One errand I seriously dislike is grocery shopping.  It’s tedious.  It’s mind-numbingly repetitive and boring.

Not to get obsessive about it, but here is one way to make it less painful, especially if you are a working mom trying to squeeze this chore into a weekday.

The Master List

You need a list.  Going to the store without a list is like going shopping for shoes for someone you’ve never met.  Insane.

So start with a list.  To take the pain out of the list, make up your master list.  No matter how accomplished a chef you are, chances are 90% of your purchases are repeat purchases.

Print one copy of the list.  Yes, you heard right.  One copy. Place it inside a plastic sleeve.  You now have a re-usable grocery shopping list.

The Weekly List

With the a felt pen or white board marker, tick the items from the master list you need to purchase this week.  You can leave this in a handy place, so members of the family can tick items that run out, or even add to the bottom of the list.

Shopping Day

On your errand day, grab your plastic sleeve, and taking care of not to wipe it off accidentally (now, how funny would that be!), take it to the store with you.

Once you are back with the goodies, wipe off the plastic sleeve in preparation for collecting next week’s requirements.

For the truly busy and slightly obsessive

Arrange the items in the master list in the same sequence as your favourite supermarket’s aisles.  This help avoid zig-zagging all over the store, and gives you plenty of evidence to scold the store staff when they dare move stuff around.

Add an MP3 player to the mix, and you have a reasonable chance of actually looking forward to the weekly shopping now that it’s productive, efficient and even environmentally friendly!

For us geeks, that’s re-usability at its best.