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People pleas. Lay down your lists and step back calmly. With so much organization you will never understand the joy of going back to the store a third time because you forgot(again) you were low on vanilla extract. Imagine the enlightenment you can obtain while making a casserole in the middle of the night and realizing you need to run to a 24 hour WalMart to pick up cottage cheese. Embrace the joys of an age addled memory and the pleasant smirks of the grocery clerks who know you on a first name basis.

Btw, should obsesive cumpulsive be hyphenated?

I read that SPF thing you are talking about today and honestly thought "Doesn't everyone write their list by aisle? It just makes sense".

I am nowhere near as organized as MH, but I do make menus from what's on sale in the flyers, my lists from the menus, and then categorize it by aisle. Of course, it wasn't until very recently that I managed to bring home bread that wasn't squished so my packing skills can use a little help. I don't mind shopping but I loathe the packing it up and then putting it away part.

When I run out of something, I just add it to a list on my phone. My phone is always with me, so whether it is toothpaste or dried mustard, I just enter onto the list ASAP.

Then, when I go to the grocery store, I generally just buy staples, check to see what is on sale, then check my list for anything "odd" I need.

No coupons because I buy 90% fresh ingredients. Works for me!

you will never understand the joy of going back to the store a third time because you forgot(again) you were low on vanilla extract.

Ha! That, JP, is a job for Hubby!

No coupons because I buy 90% fresh ingredients

cmego...

over half my weekly coupons are for fresh produce, meats and cheeses We don't eat junk food or pre-packaged meals. So if I have an in-store coupon for $1.50 off Boars Head deli cheese and a .50 mfg coupon for Boars Head deli cheese...I just saved $2.00 on a pound of good cheese

I usually average $60.00 - $70.00 a week in savings by using coupons. It takes a bit longer shopping but half the fun for me is to watch our bill go down at check out

I write a list based on things that we run out of and need. It's in random order. Not everything makes it to the list. I'll see things on sale while I'm shopping and I buy that too. I have an app that has coupons for the store I shop at, but I usually forget which ones I clipped. It's exciting when I discover while checking out that I've clipped a coupon for something I bought!

The store I shop at sells household items as well as groceries. I usually start on that side and work my way over to the food. Produce is last since it's right by the registers.

I do use lists more often in other areas of my life. Mostly to do lists.

I always start in the produce section and work my way to the frozen section.

WHAT?? I am exactly the opposite. Starting in the produce section might actually cause me to break out in hives, lol. I have a good reason though. If you start in the produce section all of your beautiful veggies get smooshed. Go there there last and they sit on the top without bruises or wilting.

Shopping is an experience that we need to set aside a good portion of the day. I sit at the table with cookbooks laid out in front of me. As we decide on our meals I write them on a pice of paper with the page number. On a separate piece of paper I write out all of the ingredients we need for each recipe organized by category in the store (meat, produce, etc). HT runs around the kitchen to check if we already have the items or if they need to be added to the list. I then go through the coupons, load the e-coupons on my app and away we go with our reusable bags in hand. HT is pretty systematic in how he puts the groceries on the belt. The system continues with is as he always puts the dry goods away and I put away refrigerated items.

I hate shopping alone. But somehow when we go as a team it's an outing.

I hate shopping alone. But somehow when we go as a team it's an outing.

This! Dh and I have a system. When I go alone I get stompy when it's time to bag everything and then put it away. It messes up the whole system

If you start in the produce section all of your beautiful veggies get smooshed.

Not if you put them in the section where a toddler is supposed to ride!

If you start in frozen, all your ice cream melts before you're done shopping.

I may not be a list person but I grocery shop at BJ's. I group everything the way I need it packed and become VERY upset if self checkout is closed because I either hover while the cashier is packing or I unpack everything and repack in a way that makes sense. Seriously why would you put my food with the roach spray and why is my bread and fruits packed against the meat getting squashed!?

Not if you put them in the section where a toddler is supposed to ride!

That's where my purse and reusable bags gently cradle our Starbucks!!

We stopped buying ice cream but used to make a special trip to the freezer section at the end of our trip when we did!

I don't typically *do* grocery store lists unless I need something specific for a recipe that I don't keep around all the time.

