CREATING SHOPPING LISTS

We all know the importance of using a list when shopping. Budgeting experts will tell you that you should have a list to avoid wasting money on impulse items, but the real reason is because you will likely forget something without one, and, of course, Murphy's Law says that whatever you forget will be an item that you simply cannot do without, forcing you to make a second trip.

Thankfully, quite a few apps exist on the Market to allow you to create a shopping list directly on your phone. My personal favorite is OI Shopping list. The OI in the name stands of Open Initiative; unlike most of the other apps on the Market, this one has been created by a group of people as an open-source application.

The application is incredibly simple, as a shopping list app should be. You can simply launch the app and begin entering products to create your list. While at the store, simply select the check mark next to each item as you pick it up to know that you have it in your cart (see Figure 14.6).