I am a systems person. I have a system for almost everything. I do this because I like to be efficient, effective, and a good steward of my resources. Some may call it OCD. I call it being smart with what some people may call a quirk in my life.
For the most part, we go shopping once a week for our groceries and household items. When I go in Wal*Mart, I want to get in and get out to get on with my life (sometimes we decide to make a family outing of it and take more time). In order to do this we think ahead of time by planning our meals and marking what we need on the master shopping list. The master list is set up by rows and the route I follow in the store to be efficient to avoid going in the rows more than once to get in and then get out.
The master shopping list doesn’t work with all Wal*Marts, but most of the new ones. Click here to see the master shopping list.
Call it crazy, call it OCD, call it what you want. But I will beat your tail in a shopping race at Wal*Mart any day! :-)
This is what I did when my girls were little because I really needed to get in and out. Now I just make my list according to the store layout. I’ve been known to change where I shop when they move the store around because it ruins my efficient shopping.