Wednesday 3 October 2007

What took me so long?

So exciting. I have finally discovered the joys of online supermarket shopping.

Daughter #3 has been off school all week with an ear infection, so in the long, workless hours of Monday afternoon the two of us sat down at the computer and found Ocado.

Oh joy.

Apart from a nasty moment when the computer had a small meltdown and pretended to lose an entire week’s worth of shopping (which had somehow taken two hours to accumulate) it was a breeze, and yesterday evening a lovely man appeared on my doorstep like a modern-day angel of mercy with lovely colour coded bags of wonderfulness. (Well, mostly of wonderfulness, but mixed with some utter rubbish obviously selected by daughter #3 who was on mouse-duty. I must have slipped into a slightly trance-like state at some stage during our two hour shopathon to allow Iced Gems and Mini-Pringles to get beneath the mum-radar...)

Unpacked and put it all away while wearing my pyjamas, just because I could. Am now joyfully envisaging a future in which proper clothes will be mostly unnecessary as everything I need will be brought directly to the door. Starting today, with my Amazon delivery....

How I'm supposed to get back to work once I have Natasha Oakley's The Tycoon's Princess Bride in my grasp is a mystery. It's a shame you can't buy willpower online too.

13 comments:

Michelle Styles said...

Ah yes, I have just discovered Waitrose online.
My theory is that by doing the shopping online and with a list, I will avoid impulse buys and overall I will spend much less money...that is the theory...
The sheer indulgence of having the things one ordered arrive -- neatly packed and on one's doorstep is fantastic. It is just somehow nicer.

Unknown said...

Oh yes, I quite agree about the money saving theory. I was also lured into trying it by generous money off offers, and since ordering have been emailed with promises of free bottles of wine (their marketing department have obviously got me sussed...) so am convincing myself my motivation is financial rather than just pure laziness. And environmental too, of course... less cars on the road and all that....

Kate Hardy said...

1) you don't impulse buy so it's cheaper (theoretically)
2) you avoid tantrums by small child who loathes doing the weekly gorcery shop, so it's good for your sanity
3) the time you save trolling round the shop can be spent writing
4) fewer food miles added overall (this is one of the reasons we have a veg box)

Best of all... next time it'll be MUCH quicker to do the online shop. I'm a definite convert!

Anonymous said...

I've been doing the shopping online for over year now after a carpal tunnel scare. It wasn't carpal tunnel as it turned out, it was the nerves in my neck and shoulders rebelling at years of trollies,carrier bags and small children. If you think about it, you haul all that shopping around 6 six times by the time it gets to the kitchen but with Mr Ocado, it's just the once.
I think it's got to be a wholly justifiable must for professional writers, their hands are vital to their craft.
Kate quite rightly pointed out the ecological and financial benefits but there's more.
A few weeks ago, my Ocado man was Greek. No kidding, tall, dark, young and extremely friendly. He ruffled my little boys hair when he climbed into the empty delivery crate and had a perfect smile. I didn't tell the boss of course, but there's got to be the beginnings of a story in that somewhere!

Anonymous said...

Willpower is overrated, and TOTALLY hearing you on the pj thing. Any day you can be in comfy clothes is a gold-star day in my book!

Eva said...

I tried online grocery shopping once when I lived in the UK, and Tesco sent me substitutes for unavailable items. For instance, goat's milk instead of soy milk. Yuck! That was the extent of my online supermarket shopping. I haven't even mustered up the courage to give it a go over here in Canada.

Unknown said...

I guess I was lucky that all my stuff was available, Eva. (Shame that they weren't temporarily out of Iced Gems and Mini-Pringles, mind you...)

I'm feeling guilty for being seduced by the luxury aspect of the whole thing, so am deeply grateful for all these sensible, practical reasons to continue! (Rachel, I wonder if your man covers our area too?) Oh, and I almost forgot to say... I was so excited about the prospect of all those lovely groceries arriving that I CLEANED MY FRIDGE!! It's got to be worth it for that alone...

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

(So excited I posted that comment twice.)

Helen said...

I may have to shop online too. I used to love popping down to my local waitrose - but now I resent the time it cuts into my writing day! Maybe I'll check Ocado out later...

Amanda Ashby said...

Hmmm, this whole internet shopping thing just smacks of organisation and so I have a feeling that it wouldn't work for me!!!! (apart obviously from buying books where I suddenly become amazingly list orientated!!!)

Unknown said...

Helen you absolutely have to do it. I'm sure you're finding that the days that looked so long and inviting before your little one started school are actually insanely short once you sit down at your keyboard! Too short and too precious to waste in the supermarket...

Amanda, you are a hopeless slacker and I am a paragon of domestic capability and that's just the way it is. Watch and learn, darling, watch and learn....

((snurk) Just as well you're on the other side of the world and can't nip over to slap me..!!)

Josh said...

Ah Yes! Online Shopping! It has been like a blessing to all of us! A few days back I had come across storrz.com which seems to be the only online shopping portal in India where we can shop for groceries! At last something new in the Indian Online Market! There are a handful of online shopping portals but none selling groceries! This is what some of us have been looking for!