I *group* my stuff on the conveyor belt and I ALWAYS put raw meat as the very last item so that the cashier doesn't smear any errant meat-juice all over the rest of my stuff.

All of my grocery stores use baggers.......but I have kick.ass packing skills

Oh thank goodness for you guys...after I saw that in SPF, I thought that I was on the verge of being a wack-a-doodle....but, I see I am more normal than originally confirmed!!

I grab the Meijer sales paper...then, I make a two week menu based upon what's on sale...then I make the grocery list...then I go back to the paper to add anything that I want that isn't on the two week menu...then I reorganize it based upon the isles...starting with the produce......

Then I go shopping, and at check out...organize everything on the conveyor belt....soft stuff on top of the cart...heavy stuff on bottom....

Then that's when it all falls apart...I get out of the store...it's snowing like hell, I pop the trunk throwing all the shit in...racing home, to find everything all over the trunk!

But again....it's good to know I'm normal!!

Oh! My dear, sweet, grocery list and sorting goods out angels!

Come rest your sweet, organised heads on MrsDoubtfire's ample, padded bosoms you good children!

I too write a list that is aisle oriented and I too go through the aisles in order.

If MrD tags along he might say; "Oh, I will go get the dog food and try to steer the cart to that aisle and I admonish him and say; "NO! Dog aisle is last sweetie! We need to do food and then cleaning goods before we even think of going there!"

I too sort out my shopping in order of bags it needs to go into.

One time I almost ripped the head off of the checkout girl who started to check my groceries and bag them by shouting (manically and OCD-ily) "PLEASE- do NOT touch my groceries until I have finished unloading them onto the conveyor belt as I need to put the cans and bottles to the start and I can't do that if you've already started sending stuff through! Also- I want to bag my own items as they need to go into ordered bags just how I like them"

No way can cleaning solutions go with foods or dog food with human food!

And one other anal retentive thing I have?

Do NOT fold my newspaper! I need my magazines and papers to be in a seperate bag thayt lies on it's side so they stay flat and unwrinkled and so the 'spine'stays straight so I don't open a skewed broadsheet!!

Oh.My.Beauties!

I am curling up on my chintzy Doubtfire sofa with my well worn slippers as I think I am finally home!

[This message edited by MrsDoubtfire at 9:48 AM, February 22nd (Saturday)]

Wouldn't it be fun if all of us went shopping at the same time at the same store, and as we each got our turn at the cashier and unloaded our things, in order, then bagged them. Then the next group went up and did the same. The cashiers would look at each other and wonder if they were suddenly thrown into a twilight/stepford wives opposite galaxy. Oh the looks on their faces!

I use a list. It gets things added as we run low or out. I shop from the side of the grocery store I enter. Usually it's the deli and produce section first. I do the aisles, then the outside of the store.. so I end up almost where I started. I use coupons if I can. I also buy mostly unprocessed whole foods for which there are rarely coupons. I do check the circulars.

I have farmers in my family so I have a freezer chock full of meat that is processed by actual humans.

I'm with HufiPufi on the spontaneity tho ... I will deviate without a thought!! Even with lists I sometimes miss an item. I shop at 4 different grocery stores and BJ's. Each one is laid out slightly different. Not to mention that some items that are in one section in one store are in a completely different section in another. That is crazy making!

The grocery store chain I frequent has an online list generator and you can customize it to the store you shop at...

So it puts it into order for you by aisle.

Also, you can shop their weekly circular online and add items right to your list from their.

So, they do all the work for me.

You people invented the spread sheet didn't you?

I make a list. It makes me feel good to scratch things off of it. When I am in line, I look at my list so I know what to put on the new list at home that I forgot.

Now, how about closets? By color, material, occasion? Do your hangers match the color of the item hanging on it?

My closet is by type (pants, workout wear, short sleeved t-shirts, long sleeved shirts) that's as good as it gets.

One or two dressy things on the other side.

Mostly it's just shoes in there.

Oh I'm OCD about my closets. My dresses have a section. Then my pants. Then my shirts. Then they get separated by dressy, club, work, everyday, cleaning. My pajamas are separated by warm or cool then by comfort levels. Underwear gets the same treatment.....hmmm thought I wasn't OCD.