Do you wander aimlessly through the grocery store? Do you try to figure out what you’re going to make for meals as you walk the aisles? Do you get home and realize that you bought a lot of food but not the items you need for the meals you were going to make? These things used to happen to me, more frequently than I really care to remember.

If you feel frustrated when this happens to you, then you’ll find this tip especially helpful. It will greatly simplify your life, and make grocery shopping a much calmer and faster experience, if you maintain and use a good shopping list. A thorough list can also make it so you don’t have to run to the market for last-minute ingredients when you’re getting ready to prepare dinner.

Many years ago, probably over a decade at this point, I started keeping an ongoing shopping list. By ongoing, I mean that I always have a list on my counter (or refrigerator, or wherever you want to keep it) that we all add to regularly.

Different items in our house have different trigger points, but it basically works as follows. As soon as we pull the last of something out of the pantry (for example, a jar of almond butter), whoever pulled it out immediately adds that item to our shopping list. When we have less than a dozen eggs on hand, those go on our shopping list. The same thing happens with all of our household staples: as soon as they get below a certain point, we add them to our shopping list so that we’re never without. I should note that most of our non-perishables and meats are purchased when they’re at a great price (see HERE), so our weekly shopping list includes these items only if they’re currently on sale or if we’ve used up what’s stored in our pantry and/or deep freeze.

For things we don’t keep a constant supply of in our house, I add them to the shopping list as I meal plan (see HERE). Before I head to the market, we sit down as a family (often during dinner, or around that time) and talk about our upcoming week. Then, we plan our meals for the next week or so, and add the ingredients we need for those particular meals to our shopping list.

One thing that’s specific to my list, that may or may not apply to yours, is that I also divide my list into sections based on where I buy particular items. Because various foods we buy are cheaper to buy at different stores (see HERE), I divide my list into sections based on where I typically purchase a specific item. Depending on how many places you shop, you may or may not need to divide up your list.

Then, when I head off to the market(s), our list is ready to go, I know what we need to buy, and it’s fairly quick and easy to do our shopping.

If you haven’t been in the habit of keeping a shopping list before, than I suggest that you give it a try. I’m guessing that keeping a good shopping list will simplify your life too.