SANITY SAVERS: I’D RATHER EAT GLASS

Grocery shopping is like amusement park bumper cars, a bad family reunion, and a visit to the dentist all rolled into one. There’s the woman who parks her cart right in the middle of the aisle. The Fertile Myrtle with her seven children running up and down the aisles screaming and wreaking havoc everywhere. There are those that rule the road and you better move or lose a toe. There’s the store clerks with a one-track mind who couldn’t care less that you need a bag of potatoes: must.unload.onions.

And then there’s you.

Cautiously you weave up down the aisles, dodging sticky fingers and toe murderers. You check both ways before exiting an aisle, lest a toddler terror runs out in front of you or speedy comes barreling through. You’re trying to figure out what to have for dinner. Chicken or pork chops? Chicken is on sale this week. But what kind of chicken? Baked? Tender? Pasta? Grilled? The options are mind-numbingly endless.

You finally make your way to the checkout counter, only to remember you forgot diapers and have to leave your place in line to go back for them. Finally you fight the treacherous parking lot and make your way home, only to realize you never bought the damn chicken. Yeah. Shopping is fun – just like a bumper car family reunion root canal.

It’s you against the housewives, clueless bachelors and screaming tots. You need a plan to survive in this dog-eat-dog world. Okay. Maaaaybe I’m being a little dramatic. Still, wouldn’t you love to spend less time participating in this torturous chore? Well, you can and I’m here to tell you how with just a few organizational skills.

The key is to make sure you get everything you need while you’re there. Well, that’s the plan, right?! But with a hectic life such as yours, it’s kind of hard to remember what day it is let alone that you ran out of ketchup two weeks ago. This is where your pain-in-the-ass hyper organizational skills come in. Even if you’re not a type A person, I still think you’ll find it to be an easy system.

• Plan your meals. Before you even start a grocery list, figure out what’s on the menu that week. This way you’ll know what to buy, won’t have to make a mid-week trip and never stand over the fridge trying to figure out what to make for dinner.
• Use a dry erase board (or even just a piece of paper) placed on the fridge to write down things you need as you use them.
• Prepare your grocery list by aisle, that way you’re not backtracking to the produce section for a tomato when you finally make your way to the dairy aisle.
• Buy staples in bulk. Use a lot of ketchup? Husband can’t get enough of those salty snacks? Buy a bunch. If you buy in bulk, you run less of a risk of a toddler throwing a temper tantrum because they “HATE chicken without ketchup!! Waahhhh!”

So there you have it. A few easy steps to help you hold on to that last little bit of sanity.Have any grocery shopping time savers of your own? Share them in a comment!