Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Thinking outside the box

You know how "they" say you should incorporate more activity into your daily routine? Jonathan and M@rla stand up to work on their computers, for instance. Many of you chase toddlers, and we all park at the far end of the lot or take the stairs rather than the elevator. Right?

I don't get out much, since my job is taking care of two dogs, a husband and a house [and since 'getting out' means driving for at least an hour for just about every trip]. So the parking lot/stairway strategies aren't too helpful for me. I've been thinking about how to incorporate a vertical workstation into my office, though. Still thinking at this point.

I ran yesterday morning [a 5K in an easy 40 minutes], showered and then went out to get my hair cut [only a half-hour drive]. And since I can't seem to leave the house for just one errand, I drove another half-hour to Wally World [we don't have any other big-box options; don't hate me for spending my money there] to pick up a few things.

As I was driving, I started thinking about the whole 'more-movement' movement, and came up with what I thought was a pretty unique idea. At least I've never seen it anywhere else. After you read about it, you may think I'm ready for the loony bin.

How many times have you been advised to organize your grocery list by department – group all the produce, canned goods, frozen items, dairy – so you can get in and out of the store quickly? Well, I decided to rearrange my rather short list alphabetically.

Oh, yes, I did.

Because, really, I'm never in a hurry when I go shopping and hey … why not? Here was my list.

  1. Alphabet beads
  2. Apricots
  3. Bananas
  4. Birdseed
  5. Bread
  6. Coffee
  7. Dog Treats
  8. Lettuce
  9. Mozzarella
  10. Tissues
  11. Trash Bags
  12. Water

It sort of worked. Old habits die hard. I didn't want to pass by the lettuce in the produce section after I picked up the bananas, but I forced myself to keep moving. I got sidetracked a couple of times by Things Not on My List, but didn't feel compulsive enough to add them in the correct order. Needless to say, I did a lot of criss-crossing.

If I'd been in a hurry, I would have been in and out in 20 minutes, tops. I was actually surprised at the checkout counter to find I'd been there for an hour!

In the end, it was kind of like a scavenger hunt, only not as fun as Shauna's. Call me crazy, but I might even do it again.

It's probably a good thing that Mr. Shrinking Knitter is a psychiatrist.

Don't be shy about entering the contest to win your own copy of Good Calories, Bad Calories. I'm again sorry and completely embarrassed about giving you the wrong e-mail address. Try again if your message bounced the first time: shrinkingknitter AT citynet DOT net and put GCBC in the subject line.

6 comments:

Lori G. said...

That's pretty clever, Debbi. And it's much safer than the idea of "park your car far far away" at the grocery stores. (I see the sentiment but when it's dark and gloomy at 5 p.m., I don't want to walk that far in the dark.)

ws said...

a list. what a novel approach to leaving the store with things you need rather than just random items that one doesn't need.

Anita said...

What an awesome idea. I think the next time I go to the grocery I am going to try this method. Thanks for sharing.

Amy said...

Whenever I forget something tht lives accross the store I think "atleast I'm burning more calories". I think it's a great idea.

Grumpy Chair said...

I can actually visualize you criss crossing the store like that. Cool idea.

Laura N said...

What a clever idea for shopping. Do you guys have a Super Walmart? That would truly be a workout to criss cross the store like that--ours is freaking huge and I hate shopping there, mostly because of the lines that go on and on forever at checkout, but also because if you forget something, it takes 5 minutes just to walk across the store to find it.

Great job getting in a 5k yesterday!