I’ve got five 12-pack2 of TP still unopened. I had them before TP became a valuable commodity. When it would go on sale, I’d buy several packs, since I have lots of space to store it, and the sale price was considerably less than regular. It’s not like the paper will spoil (as long as it stays dry.)
Similar case with paper towels, except I was down to my last opened 6-pack when the plague hit. Yesterday, my daughter was able to get me an 8-pack, which was a relief - I was down to 2 rolls.
I also have plenty of soap, shampoo, and body wash on hand, as well as toothpaste and deodorant. There are some things you just don’t want to run out of.
I don’t consider myself to be a hoarder, but I’m not sure at what point that would apply. I suppose if my basement looked like a warehouse…
Do you see a specific line between hoarding and just having stuff on hand?
Interesting question. I was raised in a family where we “stocked up” when items were on sale and even though it’s just my wife and I now, we continue to do so (best before dates strongly considered). I’ve noticed the grocery store we go to is commonly out of items particularly when on sale but not so much when they are not on sale. Determining the difference between “stocking up” and “hoarding” is probably more in the eyes of the critics than anyone else.
To a Scotsman like me if you load up with items on sale, that’s “thrifty” if you “load up” when items are regularly priced that’s “hoarding”.
I tend to stock up on TP in general. Toothpaste, soaps, Tide, etc. I have the room to store neatly and I like to never run out of it. So I cycle a fairly good supply of such.
I ran out of TP once back when my wife and I had our first apartment together. I doubt I’ve ever dropped below 8 rolls since. I tend to buy 24 packs or even bigger. Occasionally I overflow a little and have to store some rolls in a different closet. Thankfully before all this started I was pretty well stocked and was trying a new TP so I had some extra in my bathroom.
Also in weird timing, I had just bought a giant bag of plain white rice. Months worth. We’ve gone through the pasta and crushed tomato stores though. They need to be replenished.
I think it’s stocking up when I do it, and hording when other people do it.
I’ll admit that in times like this I am a lot less likely to let my stores go down below a critical level before I top off. That’s for all staples. Pre-pandemic, I would put staples on the grocery list when we were practically out. Now, if I have less than a week or even 10 days left of anything, I get nervous.
Also I see hoarding as recklessly buying. Stocking up means going “hey, kitty litter is on sale; good time to buy an extra container of two before winter hits so I don’t run out during a blizzard”. Hoarding is grabbing those 3 extra jars of peanut butter even though no one in your family has eaten it since the Nixon administration but by golly it’s in stock and the hurricane is coming!
I would also ask, “What’s normal for you?” If you ordinarily buy 30 rolls of toilet paper at a time because there’s savings to be had (Costco, Sam’s “reward” big quantity purchases), it isn’t hoarding. Buying double might be cautious (or even that “Gasp! we were down to the very last roll!” slight overreaction but not hoarding. Three times…jury’s out because maybe you’ve got special circumstances with lots of people hunkering down at your place who don’t normally live there, a perfect storm and diarrhea’s rampaging through it due to undercooked chicken or something. So I’ll say once you hit four times that normal amount, that’s hoarding.
Buying a large pack of TP as part of your weekly shop, because you always do, even though you already have 3 (or more) large packs at home - fine.
Buying 6 large packs of TP when you go to the shop, even though you already have 3 (or more) large packs at home, because you want to make sure you have enough to last for the next year - not fine (because you are depriving 5 other families of TP that they might actually need next week).
Buying 6 large packs of TP, because that’s what you do every 6 months and you are almost out - fine, but likely to be frowned upon at the moment because it’s indistinguishable from 2 above to the observer. And you are still potentially depriving others, even though you don’t intend to do this again for the next 6 months.
Basically, if it’s what you normally buy/keep ‘in stock’ at home, it’s not hoarding if you continue buying a reasonable amount at the same rate. I don’t think you need to feel obliged to run down your existing supplies at home and refrain from buying anything just because others are less fortunate. However, it’s hoarding if you buy way more than you normally would, in quantities that prevent others buying a normal amount.
