When it comes to grocery shopping - the struggle is real.  I find zero joy in this task and it costs me a zillion dollars to feed the kiddos...and yet, we never seem to have any food in the house - even after I just went to the store.  Sound familiar?  Well, I found a solution that fits my requirements of a time-saver, convenient, and saves me money!

I might be the only mom out there with this thought, but my desire to walk through a thousand aisles with a long grocery list or to the back of the store for one item just isn't there.  After working all day, I don't want to spend an hour at the store.  I just want to go home and relax.  My reality though is that my kids eat a lot, we need groceries a lot and once I walk in the door, I get blasted with 1,000 questions, have to make supper extremely fast - always healthy, of course! - and load up the car for the night activity.

My top 3 needs when it comes to grocery shopping are 1) time, 2) convenience, and 3) saving money.  When I saw that Walmart was changing up their store and creating a bright orange area for grocery pick-up...I was very curious if it would actually be something that works for me and if I'd get produce that lasted more than a day.  I decided to take the plunge and opened up an online account...figured I'd share my experience with the rest of the mom world:

Sunday

  • 8 am - the kiddos informed me that we were again out of some major food items (specifically ranch dressing and cereal).  The list kept growing though as we created the meal plan for the week and realized that we had about 80 other items that we needed.  I decided that this round of grocery shopping, we were going to use the new online grocery area with Walmart.  I'd be back to tackle that later in the day.
  • 2 pm - grocery list made, online account made at www.walmart.com.  I plugged in all of the food that we needed...including that ranch dressing and cereal that started this new journey of shopping.
  • 2:30 pm - ordering online done!  It asked me when I wanted to pick up my groceries so I said on Monday between 2 pm and 3 pm.
  • 2:31 pm - received my e-mail confirmation and it said: "we will send you a text when your groceries are ready".  It said that I could also check-in on their app when I was on my way and they would be waiting for me and it would save time.  (I put that to-do in my "later" folder in my mind)

Monday

  • 9:30 am - enter into the radio world - fully caffeinated and ready to help make the world a more positive place!
  • 1:30 pm - talking away on Y105FM and hanging out and chatting with everyone on the Facebook page  (completely forgot about groceries!).
  • 1:51 pm - text came in "Your order's ready! Save time, check in when you're on the way."  Put that text on the side as I finished up the show for Y105FM but wondering how my produce really would look from Walmart...or if I would have to go to another store tomorrow to get more.
  • 2:10 pm - on my way to Walmart!  Now, which way has the least amount of road construction?
  • 2:28 pm - In the parking lot in the orange area designated for "pickup".  I checked-in with the app and was told they would be out by 2:31 pm with my order.  (I waited and checked Facebook and Instagram)
  • 2:31 pm - a cart starts to come towards me with a bunch of blue buckets and a very nice woman with a Walmart logo on her shirt.  I was the only car in the area so these had to be my groceries!  (A small part of me was so excited that I wasn't walking through each aisle right now!)  I went through the list, saw that a few items had some substitutions...which was ok with me...signed off and got a FREE gift for being a first-timer!  (this was not in the e-mail or anywhere online...fyi!  Just an added bonus, I guess.)
  • 2:36 pm - in my car and on my way home.

Walmart Grocery Pick-up

So, how did the experience do with my Top 3 needs with grocery shopping?

1)  Time - I saved at least an hour of my life by shopping online and not walking through the gobs of people in each aisle or waiting to check out.

2)  Convenience - Umm...hello.  I shopped online in my a/c when it was 99 degrees outside.  I didn't have to go through an entire store looking for items AND it was brought to my car.  The only way to make that better is if someone came to my house and put the groceries away for me.

3)  Saving Money - I'm pretty convinced that I saved at least $50 if not more just by ordering online and not having any kiddos with me saying, "Can I get this?".  After a while - we just don't care and we start saying "yes" to anything just so we can get to the next aisle and eventually to the checkout area.  That is where we lose all hope though because everything is less than $2 and the kids know this is our biggest time of weakness.

I actually did save even more money though because I found a coupon!  $10 off your first online order if it is over $50 - which, hello, it always is.  You can get a coupon sent to you too: Just click here to save some money!

Happy online shopping!  I've got a few other "mommy related" articles you might like too.  Click here to find the "Mom in Real Life" articles!

If you've got any money or time-saving tips...I'd love to hear them!  Send me a note on my Facebook or Instagram page and we can be friends that help each other out!

Listen to Jessica Williams on Y105FM weekdays from 10 am until 2 pm!

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