I don't think I need one, at any price.
All it seems to do is use voice recognition to save writing down something.
I keep a magnet-backed notepad and pen on my refrigerator...rip it off before I go shopping and i'm all set - no batteries.

I can't imagine being bothered with using that. Pen and paper works for me.

Our Kroger has gone to using thermal print out register receipts and they are barely readable. If that gadget does thermal print outs, I wonder if they would be like that?

Sue

I have a master list of common purchases that I check before going to the store. I use pen and paper. Rarely I'll type things or use a master list and print it out but I can't see a need in my life for something like this gadget and I do admit, I do appreciate my gadgets. However, they need to be functional gadgets.

I love this line in Amazon's product listing: "Kids will love helping out."

So when you print out the list, you'll see:
Grape soda
Chocolate milk
Candy bars
Froot-Loops
Ice cream bars
Peanut butter
Toys

Ok, it's just me, but I can't imagine spending $50 just to keep a grocery list. I don't like those preprinted lists that show a bunch of products I don't even buy, and this sounds to me like an electronic version of that.

I just write what I need down on a pad - takes two seconds when I run out of something to add it to the list. Then take the paper with me to the store. I love computers but sometimes the old fashioned way just seems the best.

Thanks for setting me straight folks. This will go down in the "What was I thinking?" category -- as I return this item tomorrow and put my $40 to better use in the future.

BTW, the "newest" model is going for about $150.

I also have a magnetic notepad on the fridge. When I get home from shopping I always get the "You didn't get XXX". "Well, it wasn't on the list". They tell me we're out of something, "put it on the list, don't expect me to remember it!!". I've been known to call home because I've forgotten "the list" and usually have remembered all but one or two item. I have too many gadgets to want any more. If it has more than 2 wires coming out of it, or more than 3 moving parts I can't figure it out.

I use the old-fashioned list system. I keep a notepad on my fridge. I also list items from recipes I'd like to try.

Had a markerboard on the old frig but haven't transferred it to the new one. I will make a note, record it on the digital recorder or enter it into the computer as a reminder then add it to the list. Much depends on the item, where it's purchased and urgency of need.

Several people talked about using a Palm Pilot for a shopping list. For some it worked well.

I often go through the ads, jot down things that are a good price or are of interest to me but I don't always go to the store. I don't go on marathon trips to multiple stores very often. I'll spend a few cents more to get it all at one place rather than the gas, vehicle wear, and extra time to go to another store. Occasionally though there's the exception.

I also keep a running Things To Get list that could be anything from anywhere. There's been quite a few times that I can then catch it on clearance or something unexpectedly.

Hahaha...I have to chuckle at all these responses! It seems everyone uses a list of some sort on the fridge! Every year I buy one of those large desk calendars, I have a magnetic strip from the dollar store that I have re-used for many years, it is taped to the back of the calendar. All birthday, anniversaries, appts., pay days and grocery lists are on that calendar! The calendar is the perfect size for the "freezer" top of the fridge. We have used this system since my kids were wee little!(youngest is now 22!) Oh and on the last page/inside are all the relevant phone numbers for family, neighbors, doctors etc.
It always surprised me that no manufacturer came out with something like it haha....it works great!

Maura,
I don't know if you have a smart phone (I don't!) but if you do, here's a post that might be just exactly what you need!!

Here is a link that might be useful: smartphone grocery list

And heaven forbid I misplace my list somewhere while I am in town, going numerous places and needing numerous things. I get very perturbed with myself and have occasionally had BF or a shopper come after me with the list I had dropped, to return it to me. If I misplace my list, I'm just done for and usually miss getting several things.

DH and I shop 95% of the time at one grocery store. We have a spreadsheet list, broken down by aisle number, of the products we normally buy, and the order of the list follows our usual path through the store.

No refrigerator magnets for me - but we have a clipboard with the weekly list. When we use the last of something, or notice we are getting low, we just tick it off. We leave plenty of blank spaces under general items (like spices" or "canned tomatoes"), so we can write in exactly what we need.

I keep a paper list of what's needed. I scan the grocery ads for the two stores I frequent and note good buys on things we like and use, especially if I have matching product coupons.

