how to make a reliable household shopping masterlist. plus free printable
In this post you’ll find information on how to put together a household shopping masterlist for both household products and groceries.
I’ve also put together some free PDF printables – a household shopping essentials checklist and household shopping list template.
THE ULTIMATE HOUSEHOLD SHOPPING LIST HOW-TO GUIDE
Let’s face it, doing a weekly shop can be one of the most time-consuming, boring chores you do each week.
When you’re busy juggling all the commitments of life, from parenting to working and looking after the family home, it can be a challenge to have the brain bandwidth to make sure you’ve got everything you need on your shopping list each week.
So, I’ve tried to make the whole process easier by creating a set of household shopping lists to take some of the brain pain out of it.
WHY YOU SHOULD USE A HOUSEHOLD ESSENTIALS SHOPPING LIST
Given the name of my site is Mums Make Lists it will come as no surprise to you that I am a fan of lists.
One of my favourite lists is my household essentials shopping list. Not because it’s a particularly interesting list, but because of the time and effort it saves me each week.
It’s a big old masterlist I’ve created of every item that I might need to buy on any given week. I use it as a checklist to help me stay on track with everything I need for us to run our family home.
It ensures we never run out of housework and cleaning essentials, which in turn means that we stay on budget when it comes to the boring but essential items we need to keep our home clean, tidy and organised.
It’s also a great way of ensuring that we don’t overspend by overstocking on stuff we don’t really need.
So as well as helping you to be super organised and save on time and effort, having a really good household shopping list will help with the family budget too!
Want Access To My Free Printables Vault?
I’ve also taken to adding household products to my Amazon Subscribe & Save, I always check the price versus my supermarket price and if it works out cheaper, they go onto my Subscribe & Save list. What I love is that it is really easy to set how often I want my reorders to be delivered.
I get an notification when a repeat order is coming up and I cancel it if I don’t yet need more of the item. It’s easy to set one up, you can find out more by popping over to Amazon Subscribe & Save.
HOW TO PUT TOGETHER A HOUSEHOLD SHOPPING LIST
Putting together a well organised shopping list can be the difference between you overspending on time, effort, money and walking out of the supermarket (or receiving a supermarket delivery) with exactly what you need, when you need it.
With this in mind, here are two really useful tips to help you put together a super effective shopping list.
1. USE CATEGORIES
Either put together your list by aisles or by categories. If you shop IRL rather than online shopping, then list everything out as per the isles in the supermarket you usually shop in.
You don’t need to necessarily list out each isle – that could be a super long list – but you know the main isles you visit each week, so it’s well worth having them separated out on your list.
If you shop online, then stick to using categories of food, such as fruit and vegetables, dairy, meat, dry goods, freezer, household supplies etc.
2. START A NEW LIST EACH WEEK
Sitting down to do a big shopping list can be soul-destroyingly dull, there’s also the chance you will miss something off.
Another way to do things is to use a notepad and pen stuck to the fridge or a blackboard, that all the family can add their requests onto. This way you make sure you don’t end up with cries of ‘why haven’t we got any… [insert random foodstuff]’ straight after you’ve done a big shop.
HOUSEHOLD SHOPPING LIST FOR GROCERIES AND HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
When you think about your weekly shop, you can pretty much divide it into two categories. The first is groceries – food and drink – and the second is household products – everything from toilet paper and laundry detergent to window cleaner and rubbish bags.
The groceries are what you need to keep everyone in your household fed and well nourished and then household products are what you need to keep your family home clean, tidy and organised.
With this in mind, I’ve created a free PDF printable household shopping list that you can download. There’s a list of grocery essentials and a list of essential household products.
Plus you can download my free PDF household grocery shopping list template so that you can create your own master list of grocery essentials or print and use each week to create a nicely ordered shopping list of food, drink and household supplies.
Scroll to the bottom of the post to find out how to download both the household shopping list and shopping list template.
HOUSEHOLD SUPPLIES LIST
Now, about those household supplies. Here’s a list of all the household products you could ever possibly need to keep your family home running smoothly.
Use the list as a monthly or weekly checklist to make sure you never run out of the staple items you need for cleaning, doing the laundry and generally keeping the home organised.
Household shopping list
Household shopping list of all the household essential products and supplies you need to keep your home clean, tidy and organised.
