Corona Virus Update

To Hoard Or Not To Hoard?

If you asked me this question a week ago, I would say that hoarding is definitely not a good idea. As time goes on though, I’m noticing that this virus is spreading at a very fast rate. Turn on any news channel discussing this pandemic and you will be advised to stay HOME. Social distancing has become a thing. I believe I heard today that New York just went on lock down. Something I wish I did not hear is that Italy is bringing in military vehicles to cart off victims bodies. It’s terrifying. I’m finding that either people are ignorant about the reality of this virus or they are terrified of getting exposure to it. I am the latter.

My immune system is incredibly week & I’m still recovering from the flu. (I caught it about 4 weeks ago) My goal is to keep my husband & I in the house as much as absolutely possible. In order to do this though, we do need food. How is it possible to stock up on food without being considered a hoarder at this point? When this pandemic first reared its ugly head, I feel the “stocking up” consisted of binge buying sanitization items with the intention to sell them. Now that Poshmark, Mercari, and Ebay have cracked down on those trying to make a profit off these things, I believe mass survival shopping is continuing for a different reason. People are fucking afraid to leave their houses. At this point, I truly do not think it is a good idea to go to Walmart every week for groceries. The less exposure the better. So when my husband went to the store today, I texted him a list of items to get with less guilt.

We will use everything that we buy. Now is not the time to stock up on items that you plan to sit on your shelf & not use, unless starvation starts happening. I believe that people should get and use what they NEED. Meaning, if you need to stay inside the house for 3 weeks, get enough to live during those 3 weeks. My husband picked up over the counter medications, frozen foods, 1 milk, fruit, bottled water, and some other items. He lucked out and was able to purchase 1 Windex multi surface cleaning spray. I spray the house down daily to insure I’m keeping often occupied areas free of germs.

Bless my husband. He got me 2 packs of tampons. He even asked me over the phone if I needed any, as I did not have that on the list. I married a good man. He was so funny saying, you need the pink box right? The above picture is the one I texted him that I needed.

While my husband was out searching for supplies, I was at home making him a mini desk area. Due to the Corona Virus, he is working from home. I’m extremely thankful that he has a job that allows him to do that. I made sure I put plants by & on his desk because he loves gardening. I also gave him my keyboard pen holder to use & my office desk chair. The most exhausting thing about this project was trying to fit a 6 foot fold out table into this space. Let me just tell you, it did not work. I then decided to use my desk in the office that is 4 feet. This required me putting the computer on the ground to get access to the table. Then, once I had the table, I had to figure out how to get it into the living room. It would not collapse all the way for me so I had to move a shelf & the trash can to fit it through the door way. Fun times. I think it turned out quite nice. He seemed to really like it too.

When we went to run over to CVS, I realized 4 of our tulips had bloomed. It was nice to see a pop of color during this incredibly dark time. The tulips looked like they were appearing to bring peace. A reminder that the earth will go on. That all of this sadness, fear, and sickness will pass. I dedicate these tulips to the people that had their lives unfairly stolen from this devil of a disease. I have no doubt you fought hard. I truly hope you will be remembered for your beautiful life as opposed to what ended it. If you have lost a loved one, my heart completely goes out to you. There is no pain in this world greater than losing someone you held dear.

It’s very important to me to also say thank you to the grocery workers that show up, handle peoples items, and stock the shelves. You are making a huge difference to all of us. Also, a ginormous thank you to the doctors, nurses, CNAs, and other hospital employees that brave this illness in the name of caring for others. Thank you, to each person that is donating medical supplies, their time, and their prayers in order to give relief to those suffering. I’m not a political person nor do I feel that it’s essential to like the president right now. I completely acknowledge that there are a lot of things that could have been done differently. It’s important during a time of crisis though, to come together as humans. To be thankful to all those going live on social media to inform us of updates & what is being done to help the United States survive this virus. Looking at it from that angle, I thank the president, vice president, doctors, reporters, and many others that are consistently trying to inform the public about how to prepare for the Corona Virus (aka hell). I can appreciate that they are trying to bring us hope. The only way to overcome this sickness is to love & support each other through it. Period. Stay well out there!

