Are you stocking up? What shortages do you expect?

[Ditto]

Things are starting to really feel unstable again.  Are you preparing?  Restocking?  What do think will be the most important things to get now that may be unavailable later this year? 

[mlktwins]

We are taking inventory of and restocking our cleaning supplies, detergents, soaps, shampoos, etc.  OTC medicines.  And...we need to restock our freezer.  We are pretty good on TP, Kleenex, and paper towels, but will double check that.  I need to check my dad's inventory too.

[HomeAgain]

I'm not preparing. I am adapting.  If we cannot get something, we can work with something else.  There are very few absolute needs in our house.  We have enough clorox, toilet paper, etc. for a few months, and the only things I can think we'll absolutely need can be sourced from different local avenues.

[Shoeless]

I started stocking up a few weeks ago. 

What was short in your area last year? Stock up on that stuff because people will probably go for those things again. 

I bought extra tp, paper towels, Kleenex, hand soap, shampoo, and pet food. This week I will restock the pantry and freezer. 

I have grown to like keeping a large pantry of things we use. It made shopping last year so much less stressful. 

[Pawz4me]

I'm not stocking up as in laying in months' worth of stuff, but I am continuing to stay a little more ahead than normal on non perishable things that I know we'll use. Like instead of one extra bottle of ketchup I keep two. I'm also keeping the freezer stocked. I just ordered me a Happy Mask because the masks I have been wearing are starting to show their age, and I'm thinking of ordering DS some more of his preferred masks.

[MEmama]

Damn. That is all.

[Ditto]

Just now, MEmama said:

Damn. That is all.

You took the words right out of my head.  I have been thinking this all week and have had such a growing sense of dread.

[Ditto]

12 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

because the masks I have been wearing are starting to show their age

Thank you for reminding me to order more masks.  I have been putting it off, but like yours, ours are definitely showing their age.

[MEmama]

5 minutes ago, Ditto said:

You took the words right out of my head.  I have been thinking this all week and have had such a growing sense of dread.

Same. I’m dismayed to see my concerns shared because that validates them. 

So in that spirit… we are still stocked up on cleaning supplies and still have a supply of medications that I don’t normally purchase but bought in a semi panic last February. I'm embarrassed to admit I still have a case of TP that I bought last summer and still haven’t opened.

I guess I need to restock the freezer and pantry, but with DS out of the house this fall what I buy will look a little different. I really don’t want to think about doing this again. 

[Ethel Mertz]

We have a pretty full pantry and freezers. We have an indoor garden which will keep us in salads and fresh herbs. I’m about to plant a fall container garden (peas, beans, kale, chard…). We need to re-stock Kleenex, baby wipes, cat litter and cat food, and put together some supplies for our college freshman.

[alisoncooks]

I'll keep ahead on a few things, (ie TP) but I'm going to try to not worry about it too much. I don't want to live like that -- it's crazy-making.  

[Ditto]

@MEmama....I understand what you mean about having your concerns validated.    Honestly the thought of doing this again is enough to make me cry.   The fear of what could be coming just chills me.  I think this fall/winter has the potential to be worse that last year in some ways.  

 

As for our stock up status:  like you guys, I need to go through and see exactly what we still have plenty of.  I do need to stock our deep freezer with plenty of frozen veggies.  Many things we probably have enough of but there are gaps.    You guys are all giving me great suggestions for exactly what to check on and reminding me of what I may forget.  

 

[bensonduck]

Definitely masks, TP, flour and yeast. Dried pasta, black beans, tuna and dried fruit. We’ve gotten low on these staples this year and I don’t want to be caught unaware. 

[mommyoffive]

4 minutes ago, Ditto said:

@MEmama....I understand what you mean about having your concerns validated.    Honestly the thought of doing this again is enough to make me cry.   The fear of what could be coming just chills me.  I think this fall/winter has the potential to be worse that last year in some ways.  

 

As for our stock up status:  like you guys, I need to go through and see exactly what we still have plenty of.  I do need to stock our deep freezer with plenty of frozen veggies.  Many things we probably have enough of but there are gaps.    You guys are all giving me great suggestions for exactly what to check on and reminding me of what I may forget.  

 

I cried last night and today.  I am starting to let go of things I thought would be ok this year.  And the rest of summer.  I am trying to come up with some ways to save this right now.  A few Airbnb vacations close by?  Will that get our spirits up enough?   I feel those are safe even when numbers are high because I am going to remote areas. 

[prairiewindmomma]

We are continuing steady on.

Currently we are making sure everyone has been to the dentist, gotten glasses and regular ped vaccinations, and we are ordering clothing in new sizes.

