Grocery shopping without a list - could be risky

Canada
December 7, 2007 10:47pm CST
We're going grocery shopping in the morning and I'm tempted to jot down a few items I know we need. My husband doesn't think it's necessary, wants to just "wing it" and buy whatever we see that we might want. OK, that sounds great but what if what we see and what we need aren't the same thing? Hmmm, I think I should sneak a list into my purse just in case. What do you prefer: shopping with a list or without?
4 people like this
21 responses
@makatas (1098)
• Greece
8 Dec 07
I always shop with a list.First of all, if you just wander in market to see whats needed its highly possible you will forget to take a couple of those you do need. Secondly, noone can resist a temptation to buy sweet or snacks or drinks, but this temptation isnt that strong when there is a list on your hands.There have been times when i had spare money and wanted to shop without list, i would visit market and buy whatever i see that i would like to have.That doesnt happen all the time though, its kinda like a rule i got, "always shop with list, if you wanna roam the place you can do it another day, and only if you got spare money" :)
1 person likes this
• Canada
20 Dec 07
I would get distracted and buy too many things we don't need - the list keeps us from going too far off course. I like looking around for new products too, and maybe buy a few when income allows.
@makatas (1098)
• Greece
8 Dec 07
I generalized a bit, didnt refer to grocery only, i bet you will agree that it happens in the supermarket as well :)
@theprogamer (10534)
• United States
8 Dec 07
Half the times I go with a list other times I don't. And the times I don't I do fine. Plus I think of things while shopping or other things on the list get changed because something is available.
1 person likes this
• Canada
20 Dec 07
I honestly can barely remember a time when I shopped, routinely, without a list. It's been that long ago... Back then, I just wandered isle by isle with kids in tow, grabbing whatever I thought we needed for the week. I don't remember forgetting anything back then either. Ah, youth - it's wasted on the young
• India
8 Dec 07
I prefer a list only when i go for purchasing many goods,for a few number of items we ,i suppose there is no need for it
1 person likes this
• Canada
20 Dec 07
When we lived in the country, we had to make a list or go without - the closest grocery stores were miles away. I think that's probably when we first started making lists.
@stacy624 (2776)
• Canada
8 Dec 07
I shop without a list and do find I’m buying things I do not need and spending a small fortune. I think this year for my New Year’s resolution that is one of my goals. Thank you for the tip =) Have a great day and Happy posting Stacy
1 person likes this
• Canada
20 Dec 07
Hmmm, that would make a pretty good new years resolution. I'm glad I could help you set new goals LOL! Have a great 2008
• India
8 Dec 07
A list is necessary, at least in my case. I am a bit of a scatterbrain. If I don't write down the list and put it in my purse, I make one in my mind, and keep repeating the names of the items over and over again, and revise, and make additions and deletions till I get the shopping done. And once I am back home, I always find that I have forgotten something or the other. :) Well, that's life!
• Canada
20 Dec 07
I repeat things when I'm going from point A to point B inside the house. I usually don't remember when I get there anyway.
@irene_27 (542)
• Philippines
8 Dec 07
For me, it would be shopping with a list, at least for the groceries. It is because it tend to overshop if i just roam around the store and get whatever i see at the spur of the moment. I always buy items not necessarily needed like junk foods and new products that caught my fancy. Lately, i've put myself into the habit of having a notepad wherein i jot down any item needed soon as i remember them and follow the list religiously when going shopping. This way i only stick in buying those items which i consider "needs" rather than just "wants". And i get to spare a few bucks for my savings.
• Canada
20 Dec 07
That's me too. Sometimes I wish I could just go and remember everything I need without having to check it off a list.
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
8 Dec 07
I always make a list ...... but, I never remember to take it with me, and I walk the aisles looking for what I can remember and there is always something, I forget, and always more than what I went for... guess this happens to everyone..
• Canada
15 Dec 07
Oh absolutely right. Eating before grocery shopping is soooo important. I can't tell you how much junk we'd buy if we went on an empty stomach (and we have in the past) Not a good situation
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
8 Dec 07
I prefer to go shopping with a list so that I know what I need I find if I go without I forget half the Shopping
1 person likes this
• Canada
20 Dec 07
We end up spending twice as much and forgetting half of what we need...
@TerryZ (22076)
• United States
8 Dec 07
I know Ive that many of times and ending up going back for the stuff I forgot. So now I always make a list. I go through my refrigerator and my cabinets because I really hate grocery shopping.
1 person likes this
• Canada
20 Dec 07
I have mixed feelings about grocery shopping. Some times I hate it so much I couldn't care less about going and other times I want to go and be an active participant in the selection process. I think a lot of it depends on the weather. I do better getting out when it's pleasant out.
