Another entire category of shortages I hadn't thought of til last night: home improvement and hardware.
Back story - doing some painting and re-carpeting in our garage, and as usual hubby and I are weighing our options on our "dream reno" - where we go down to the studs and make our house the way we want it (because while we love our property, neither of us loves this house).
Over the course of several trips to Lowe's, Home Depot and Ace, and after speaking with a store manager at Lowe's in particular, I'm here to warn you -- ALL such inventory is running out, with no replacements on the way. 90% of everything is made in China.
If you need a new big ticket item like a fridge or stove, it's a 6 month waitlist. Basic hardware, like brackets and hinges, is running low (we needed a particular size bracket for something - all sold out, they only had one size of a particular bracket, meaning 7 other sizes/types were gone). Kitchen and bathroom reno stuff - cabinets, toilets, faucets, etc., are starting to run low.
Flooring of all kinds will start to present problems too. We ordered new w/w carpeting a week ago, and to date no one has even called to come measure the space to create the actual order. We're giving Lowe's a couple more days, and if not we'll cancel and rent a steam cleaner instead.
Eventually, even basics like drywall and screws may be effected. Lumber should be ok, as it's mostly US and Canada supplied. But there's no point in framing out a room or house if you can't get drywall and flooring. I have heard rumors from others that some roofing supplies are starting to be more difficult too.
So hubby and I have decided to "keep our powder dry", we're probably not going to do a big reno here, or even redo the kitchen or bath. We're looking at Zillow instead...
Just wow! I am so glad you gave us a heads up. I had heard that air conditioners were hard to come by but my friend just got a new one and said she had no problem. Perhaps it is the type.
Is the supply chain simply stopped as in nothing is in the pipeline, or is it just taking a long time because it had stopped for some but materials are finally on the way?
New home construction is going to be a big problem too. Yikes!
My impression is that it's a combination of supply chain problems and a trade war in the midst of the pandemic. Most hardware & building supplies come from China. They are manufacturing less, and not exporting to the US as much, and then everything is taking longer to clear customs once it does get here.
I wonder if these shortages in appliances and supplies, could lead to the end of planned obsolescence, and a return to buying things that we repair year after year, and a rise of community repair shops. I sure hope so.
Was getting ready to make my fig preserves... they are ripening... and ... I was given a big basket of apples I am going to make apple butter with. Went to get new rings and lids for my jars and a few new jars...yeah... that is not happening. I remarked about it on my Facebook page and a friend is getting me some she has stored and is not using. I will repay her kindness with the sweetness of the preserves and jellies I am making...but take note... order now.. it will take several weeks to get them . They are as scarce as yeast was this past Spring.
Wow! Thanks for the heads up!
My daughter has been trying to find a desk for over a month now for her new place. She told me each one which fits in the allotted space is out of stock until October. Furniture is still gong to be an issue for people. Desks, that makes total sense doesn't it? Everyone who didn't have a desk before the pandemic certainly has one by now if they are working from home.
She is currently using a card table. At least she has a card table right?
I just read about the possibility of a propane shortage this fall due to people driving less.
"About 20% to 25% of propane is created from crude oil refining (the remainder of production comes from natural gas wells). So reduced consumer travel this summer means less demand for gas which, in turn, is reducing refining and eventually causing crude oil wells to be shut down."
https://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/potential-propane-shortage-could-occur-this-fall
Why in the world is there a shortage of soy sauce? Is there some kind of idea that it is a cure for something more than bland rice? Every store here is cleaned out of it.
We have been starting a food garden and plan to do intense cultivation in our yard, and get chickens. We have also been leaning a lot more heavily on the rural region we border, whereas before, we spent our time in the city. We shop at the farm stands and we go to the local, independently owned stores such as the Chinese market and the halal market (which we shopped at before, but never as much as we do now) where we're so much more comfortable with the social distance and hygiene. The rural region we border is getting a lot of business right now, and the local services and stores are going at a steady clip, and there is all kinds of cottage business (like sewing and seeds/plants) because many people don't want to interact in the big stores here if they don't have to. There are fishermen selling their catch.
We use Facebook Marketplace and the neighborhood groups we're in.
We use Amazon more than we did before, and we still use the local supermarket and PetSmart. But we are relying a lot more on local independent businesses and suburban and rural cottage industry people than we ever have before.
There really isn't as much free time, we're always busy working on the garden or researching the garden (because this is a crash course for us; like, I was an urbanite). We are very busy. Everyone around here is very busy, whether they're working or not. Public spaces have gotten harder to navigate (we do a lot more driving than we used to) and things have become more difficult or cumbersome to access. All of our local small businesses have been a million times easier to navigate, plus there is the benefit of learning the neighborhood gossip or seeing someone familiar to wave at.
