Did you find everything you needed?

My hubby can not stand going to the grocery store.  It is one of his least favorite things to do.  Any time we are out together and I mention the grocery store his face scrunches up and his shoulders drop.  I on the other hand, like to go grocery shopping.  I am pretty picky about food, especially produce, so when it comes to grocery shopping I really prefer to go.

Although I enjoy grocery shopping, I do not like to go often. 
Going grocery shopping takes time, especially when one or two
of my young boys are with me; it can eat up a chunk of our day.
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Last year life got a bit out of control and we got lazy with our money.  We were not consistent with doing a budget and I got lazy with
meal planning.  

I was shopping sporadically and usually showing up at the store with a 'sort of' list in my head of what we needed.​

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I don’t know how many times I have gone to the store for “just a few things” and come out with a whole lot more than we needed.  

On top of that, we ate out way too much, threw a lot of food away, and…blew any kind of pseudo food budget we were trying to maintain.  Being a household of one income means we really have to be purposeful with our money; otherwise it disappears fast!  

Hubby and I recently started going through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University again.  (We took it 7 years ago and really need a refresher!)  I am so glad we are in the course again and getting back on track.  To find out more about FPU click here.

After evaluating where our money has been going, we discovered that I have not been as in control of the grocery shopping spending as I thought I was.  I realize now that have been putting unnecessary strain on our lives because I have not been diligent when doing the meal planning or household shopping.

Are any of you like me?  You get to the cashier at the grocery store and they ask, “Did you find everything you were looking for?”  You glance at your items on the conveyor belt and say, “Yes, and then some!?”  I don’t know how many times I have gone to the store for “just a few things” and come out with a whole lot more.  

I realize now that if I walk in unprepared, my inner child takes over and I am drawn to the “shiny” stuff.  I get sucked in to the ‘Deals’ and can end up putting way more in the cart than we actually need.  They can actually be great deals, but maybe not for our family at that particular time.  As the old saying goes, 'You go broke saving money'.  

I personally am not disciplined enough to stay away from the deals and “Buys of the Day” unless I have a plan.  Going into a store without a shopping list is like going into battle without your shield.  You are going to get hit and hit hard!  So don't get hit, be prepared and have your ever so vital shopping list!

In order to get back on track with a budget, having a shopping list is a big help.  Hubby and I are Mac users and we use the Reminder app that is built into the devices.  We also have iPhones, so this app syncs automatically between the two.  You can create as many “Reminders” as you want.  We have a ‘Grocery List’ reminder and a 'Costco' reminder.  It's great because can both edit the list as needed.   

As the old saying goes, 'You can go broke saving money'.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

I am sure there are lots of different types of list apps available.    You can use any kind of list.   Find what works for you.  In fact, old-fashioned paper lists work great too!  Who knew!?  

The point is…MAKE A LIST!  I promise it will help you stay on track.  It is not only like a friend there saying, “No, don’t buy that right now.  It's not on your list.”  You can also use it to tell your little tikes, “Sorry sweetie, we can’t buy this or that because it’s not on our list today.”  
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​I know life is busy.  It gets crazy.  But we can either let the chaos control us, or figure out ways to remove chaos from our lives.  I choosing the later.

The preferred place to make your shopping list at home.  You can see what you have and what you don't have and create your list accordingly.  But this isn't always possible.  

Sometimes you end up going to the store and you haven't had a chance to make a list at home.  When this happens, and you arrive at the grocery store without a list.  Before you even get out of your car, I encourage you to take the few minutes, and make a list.  Take the information regarding what you think you need to buy out of your head and put it somewhere else.  In an app, on paper, on the back of your kid’s homework, even on your paper coffee cup.  I doesn’t matter how you do it, you just need to make a list.

Let's stay on track with our food budgets and guard ourselves against those "Buys of the Week" arrows.   I hope this helps you in some way today.  

Do you make a shopping list?  What type of medium do you use?  Let us know in the Comments below.

Happy Shopping!

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