Moving Toward Household Happiness - Step 3

I'd say in the grand scheme of Household Happiness*, I've just finished Step 3.  Because it's the most succinct, I'm starting with 3.  I promise to go back and do Steps 1 & 2 later, though.  I'm envisioning around an 8 to 10 step program overall.

*Household Happiness (my definitions):
1.  A state of being where I am not wallowing in unending guilt due to overwhelming household tasks (...like laundry and dishes - which NEVER end...  Sigh.) 

2.  The ability to actually invite people inside my home with a moment's notice and not have to shove stuff into the bathtub or the oven. 
(You might be wondering, "why not the closets?"  They're...ahem...full.  Stop judging and go open your own closets.  Yours probably are, too.  If not, then come teach me!)

Now, I know what you're thinking.  "Poor Tiffany.  She doesn't realize that Matt loves her and the house just the way she (and it) is, and no one expects perfection, and...blah. blah. blah."

No worries!  I'm not at all needing affirmation in my daughter of God-ness, or in what priorities REALLY matter, or in Matt's love, or whatever. 

What I do need, is to figure out this whole domestic diva thing so that I can actually be spending time doing the stuff I want to do and not keep folding laundry and moving piles of stuff around so we can sit down to eat the meal I didn't actually make because I was too busy trying to downsize my to-do list with a crying baby* on my hip. 
*Sometimes she's crying because I kept ignoring her while I tried to get stuff done.  :o(

Jesus came that we might have life more abundantly and let me tell you that spending the day locked inside and avoiding the neighbors who want to come for playdates because the house is a mess and sometimes not even having time for a real Bible study or playing with my ah-dorable daughter because of chores is NOT an abundant life.
*Yes, I avoided all of the punctuation in that crazy, run-on sentence.  Wasn't sure about one or two spots, and I figure the bad grammar adds to the stress the paragraph is trying to convey.

I'm doing fine, and I have a decent outlook on life.  I would simply like more time to live my life and less time maintaining it.  On a side note, I've been learning TONS about God lately, too, which I think has helped my outlook immensely.

Anyway, Step 3 in this whole process is a permanent grocery list.  I had one a while back, but I stopped using it as our tastes changed.  I was writing more in the "other" categories than I was marking the stuff already on the list.

I took my old list along with a list from Woman's Day, and I made the following list.  I'm a wee, tiny bit proud (and giddy), so I'm sharing it with you here.  And then, I'm going to bed.  It's 1:36am.  I'm going to pay for my latest obsession tomorrow.  But, oh how glorious this obsession will be the next time I need to buy groceries!!!

Drumroll please...

My new grocery list:

E-mail me if you'd like the original Word Document so that you can play around with it for yourself.

Have a lovely weekend!