How To Save Time, Remember Everything, and Look Sexy Doing It! (…while grocery shopping)

Do you spend too much time in the grocery store? Do you get frustrated when you can’t find what aisle the milled flax seed is on? Do you go in the store without a list thinking you will remember everything you need but then get home and realize you forgot the toilet paper and miniature marshmallows? If you answered yes to any of these questions then I may have a solution.

If I haven’t told you already then let me tell you now – I freakin’ love making spreadsheets. If a job title of “Spreadsheet Technician” existed then I would apply for that job. Lo and behold, that job title does not exist (that I know of) so I must satisfy my urges by making them on my own time for free. This is good though because if I can make one that I think you may find helful that I can share with you on this blog then I will. And I have!

So I created a simple little spreadsheet to make life easier. Ok, it’s basically just a list (this is definitely not one of the more complex spreadsheets I’ve ever done).

My wife and I seem to spend no less than two hours in the store shopping for groceries. We go every Friday or Saturday and do our shoping for the week. With drive time factored in, we spend up to three hours of our life every week getting food. That is far too much time. And the worst part is we always seem to forget something and end up having to make another trip at some point later on. Ugh!

We all tend to gravitate towards the same foods we like to eat week after week with few exceptions (I’m completely guessing. I have zero scientific data to back up that statement). With that in mind, I created this pre-made grocery list in Excel that lists all the foods or other household items that my wife and I tend to buy each week.

Below is a snapshot of the list.

As you can see, it’s stupidly simple. Each column is three cells across: one to place a checkmark (or “X”) in, one with the name of the food or household item, and one to enter the quantity of the item. You will also notice, however, that it alternates sections of bolded and non-bolded items (doesn’t show up too well in the image but trust me, they’re bolded) to indicate that those items are in the same aisle. The green highlighted items are ones we get at Sam’s Club. You don’t have to do that on yours if you don’t want to.

Before we head out to the store, the idea is to glance at the list and either highlight the items we need or blackout the ones you don’t need. Of the items we need, we can pencil in how much of it we need to buy in the quantity field. Then once we’re at the store and we’ve grabbed the item, we just put a check in the designated box.

Now that I’ve given you an unnecessary explanation of the most simple spreadsheet on planet earth. Here is a link to download a copy of it for yourself if you want.*

How much time will it save you? I have no idea because I haven’t yet used the list. But it’s got to shave off some significant amount of time! Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, it will prevent us from forgetting anything!

I’m sure I’ll continue to make minor tweaks to improve it but hey, it’s a start. It’s not much but I hope you find it helpful.

*NOTE: The font size on the Excel spreadsheet is set to 6 pt font. I did this so that it will all fit on the top half of a regular 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. Feel free to enlarge the font size if you want.

Tags: grocery list, grocery shopping, remember everything when grocery shopping, Save time, spreadsheet