How I Prepare for My Monthly Shopping Trip

[@joannnicol346]

I find myself rewatching all andrea's videos... just to hear her voice and words of wisdom. Miss her so much, I cant even imagine what her family is going through. In my prayers.

[@NanNan-md6gm]

Very smart to look ahead at the next month for once a month shopping to see if anything special is needed that month, she was so smart!! Miss her dearly 😢 💔 ❤

[@AWanderingEye]

I love this! Rather than focusing on inventory (boring, hard for hoarder) focusing on need to buy (fun, natural for shopper) but results in less stuff coming in house and only needed items coming in. The smaller space means you're naturally restricted in quantities. I esp. love the intuitive aspect (list by room, listing by how oriented in space). This can work for everyone, small or large family. Bonus points for supporting frugality and reducing outlay! Thanks for making ghis system and sharing your method.

[@huckleberryplanet4105]

This is very similar to how a food business buys their food. Makes so much sense. I do this at work but never thought to do it at home as well.

[@Rsemmel08]

We live in a very tiny town (population 50 or less), and an hour away from any stores. I try and go only once a month and do a big stock up. The rest of the month my husband will grab milk, produce and eggs (chickens should be laying soon). We only have an extended cab pick up truck and if all of us go 3 boys, hubby and I. Plus a months worth of food and toiletries makes for a very uncomfortable drive home. I absolutely love your idea for buying from Wal*Mart online. Normally we only go in Wal*Mart for non-food items, the rest we buy from Sams Club and Aldi. This will save us so much time and truck space. I also love your shopping list. I'm making one right now and then placing my order online. Loving your videos!

[@sarahnewman2324]

You are beautiful Andrea ! We miss you dearly angel

[@leannecrook4472]

This is going to help you loads Tom.

[@amanderbander]

I've just stumbled upon your videos and have only watched a handful of your videos, just needed to tell you how absolutely stunning you look in this one. ♡

[@drummerlovesbookworm9738]

I will never be this organized and I have OCD. You are incredible. xoj

[@danageibel]

So smart!

[@CookieCrumbFun]

being organized is so important. you are very organized. thank you!!

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

Claire, you're always such an encouragement!

[@rca22]

This is so smart I am going to make an inventory list too. Thank you so much for this. You are so organized.

[@staceybrobst9689]

We have a much smaller family, only 4 of us...and we mostly eat vegan, I eat plantbased all the time and mostly my youngest but my husband and oldest daughter occassionally have meat with their meals. Generally, I spend about $100/week and I would love to get that lower if possible. I started a pantry, freezer and a fridge list, we'll see if it helps! Thanks for all the helpful organization tips!

[@samanthagiggles3215]

Oh yes and also having your veg different ways helps too frozen and can if it is not in season :)

[@locostasia]

This is so helpful we will miss you Andrea.

[@andreab1362]

So organized! Love it!

[@JustSewTrish]

I need to get back in the habit of this! Thank you. You are right! I spend more with frequent trips.

[@khadijamcdepena]

Andrea, I love yours videos and family... Hello from New Jersey.

[@stacysfarmhouselife5845]

Love the list idea!!! Going to do this. Thanks

[@MJ-cp8nc]

I had no idea Walmart delivered groceries! Thanks for sharing Andrea...oh and I love your videos keep up the good work:)

[@Whoknows867]

We have four children so this has helped us a lot thank you :) we mainly shop at SAMs club because it's bulk items (also cheaper on gas) and then for other fill ins we go to aldi :)

[@rosalynnweaver3295]

I do the once a month shopping also. This really gave me some tips. Our Walmart is 5 mins down the road and it just seems easier to run up there anytime we need to. I go to Costco once a month and do an Amazon order once a month. I like your list idea and I started one awhile back.

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

I'm not sure how long I've been using my list, but _still_, every month I realize there's something I forgot to put on it that I have to add. It's so nice to use, though, and makes it so fast to plan my shopping list!

[@rachelo3548]

brilliant!!! why haven't I thought of this!!!

