Does your grocery shopping cart always end up more full than you intended? This little trick will help keep the purchases in check…without eliminating the fun extras.

We all know that every grocery trip involves two categories of items. There’s the items we planned to buy…and the items we didn’t. Those are the items that somehow end up in our cart for lots of other reasons. 

One grocery shopping trick I’ve found surprisingly helpful is using different parts of the cart for different things. 

Everything that’s actually on my list goes into the main basket. Anything unplanned, whether it’s something I suddenly remembered we need or just a fun little extra, goes in the front section where a baby would usually sit.

Before I get to the checkout line, I can take one last look at my “bonus” items and do a quick reality check.

For the fun extras, it turns those impulse grabs into real choices. If there are a few fun extras, I pick my favorites and return the rest to the shelves. 

What about the stuff I thought I “needed?” More often than not, I realize that while my fantasy self may be the most geshikt balebusta, my real self is probably not whipping up three elaborate recipes this week. Often, we overplan what we really have time to cook. 

While it’s a little annoying to run around the store that first time returning items to their places, simply by keeping that “planned” and “unplanned” separate makes us shop more intentionally from the beginning and helps avoid adding the impulsive items to the cart from the beginning. 

With that pared down cart, I leave the store feeling treated and intentional, rather than impulsive or guilty.

It’s such a simple little system, but it helps me shop more realistically while still leaving room for indulging myself.

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