Spending too much time shopping?Are you coming home with everything but that what you need?Statistics show that between 10 – 40% of our annual budget is spend on crisis and duplicate purchases – just imagine if you could spend that on a weekend away or some fun things to do!
Gather your thoughts and plan your shopping spree and route carefully. Do your grocery shopping last if you are still going to browse through clothing and shoe stores.
Avoid grocery shopping with young children, it takes twice the time and creates a lot of aggravation. If you need to take them, ensure that they know the rules before you shop, do not get into arguments. Give them little tasks like fetching some items, or if they are big enough they can cross off the items that are loaded into the trolley.
Don’t rush and be mindful of what you buy. Save time by being prepared. Relying on your memory is just not good enough with all the other things you have on your mind.
Organise your food cupboards by category. This helps you to know where things belong and you can check the stock levels at a glance. This will also encourage the rest of the family to put things where they belong and save time looking for things.
Plan a weekly menu. I find www.food24.co.za a wonderful inspiration and you can even draw up a grocery list for your menu. There is nothing more frustrating than planning something for dinner and missing the most essential item or find that you have forgotten to take meat out of the freezer. This is part of a discipline, before you start breakfast in the morning remove the meat from the freezer.
Take time to create a shopping list or click here of the essential items you always use. Keep the supermarket layout in mind and list your items according to the aisle you find them in. Attached is a master list to save time on this task.
Photocopy your basic list. Keep it in the kitchen with a pen.
Teach the family and domestic well. If any item they used is reaching a low stock level, let them tick it in on the shopping list. This will keep your cupboards stocked all the time.
Save the environment. Keep your shopping bags ready in a bigger bag and don’t forget the cooler bag in summer.
Unpack your groceries with the help of the family. Another job well done deserves a special treat. Take some time out all for yourself.
If you know what you have and where it lives will cut down on time, avoid buying non-essentials, and prevent you losing your cool.
Enjoy your next shopping trip!
Heidi Meyer
Professional Organiser
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