HOUSEHOLD ESSENTIALS SHOPPING LIST
Washing up liquid
- Dishwasher tablets
- Dishwasher salt
- Dishwasher cleaner
- Washing up gloves
- Washing up brush
- Scourer
- Microfibre cloth
2. CLEANING
Multipurpose cleaner
- Antibacterial spray
- Stainless steel cleaner
- Glass cleaner
- Limescale remover
- Oven cleaner
- White wine vinegar
- Microfibre cleaning cloths
- Kitchen roll
3. DUSTING & POLISHING
- Microfibre duster cloths
- Microfibre window cloths
- Microfibre polishing cloths
- Feather duster
- Wood polish spray
- Dusting spray
- Silver polish
4. LAUNDRY
- Washing detergent
- Fabric conditioner
- Laundry bleach
- Stain remover
- Lint roller
5. FLOORS
- Wooden floor cleaner
- General floor cleaner
- eCloth floor mop
- Dustpan and brush
- 6. WINDOWS
- Cleaning cloth
- Polishing cloth
- Glass cleaner
7. RUBBISH
- Rubbish bags - large
- Rubbish bags - small
- Food recycling bags
8. BATHROOM
- Cleaning gloves
- Toilet brush
- Toilet paper
- Antibacterial spray cleaner
- Shower cleaner
- Toilet bleach
- Limescale remover
- Drain cleaner
9. HYGIENE
- Liquid hand soap
- Hand sanitiser
- Toilet paper
10. FOOD CARE
- Saran Wrap / Cling Film
- Tinfoil
- Greaseproof paper
- Baking parchment
- Freezer bags
11. SUNDRIES
- Long matches
- AA batteries
- AAA batteries
- Lightbulbs
- Sellotape
- Blutak
HOW TO MAKE A MASTER GROCERY LIST
If you want to really get to grips with every aspect of creating a master grocery shopping list, you can pop over to my post on how to make a master grocery shopping list, where I’ve gone in-depth on everything you could ever possibly want to know on the subject.
Free pDF household essentials shopping list and template
HOUSEHOLD ESSENTIALS SHOPPING LIST
Want to have a printable version of the household supplies list above? Look no further! I’ve created a free printable PDF version that you can download, print and keep to use as reference.
There are two pages to the shopping list. The first is for household product supplies and the second is a good basic list of grocery essentials.
The grocery list is by no means exhaustive, but it will help get you on track for creating your own master grocery shopping list.
SHOPPING LIST TEMPLATE
Whilst the household supplies shopping list is great to use for reference, what you really need to up your shopping game is a template you can use to create your own weekly shopping list.
So, I’ve created one for you. It’s a complete household essentials and grocery template that you can download as a printable PDF.
The template is broken down into categories so that you can use it for your whole grocery shop, as well as for listing household supplies.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD free printable PDF downloads: Household essentials list and household shopping list template
Hello, I’m Luci, founder of Mums Make Lists. The site is full of fun ideas and inspiration for birthdays and seasonal celebrations. Plus a growing selection of instantly downloadable fun printables and party planners. Read more.
Oh my gosh! This list is fabulous! I’m pinning for sure. Thanks for sharing at Share It Sunday.
So glad you like it Michele – thank you so much for pinning x
That’s a great list. I am trying to cut down on chemical cleaners, too. Thank you.
Another great list! Thanks for sharing at this week’s Project Inspire{d}. pinned
I hopped over from Teach Me Tuesday. Thanks for this great post. I’ve been trying to cut back on cleaning supplies so this list is great. http://themommaven.com
Just found you through Pinworthy Project link party- what a helpful post! I’m getting ready to move into a new house and will be taking this checklist with me!
Lindsay @ brokeandbougie.blogspot.com
I’m a big fan of using eco friendly cleaners too. It’s great you reduced your must have list! If you are interested, I’m sure you can reduce it further by swapping out some of the disposables like the batteries for reusables, such as rechargeable batteries. I keep a few regular batteries on hand for just in case but for most items like TV remotes and games, rechargeables work well for us. I also almost never use the items under your Food Storage list once we started using food storage containers for leftovers, open cheese, etc. it keeps the food fresher too because cling film never seems to stick like it should 🙁