For me, it starts the previous year. While I'm cooking and while I'm putting things away I make lists:
- Buy next year - Food (so I don't have to guess how much matzah, eggs, and cheese we actually ate)
- Buy next year - tools/appliances wish list
- Don't buy/what I have already
The tricky part here is remembering where I put the list. If you don't type up your lists, I recommend scanning them and emailing them to myself. (You hear that future self!? Email me my lists! Or where I put my lists!)
Keep your menus and shopping lists from year to year. Keep a list of links to recipes. No need to reinvent the wheel!
I start here: http://nonrecipe.blogspot.co.il/search/label/Passover
And here: http://nonrecipe.blogspot.co.il/2014/03/passover-pesach-preperation-menu-recipes.html
The problem is, I think I skipped all this list making last year. And this year I was very busy with work (I'm a tax accountant.) and I was a bit lazy about inviting guests anyway, so, I was thinking - I've done this a few times. I'll just wing it. Walk up and down the aisles, buy whatever I think we need. Start cooking a day and a half before Passover and don't stop until the holiday comes in.
Just because I'm living dangerously, doesn't mean you have to! I'd like to refer you to my friend and fellow Israeli entrepreneur, Rebekah Saltzman, CEO of Balagan Be Gone.
Rebekah says, "Most people think Pesach is a pain but it doesn't have to be, you can get it all done and still arrive at the Seder calm and collected. Use my guide to help you get there. It takes a little time to populate but the payoff for years to come is so helpful and time-saving. Keep a list of all your supplies, recipes, menus and guests all in one place for all the holidays! I raise my glasses, all four of them, to a PAINLESS Pesach!"
Rebekah designed a spreadsheet to get you started AND made a video to walk you through it! It's free for the tiny price of your email address. You still need to personalize it, but the structure is all there! I'm going to start personalizing mine as soon as I hit "post".
Check out Rebekah's "Painless Pesach"!
If you use Gmail and Google Drive:
1. Enter your name and email address.
2. Click "DOWNLOAD NOW"
3. In the Google Sheet, select File > Make a copy...
4. Watch Rebekah's video and start organizing your Pesach
If you don't use Google Drive, for step #3 above, select File > Download as > [Microsoft Excel]. But remember where you saved it!!