That’s pretty much the difference. Hoarding is usually associated with a mental condition such as OCD or ADHD. Preppers are not hoarders, nor are people who buy quantities on sale (or at a food warehouse). Yes, I have a 30-roll brick of TP, but that’s what I normally buy at Costco when TP gets low in my house. Same with the 5 pound pack of bacon in the freezer, and the case of black beans. These are all things that we cycle through quickly, so it makes sense to buy them in bulk.
In regards to this virus I would say that stocking up would mean getting a reasonable supply for the current situation. Hoarding would indicate buying things that are sparse because you can get them, regardless of if you need them.
My TP story. We were able to order from Amazon a fairly large box while it was still possible, but things with the virus were ramping up. That put our TP stock at normal levels as we were running low before that. My thinking about TP, is that the supply will be back as one can only get so much TP. At the supermarket we were able to get another large bag of TP. This should last us for some time. The next time the supermarket had smaller packs and a limit of 2. I believe those limits had people buy out the larger packs, which is actually good as it leave the option of picking up the singles or smaller packs. But I saw no point, I have enough and the supply as I predicted is starting to come back. I thought at that time, and before reading this thread, that I was not hoarding, as if I was I would have bough more.
So what about this: I went to grocery store A just now to pick up a prescription for my son. They had TP, so I bought a 12 pack (it’s limited to one per family). We are down to 6-8 rolls at home. Tomorrow, I have a scheduled pick up at grocery store B. They won’t do pick up for TP–you have to go in. If I go in tomorrow morning to score a second 12 pack, is that hording or stocking up?
Stocking up:“This item that I will use every day for the rest of my life is on sale. I shall buy 6 instead of 1.”
Hoarding: “I HAVE TO BUY EVERYTHING ON THE SHELF RIGHT NOW TO AVOID THE APOCALYPSE!”
Sounds like Stocking up. 2 weeks ago I went to the Pharmacy for a prescription. They had one package of TP left. I didn’t buy it as I knew I have maybe 2 months worth right now. Let someone else that needs it more get it.
I had to go for a different script yesterday. They had 10 4 packs of TP. I bought 1 to give us an extra week or so. (4 of us in the house). I know the TP shortage is alleviating and I’m not desperate. But nice to up the stock a little.
Stocking up is buying and maintaining a reasonable stockpile to say… minimize your trips to the store, and offer yourself enough cushion to maybe miss one or two of those trips if necessary. So if you know that your family of 3 goes through an average of say (no idea) 5 rolls of TP a week, then it’s reasonable to stock up to make sure that you keep say… 20-25 rolls on hand.
Hoarding is going crazy and buying an amount far in excess of any foreseeable needs. In the above example, hoarding would be to have 96 rolls of TP in the closet for a family of 3, and be constantly looking for/buying more, because “they might run out”.
The mentality that you have to get as much as you can as soon as you can, despite already having plenty on hand, because of some sort of potential shortage, is what defines hoarding for me.
I’d say picking up that second 12-pack is OK. 30 rolls at home seems reasonable, even though in the normal course of events it should last several weeks. Going back a third time would cross the line, for me.
There are two slightly different definitions of hoarding. There’s the one sometimes associated with a mental condition which often involves refusing to get rid of things as much or more than it involves acquiring new things. Then there’s the other one , which involves people buying larger than usual (for them) quantities of items that are in short supply . It’s not the person who buys the 30 pack of TP once a month at Costco regularly. It’s not the prepper who has amassed a six- month supply of canned food and on his monthly shopping trip merely buys enough to replace what he has used in the past month and still maintains a six month supply. It’s the person who lives alone who has bought TP every time she could find it for the past month, and now has nearly 200 rolls although prior to February she never had more than 8 rolls at a time.
