Organize Your Grocery Shopping Trips

Use this printable sample as a guide to creating your own all-inclusive shopping list and save time shopping.

Sample Grocery Shopping List (Adobe PDF, 60k) (If you need Adobe Acrobat to open this link. Download it here — it's free, and easy to use.)

Rather than randomly plucking items from shelves (and forgetting the things you really need in the process), make yourself an all-inclusive shopping list, grouped by the aisles of your grocery store.

Creating the list should take just one trip to the market (and no more than 45 minutes). Better still, stored on your computer and posted on the refrigerator each week, it will be the last one you'll ever have to make.

Shopping-List Setup
1. Before you go to the supermarket, jot down your grocery list. Add to it all the items you stock your shelves with that you don't need to buy this time.
2. Take the list to the store. As you shop, write down the aisle number next to each item on the list.
3. When you get home, type up the list according to the aisle numbers. Print out several copies.
4. Stick a copy of the list on your refrigerator.

Shopping-List Upkeep
1. Superglue mini magnets (available at stationery stores) to a pen and a small stapler and keep both on the refrigerator next to your list. (If magnets don't adhere to your refrigerator, tack the list — and a pen and a stapler, tied with string — to a bulletin board.)
2. When you run out of an item, use the pen to check it off.
3. Staple any coupons to the list so you don't forget to use them, and write a C next to the items for double insurance.

Kindness Should Become The Natural Way Of Life, Not The Exception

Save on Home Heating This Winter - Part 2

Stay warm and save money with these heat-saving habits and products.

Cracks And Window Panes:

Spray Foam - A dollop sprayed through a thin nozzle expands, like hair mousse, to close cracks 1/2 to 3 inches wide in walls and floors. Foam’s main ingredient, sticky polyurethane, makes it ideal for sealing around pipes (not hot ones, though) and filling odd-shaped gaps. It takes seconds to spray (several hours to dry) and costs about $6 a can.

Caulk - For gaps 1/2 inch wide or smaller in walls and floors, use silicone or acrylic-latex indoor-outdoor caulk. If you’re caulking near a heat source (chimney, furnace, hot pipe), use high-temperature caulk. Applying it in a nice, straight line takes minutes (about two hours to dry); a tube of caulk and the gun you apply it with cost about $5 each.

Window-Insulating Film - Short of installing more energy-efficient windows, the best thing you can do to cut down on heat loss through panes is to cover them with clear insulating film. To install it, you lay a sheet across the glass and tape it to the frame, then use a blow-dryer to shrink it, which makes it adhere to the glass. The process takes 10 to 30 minutes; the film comes in many sizes and costs about $6 for three big windows’ worth.

Furnaces and Sill Gaps:

Furnace Filter - Replace a dirty, flat filter with a pleated one, which has more surface area to capture dirt. It takes about 10 minutes and costs about $15.Programmable Thermostat - Set it to get the heat going before you wake (no more shivery mornings) and to shut off when no one’s home. Buy one with the Energy Star label for about $70 and you’ll save up to $100 each year on heat. It takes about an hour to install.Self-Adhesive Foam Weather Strip - To seal a gap in a closed door or window, apply a strip of foam tape to the top of the frame. You’ll need less than five minutes per door or window and pay $2 to $4 for 10 feet of tape. It comes in 3/8- and 3/4-inch widths.

Door Sweep and Saddle - Keep out drafts that sneak in under exterior doors by installing a door sweep (a metal strip with a rubber flap that is screwed to the bottom of the door) and a saddle (a threshold bolted to the existing one so the door meets it flush; buy metal or wood, which are more durable and weather-resistant than rubber). It takes less than 30 minutes to install both a sweep and a saddle, and they cost about $10 each.

Water Heaters:

Insulation Blanket - Swaddle your water heater in a cozy insulation blanket to keep the heat from dissipating in a cold basement or closet. Usually made of plastic with fiberglass insulation, the blanket wraps around the heater and is taped or strapped on. (Make sure it doesn’t cover the top of the heater or the door that opens to the pilot light.) It takes less than 30 minutes to install and costs $5.

Foam Pipe Insulation - If your heater’s hot-water pipe travels a long way through an unheated part of the house, such as a cellar or a garage wall, the water it’s carrying can lose a significant amount of heat before reaching your bathroom (hence those lukewarm showers). Energy Star’s Doug Anderson suggests covering the first 5 to 10 feet of the pipe coming out of the heater with foam pipe insulation, which fits over the pipe like a sleeve — “an inexpensive fix that goes a long way.” It takes less than 10 minutes to wrap the pipe and costs about $3 for four three-foot tubes (check the diameter of your pipe before you shop).

You Have Succeeded In Life When All You Really Want - Is Only What You Really Need

Save on Home Heating This Winter - Part 1

Money-Saving Home Heating Tips: The average American family will spend $1,000 on heat this season, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration projections. Take a bite out of that with the following measures. (The savings estimates from the Edison Electrical Institute refer to your annual energy bill; results will depend on many factors, such as region.)

Check Filters and Vents - To keep the heat flowing freely and protect the furnace from being overworked, check the filter monthly and replace it every three months. Be sure furniture, drapes, and rugs don’t block air vents, and keep grilles dusted to discourage lint and dirt buildup.
Frequency: Check filters and vents each month; replace filters every three months.
Potential Savings: 10 to 15 percent.

