canal. It’s always a pain, but it needs to get done. Our approach, let’s hope it’s a peaceful one, is what gets us in and out of the doors in one piece. If we pillaged and plundered like our Viking ancestors then we wouldn’t get anything done. There’s order in all this chaos and much preparation to be done before going to a supermarket. There’s nothing to it really, but it’s never quite that simple is it? Most of us are careless shoppers. Sorry, your secret is out in the open. Every time you walk down an aisle, you run the risk of filling your shopping cart with frozen dinners and ten different kinds of potato chips. This technique is easy and we can’t blame you for trying to be an innovator.
Here are 7 tips on how to write a proper grocery list.
- Keep it simple. Your list should be easy to read just like an eye chart, just make sure you don’t forget your glasses.
- Buy only what you need. If your list is two pages long then revise it. Print every word and use clean penmanship.
- Don’t lollygag. Doodling in your personalized notepad is fun, but it’s a distraction.
- Leave the kids at home – enough said!
- If you can’t spell it, don’t buy it. Your list should be error free. It’s critical that you research any unfamiliar products beforehand.
- You will pay if you leave this at home. No, literally. Do not forget your wallet or purse. Save yourself the embarrassment and the extra trip.
- You are a closet coupon addict. We knew it. The most important coupons should be kept in your notepad. Nothing wastes more time than rummaging through your purse or pocket.
Remember that a successful trip to the grocery store depends on the quality of your list. Writing your items down on a used napkin, a scrap piece of paper or the palm of your hand spells disaster. A personalized notepad will help you keep your list organized, secure and ready when you need it.
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Maxine
You must really like the word lollygag, you slip it into blogs fairly often. Nothing wrong with that though!
I agree with most of what you’ve said about shopping, especially taking your personalized notepad with the list written on it along with you. I have a few suggestions of my own to add, though:
-Don’t go shopping on an empty stomach. If you haven’t eaten anything for awhile, you’re more likely to make an impulse buy that you don’t really need or buy something that sounds good only because you’re starving.
-Check the weekly ads in the newspaper if you can. That way you know what’s on sale and can take advantage if you see any good deals. A lot of the sale items are put prominently displayed at the front of the store or on the aisles, but not all of them are. Sometimes you can discover a great deal if you know where to look for it.
-Use another sheet in your personalized notepad to keep notes about the things you buy. If you buy a cut of meat that looks great but turns out to be no good, write it down so you don’t make the same mistake twice. Got some other brand of yogurt by accident and found out it’s even better? Make sure you put it on your notepad so you remember to get that brand again.
Lots of great tips for successful and profitable grocery shopping here, hopefully someone gets a tip they didn’t think of before.
9 August 2012, 6:45 pmJonathan Price
Great advice on both sides! I particularly agree with taking your personalized notepad with you to the store, and if you’re already doing that, might as well stick the coupons in there too. Maxine’s idea to write down facts about what you buy seems like a great way to improve your shopping habits over time, as well. Sometimes I will go to the store and find that something I’ve been buying regularly for years is no longer there, and I end up having to get a different brand. Keeping notes on my personalized notepad about which brands are good and which aren’t is a good way to select a replacement when I can’t buy the one I’m used to getting.
9 August 2012, 11:15 pmstationeryfan811
Some very good ideas here for ways to use personalized notepads to improve the grocery shopping experience. Personally I hate shopping for groceries – it seems like no matter what store I go to, they’re always out of something I need, there are screaming children everywhere, and there are never enough cashiers so the lines are long. I miss my college days when there was a 24-hour Walmart nearby that carried groceries. Not that I particularly like Walmart, but being able to go at off-hours meant I could avoid the long lines and crowded aisles.
Anyway, I really like that idea about carrying some coupons in my notepad. If I’m going to bring it along anyway, it seems like a logical place to stash the coupons, right?
I also agree that you have to be careful buying anything you can’t spell. There are some interesting-looking things in the imported and ethnic foods aisles, but if I don’t know what they are I don’t know how best to use them. Actually that’s another great use for my personalized notepad. I can write down the names of some of the interesting-looking imported foods, then look them up online when I get home. My phone doesn’t have web browsing so I can’t do that sort of thing right in the store.
10 August 2012, 2:54 amEric
This is an interesting blog post. I hate grocery shopping, so I try to be as organized as I can. My lists are very precise. All of my items are written clearly so that I can read them off as I go. I don’t like waiting in line, so I do my best to be quick and that has a lot to do with the quality of my list. I have noticed when I scribble things down or don’t think things through, the process is much more difficult and slower. This is my recommendation for writing a list try to be as neat you as possibly can and always plan for your trip.
Lollygag – funny! One thing though, Maxine, I read some of his other blogs and this is the second time he has used that word just wanted to point that out.
10 August 2012, 1:04 pmHenry B Springs
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10 August 2012, 6:38 pmKathleen Winfrey
Great advice! I will take note of this everytime I will make a list for my groceries. I will also share this tips to my mom and sister in laws. Thanks for sharing this!
7 November 2012, 1:39 am