Tennis shoes, y’all. If you are particular about brand and style, plan ahead. It continues to be bumpy in the supply chain.

[mommyoffive]

What masks are you guys buying?  Any good sales and what sites are you using? 

Walmart gave us tons of free cloth ones and they have tons of cloth and some surgical like ones on fire sale.  I will only use the cloth ones for double masking.  Kid size surgical masks was 25 for $1.   Kid size cloth masks 3 for 0.25.    Adult size surgical masks were .25 for 2.   Cloth size adult ones were .25.    They had tons and tons and tons of them.

Then with our pickup order this week they gave us 45 cloth ones for free in our order.  Adult size ones.

Edited July 21, 2021 by mommyoffive

[mommyoffive]

5 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

What masks are you guys buying?  Any good sales and what sites are you using? 

Walmart gave us tons of free clothe ones and they have tons of cloth and some surgical like ones on fire sale.  I will only use the cloth ones for double masking.  

Bonafide has some good sales

KN95 Face Masks | Buy Online | Bona Fide Masks™

[prairiewindmomma]

5 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

What masks are you guys buying?  Any good sales and what sites are you using? 

Walmart gave us tons of free clothe ones and they have tons of cloth and some surgical like ones on fire sale.  I will only use the cloth ones for double masking.  

We are sending kids to public school double masked….paper inner and cloth from Old Navy outer. I picked up Old Navy masks on clearance a month ago…got about 75 of them for $100ish. The 10packs run $8ish currently.

[TexasProud]

30 minutes ago, Ditto said:

@MEmama....I understand what you mean about having your concerns validated.    Honestly the thought of doing this again is enough to make me cry.   The fear of what could be coming just chills me.  I think this fall/winter has the potential to be worse that last year in some ways.  

 

Yes, we are heading overseas, just like we did right before all of this started. We were the last plane out of the particular country. I'm thinking it is happening again. It was hard to do all of this the first time. I am just not up for it again.  And since nothing happened to my community the first time, it just makes me feel even less like I have a leg to stand on and by the time the hammer falls, it is going to be truly awful.

[MEmama]

27 minutes ago, Ditto said:

@MEmama....I understand what you mean about having your concerns validated.    Honestly the thought of doing this again is enough to make me cry.   The fear of what could be coming just chills me.  I think this fall/winter has the potential to be worse that last year in some ways.  

I’m starting to feel that way, too. Especially given the dystopian reality so much of the country seems to be experiencing right now, as reported in various threads here. If stores and restaurants don’t have enough employees because they are all sick and dying of COVID in the middle of summer, imagine what winter might look like.

Honestly, right up until today I have been just.fine. But all of a sudden it really feels so overwhelming. 

[Halftime Hope]

2 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I’m starting to feel that way, too. Especially given the dystopian reality so much of the country seems to be experiencing right now, as reported in various threads here. If stores and restaurants don’t have enough employees because they are all sick and dying of COVID in the middle of summer, imagine what winter might look like.

Honestly, right up until today I have been just.fine. But all of a sudden it really feels so overwhelming. 

I thought stores/restaurants didn't have enough employees because no one wants to work when they were being comped so much unemployment money by the federal government, not because so many were dying. I could be wrong, but I swear I saw a headline that job recoveries are much better in states that had refused ongoing federal money for extending unemployment.  

Anyway, as to stocking, I'm making sure we have condiments. :-) This time it will be harder (food in general) because someone in my house is eating low carb. 

I think I may have to buy an air filter for my office. 8 hours of masking is really hard. 

[Lady Marmalade]

I planted a decent vegetable garden this year, but thus far it's been bringing me no joy to tend it.  I'm so busy with work and other things that, while I have been harvesting a few things, I kinda sorta just wanted to let go of it this year and start over fresh next year when I might be better able to enjoy it.

Long way to say, I'm not stocking up by buying, but I'm stocking up by forcing myself to the drudgery of garden tending.  We might just need those green beans and tomatoes in the pantry, and I need to prep some space for a fall garden harvest too.     I'm going in kicking and screaming, but... I think it's the right thing to do.

If I'm stocking up on anything, every once in a while I'm finding canning lids, and I've bought the max allowed every time.  

[AmandaVT]

I ordered 5 new Happy Masks for the start of the school year. I have 3 that I bought at the end of the last school year and a handful that need to be retired. I wear one a day and wash them all once a week so I need to have enough in rotation. We haven't been told yet, but I am assuming schools with kids under 12 will need to mask this year and regardless, I plan on masking during cold/flu season at work because I enjoyed not coughing all last winter like I typically do. (middle schoolers are germy) I needed to buy them regardless and ordered a couple weeks early to ensure I got them - also there are cute new prints out!