Quarantine & Theraflu

I’ve realized 2 things recently. 1. I need to go into COMPLETE quarantine. 2. I was probably having a psychotic episode when I decided it was a good idea to go to Walmart for supplies. Don’t get me wrong, we are incredibly stocked up on food. The cost of doing that though is that I’m sicker. I’ve been in “recovery” from the flu for the past month. Tonight, my fever was 99.6 which is not productive. Since then, I’ve taken Ibuprofen, Airborne Immune Booster, and have had some cough drops. Heres hoping things start reversing.

For the last two years, I have kept my Poshmark closet open. However, I realized tonight that I wanted to try closing everything. Sometimes, we experience more stress from things than we realize. My hope is that knowing I do not have to check social media, share items, or package anything will bring down my anxiety. Which I am sure would help with my sickness. My Mercari & Ebay shops have been temporarily closed as well for the same reason. Miraculously, up until this point, I have been able to get all of my orders out. It is easier said than done when you feel like you are dying from an illness.

There are a lot of things that I have to figure out. Maybe, during this time of complete seclusion, I can brainstorm some ideas about my Youtube channel, reselling, etc. Currently, I’m not sure the direction my Youtube channel is going in. I’m going to discuss this in a different blog post though because there are a lot of factors to my confusion. Reselling is also the same way. Out of everything I have ever tried, selling my own items has kept my interest the longest. I like being in control of my business, giving customer service, and finding things that others might enjoy. With that being said, selling has consumed a great part of my life. It would not be so bad if I did not have to “share” my items on Poshmark, photograph everything, list things, and package by myself. Basically, I am feeling burned out. My outlets that used to bring me peace are currently doing the opposite. So clearly, I have to figure things out.

I’ve been loving Pinterest lately. If you need to find things that are pleasing to your soul, the Pinterest app is definitely worth downloading. I would think that the average person thinks of DIY’s & recipes being on Pinterest. However, I have discovered lately that there are also a lot of self care & depression awareness type blogs on there. Tonight I read 7 Ways To Stay Grounded & Calm Amidst Social Unrest . This blog post is definitely worth a read if you are feeling major anxiety from the Corona Virus (or life in general). For some reason, lists are easier for me to read & relate to my life. My favorite tip on this list was #3. Don’t Engage In The Fear. My issue is that I am way too involved in social media. Like most people today, I don’t realize the affect it has on my emotions. When there is panic in the air, I automatically smell it. Right now, the world is full of fear, questions, and complaints. Just as Americans have been advised to practice social distancing for germs, I need to practice it for social media. I’m sure reading about Corona Virus deaths and stores selling out of supplies is making me sicker. Stress does that to me. If I am up to it tomorrow, I’m going to partake in a Pinterest DIY idea that will (hopefully) bring more calm into my life.

I’m going to end here so that I can start the brainstorming of ideas and thoughts. Hoping everyone can find the supplies they need & stay healthy during this time. Remember, others are in need too. Please do not hoard or sell your toilet paper rolls.

Corona Virus Shopping

Yesterday, I made the decision to venture out to get some Corona Virus supplies. I did not want to go out but my concern was that people will buy out all the supplies and there will be none. When I looked on Amazon, a lot of hygiene products were back ordered until April. Fun Times. (I will tell you what I spent on toilet paper later…). My adventure started out in CVS. Surprisingly, I was the only one with a buggy. It was oddly quiet in not only CVS but everywhere. There were almost no cars on the road and things were silent. It was eerie. I do think that in CVS people were silently survival shopping. Customers seemed to either be holding soap or on the medication aisle. After doing some laps around the aisles, I ended up with a cart that looked like this:

Thankfully, I came to my senses and realized that spending $20 for a small Tide & buying 2 mouth washes (that will take us 2 years to use) was a bad financial investment. Also, my goal is not to hoard products. I ended up with some dish soaps, tissues, immune boosters, cough drops, anti bacterial sprays, ONE mouth wash, and a Brita pitcher. I’m surprised so many people are turning to bottled waters as opposed to buying pitchers that will filter the water from your sink. It just seems like a much better deal so I invested the $20. My total spend in CVS was a whopping $88, which was painful. However, I feel much better knowing I have some medical & antibacterial supplies in the house. When I get strong enough, I’m sanitizing every dam thing. Onto Walmart…..

