Green on the cheap: Save that shopping list!

Grocery shopping in my family typically means one of two things:

• A hastily written list, scribbled on a piece of scrap paper or the back of an envelope
• A frantic phone call to the other spouse, wondering what we needed in the first place.

Neither of these choices are particularly great and inevitably result in additional unplanned purchases and extra trips back to the store.

I recently learned about a new service online, Don't Forget the Milk. This admittedly simple Web site helps you track your grocery list and even send a copy to your e-mail, cell phone or Palm.

The site allows you to jump-start with your choices from a basic list of groceries, which, if you have time on your side, you can track by price point, location within a store and the store of your choice (i.e. grocery X and warehouse club Y). I did play with it a little bit, and while it wasn't entirely intuitive for me, it certainly would make far more sense than those tiny scraps of paper and partially wasted trips.

If you're interested in taking a look, the Web address is http://www.dontforgetthemilk.com.