[Ditto]

13 minutes ago, MEmama said:

Honestly, right up until today I have been just.fine. But all of a sudden it really feels so overwhelming.

You and I must be on the same emotional timeline.   Today is when I kind of broke too and it all just feels so hard and overwhelming.  It is why I decided to post.   I find controlling what I can control helps a bit, and making sure we have everything we need with no fear of not being able to find it in the store helps.  

36 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Tennis shoes, y’all. If you are particular about brand and style, plan ahead. It continues to be bumpy in the supply chain.

Thank you!   My teen might need a pair this fall, so we will definitely look for them now.

[Arcadia]

33 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We are continuing steady on.

Currently we are making sure everyone has been to the dentist, gotten glasses and regular ped vaccinations, and we are ordering clothing in new sizes.

Tennis shoes, y’all. If you are particular about brand and style, plan ahead. It continues to be bumpy in the supply chain.

DS15 is very particular about shoe style so we are still looking for his spare while DS16 has two spares. 

Kid size clothing seems to be in limited supply this time round at Nordstrom Rack. I am looking for long sleeve T-shirts and jeans for myself and probably have to go to The Children’s Place. My teens can live in Nike or Reebok tops so that hasn’t been as hard to find.

Non-perishable food wise we have stock up more than enough last year so we don’t need to stock up on any until probably end of this year.

I might buy some more Emergen-C in my favorite flavors though because there are some flavors I don’t like.

[prairiewindmomma]

I have been looking for long sleeved stuff without luck either. Normally it’s out the second week in July and it’s not this year. I am hoping they are just delaying the release, but kids’ clothes have been bumpy everywhere. It’s been much easier to order for my adult sized kids.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

19 minutes ago, Halftime Hope said:

I thought stores/restaurants didn't have enough employees because no one wants to work when they were being comped so much unemployment money by the federal government, not because so many were dying. I could be wrong, but I swear I saw a headline that job recoveries are much better in states that had refused ongoing federal money for extending unemployment.  

Anyway, as to stocking, I'm making sure we have condiments. 🙂 This time it will be harder (food in general) because someone in my house is eating low carb. 

I think I may have to buy an air filter for my office. 8 hours of masking is really hard. 

We currently have 1 Covid case in the county I live in, only 14 deaths and all of whom were not working when they got sick(all elderly retirees) and still no one can find workers. At all.  Every business has a help wanted sign. My neighbor cant find a nurse for her medically fragile child at $38 an hour. I can’t find someone to come sleep overnight with my kids while I work and I am offering $200 to feed my kids dinner and sleep all night(my kids are really independent with their bedtime routine and don’t need much help there).  Nobody. I can’t find anyone. 
 

I don’t think it’s Covid killing people that is causing the job shortage. I also don’t necessarily think it’s unemployment since that’s quickly ending.  In my blue collar area, I’ve noticed a lot of women left the workforce to care for their remotely school children, the family has been fine financially, and now they are choosing not to go back. But that’s just one piece of the worker shortage.

[JFSinIL]

Ironically, I just finished cleaning out and turning off the deep freeze in the basement...last year we had several bad storms and power outages...and my access to my daughter's freezer across town (their power lines are underground so windy storms do not affect them as much) is kaput since she up and moved to New Mexico.  Doubt the new owners want me showing up with frozen items to shove in their freezer ;-).  I do not want to risk losing a freezer full of meat, and hope I don't need to be stocking up on meat etc until the weather is colder and I feel safe plugging that old deep freeze back on.

 

Meanwhile, this thread sent me to Amazon to reorder masks and a few other items I'd hate to be without.  Honestly, I am enjoying going into stores and selecting my own meats, veggies etc...but assume it is a temporary thrill. 

[AmandaVT]

I've been thinking about my first reply while procrastinating on writing a paper. We moved in October, to a house with more room for storage and have been able to get ahead on most of our Amazon subscribe and save items (laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap, sponges, garbage bags, etc) and we have a second fridge and storage for food in the basement, which got us in the habit of buying ahead. So when I open a bag of flour, I purchase a second bag to have in the basement storage. So we have more of a rotating stock of things than we have in the past, which made it tricky last spring with so many shortages and so little space. I'd have to be creative and use a bunch of frozen veg, but if there were shortages again, we'd be fine for a month I think.

[DawnM]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

I cried last night and today.  I am starting to let go of things I thought would be ok this year.  And the rest of summer.  I am trying to come up with some ways to save this right now.  A few Airbnb vacations close by?  Will that get our spirits up enough?   I feel those are safe even when numbers are high because I am going to remote areas. 