I make my final list 'by aisle' for the store with the best buys that week. I usually shop once every 7 - 10 days. DH will pick up the odd gallon of milk or whatever in between.

Does anyone regularly shop somewhere other than a grocery store? (Bakery, Greengrocer, Butcher, etc.?) I remember shopping in an English village, going to each provider; it took *forever*.

Chisue....I remember shopping like that when I lived in England, it was so very different than what we are used to here. At that time they didn't have "malls" or "grocery stores", I have often wondered if it is still the same.
In some ways it was really nice because you got to know each of the merchants and they you...it was much more personalized that what we have here.

Hi Taigen,

Any reason that you couldn't mastermind/organize one o' them things that you spoke of??

o j

I may be the only one here who remembers going to the grocery store with my DM, and she handed her list to the man behind the counter. He then went around picking up each item from the shelves or wherever it might be.

Then he added up the bill with a pencil and the groceries were delivered to our house.

Ah, the good old days!

Sue

You're not the only one who remembers the merchant getting things for you. They had the long grabber to get things off the top shelf and these were not 7' high ceiling stores! Always liked going into Gandrud's store as a kid... after the folks got the groceries the owners always grabeed a few candy bars and slid into the bag and said "a little something for the kids!" I remembered that and would try to shop at that store when I started going out there myself. Unfortunately they were old when I was very young so they didn't have the store too much longer and a "bigger" store opened up again across the street and the new owners couldn't compete. We're talking a town with a population of 140 people or so which means they couldn't support too many competitors.

Oh and BTW, in those days the candy bars weren't the little "fun size" ones you find now. They were the size of the extra big ones now and no it's not because I was smaller in those days!

Depending on whether I have a lot or a little to get I divide the list differently. If just a few items I divide the list by refrigerated/frozen and non. Otherwise I break it up not by aisle because every store is different but rather I have sections for:
Produce
Deli
Dry/canned goods
H&B
Paper
Bakery
Meat
Dairy
Frozen
and maybe others depending on what I'm getting. By dividing by department rather than aisle I can use it in any store. Even the same chain but different locations are laid out differently so when I tried to do an aisle layout, it kept changing, even in the same store so it made it obsolete quickly. This system works well. I even have one list where I put frequently purchased items on there as a reminder but that seems to change a lot too!

FWIW I've seen those large calendars for the frig often. They're out there. I never found a calendar to be particularly useful for my organizing system, perhaps it's the non-organized approach? When I did use a paper calendar a weekly one worked better for me. Monthly didn't give enough room to write everything. If I don't write it down, it gets forgotten too easily.

I'll occasionally stop at a meat market or a bakery. Wish there were more of them around. When I first moved into my house there was a convenience store about a mile away and they had a butcher renting space from them so there was a full service meat counter in there! That was unique and *so* nice! But alas, the road was upgraded and the building was taken. I imagine the butcher might have just retired at that point rather that start up somewhere else.

I don't like the mishmash of a store these days. One size fits nobody and the quality becomes mediocre at best. "Deli"? Yeah right. Everything is brought in via pouch for the meats, the "salads" (term used loosely) are made in a factory weeks ago, and taste it, and the prices are ridiculous.

cynic -- I believe I have saved thousands by never stopping by the 'Deli' counter in grocery stores. I never enter the long 'chips' aisles either, and seldom the 'soda/bottled water/tea' aisle. (We have super tap water!) No babies here, so that section is skipped. Seldom venture into the endless realm of "It's all Soap, but we call it different names" either. Bet I hit only half the aisles, but have to detour around these others.

One of the two chains I shop has good baked-on-site bakery goods (Dominick's/Safeway); at the other I just by La Brea bread.

taigen -- Sainsbury's et al have come to the UK. HUGE grocery stores! Zoning has made them build back from the main roads in many places. DH and I spent an hour trying to find one once when we were staying at a National Trust rental in Hampton Court. When we did, it had about 30 checkers. They were all seated in swivel chairs. They rang up the goods and swiveled to pack up the order -- no separate baggers. (That was such a fun trip. I wish we could go again! I love self-catering, partly because if you need to shop you meet ordinary people.)