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Instructions

Basic Information

The best way to use this spreadsheet is to create a default shopping list of items you commonly purchase at the store. Use this as a base template and make a copy of it for each new shopping trip. Add or delete items as necessary. You may need to work on your default template for several months to perfect it. This will take some work on your part, but the effort will save you time in the future.

To use this spreadsheet effectively, you need to be aware of how much each grocery item costs. You can easily develop a price list by using receipts from the last few grocery trips and entering prices from the receipt into the spreadsheet under the "Cost Each" column. Prices can be adjusted as necessary to reflect sales or other price changes.

The categories can be edited to suit your needs. You can delete or add categories as necessary. An easy way to make your shopping trips more efficient is to group items found in the same aisle under the same category. This allows you to see everything you need from that aisle at a glance.

Creating a Shopping List from the Template

The steps for creating a grocery list from your default template are provided below:

1. Copy your default template to a new file, so you avoid overwriting your original template.
2. If you need items not included on your default shopping list, insert a new row into the spreadsheet for each one. Enter a description, quantity, and price for the item. Copy and paste the formula from an existing row in the "Total Cost" column to the newly created row. This will allow the spreadsheet to perform calculations on the new total.
3. Delete any items you won't be buying on this trip.
4. Adjust the quantity of any items, if necessary. Do this by simply entering a new number in the "Quantity" column.
5. If you are buying any sale items, adjust the price for those items in the "Cost Each" column to give you an updated total.
6. Enter any notes in the "Notes" column. This can be information about a particular brand, a reminder that something is on sale, a note indicating you have a coupon for an item, or anything else you want to remember while shopping.
7. If necessary adjust the formula in the "Grand Total" field to account for any added or deleted rows. The spreadsheet will automatically adjust in many cases, but you should check this to make sure the grand total is accurate.
8. Print out the grocery list.