They had a lot of toilet paper and paper towels left, as you can see above ha! Walmart was wiped clean of those items. Also, not in attendance were the Clorox wipes and hand sanitizers. I did not expect them to have any though after watching news reporters discuss toilet paper being the current “hot commodity” in preparation for the Corona Virus. Also, a pack of 4 Scott TP rolls were up to $60,000 on an Ebay Auction before it was shut down. I’m sure some idiot out there wanted to make the news paying that much. If people had any reasonable sense I would think they would wipe the vitamin aisle clean before they went for the toilet paper. Thankfully, this was the only aisle that looked this bare. Walmart was pretty well stocked with certain things. Bread was definitely looking scarce. My buggy, however, was not.

Some of the items that are stuffed in this cart are frozen foods, snacks, hygiene items (minus the toilet paper), canned food, bottled water, Tide, and of course 3 bags of my husband’s prized cool ranch Doritos. This was his main request when I asked him what he wanted me to buy for my Corona Virus shopping trip. He also liked the idea of canned Chef Boy pasta & meatballs. This kind was no where to be found so he will be surviving off raviolis. I hate to say that this Walmart trip Cost us around $214. The good news is that we have enough pasta to last us a long time. My buggy was crazy heavy to push & even more exhausting to load into my husbands really tiny car. After finally lugging everything inside, my stash looked like this:

Fun Times. The excitement did not end there because I had to figure out how to get the frozen items in the actual freezer. Currently, the bread is all left out because It just would not fit. My husband can deal with organizing our freezer like a game of Tetris later on to fit them in. The things I could not find at the store yesterday I realized could be found online. Just to make sure my pets were covered, I ordered 5 dry cat & dog food bags. Remembering that I needed some Theraflu K- Cups (because my current cough sounds deathly), I looked those up too. Clearly, I looked at the right time because they had some nighttime Theraflu boxes available.

I bought 2 boxes at $11.49. Notice the sellers below are selling them for $30-$40 a box! There are only EIGHT K-Cups in a box. Ridiculous. Now, the Amazon K-Cups are sold out. My hope is that people got them that can actually use them. As for Amazon, I believe that is what I bought. Make sure to check shipping times because some products are back ordered until April. Ok.. Now for the toilet paper confession…

I decided to look online for toilet paper. Apparently, on Ebay the rolls were being sold as fast as people could post them. It was the same way on Mercari. Either people’s listings were being flagged for price gouging or sold extremely quickly. Upon looking on Poshmark, I found this listing above for 24 (Total) Double Rolls. If I count the “double” part then technically I am getting 48 rolls. I have to think this way to justify the price I paid in my brain. The price was $30 plus the $7.99 shipping. And yall, though I think it is insanity to need toilet paper to survive, I did decide to buy this. The best place for my husband and I to be right now is away from these stores with tons of people. This is all the toilet paper I plan to buy until this is over. Just FYI, I will not be selling our rolls. Check Poshmark & Mercari before stopping by Ebay. On a funny note, if you are interested in some toilet paper necklaces, I did see a seller successfully selling them on Poshmark.

I must confess though that I did sell something. The picture above is of my Chihua, Daisy, in my Ikea bag ready to be shipped out with my orders (or so she thinks). It occurred to me that I had two bags full of BBW travel size hand sanitizer that I had gotten a while back. I knew that I would never go through all of that. So many people cannot find any hand sanitizer right now. I decided to try selling them in lots of 3 for $10 with $2.99 shipping. My lots sold between $8-$10 successfully. A confession I must make is that 1. I would not have gone out to buy these items with the intention to resell them during an epidemic. It would not have felt right. 2. Sometimes, no matter what, it feels icky to be a reseller. With that being said, I had more product than I needed. I sold bundles of hand sanitizer with low shipping. Did I make a profit? Yes. Did I help people? Yes. Was it taking advantage? I’m a bit on the fence. As a buyer, I’m thankful for the products people were selling on Poshmark & Mercari. Though I paid up for them, sellers gave me access to them. I understand the concept of supply & demand. I don’t understand people auctioning off a 4 pack of toilet paper rolls for the price of a new car. In my personal opinion, there is a moral gray line and that is clearly crossing it.

