I’m not a good grocery shopper. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants. I don’t have a regular shopping schedule; I just go when I see we are running low on something. Usually this means I stop on the way home from work. This is always a bad idea for two reasons, number one, I don’t have a list and number two I’m starving before I’m halfway through the store so that means I buy lots of stuff that I don’t need.
I used to be much better at grocery shopping. I went every weekend. I made a meal plan, created a list off that meal plan and stuck to the list. I also had a magnetic note pad on the refrigerator so I could jot down anything we were running low on.
Now, it’s a free for all. Like today, I needed coffee creamer and conditioner. I stopped quickly at the store to pick up those two things, but then I saw the deli and thought Hailey might like some deli meat for her lunches. While I was waiting for them to slice the meat I saw hummus. Now I needed chips. On my way to get the chips I passed the meat counter and since they were having some pretty good sales I picked up a little of everything, including some chorizo to make that amazing chili we had at work last week.
This is basically how every trip to the store goes. I’m in the toiletry aisle and I can’t remember if I need body wash or hand soap, so I buy one of each, turns out I have five bottles of body wash in the linen closet. I wander around the store, going up and down every aisle looking at everything, if they have something new I want to try it.
It’s worse when I go to the superstores. They purposely put the toiletries and the dog food all the way on the other side of the store so you have to pass everything else to get to the grocery aisles. I can never resist the $5 DVD bins or the fabric aisle.
I need to start planning better and making a list. Maybe then I won’t suffer from sticker shock when the cashier gives me my total.