She’s making a list, she’s checking it twice….

I know I seem organised, I probably look it, but I have a little secret. I cannot get myself together when it comes to grocery shopping. I just ‘wing’ it, go with the flow, duck in and out of the supermarket every couple of days and never write lists.

I had had enough of this! I was getting fed up with not knowing what we were eating from day to day. I had no idea of how much money we were spending (I am not rich by any means and knew I had to be over-spending), I was frustrated at the thought of going shopping and I HATED taking the kids with me.

What made me start thinking about this is the British television show Perfect Housewife. I felt so inadequate watching this show! She is perfect in every way. I beat myself up about it and thought about my ridiculous shopping habits for days. I enlisted the advice of one of my best friends. I asked her what she thought about the whole thing (because she has always been a master at food shopping). After about an hour discussion (yes I really have no life!) I decided it was time to get my butt into gear and sort this frustration out. The task ahead was daunting, but not out of my reach…

My friend suggested I write a ‘STAPLE’ list of all the things I would buy weekly like fruit, bread, and milk. This took me a few days to get sorted because I would think of things randomly. My friend even text me a message late one night to remind me not to forget to write how many of each item I would need weekly – like 12 kids yogurts, 6 bananas etc. I thought this was hilarious but I did it anyway because this idea was better than what I had been doing. As Dr Phil would say “..and how’s that workin’ for you?”

Then I wrote a separate list containing the things I would buy every couple of weeks like garbage bags, soap, and toothpaste. I had scribbled bits of paper everywhere. My husband thought I was losing it (and I probably was!). I even wrote the prices next to each item. Gee, wouldn’t people laugh if they saw my perfect little list? Talk about neurotic.

Then came my biggest task – meal planning. Whoa this was scary. I know you probably all do this already, but to me it was foreign. I hate cooking at the best of times, but I know I needed to write a list of all the meals I could confidently make.

So at the end of all this I had 3 lists – staple list, things I buy every so often and a meals list.

Finally I wrote my list for the week and headed off to the shops and bought only the things I needed and now I won’t need to go back for days! Boy that feels good. I told the kids that if they chose to eat everything in the house in 2 days, then they will have to starve cos Mummy ain’t going back near the supermarket! The shop will not be getting any more money out of me this week.

I announced my new found confidence to my girlfriend who threw a spanner in the works by suggesting that when I write my weekly list I should categorise items according to frozen, cold, toiletries etc., and have little headings for them. A smile came over my face (and secretly I rolled my eyes). One step at a time girlfriend… one step at a time…

Maybe I should invest in one of these?