We're starting to recognize the people at our favorite farm store and start to get to know, a little, the people at a couple of nurseries. I also know a farmer through my local religious congregation I'm sometimes part of. Maybe this really is as good as it could possibly get for a lot of people.
Tell your daughter that to date, we use formica countertop on top of filing cabinets, and in the past we have used a flat wooden door on cinder blocks as desk space. Necessity and frugality are the mother and auntie of invention.
This is a great thread and this has been on my mind. I'm getting that ping to stock up again. (Side note - I live in Portland, Oregon and there is a helicopter that has been hovering for the last 2 nights only about 3 miles from my house to watch the protests. So, that's the backdrop soundtrack driving this home for me I think).
Here things aren't too bad, from what I can tell. I haven't been inside of the stores in a good while. We order online and pick up from our local grocery store (Fred Meyer). We also have an Imperfect Foods account, plus a CSA. We also go to the local Farmer's market to supplement the csa. This is all because my theory is not to put all of our eggs in one basket, so to speak, and like to source from different places.
Like others have said, the small shops are a gem. Check them out. More expensive sometimes, but they may be stocked while other places aren't. And, as mentioned, you might get some locally pertinent news and info.
Also, look in different aisles and sections of the stores if you go in. I noticed that TP was out in the main aisle. but the in the more natural sections there were several on the shelves. Same goes with beans, flours, etc. Looking in the ethnic sections, Kosher sections, etc, is helpful and may be fruitful.
I'm gardening more now too. A bit of a crash course. I now understand disdain for white moths, and the caterpillars they were that have nearly wiped out our collards...grrr! But we'll get some potatoes and greens. We can live on those for a while if we need to. (Side note: the potato commissioner in WA state lived solely on potatoes for 30 days to prove you could and he was much healthier for it! Showed his before and after blood work and everything. This was a few years ago...but I digress).
Regarding furniture and office equipment, check your town for liquidators and used office furniture. We have a couple of those in town, and sadly, with businesses suffering they are getting lots of good quality inventory in. I got a new (to me) sit stand desk and a Herman Miller chair for about a third of the cost of new. Sometimes online liquidators and auction sites might have stuff too.
To be continued...
part 2 ( I got long winded and it cut me off, lol!)
Other thoughts: we live in earthquake country and we tend to have food on hand that lasts forever. Like freeze dried stuff. You can get that online (Mountain House brand comes to mind, available on Amazon).
Also, if you can find a Mormon supply store in your area that can be very helpful for stocking up. They also have great thrift shops. Clean and regularly rotated inventory. Called Deseret Industries. If you find one, there is likely to be a Mormon stock up place nearby. (I'm not sure the official name of them, and as we are not Mormon it wasn't super easy to find, but it can be done).
In our first round of stocking up back in Feb/March we also gathered up extra supplements, cold medicines, etc. I think those are good to have on hand.
Probably wouldn't hurt to have some cash on hand too (even if not in coin form).
I learned to read my Akashic records recently, and one of my recent downloads let me know to go tend to preventative medical care now, before the fall when things will get (more) crazy. Though that message was for me, I imagine it would be helpful for all of us.
Another thing I have learned is the power of intermittent fasting. It is very easy for me to go 20 hours without eating, and I'm actually far less hungry than when I used to eat 3 meals and snacks each day. My body knows how to burn its own fat, and honestly it gives me some peace of mind. I know that if food runs low for a while I will be better off than those who get hangry after 3 hours and I can comfortably eat one meal a day if I need to. (I recommend the book Delay, Don't Deny if this is something you'd like to learn more about).
To be continued...
Part 3/3 (Gosh, I guess I have a lot to say on the matter!)
I will end with this anecdote. A few years ago we were stocking up on earthquake supplies at a local chain called Bi-Mart (they have just about everything you can imagine except for refrigerated food). I was talking with the pharmacist and it turns out she had been displaced by Katrina and have moved up to Portland after that. What she said really struck me. She said that she was in excellent physical condition which was very helpful for getting through that disaster, but what she wasn't prepared for was the emotional toll the whole thing would take on her. My personal takeaway from that was to 1) get in shape and 2) do what I need to do to remain emotionally and mentally calm and fit, like mediation, prayer, journaling, etc. Basically something where I can train myself to get on an emotionally even keel fairly quickly if need be.
Phew, that was a lot and I didn't know I had so many thoughts on the matter - even if some of them are tangential to shortages! But this is something I think about a lot so it's good to have a place to talk about it. Thanks for starting this thread.
