Friday, August 28, 2009

Change.

I'm sorry but today I am going to have a whinge. Just a little one because that's not what I'm about in my blog space. This is my happy place where rainbows glow in clear sunny skies and small blue birds come and sit on my hand when I start to sing......oh, hang on, that's a Disney movie, oh well.

So I don't know if it has become frightfully apparent that I'm a wee bit of a neat freak. I like things tidy and in their place. I like to have a routine. I really missed out on my calling to join the military because lets face it, neat freaks thrive on routine drills and having really clean shoes.

Anyway, if you know me from Twitter, you will already have bared witness to my printed shopping list. I know it all seems a little OTT, but the list serves a valuable purpose, it makes my life easier and more efficient. Each week I grab a list and a trusty highlighter pen (sometimes two because some items are purchased at one supermarket and others at Aldi, so obviously each supermarket has it's own colour) and I scoot down my list marking the items I need.

Now just so you can really understand the depth of my 'organisational madness', my list is broken into sections like 'dairy' and 'canned goods' and these sections correspond to the aisles in my local supermarket.

Am I freaking you right out yet ? I'm guessing if you're a fellow neat freak you are standing up and applauding and saying "Now where on earth do I pick up one of these wondrous lists ?". If you're more of a wing-it person, you've probably already stopped reading and are trying to decide if a snack at eleven o'clock is a late breakfast, early lunch or brunch, for the record, my vote is brunch.

Sorry, I'm digressing again, my point is that I have a system and my system worked a treat until.....shock of horrors.....I went down to the local supermarket today and THEY HAVE MOVED EVERYTHING AROUND. It was chaos, mayhem, people running around screaming....oh alright, they weren't really, the chaos and mayhem was limited to inside my head, but I did pass some disorientated elderly folk and we shared a look that said 'Why ? Why have they done this to us ?'

But I guess at the end of the day a bit of change every now and again isn't such a bad thing. It reminds us that life is full of changes, some big, some small, and that the only way to deal with it is to take a big breath (and possibly a nip of brandy) and just get on with it the best way that we know how.

14 comments:

  1. that sends me insane also - I just get to know where things are and they shift them all around - BASTARDS!

    I want one of those lists but problem is we don't always shop at the same place - sometimes Coles, sometimes Woollies and they don't have the same layout so I'd have to have 2 lists and would diligently highlight one, get to the supermarket only to discover I'd highlighted the Woollies list and I was at goddamn Coles.

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  2. I feel for your dilemma, I truly do. x

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  3. I think you should PDF this document and post it so all us obessive compulsive types can share!

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  4. Well now, just think - you get to make a new list. I do rather enjoy making lists. Of course I can say that now, I have finally gotten used to my local market's re-arrange. Although for the life of me I still can't find the tea strainers.

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  5. um, i not only have a list , I have a spread sheet that lists prices as I type in my selected menu which then has a column for my ingredients which goes on my shopping list. I love making spreadsheets for lists lol It is only natural to break them down into dairy, veg etc so I dont think there is anything wrong with you AND , I went bananas when Coles decided to turn their shop upside down and they didnt have any signs at the end of the aisle!!!!!.

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  6. Am totally with you on this. I use Shopper on my iPhone and its changed my grocery shopping experience FOREVER! Until the day Woolworths renovated and rearranged. I finally got it all reorganized and they'd better only do that like once every 10 years! Anyway new feature of latest version of Shopper...GPS picks up which grocery store you're walking towards and rearranges the aisles in the program accordingly...I may be OCD but even I wouldn't make use of this feature...nice idea though!

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  7. You are all completely awsome, OCD shoppers of the world let us unite, we can create a Eutopia of neat orderly aisles and endless shopping lists.

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  8. Melanie, you are taking it to the next level and for that, I salute you ;)

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  9. You guys are scaring the living jebus out of me, truly.

    And I'm also more than a teeny bit jealous. I seem to wallow away my life in chaos and disorder, but, well, that's just me.

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  10. I'm a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B.
    Slightly OCD but messy.
    I have your list and hoping it may help.
    Normally I just wing it but when I do make a list, it has to be in order of aisles and location within said aisle.

    There's also a strict order for unloading the trolley. Heaviest items first. God help the kids if they try and help and if the checkout chick mixes heavy and light stuff in my greenbags, I'm not happy!

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  11. Oh Angela, don't even get me started on the bag packing abilities of the average checkout chick....grapes under the bag of potatoes...arghhhh. The fact that I pack my own stuff at Aldi just makes it all the more appealing.

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  12. It's okay Tara, I think we scare the living jebus out of ourselves.

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  13. oh, I totally feel your pain on this one. Though my grocery list is not as organised as yours, I do list things according to aisle they are in. when they change, it does my head in! do you also line up the groceries on the conveyor belt according to how you want them in the bags? and then freak out when they put them in the wrong bag???!! no, oh, well, it's just me then!

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  14. Ah Selina, that would be a "yes" and "yes", you're not alone :)

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