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
30 Dec 07
Since I don't drive I keep a list that way I don't have to bug ppl to go out all the time or have to keep going back. Also when I have a list I get through the store alot faster. HAPPY NEW YEAR!! **AT PEACE WITHIN** ~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
@palonghorn (5479)
• United States
8 Dec 07
We always shop with a list, if we are planning on go shopping say in the afternoon, we start a list that morning, leave it on the kitchen counter to add to it as we think of things. If we didn't, we would come in with a lot of what we want, and not what we were out of or needed. And we usually have a 'plan' of where we are going first, we usually start at the store furtherest away and work our way back to the house, that is if we are going to be doing shopping at several different stores.
1 person likes this
• Canada
20 Dec 07
I'm never in a position to plan out the shopping order. The most I can hope for is getting to the stores I like before the produce is picked through. I hate that so much!
@zhai007 (74)
• Philippines
8 Dec 07
well it's not only grocery shopping that needs to have a list, anything that you need to buy could be messy if you don't have a list. Just recently my friends went to a mall to buy cristmas gifts, well i did have a list but it was too messed up because there are too many things that i think i wanted to buy so if during that time i did not even have any list i think it would be more of disastrous because i would pick everything not knowing that i over spend for many gifts that i am not sure my friends and family would even like me buying them for. The list could be altered, but i think it's more practical that you have a slight idea of what are important and needed, so a list would do just great for shopping.
1 person likes this
• Canada
15 Dec 07
This reminds me of the one year I wrote a list of everything I already bought for Christmas and had the worst panic the kids were going to find it...oh what a year that was LOL!
@Wisteria (100)
• Canada
8 Dec 07
Oh, actually, I haven't done any grocery shopping with a list in ages. It's actually not that bad, my memory usually covers everything I need and more often than not, I get everything. Though, there are times where I forget and go, "Darn! I should have made a list!" But I don't know, I'm kind of too lazy to sit down every week and think of everything I need and put it on a list, because after all, I can pause and think at the supermarket too. Well, maybe it's because I don't usually buy that many things when I go grocery shopping so I don't really need a list.
1 person likes this
• Canada
20 Dec 07
We keep a running list on the fridge but the real bulk is added by looking in the cupboards, pantry and fridge for stuff we're running out of. I couldn't remember stuff we need without a list
@jessje (145)
• United Kingdom
8 Dec 07
I never shop with a list, I do better without. I make sure I'm not hungry before going to the supermarket, otherwise I buy way to much junkfood. They only things I have with me are the coupons i use so that will be sure to be bought, but all the rest is a surprise
1 person likes this
• Canada
20 Dec 07
Oh my gosh, shopping on an empty stomach for me is a disaster. I end up wanted all the junk and sweets I never normally eat...and chips...YIPES! The one thing I don't remember is my coupons. I have them neatly on the counter but I never remember to put them in my purse. Some of them are 1.50 off my veggie "fake" meat - a substantial savings on a product that's usually just under 4 dollars a package.
@SViswan (12051)
• India
17 Dec 07
That sounds just like us. I'm a list person and my husband isn't. I usually have my list when we go grocery shopping and I tick things off as I get them. Besides that, if my husband buys anything he fancies, no worries..as long as I have everything on my list, he can get anything he thinks we might need.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
9 Dec 07
I always make a list. I did not at first, but now that I find that it is easier especially if there is something that I do not normally get. Like there is stuff that we get around Christmas and there is stuff that we run out of and that is on sale. It also makes it easier to budget. If we 'wing it' we find that we buy stuff that we really do not need, although sometimes I wish we could buy something crazy once in a while. I want to get a Christmas cake or mincemeat pie, but my husband does not want to. Now he wants to buy stuff to make this Mennonite dish that his mother made, but I do not like it. I feel it is just a fruit soup. I wish I had enough money to buy what I want, but I do not.
• United States
10 Dec 07
Yet again I understand why I am not marriage material. I would not go shopping and "wing" it. If I don't have a list to work from, I wouldn't go.If I " winged" it, I would forget something and i would have to go back to the store again. that is why I use a list.That is why I shouldn't get married, if he wanted to " wing" it and I didn't, we would have this argument and we would never get to the store.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
9 Dec 07
I prefer to take a list when I go to a supermarket. Then I can tick up the items as I get them. If the shop does not have one of the things that I wish to get I write this one down when I get home. That way I can try to get it from a different store later in the week. If I have not got a list I try to remember as many things as I want. Then I get them but sometimes forget a few of the things. If I go shopping for food when I am hungry then I tend to buy extra things that were not on my list.
@tlb0822 (1410)
• United States
9 Dec 07
I think that shopping with a list is better. When you go without a list you end up missing the really important items that you need. Its also easier to spend more money without a list, because you don't a set amount of items that you need. My fiance refuses to go the grocery store unless i have a list at least started. I think having a list is the best way to go.
@scoles (65)
• Philippines
9 Dec 07
i think i'd prefer shopping with list... its just that it would buy you time just by searching what else you need...