I tend to buy in largish batches when I buy (meaning, one of those 24-packs or 36-packs, but not multiples of those all at once), and those last me quite a while. Ditto with paper towels and other such supplies. It just so happens I did this in mid-January, so I am set for a while.
Anybody have any good toilet-paper-and-sanitizer recipes?
My Wife has bought TP. Good thing to. Stores are empty of it. Talking empty within 100 miles of my house empty.
We have also stocked up a bit on dog food, canned goods and dry foods. I bought a 10lb ham, cause, well that was what was left.
And I bought 4 bottles of whiskey today. The good stuff, Breckenridge Bourbon. I really don’t drink whiskey, but if things go in the tank, it will be worth more than gold. Or even TP.
My Wife and I are chess players as of late, so we can turn off the news and ignore life for at least a few hours at a time.
My recommendation is that if you can drink booze, buy it. Does not go bad, and may get you by in times of no TP 
Okay, I bought a few masks. I already had some surgical masks (left over from SARS1) but I bought a couple of n95, knowing I was unlikely to use them because they are so freaking uncomfortable. So I admit to hoarding.
I wish I’d picked up another case of surgical masks, instead. I’m down to about 50, and they are really useful if you are trying to self-isolate.
I had a couple months worth of TP in the basement, because I buy it by the case, and I don’t use hand sanitizer much at home, so I gave my stash away to someone who needed it more.
Not me, but a friend (2-person household) proudly posted on social media how he was all set 'cos look at this big cupboard full of TP and tissues that he just filled up! I counted about 36 rolls :smack:
Apparently he only has very polite friends, since nobody’s said anything about it except for one “why do you need so much?” which is pretty gentle for a clue-stick beating
We go to Costco maybe thee times a year to load up on stuff like toilet paper, razor cartridges and cleaning supplies. It just so happened that we went about a week before the story broke, so we accidentally hoarded.
We usually do have a full 30 pack (from Costco) in reserve while we use another, so stock varies from a little over 30 to almost 60. When this TP panic hit the one being used was down to last few rolls. Still, even 30 might not be far from a year’s worth if it’s just us. Although now we might end up giving some to our grown kids.
I probably would have some moral qualms about getting more than one 30 roll pack if/when Costco has them again when I’m there. Getting one though I wouldn’t, it’s our normal buying pattern to buy a new one around the time we start in on the reserve one.
But last trip to Costco (last Friday) was a mistake, cart gridlock, lots of close proximity to hoards of people, and we didn’t find or get anything we really need. We’re staying away from there for the time being. If we happen to see TP at the local supermarket we’ll buy without going overboard.
I bought 6 cans of Lysol foam and we had just bough 8 bottles of hand sanitizer before the panic hit. However, this is a medical office and I personally think we need it.
The Son took me to Sam’s Club last Thursday. He uses the scan n Go app, so we very very etc carefully scanned all my stuff. We maxed the app at $750. When it came time to pay, the damned app broke! So we had to wait in line with all the other germ spreaders.
He saw some folks with masks. I saw one woman wearing disposable gloves. Nobody seemed to have any virulent case of the creeping corona crud.
After we got home and crap was put away, packaged for freezing, etc, I estimate we’ve got enough to shelter-in-place for about 30 days. Mr VOW and I are of the “Golden Years” membership, and the Gov sez we gotta stay home.
Of this household, Mr VOW and I are retired, the Daughter works from home, and I expect the Son-in-law to be working from home soon. COTU#1 and COTU#2 are home for an “extended spring break” (meaning, who knows how long). So the supplies we have here are for six people.
The Son works at a prison, and I figure they’ll need him even if he has to crawl to work. The Daughter-in-law frequently works from home, and that will probably become full-time soon. COTU#3 would also be home for the “extended spring break.”
Tempers are already becoming short. If we aren’t annihilated by the Coronavirus, we will probably rip each others’ throats out.
~VOW
(COTU#1, COTU#2, COTU#3 are the grandkids. “COTU” stands for “Center of the Universe.”)
We have quite a bit of toilet paper here. We get coupons for great deals at BJ’s (think Sam’s Club) a few times a year, and use them. Now with only the two of us living here it has built up. So yes we have a lot (6-12 month’s worth) but not hoarding in the sense we rushed out to purchase it. We have virtually no hand sanitizer in the house.
Masks really arent useful unless you are infected and dont want to spread the virus.
It looks like surgical masks may not be as helpful as I hoped - after the Chinese hospital report that some of their surgical mask staff became infected, while none of their n95 group did – But given that the BBC expert starts with what appears to be, for COVID-19, a factual error “viruses aren’t floating around in the air”. I’m not going to take her word for it.
My kids eat toilet paper, apparently, so I use an eight pack every couple of weeks.
When Italy ran out of TP, I bought a 24 pack instead of an eight pack, this making me an early but not extreme hoarder.
As stock has dwindled in the supermarket, I’ve bought duplicates of things at home that weren’t empty enough yet to be replaced in normal circumstances. An extra pack of rice, an extra bottle of soy sauce, two packs of frozen veg instead of one, 4kg potatoes instead of two. I’ve bought myself a little extra time before I need to go into the supermarket again, but not more than we can consume before it goes bad.
The supermarket is being stripped bare every day now. Hopefully that will settle before I use up my extras.
Out of curiousity I stopped at a Dollar General yesterday on the way home from work. No paper products, and things overall were a mess. I bought ten cans of generic baked beans. My gf was not happy with my purchase. I reminded her that she likes beans, but she pointed out that her baked beans are gourmet from-scratch while mine are best be eaten cold, from the can.
ETA: having baked beans and eggs for breakfast right now. My favorite British thing.
Back in late fall/early winter they had toilet paper on sale (Scott 1000 sheet). Each roll lasts about a week (I’m single and live alone). The store had a sale of buy one 12-pack, get another free. So I grabbed four 12 packs. Then a month later, another store had as sale of buy one 20-pack, get one-20 pack 50 percent off. So I grabbed two 20-packs.
As of today, I’ve got around 70 rolls (will last me a year).
I don’t think I hoarded as they were on sale long before this virus thing started.
Well, first, I currently have probably-only-a-cold and I’m trying not to share it with my family. So I happen think that it’s handy to have masks around to prevent the spread. Frankly, I wish we all wore them every time we went out, I think it would slow the spread considerably.
And second, while surgical masks aren’t as effective as n95 masks, they are almost certainly better than nothing. And unlike n95 masks, they are comfortable to wear, and you can realistically do most of your regular tasks while wearing one.