Lower the Water Temperature - Instead of keeping the water heater set at the usual 160 degrees, lower it to 120. Does this mean you won’t get a hot shower in the morning? No. You’ll just start with water less scalding than usual, says Doug Anderson of Energy Star, part of the U.S. Department of Energy. Water-heater thermostats can be inaccurate, he adds; check yours by sticking a cooking thermometer under a running tap, then adjust the thermostat as needed.
Frequency: Once per winter.
Potential Savings: 10 to 15 percent.

Shut the Damper - When not in use, a fireplace can be a major heat waster. Since warm air rises, yours can rush right up — and out — the chimney. Always close the damper (the metal plate that opens and seals the chimney stack) once the fire is safely out. Shutting glass fireplace doors does the same job.
Frequency: Daily; double-check at night.
Potential Savings: 2 to 18 percent.

Close Off Unused Rooms - There’s no reason the whole house needs to be warm all the time. Close doors to, and heating vents in, any room you’re not using, especially upstairs (the farther from the basement the heat has to travel, the harder the heater has to work). This way, the heater can more efficiently keep the rooms you are occupying nice and toasty.
Frequency: Daily.
Potential Savings: Up to 3 percent.

Use Ceiling Fans - The ceiling fan that cools you all summer can warm you in winter. Using it on the reverse setting (most fans have one), set on low, pushes warm air that has risen to the ceiling back to the ground. This lets you adjust the thermostat down a few degrees without suffering for it.
Frequency: Daily.
Potential Savings: Up to 3 percent if you lower the thermostat. [Source]

The Beginning Is Always Today, Happy New Year 2008!

Happy Holidays To You And Your Loved Ones

Clutter-Buster: Put Apples with Apples, Oranges With Oranges - Part 4

To get an idea of what you own, group like things together. Use your utensil drawer as a model. In it you have forks, knives, and spoons, all in their own slots, and you know there are 12 of each. Can the same be said of your cooking tools? How many wooden spoons do you have? Put all your slotted spoons, spatulas, and pizza cutters in separate piles and toss the ones you don't need.

Then group related items and give them their own labeled drawers: “Stovetop Supplies,” “Baking Supplies,” “Specialty Items.” "Every shelf and drawer in your home should have a specific theme, just like the typical sock or utensil drawer," says Kim Cosentino, owner of the De-Clutter Box, an organizing company in Westmont, Illinois.

Toss-It Tips:

• Don't limit your search for similar items to just one room.
• Look all over the house for things like scissors, stamps, and batteries, and put them in one place.
• If you have two things that serve the same function, keep the newer or better one and chuck the other.
• Start with a clean surface or drawer, then put back only the things you use.

Why It Works - Once you get everything in one category together, you can quickly assess what you own — and what you own too much of. If you know what you have and where it is, you won't waste money buying duplicates (think hair elastics). If an item resists classification, it is easier to deem it unworthy. [ Source ]

If You Can Spend A Perfectly Useless Afternoon In A Perfectly Useless Manner, You Have Learned How To Live.

Clutter-Buster: Clean Out for a Worthy Cause - Part 3

Strategies for motivating yourself to get rid of all the things you don't want, need, or even like.

Getting rid of things will be easier if you can picture someone else benefiting from them (instead of how they just signify wasted money for you). Pick an organization to donate to, and learn as much as you can about it. Read the literature, check out the web-site, and visit the facility, if possible.

Toss-It Tips:

• Don't just leave your stuff outside the charity's storefront or in a donation bin, to be ruined by the elements. Deliver it in person, or find out if the organization will arrange a pickup from your home.
• See if there are specific items the charity needs; this will make those things easier to give up. If it doesn't accept certain items — such as that combination NordicTrack/clothes hanger — ask if it knows of a group that does.
• If an item is truly worthless or beyond repair, don't make the organization deal with it. Find out the proper way to junk it instead.
• Get your kids involved, too, so they can see what it's like to give.

Why It Works:

• Discarded items will most likely be used, worn, or appreciated a lot sooner in someone else's hands than they would in yours.
• You can earn a tax deduction for donated goods. But you are responsible for keeping track of donations, determining their worth, and itemizing them on your tax return.
  
  
  
  

Sometimes The Most Important Part Of The Whole Day Is The Rest We Take Between Two Deep Breaths

Clutter-Buster Part 2 - Act Like You're Moving

Strategies for motivating yourself to get rid of all the things you don't want, need, or even like.

Say you had to uproot and relocate. What would you take with you? You don't actually have to pack anything up — just set aside the few things that you love and use and see what's left over. "Chances are, you use only 20 percent of your stuff regularly," says Sally Allen, owner of A Place for Everything, an organizing service in Golden, Colorado. Try this with your cookbooks: Pull out the ones that are tenderly tattered due to years of use, then look at the ones still on the shelf.

Ask yourself if you would pay someone to haul away those you've been keeping because they were gifts or because you felt ambitious when you bought them (From now on, Thai food every Tuesday night!). If not, sell them to a used-book store or donate them.

Toss-It Tips - Envision your home as a prospective buyer might: Uncluttered spaces make the best first impression. They're also a lot easier to keep clean and dust-free. Imagine the potential buyer (or worse, a relative) going through your closets or drawers. What would you not want him or her to see? Buy containers and baskets only after you've decided what to keep. This way you'll have a much better sense of the kind of storage you need.

Why It Works - You don't have to get rid of things you love or need — you just have to determine what those things are. If you've ever packed and paid for a move, the motivation for paring down your possessions will be all too clear. [ Source ]