Accidental Hoarding

We’re in the middle of a bonafide pandemic. COVID-19 has caused people to go a little bonkers, as if preparing for the apocalypse. Along with shelf-stable food, many stores have low or zero stock of hand sanitizer, bottled water, and toilet paper. I can understand the food — folks are encouraged to self-quarantine for a week or two, and it’s helpful to have shelf-stable food so that you’re not going to the grocery store. The hand sanitizer, too. But the water? If our water supplies stop functioning, we have much larger issues than a virus. And the toilet paper? I just don’t understand.

But it turns out I may have accidentally hoarded a couple of these. After Cami Kaos blogged about toilet paper a couple of months ago, I decided to try out Who Gives A Crap? They are a B Corp who sells toilet paper online. It’s made of bamboo. Half their profits go toward building toilets for communities in need. And because I don’t always internalize quantity when making online purchases, I now have a *ahem* crapload of toilet paper.

What remains of my 48 rolls of TP.

About a year ago, I wanted to get some Purell for my shop in the basement. When laser-cutting wood or cardboard, I sometimes get some charred edges on my fingers. Since there’s no plumbing down there, a bit of sanitizer and a paper towel work really well for that. So I ordered a couple of bottles. I just didn’t notice that each was a liter!

To be honest, the Purell came in handy because I brought one to Puzzled Pint this month so we could provide sanitizer to the attendees. (And folks were amazed that not only could we find some, but such a big bottle!)

It also turns out that I like the Purell wipes for airline tray-tables and armrests, and they only come in giant boxes:

What remains of 300 wipes.

On the mask front, I started with a fancy mask with replaceable N95 filters (top-left, sepiatone paisley), to help with fumes and particles from laser-cutting in the basement.. It was a little small, so I got a slightly larger black one that takes the same filters (upper-right). It turns out that that style doesn’t fit my face too terribly well, and the elastic bands irritate my ears. I then ended up trying a Vogmask, which fit my face much better, with a more comfy strap! That one lives in the basement shop. Then I also bought a second one around the time of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire for bicycling and going out.

That first sepiatone mask now lives under my pillow, coming in handy in the wee hours of the morning when the kitten occasionally wants to lick the inside of my nostrils. The black one fits Christine well.

I guess the trick to hoarding supplies is to do it long before you need to. Or have a time machine.