We are going to a VRBO lake house for 4 days.   The house comes with 2 kayaks for the using, and we are bringing our blow up two man kayak, so we can kayak to our heart's content.

I wanted to go to the beach, but it is hard to find a place right now and those condos that are available are horribly expensive.   So, we are settling for the lake this time.

Oh, and an FYI:   The exact same property was listed on VRBO and AirBnB and it was $300 additional on AirBnB, so be sure to compare.

[hjffkj]

Nope.  We have not stocked up on anything since this all started and we were perfectly fine.  

[Toocrazy!!]

We didn’t run out if anything but came close on TP. So I will make sure we have that. I did order new happy masks. I still have all my extra dried beans and flour. I guess I better use it up😊 

[Pawz4me]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

gotten glasses

Yeah, that's another thing I did today -- made an appointment with my optometrist for a vision check. It's been over a year and a half since I had that done, and my glasses are four years old. In general we've kept up with all the normal medical/dental appointments throughout the pandemic, but going to the optometrist was an easy thing for me to put off w/o really worrying about it. But now I want to go ahead and get that taken care of before fall.

[Farrar]

While there might be short term shortages of things like TP, frozen foods, etc. I'm not anticipating shortages of anything that's in regular use. The shortages are things like lumber and computer parts and cars and Billy bookcases and so forth. I can't stockpile that stuff. So I'm just letting it be. I always stay relatively stocked on paper goods, canned goods, and have a chest freezer. We get a weekly produce, milk, eggs, and fresh bread delivery. We made it through before. It'll be fine. Or it won't, but if it won't, then my stockpiling will be useless because it'll be unpredictable.

Honestly, while I'm very concerned, I'm a lot less worried than I was before. I'm angry at the anti-vaxxers for pushing us into this somewhat avoidable situation. But I'm feeling fine about my level of protection for now and I'm hopeful that we won't fully lock down again. My not-a-state was excellent with mask mandates. We will be again if we need to be.

[Carrie12345]

I did a thing.  Sadly, due to the shipping times, I don’t even know that it will be helpful for the immediate future, but I’ve been wanting it for years, and planned to do it after moving anyway... so we decided to just do it now.

I ordered a freeze dryer.

I didn’t garden this year, but dd should be back at her farm job in a few weeks and I get her discount. It’s something.

Next up is shoes and boots  for boys, shirts for one boy, pants for the other. Probably socks all around and maybe I’ll treat myself to underwear, lol. My car goes in for major service tomorrow.

I still need to check up on the big kids’ needs.

Also have to threaten dh to get his butt in gear on home repair materials.

 

[mlktwins]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Currently we are making sure everyone has been to the dentist, gotten glasses and regular ped vaccinations, and we are ordering clothing in new sizes.

Yes, we are doing that too and I am getting all my dad's appts caught up.  Boys are getting their new glasses and DH's are on their way.  My eye appt isn't until the end of August.  DH just went to his cardio appt and did his stress echo.  All are getting our dental visits caught up.  One boy is about done with Invisalign.  The other one (in metal braces) is supposed to be done by the end of August.  He will need a tooth worked on/built up (it was a tooth that came in weird and we've known this would need to be done) after the braces are off.  We will see how things are, but may delay that through the winter.

[mlktwins]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

I cried last night and today.  I am starting to let go of things I thought would be ok this year.  And the rest of summer.  I am trying to come up with some ways to save this right now.  A few Airbnb vacations close by?  Will that get our spirits up enough?   I feel those are safe even when numbers are high because I am going to remote areas. 

We aren't going on our usual type of vacation.  We've rented a nice town house on a lake about 4 hours from us.  It will be empty for 24 hours before we arrive.  Arriving on a Sunday and leaving on a Thursday.  It will be very laid back, bringing most of our own food (we will do take out, but don't eat inside restaurants), play mini golf, fish, etc.  I am bringing my camera and cross-stitching.  Just going to chill, but we really need a break from here for a few days.

[Carrie12345]

I can’t see my dentist until November, because my car wanted to blow up when I tried to go yesterday. 😕

I might try the kids’ practice, but I started going to one who specializes in wussy baby ladies like me. And I don’t particularly like theirs. Sigh.

[mlktwins]

Just now, Carrie12345 said:

I can’t see my dentist until November, because my car wanted to blow up when I tried to go yesterday. 😕

I might try the kids’ practice, but I started going to one who specializes in wussy baby ladies like me. And I don’t particularly like theirs. Sigh.

