The Importance of Planning Your Shopping

One thing you really want to do when it comes to saving money and sticking to your budget is to plan your shopping. When you have a plan in place you’re less likely to succumb to last-moment purchases and waste time going back and forth, and you can even be much healthier due to avoiding temptation if you stick to your plan.

* Saves Time – You know that if you don’t make a list you probably forget things, which means more trips to the store. More trips to the store is a waste of time. Plus, your time in the store will go faster if you have a list and know what you’re going to buy before you even get there. You can make great lists that take sales into consideration if you use the weekly ads from your local paper or look online at the local version of the store’s website.

* Saves Money – Everyone does it. You go to the store and all the temptations you them in the face. You want them. You want whatever you see that’s easy to fix and shove in your mouth. But that’s not the best way to save money. Planning shopping based on sales and seasonality of produce is the best way to save money.

* Avoids Waste – When you don’t know what you’re going to do with your purchase, it is easy to forget you even bought it and you therefore waste it. If you know you need 1/2 onion for something specific, you’re going to use it instead of just buying a bunch of onions with no plan. About 1/3 of all food purchased in the first world is thrown out. You can avoid that waste by having a plan.

* Keeps You Healthy – When you plan your shopping trips, you can also plan to eat something before you go so that you’ll stick to your list. The list is so important because it prevents you from buying things that you don’t need.

* Recognizes Your Lifestyle – By lifestyle, the point is that you have a life and a schedule that may or may not allow you to cook a full meal each evening. You can look at your lifestyle and figure out what meals are best to prepare on any given night, and a plan will take that into consideration. So, if you’re going to be busy Wednesday night with an activity, you may want to plan to cook double the food Tuesday evening so that you can still eat on budget and healthily on Wednesday night.

* Reduces Stress – Going into a grocery store without a plan and then just buying a bunch of stuff without any idea what you’re going to do with it will create meal-planning stress every single day. When you have a plan that on Tuesday you’re having your favorite lasagna, and on Thursday you’re having taco salad, it makes life much simpler.

Planning anything in your life helps you succeed. It doesn’t matter whether it’s eating a budget-friendly vegetarian diet or sticking to a healthy way of life. A plan always helps and gives you more of a chance to succeed.