A Grocery Check List

One of the things I try to do in my Introduction To Computer classes is to find "everyday" applications for the Microsoft (TM) products we are using in the classroom One of the features of Office that we try to incorporate into the lessons is to make a "Table". You probably have seen check lists for a grocery store before, but probably not this large (see graphic). Part of the idea for this was the result of seeing a local entomologist (scientist that studies bugs) that made money selling a "Florida Gardening" flyer. His flyer was just 4 pages long and printed on 11 x 17 paper folded once. It was printed on both sides. He actually took my class when I was doing an adult night / weekend class. He was already quite old then and has since passed away, but his concept was really inspirational. He had advertisements in his flyer from a number of companies that made garden products. Generally they paid for all of the printing of the flyer and helped with the production of the master copy. He was also paid a fee by them and that amount I was never able to learn. He was given hundreds of bundles of his flyer which he loaded into the trunk and back of his large car.

As he traveled from northern Florida, where he was a professor to Miami (for vacation) he would have a route and would stop along the way at feed and garden stores all along the way. Each store would purchase 1-20 of the bundles of flyers for $10.00 per bundle. (Note: Remember that they actually cost him nothing to produce.) Every flyer had a spot on the top of the front page where the business could either stick a business card or stamp their name, address, and phone number. Customers wanted to take one of the flyers because they had great information about planting dates, specialty feeds, how to treat for certain insects and much more. His credentials in the field of entomology were well documented and he would take all of the pictures he used in the flyer himself. He would even stop at farms along the way and offer advice etc.

Well, I had the thought that if you had a grocery list something like this, you could possibly get stores to hand these out and they could stamp their name at the top or put a label on the top. If they wanted they could print on the opposite side other information about their business. This would not have to be grocery related. If these sheets were laminated the customers might keep using them for years. At the very least starting to make a chart like this in class would teach about the creation of tables.

I have used this chart for years as an example of a table that could be useful. I have never tried to bring it to stores or market it, but a lot of students that have seen the chart like the idea of using it when they go shopping. When I teach about making tables in class I usually have them start a Word (TM) document and then press the Enter key one time before starting the Table. This helps students to get back into the document above the Table later if they should need to do that to insert other information.

Tables have a wide variety of uses and at present I am working with college and university students that will be going into fields like radiology, criminal justice, and nursing. All these fields will have a need for tables to be produced to hold information. The grocery table is simply a fun way to introduce the subject. I have produced these tables on card stock specialty paper, laminated them, punched a grommet into them and attached a marker on a string, and finally clipped it all to a clipboard. This was then given as gifts. They really did look great and were really useful.