The #1 Savings Tip-Make a Shopping List

"Never go to the store without a shopping list" is in every money saving resource I have ever read. 

And it makes sense. If you try to function without a list you buy things you don't need and you are subject to the mind manipulations all stores use. 

Yep, stores have "enticing you to spend money you don't want to" down to a science (expensive things are at eye level, cheap is high or low, for example).  The best way to avoid this manipulation is simply to have a list and stick to it. Tune out everything in the store except just what's on the list.

First of all, you need to make a menu so you know what you will need for the next week. Be sure to include all three meals, snacks, deserts, toiletries and cleaning supplies.

Inventory

When Hubby and I first married we discovered we had a little problem. He is a morning person and I very much am not. He would wake up on Saturday at 4am ready to go do something and I wouldn't wake up for another two hours or more. 

So, since grocery stores were about the only business open that early, he began running to the store to shop. After a while we figured out I should give him a list of what I wanted and he would just do the week's shopping for me. After forgetting important stuff several times (ADD that I tend to be), I wrote up an inventory of everything in the house I might someday want him to pick up at the grocery store. I literally went to each room, each cupboard, and wrote down what was in it.

I then printed up a bunch of copies and each week opened each cupboard and crossed off everything we had enough of. Wal-la! Complete shopping list!

This was such a God-send when I had only little children!

 And we seldom ran out of anything.

But time went on. Our family grew until it took three shopping carts for a week's worth of food. And Hubby developed gout making walking through a grocery store excruciating sometimes.

We needed to change. 

I assigned each of my then-8 children a "food zone." (Fridge, Big freezer, pantry, stove cupboard, etc.) taking the bathroom for my zone. Then I divided the inventory according to person. 

Now I print the whole inventory and hand each child their own paper. They clean and organize their food zone and mark off what we have plenty of (or make a note of numbers if it is an item I want to keep a months worth of on hand). I take their inventories and the Plan to Eat shopping list, mark off what we don't need for the week, highlight what I do want them to pick up, add the number (pounds of hamburger, # of tomatoes, etc. all of which PTE adds up for me.) Each of us picks up what is in our own zone and then we meet at the front of the store and check out. At home, we each put up what goes in our own zone.

Instructions

So, to put this into steps for you to follow:

1. Write up a list of everything in your house you can buy at the local grocery store. (For a Sample you can copy and customize go here. Update yours every few months. Tastes and living styles change.)
2. Each week print the list and physically go to each cupboard, shelf or appliance and draw a line through everything you have enough of to last until your next scheduled shopping trip (mine is weekly). Make a note of how many you need to pick up. Note: Anything opened doesn't count (dish soap, shampoo, etc). If I have shampoo in the shower but none in the cupboard, I don't have shampoo. If I have 2 bottles of dish soap in the cupboard, I won't add it to the list (that's what we use in a week). But 1 in the cupboard and 1 on the counter only counts as 1, so I add it to the list. It may take a bit of time for you to figure out how much you actually need to keep on hand to keep from running out. Be patient with yourself.
3. Compare your printed list with your menu, highlighting what you really need (If I don't have ribs but they aren't on the menu, why buy them? If I have enough leftover roast to put in a stir fry, I'll take stir fry (stew) meat off the list.) I may glance at the sales papers and adjust the menu a bit to accommodate what is cheapest (if I plan on pork roast but beef or ham is on sale this week, I'll change the menu.) 
4. Look over the list one more time to make sure there is nothing extra. Make sure you have a working pen (or put your shopping list in a note on your phone.)
5. Have a snack or even a full meal. It is a well proven fact that shopping hungry costs more money than shopping full.It is just too hard to resist impulse buying when everything makes your mouth water.

In the store, keep your list handy and trust it. Only go down the aisles you have to.  Only look at what you need to.

This one thing should help you get out of the store with everything you need for the week, preventing extra trips to the store, and should keep you from over buying while you are there.

Next time: Random tips to top off the shopping.