You’re driving a racecar, with one kid up front squeaking the horn while the other reaches for the butterscotch pudding. As you put the pudding back on the shelf, you quickly apologize to the man trying to get through the aisle and try to shift your cart horizontally without much success. It’s at this point that your little driver says, “Go faster, Mommy”, and you only wish you could.
Speed up your shopping lap times with a pre-trip organizational pit stop. By packing the essentials beforehand and developing a plan, you can make shopping trips less taxing for you and for your kids.
When you’re out and about, it’s not the time to figure out your strategy. Put it all together beforehand by combining your grocery list with a shopping organizer. Then you can formulate your strategy while you have your coupons and gift cards right in front of you. This will help you plot your course to have an effective trip without any last-minute “while I’m out” additions.
As you plan your trip, don’t forget to include the time it takes to load/unload your vehicle at each stop. Depending on how many kids you have and their individual personalities, it can take some time to get everyone and everything situated, and this time starts ticking upward as you make more stops and the kids get tired and cranky.
If you’re looking to reduce the packing time, do most of it before you leave home. Pack your reusable bags in the trunk before you go, and you’ll have fewer bags to move from your cart because of their larger storage capacity.
You could also add another time-saver to your trunk: this shopping cart cover from JJ Cole is easy enough to install with one hand – which makes sense when your other hand is holding your child. It lets you protect your child from germs without taking minutes to set up. And if your trip extends to a restaurant dinner, it also works in high chairs.
So after you put away your groceries, make the last step returning your resusable bags to the car. Then you’ll be ready for the next time you start your engine.