I'm a wussy baby lady too -- especially when it comes to the dentist.  And...I think I need a crown as well.  Just going to suck it up and get it done.  On my list of phone calls for tomorrow.  So sorry about your car!

[lovinmyboys]

2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We are continuing steady on.

Currently we are making sure everyone has been to the dentist, gotten glasses and regular ped vaccinations, and we are ordering clothing in new sizes.

Tennis shoes, y’all. If you are particular about brand and style, plan ahead. It continues to be bumpy in the supply chain.

The tennis shoe thing is real. Some of my kids feet have really grown and others have just been extra hard on their shoes and getting replacements has not been as easy as usual.

 

In general, I am just trying not to put things off-like waiting until the shoes have holes and making sure we keep up on appointments and repairs.

Edited July 21, 2021 by lovinmyboys

[EKS]

1 hour ago, MEmama said:

If stores and restaurants don’t have enough employees because they are all sick and dying of COVID in the middle of summer, imagine what winter might look like.

I didn't realize that this was the reason for the problems finding employees.

[KeriJ]

5 minutes ago, EKS said:

I didn't realize that this was the reason for the problems finding employees.

I do not think it is

[Tanaqui]

Why would anybody want to work for less than a living wage in unsafe conditions?

[Shoeless]

18 minutes ago, EKS said:

I didn't realize that this was the reason for the problems finding employees.

It's not.

There are a lot of reasons why workers aren't going back.  Lack of childcare is one; businesses are open but school isn't.  Summer camps aren't fully open here, so there's no where for the kids to go.  Restaurant workers aren't interested in going back to low-wage jobs that feature verbal abuse from customers. Why put up with that when you can take a better paying job at the grocery store or Amazon warehouse?  Some 2-salary families realized they could get by on one paycheck just fine, and feel that the extras that a 2nd check brings is not worth the risk of Covid. 

 

[JennyD]

No.  I am somewhat freaked out by the extreme weather events so am trying to remember not to let the car get too low on gas (and yes I recognize the irony).

While I am extremely bummed that this pandemic is dragging on and am very frustrated by the apparent lack of urgency around both global vaccinations and pediatric vaccines, I'm actually quite optimistic about the medium-term Covid situation in the US and other wealthy countries.  

[Carrie12345]

 

“n the third quarter of 2020, about 28.6 million Baby Boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 – reported that they were out of the labor force due to retirement.

This is 3.2 million more Boomers than the 25.4 million who were retired in the same quarter of 2019.”

”

In the first quarter of this year, 30.3 million baby boomers reported they were out of the labor force because of retirement, according to the Pew Research Center’s analysis of government data.

That is 2.7 million more than in the first quarter of 2020, a much bigger increase than the average growth of roughly 2 million retired boomers annually over the last decade.”

 

[chiguirre]

I put in an order for disposable masks. They were amazingly cheap on Amazon, 4 cents apiece. I guess we're early panickers! 

I'm dreading having to go back to masking and locking down. I had such hopes for this fall. The local performing arts scene was coming back and we were looking forward to going to the opera and theater again. We were hoping that we could go and visit Trinqueta while she's at her Navy A school but if there are a lot of break through cases, she'll be locked down. I know these are really trivial concerns in the grand scheme of things, but they were the things that bring me joy. 

[TexasProud]

25 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

 

I'm dreading having to go back to masking and locking down. I had such hopes for this fall. The local performing arts scene was coming back and we were looking forward to going to the opera and theater again. We were hoping that we could go and visit Trinqueta while she's at her Navy A school but if there are a lot of break through cases, she'll be locked down. I know these are really trivial concerns in the grand scheme of things, but they were the things that bring me joy. 

Yep

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

We are going to a VRBO lake house for 4 days.   The house comes with 2 kayaks for the using, and we are bringing our blow up two man kayak, so we can kayak to our heart's content.

I wanted to go to the beach, but it is hard to find a place right now and those condos that are available are horribly expensive.   So, we are settling for the lake this time.

Oh, and an FYI:   The exact same property was listed on VRBO and AirBnB and it was $300 additional on AirBnB, so be sure to compare.

I have noticed that.  Tricky.  Some of the places I have seen on those sites also have their own websites that save on the all extra fees those 2 sites charge.

Have fun at the lake.

[DawnM]

1 minute ago, mommyoffive said:

I have noticed that.  Tricky.  Some of the places I have seen on those sites also have their own websites that save on the all extra fees those 2 sites charge.

Have fun at the lake.

I wondered about that, but I didn't have time to keep looking.   

They allow the dogs, and have kayaks, so I am happy.