Doing groceries... I just don't like it. Especially when it takes too long (mostly when shopping with others). I always try to be as efficient as possible. And with all efficient actions, efficient shoppings needs preparation. Today I "connected dots" and tried something new.

Most of the time, my wife and I, make up checklists, like most people do. The problem with these lists is that I have to stop at every area of the shop, checking if I've got all things I need from that area. And when I do forget something, I have to walk back to get it. How's that for efficiency? When making the lists I try to write the products down, ordered by area, but this just doesn't work all the time. You always remember some things to get, after making the list... Well, you probably have the same, right?

Today, when making yet another checklist, I had an idea. Why create (un)ordered lists? I tossed away the current list, to refactor a new one. I sketched a rough layout of the shop and wrote down all things I needed in the correct area's on paper. That worked great. Grocery List 2.0 was born. On the right a scan of it (products are in Dutch).

It only took me 7 minutes to get all items on the list and eventually place them on the conveyer belt of the cash register. I must admit here I was really speeding up, not running, but just walking quickly.
Because of making the map, I mostly knew what I had to get on specific area's.

Conclusion: it works (for me), but you'll need to know by heart where the product are. And you'll need a bigger piece of paper.