1% Thursday: Your Shopping Buddy

This is related to last week’s post, in a way – finding ways to make life a little easier when you’re dealing with a chronic illness.  This is a way you can help out, and be helped out – find a shopping buddy.

A shopping buddy is someone who lives close by.  The idea is this – when you’re going to the store (ie the grocery store), call the other person and see if there’s anything they need.  That simple.

When my fridge is getting low on milk, or bread, or juice, and I have a bad day and I’m stuck in bed – all of a sudden I have a lot to catch up on.  Still not feeling well, I have a choice – catch up on work, that other errand I need to do, or finally get the milk before it runs out.

You’d be surprised how much a help it can be if you just call up your shopping buddy and say,"Hey, I’m just heading to the Green Grocery Market – can I grab you anything?"

And, of course, they can return the favour.

That way, you can feel like you’re helping someone else, and they can feel like they’re helping you.  And some days, it can take off a big load.

Make some ground rules, of course.  Don’t obligate someone to call you every time they shop (sometimes they’ll be in an extra hurry).  It helps to take note of some essentials – for example, what bread does your shopping buddy always buy?  What kind of milk?  If you learn some of the basics at the very beginning, you won’t need a long explanation every time.  Just hang on to that note of what brands your friend likes, and a one-minute phone call or text message is all you need.

You might be surprised how big a help this can be to both of you.

Note:  I got this idea from this excellent comment from Brenda at ButYouDontLookSick.com.

What is 1% Thursday?

Every Thursday at Headache and Migraine News (weather permitting) we’ll talk about one measurable, practical thing we can do to make our lives just 1% better.  Usually it will be something very easy, sometimes it will be a challenge.  Let us know if you try it, or share an idea of your own – and maybe a year from now we’ll see that things have really changed for the better!