[@BintouTunkara]

you are so inspirational! i am literally bingewatching your videos! im only a teen btw lol

[@kenziemcclure7564]

i am actually the same im just bingewatching

[@kaylahummel310]

Me too!

[@jillbrown9045]

Bintou Tunkara saaaaaammmmeee thoooo

[@Devj22]

Bintou Tunkara yeah I am only 10!

[@anitahussey2319]

Hi Andrea, new subbie here. I've been watching ur videos ever since Amanda from TFH sent me. U have such a nice family your videos bring a smile to my face. 😃 TFS

[@kafo9263]

I might have asked this before and I am thinking you might say "work it out to suit your needs" but I'm sitting here thinking...I want to spend less time shopping and definitely want to save money but what I buy that is the main amount of our food is meat and fruits and veggies. How do you work out the meat (beef) side of things and the fresh produce? That's mainly what makes me shop weekly. I LOVE your ideas and am definitely trying to work out how I can do this (especially storage wise as I have no pantry/storage room like you have).

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

I still go shopping weekly for fruits and vegetables, too, but the biggest reason was that I didn't want to lose my connection with our little community. The Economides family (they have a KZbin channel and have written several books) shop once a month and they just used up the fruits and vegetables that go bad quickly first, followed by things like apples and potatoes and by the end of the month they used canned and frozen fruits and vegetables. I freeze meat most of the time. For instance, when roast beef is on sale I buy a few of them and freeze them. When ground beef was a good price, I bought 100 pounds and froze it in meal-size portions. Most of the meat we use is either frozen when we buy it or I freeze myself.

[@jacquelineklerks42]

was wondering if you have this available to print on your website its so organized wish mine were this organized

[@valerielain1481]

your videos are great I watched them at night when my grandchildren are sleep I am stealing your ideas.

[@countryatheart73]

Very helpful, thank you! Andrea, do you have a meal plan/schedule that you follow?

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

Hi Kelly! I'm currently working on a new planning idea; I've tried it several different ways, but so far I haven't found The One that I can stick to long term. I'm trying to solve the problem of having to make decisions too frequently and having to interact with the menu too frequently. When life gets crazy I need a plan that works without too much thought or effort. I might be onto something, but we'll see. Once I get it worked out, I plan to make a video showing what I'm trying now as well as other methods I've used.

[@countryatheart73]

Awesome, can't wait! Thank you :-)

[@Soloptimise]

interessant j'ai une petite famille avec seulement un enfant mais je fais aussi les courses une fois par mois - merci pour les conseils !

[@tigersgirl3]

I have been trying to bulk shop on Walmart .com for 3 days now dealing with IT. I had to rewatch this video to see if I had missed something. I just figured out that I couldn't add anything else to my cart because I can have a max of 32 items. That doesn't really make sense because I have 48 items in my cart but that's what my pop up said. Have you ever run into that? Kinda annoying. Also that none of the 6 or so employees that I talked to didn't seem to know that. Lol

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

One time it gave me a maximum I couldn't go over. It was more than 32, though. I had to do a separate order for the last few things. That's the only time, though, I know I've had more items in other orders without a problem. I have no idea why it happened.

[@tigersgirl3]

I might have missed you saying it but if you shop once a month how do you do fresh produce or even fridge stuff like dairy that may go bad?

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

We shop once a month at Walmart. We still go to our small local store weekly for produce and the things we need to fill in that week's menu. Tom picks up milk every other week at a different store that has good prices. He buys 12-14 gallons each time to last us until the next trip. Walmart is more for stocking the pantry with snacks, canned goods, etc. and things that aren't available at our little store as well as household supplies like toilet paper and things we need for upcoming holidays and such. Here's a trip we took to our local store recently: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnKXqWStiqiFga8

[@tigersgirl3]

Andrea Mills .ok that's what I was thinking. We we live in a small town where Wal-Mart is about an hour away but our little town store carries things....just for a larger price. if we just get a few things it would be worth not going all the way to Wal-Mart. Thanks so much. KZbin is so handy for tips from other moms when I don't have many moms of many around here to ask things.

