Day 7: Pay What You Need to Pay

Neither I nor my husband has been shopping for at least a week, so I have no idea what shape our local grocery stores are in. But, based on what I’m hearing from friends, family, and people on social media, it sounds like there are shortages of basic supplies. It’s getting harder to find affordable eggs and milk, and certain paper products and sanitizers are completely sold out. I hope that the situation will improve once people have adapted and stores have had a chance to restock.

But, these are strange times, so I’ve already gone ahead and accepted that we will eventually run out of paper towels and be unable to get more. The roll in the kitchen ran out yesterday, and I haven’t replaced it yet, because every day we can get by without paper towels is another day that we still have paper towels if we need them. We use too many paper towels anyway. It’s good for us to wean ourselves off of them.

Medicines and ordinary healthcare items also seem to be getting harder to find. My husband heard that ibuprofen is bad to take when you have coronavirus. Unfortunately, ibuprofen is the only painkiller we regularly keep in our medicine cabinet. I only buy acetaminophen when I need it. Ordinarily, we can get it within minutes, because the pharmacy is so close and fully stocked. But now, who knows?

So I decided to buy some, just in case. Not to sound too gloomy, but if the hospitals get filled up, we’re all going to be on our own. Now is not the time to be caught without something so basic as a fever reducer. I had to go to four websites before I finally found one that had any in stock for shipping. It’s en route now, along with some allergy pills, which we will need soon. For once, I didn’t bat an eyelash at the shipping cost. The feeling of impending doom trumps the feeling of having to pay more than I like. I figure that if there’s anything you want or know you will need soon, best get it now and pay what you need to pay.