As exciting as this adventure was (NOT) I am completely shopped out. Today, I am going by CVS to pick up my medications that I had filled. Make sure you have refills on your medications. I would go ahead and pick up over the counter medications as well. I’m thankful to have found 2 large bottles of Ibuprofen at Walmart for about $13. I also grabbed anti acid, tums, and Benadryl yesterday at either CVS or Walmart. Everything is running together now. If I stop by Walmart again today it is for some Printer Paper & Gatorade. Hope everyone stays safe & is able to find the supplies that they need. Please try to stay in as much as possible if you are sick. Remember to SHARE. Share your items & be kind. Treat others as you yourself would want to be treated.

Hoarding & Crazy Box Order

First off, I need to vent about the Corona Virus. It has become a media sensation that has triggered massive shopping sprees to Costco. The hot item seems to be…..are you ready?…. Toilet Paper. Apparently, all stores are selling out of toilet paper, water, and hand sanitizer. Lines are wrapping around buildings and customers are hoarding the crap out of products. I heard on one YouTube video that 10 face masks were going for over $200. It was being discussed how price gouging is illegal. But in all reality, lets’s be honest, we know tons of people are probably doing it. You never knew your toilet paper was going to become so valuable did you? If you have stock in any hand sanitizer or toiletry company, your night is probably going amazingly well. In the meantime, the rest of us are sitting here wondering WTF has gotten into people.

Here is what I know (Or Hope I Know). If I stay in the house, this virus will not come for me. If I can’t find a bottle of hand sanitizer, there is still a chance I will survive. That is because I have soap that does the same thing. So do you. Rest easy. Basically, I am in quarantine until the crazy toilet paper fighting videos stop. But seriously, please consider when you shop that others need things. Schools need hand sanitizer. Those sick now need access to over the counter medications. I personally almost went into a panic attack when I thought I was down to my last cough drop. In my mind I panicked about there being a cough drop shortage. Thankfully, before I had a heart attack, I found a few extra bags in the house. The scare of this virus is real but so is the scare for supplies. The Corona Virus did not cause that. Humans did.

I love how I am not going to go from advising people to not hoard, to being a crazy box hoarder. This has just been one of those days. I noticed someone pass by in front of the window and I peaked to see what car was out front. Turns out, it was the mail truck. The mail had come earlier so I was confused at why they came back. When I opened the door, I was met with an actual wall of boxes. Feeling in shock & seeing that the mail truck was still there, I quickly shut the door. Probably 15-20 mins later, the truck finally pulled away. To my dismay, there were now two stacks of boxes. This was a definite “FML What Did I Do?” Moment. Clearly, I have enough shipping supplies to last me the next five years….

If my husband reads this blog, he is going to love this. When I went to turn on the shower today, thinking I was about to do something relaxing, I was met with an incredibly cold surprise. Somehow the shower head had gotten turned so it was pointing directly at my face. I had enough time to turn on the water & stand up before I realized this. Not enough time, however, to prevent myself from getting hit in the face with freezing water. My shirt was literally soaked by the time I managed to get the dam thing turned off. I do not know how this event & the massive Priority box delivery happen in the same day. These are both two very ridiculous things. My life being non fiction, I can assure you, they did.

I’m about to get in bed & watch true crime (or crazy Carona Virus shopping) videos until I fall asleep. If that is even possible. The majority of today has been met with the background music of my dogs woofing. Their bark sounds the same every time so I don’t know if they are cussing everyone out or what. Most likely, they are demanding a steak on a tray with a side of ham. Anyway, I am completely burned out from the loud noises. They always get louder when my husband is on a trip. Joy. I’m going to bed earlier and so are they (hopefully). Wish me luck!