[@taraschmidheini4674]

🕊️😘

[@leithagrover9116]

Thanks :)

[@JustSewTrish]

What do you use as dishwasher salt? I have never heard of this.

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

We have extremely hard water here, so we bought a Bosch dishwasher that has a built in water softener. It has a compartment in the bottom to fill with salt. I get Soft Spring Dishwasher Salt from Amazon. If you don't have a built in water softener, I read that some people just put a scoop of salt in the bottom of the dishwasher before they start it. It is corrosive, so you don't want it to sit in there for a long time, but if you put it in as you're starting it, it's fine.

[@lindzexposure9347]

I live in California, very close to the ocean/bay. We have to use salt too!

[@flamechick6]

how do you do milk? we (6 of us) go through about 4 gallons a week, more like 6 gallons every 2 weeks.

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

There is a store about 30 miles from us that sells less expensive milk than our local store. Every other week, Tom picks up 10-12 gallons while he is over there. About once a week we also get 2 gallons of raw milk from a friend who has a cow. We have a normal size side-by-side refrigerator that we devote the top two shelves to milk and butter storage. When we are fully stocked we can hold 15 pounds of butter and 6 gallons of milk on the top shelf and 9 gallons of milk on the second shelf.

[@watermelonlover2116]

I live with a family of four and we go through a gallon of milk a day. We just go to quality dairy

[@michellechildress9982]

I would love a printable copy of you list

[@KeithzTalk]

you might be saving more because Walmart tends to sell stuff cheaper on there website than they do in store

[@KJeske8274]

This has nothing to do with the actual shopping but...have you talked about the system behind you in any of your videos? I'm getting glimpses in this video and it looks like it could be a great system to organize paperwork maybe?

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

You're right, this was how I prepare for my shopping trip, not the shopping trip itself. I haven't done any videos on how I organize my office yet, but I hope to get to them soon. I'm actually working on office maintenance jobs right now and I need to make some new vertical file folders, so I'm going to make a video on that and talk a little about my system.

[@KJeske8274]

Oh gosh, no, I meant that my question had nothing to do with shopping not that your video had nothing to do with shopping. LOL! Your video was great! :-) An office organization video will be awesome!

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

That's funny! Yes, hopefully I'll get some office videos done soon... :)

[@ThisWomansBrain]

What app do you use for your shopping list?

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

It's called "Out of Milk."

[@infiniteemerald7236]

Do you do coupons?

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

I don't; I tried before but I quickly decided it was more work for less benefit than I wanted. Probably if we lived in a more populated place with lots of stores giving good coupon deals, it would be different.) I found that stocking up on sale items still saved a ton of money without extra work cutting, sorting and storing coupons and visiting lots of different stores.

[@infiniteemerald7236]

Andrea Mills Oh yeah I totally get you! Haha I've tried couponing before and I just can't do it. I either miss the expiration date or I forget them at home.

[@rebekahyoder9335]

I love your videos , but I have partial hearing loss so between the theme music and person talking in the background I struggle to hear you clearly. Is it possible for you to pause the music or go into a quiet space to speak sometimes ? Thank you.

[@rebekahyoder9335]

Also , I have tried using captions , but it is rather garbled and nonsensical unfortunatly.

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

I do my best to make my videos in a quiet place, but I have a noisy house! I'm sorry you can't hear them well. I am getting better at the music part, I think. Editing videos has been something new for me to learn.

[@christinag7971]

Why don`t you go to aldi? I find it a lot cheaper than walmart.

[@FashionParadise04]

You should try extreme coupon

[@allywilliams9338]

I thinks she's said before that she's tried it, but never really got into it and it was something that would take too much time away from other things. I'm not sure, but I thinks that's what she said! 😊

[@speedy123go1]

she said she couldn't do it, because she live in a small town. a couple miles from her House is Walmart