@lovendures For my desk currently I am using an old drop leaf table (not the fancy kind - farm wife kind) that I have had forever... bought it at a flea market about 20 years ago and sanded and repainted it... it goes well with two chairs that were my Great Aunts. It sits on my sun porch where I currently keep my laptop and an in an out box and jar of writing implements. Come cold weather I will move it back to the spare bedroom where I do have a desk I ordered from Walmart about 10 years ago of metal and glass. I remember back in the days of single motherhood.. I used concrete blocks and 1 x 6 's to make an "entertainment center" to hold my small tv and books and music and stereo. (Think back in the 70's LOL) I do see a good bit of repurposeable and even ready to use items on Facebook Marketplace if she has a way to pick and carry it home. (Porch pick-up and wipe/spray it down) Lots of items can be purchased used and repainted and used creatively to crate a quirky work area that delights her as well as enables good work flow. :-) Sending her good energy to find just the right piece/pieces to create a joyful spot to be in.
I have had and still have some of your same furniture. My sense of make do and reduce/reuse/ thriftiness has allowed us a better life becauseoff all of it.
"For my desk currently I am using an old drop leaf table (not the fancy kind - farm wife kind) that I have had forever... bought it at a flea market about 20 years ago and sanded and repainted it... it goes well with two chairs that were my Great Aunts."
I have that set! We inherited it after a b-i-l was done with it and used it as our first dining table in the 70s. Then we finally got a cheap dining set in our 3rd home that (40s? /50s?) fold down table became my sewing table/ craft table. It is still in use in my house believe it or not, but only one of the chairs. The other is in the garage and comes in as needed.
I still have a concrete block bookshelf that went from inside 4 apartments/ houses to garage use.
And get this my living room end table is two plastic milk crates tied with rope covered with plywood circle, and covered with a fabric covering like we did in the 80s. I still use it whichvis hilarious fun to me. I am very quirky in many ways. The other table is a fold up wooden 1920s or 30s card table i inherited. Maybe I'm more than quirky! Hahahahaha!
I laugh at it all. It all still looks nice enough to me and fools the eye with an artsy flair in the wondrous world of my own mind.
People assume I like my old things and my life and that's why we don't buy and have better/more. They are right! And its allowed us to give and to share and to do more for others with what we have saved financially!!
?☺☺☺ ?
Love your post(s)! :) Lots of great info. I perked up when you mentioned Intermittent Fasting and Delay, Don't Deny. I read the book last year and my husband and I started with the fasting. I have not been terribly disciplined with it until this week. I usually do around 16, but fluctuate and keep eating my sweets. Not making the progress that I would like. Anyway - I am on day 3 of 19 hours and it feels so good! Just need to keep the momentum going. Yes, it is strangely soothing to know you can go without food for a length of time and be just fine.
I also loved the potato commissioner story you mentioned - will have to look that up!
I have been watching this thread for a bit and we are slowly stocking up as well. I have friends here who are the same - getting that ping to get things set so when things go wonky this fall (flu and corona while schools/colleges are in session, etc.) we can just hunker down. I have not seen tons of shortages here in Michigan, but Costco doesn't always have the stuff you want when you want it, so we have been taking to picking things up when we see them instead of waiting.
How cool that you are doing IF too!
I've been at it for a while and though I haven't lost a lot of weight, I have gotten numerous health benefits from it, like lowered A1C numbers, less asthma and allergies and my joints feel 100x better (no morning stiffness and I can squat down again - my knees had stopped letting me do that for a while).
The only tough part for me at first was switching to black coffee and omitting the creamer. But boy that sure made the fasting SO much easier. Now I prefer it (black coffee and longer fasting windows) and feel so much better in general.
The potato commissioner's name is Chris Voigt.
Here's a piece about what he did:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130763552
Granted, he ate 20 potatoes a day for 60 days, which is a lot, but I suspect it was so he got enough calories. But it goes to show they are a viable staple food source for a while, even if you don't have anything else. Here's a bit about the health outcome afterwards:
"As it has already been mentioned that Chris was never attempting weight loss. Nevertheless, he did lose weight! But more importantly he experienced significant reductions in his glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, LDL, LDL / HDL ratio and cholesterol / HDL ratio..."
Thanks for the link! So neat that he could do that, like you said, for a relatively short time with no ill effects.
Yes, I totally notice improved joint pain on IF. My husband and I usually drink espresso so it wasn’t a big switch for us. He converted me when I couldn’t have milk in my one cup of coffee while pregnant with our 2nd daughter (gestational diabetes.)
I do love when I get into the zone doing these longer windows. Feels great!
@kateinpdx Thx for all the tips. I also have had a strong feeling that it is time to stock up again for the next round of shortages. I live in Bend, Oregon, and, like you, buy from several sources. Winters can be tough here, so I am using this time to tend to my garden and gather everything we need to get through whatever comes our way.