Aside from folding laundry, one of the most tedious
housekeeping tasks I can think of is grocery shopping. Everything else is
irritating, sure. I hate cleaning toilets. But you put in the cleaner, you
scrub, you’re done.
With grocery shopping you have to get in your car, drive to
the store, walk up and down the aisles with your list (hope you remembered your
list! If not you’re in big trouble), and make your selections of the best
quality, least expensive, most earth friendly products. And by earth friendly I
mean, least packaging, most local, least pesticide, no GMO, and least processed
food available. Also, you’d better remember to get the right kind of pickles,
not the bread and butter pickles, the dill pickles. But not the zesty dill
pickles, also not the ones sliced lengthwise, but sliced into little rounds,
and not the ones in the little container, but the big one. (hint, these pickles
don’t actually exist. I’ve looked for them.) If you get the wrong kind of
pickles, someone will complain, and then tell you you’re making a big deal when
you throw a fit because these kinds of pickles don’t exist, or at least aren’t
carried in the grocery stores you’ve been in.
Ahem. Excuse me.
What was I saying?
Oh, yes. Grocery shopping is tedious. After the frustration
of actually finding the food, you have o stand in line at the grocery store
while a teenage boy keeps trying to put orange juice on top of your bread, and
you think it’s because he’s angry you have reusable bags. The girl at checkout
ignores your coupons until the end, when she realizes she needs the price, but
can’t remember it, and asks you if you remember how much the greek yogurt was,
and when you don’t she has to search through your cart to find it, and then is
all grumpy eve though you placed the two side by side at the very front of the
counter when you started to unload.
And then you have to drive home.
Once you get home, it’s still not over because you have to
lug everything into the house, and then you have to put things away, but your
family, who is hungry by now and wants lunch, is walking around the kitchen
going through the bags, opening up items and making sandwiches, asking for
yogurt and juice. “Can I have Yogurt?” “Did you get the rainbow goldfish?”
“These are the pickles you got?”
I have found that making a menu for the week, and then
making a detailed list, will cut down on the things I forget to buy, and also
on poor impulse choices, like donuts or cookies. I still forget things (even if
they’re on the list) and I still slip up and buy unlisted items (cookies!) but
I think I’m far more responsible than I otherwise would be.
The other thing that really really helps is…. Music.
A few months ago I started plugging my headphones into my
phone and listening to music as I shopped. It really helps. I am not held
prisoner to the music pumped over the speakers, or the “attention shoppers!”
announcement. (the guy always pronounces coupons “queupons”, or “Q-pons”. The
right way is “coup-pons”, or “koo-pons”. It really annoys me, especially since
they are always for ice cream or oreos.) I take the headphones out at the deli
and the checkout, because I am actually dealing with people. But it really
really helps when I’m browsing through piles of meat or sugary cereals.
I now keep headphones in my car just for this reason.