PREP What to expect shortages on during Lockdown 2021

seraphima

Veteran Member
I was happy to find puzzles at Walmart- they were out of them so long. However, their selection is not deep, especially in the 1000 piece that I like, or in the 2000 piece that others I know prefer. They had quit a few of the 300 and 500 piece ones for kids. Puzzles are great if one is indoors a lot, and my take is that this will be a cold, hard winter, nevermind if we get lockdown or not. If i had to guess, the fed.gov will try to lock us down again, which will certainly stress out businesses and shipping, so a careful prep for mental sanity and a little fun is in order.
 

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
I was happy to find puzzles at Walmart- they were out of them so long.

Both companies below generally have coupons and sales:



Also, some libraries have a "leave one / take one" puzzle table. If yours doesn't, maybe ask about starting one. That has saved folks a lot of money.

Added: I'm shopping for a portable, electronic piano -- an inexpensive one. Also for morale purposes.
 
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packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
You know, I'm hearing that LOTS more families are opting for homeschooling this year, with mask mandates coming back into place and now a rumor that Oregon's governor will mandate kids to be vaccinated to be allowed back. I wonder if the shortage is from all the "we're going to homeschool this year but we haven't a clue what we're doing or what we need" crowd?

If so, that could be a good sign, potentially. More kids being homeschooled means the potential for more adults who think for themselves.

The school supplies weren’t there to start with, see the non food shortages thread.
 

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
The school supplies weren’t there to start with, see the non food shortages thread.

This is true in Central Iowa. I have been doing a lot of in-person shopping to re-stock my pantry. I was at a local Target when the employees were stocking the school supply section. When I went back the next day, there was very little left!
It's going out as fast as it is coming in.
 

anna43

Veteran Member
People also buy during back to school sales for gifts. People from my church are buying for Christmas boxes. I didn't buy a huge amount at Walmart today primarily because it was very picked over plus the store was in chaos due to some sort of remodeling. I really hate shopping at Walmart and its getting worse all the time, but basically its the only show in town.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Last week I bought the last 10 cans of DelMonte Zucchini in tomato sauce at walmart. They still don't have it back in stock. However, I looked on line at the local Super One, its about 20 cents more expensive, but I really like the stuff and its non GMO. Next trip to town I'm going there to buy more cans of it. It was not something that walmart ever had a big supply of. Its very very expensive on amazon.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

seraphima

Veteran Member
One more thought- notebooks for journalling. I write in my laptop, of course, and print those pages by the month to put in a looseleaf 3-ring binder. Especially useful for my garden and homestead journal, so that i can keep track of planting and harvest dates, crop rotation, interesting observations and so forth.
But other areas ask for a written journal- i haad one pre-retirement, then one for retirement, then as a widow, and so forth. While school supplies are in, pick up a few notebooks and you will have them ready when you want them.
 

phloydius

Veteran Member
One more thought- notebooks for journalling. I write in my laptop, of course, and print those pages by the month to put in a looseleaf 3-ring binder. Especially useful for my garden and homestead journal, so that i can keep track of planting and harvest dates, crop rotation, interesting observations and so forth.
But other areas ask for a written journal- i haad one pre-retirement, then one for retirement, then as a widow, and so forth. While school supplies are in, pick up a few notebooks and you will have them ready when you want them.

Great Idea! They are saying that school supplies are having shortages in some areas. But at least normally, right now is a GREAT time to buy school supplies on sale. I'd recommend a small stack of Composition Notebooks, similar to the ones shown below. They fit easily on a bookshelf, and are an easy way to log or journal information!

Here is an example that is currently on sale for $0.50 each at HEB. I've seen these at $0.10 or $0.25 in the last couple of years as loss leaders at places like Office Depot:

 

Aunt Pittypat

Contributing Member
Keep calm. Keep it simple. Steady in the boat.

The lists here are comprehensive, but I wanted to highlight:
1. medication
2. batteries
3. vitamin C -- It helps a lot of different ailments.
4. liquor -- Calms the nerves. Helps sleep. Antiseptic. Trade.

My friend, who went through one of the bad hurricanes in Florida, said that she didn't want to eat her stored food, but craved junk food and snacks. In the heat, she said anything cold --especially cold fruit -- was like gold.

Also, when I went through a few weeks of rolling blackouts one year, I thought I would be fine with my battery-powered lanterns and books, but noooo. I was too anxious to sit still. I was also surprised that my well-insulated house lost heat so quickly after the power was shut off.

People don't really change in the midst of a crisis. In other words, I'm not gonna' suddenly become my grandmother who lived on a self-sufficient farm for most of her !ife. I need to realize that I'm a just Baby Boomer who's very accustomed to creature comforts such as air conditioning, heat, hot coffee, cold drinks, munchies, and the internet.

Just factor in who you are and what you're used to. Have realistic expectations.
 

anna43

Veteran Member
Because people today have never lived without power, running water, flush toilets, a/c, central heat, constant entertainment, instant communication and I could go on and on in a true long term SHTF situation I doubt many will survive.

I've often heard mothers of infants say they couldn't stand to do cloth diapers. I think back to #1 son (who just turned 60) and not only using cloth diapers but washing them by hand when there was no money for the laundromat. I was 18 at the time. A cousin's wife was washing diapers and the rest of the laundry in their bathtub. I didn't have a bathtub so was using a galvanized tub sitting on the kitchen floor. I sincerely hope and pray things don't get that bad for anyone, but I do wonder if today's mothers would have a clue on how to adapt to hard times. To them hard times would be Walmart out of disposable diapers.

2020 and so far in 2021 we've seen shortages develop overnight for numerous items. You never know what will be on the shelf and what will be missing. By all information I've seen that situation is likely to continue and worsen. I'm as prepared as I can be, but the unknowns haunt me. I'm thankful I'm at the point in my life (retired widow) that I only have to think about preparations for myself, but I can definitely say that if I had an infant and was using disposable diapers, I'd be darn sure to have a supply of cloth diapers, pins, plastic pants etc. in my preps.
 
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ohiohippie

Veteran Member
If you don't have an outside clothes line now is the time to set the clothes line post and get the clothes line and clothes pins. While you are at it get the clothes line that is plastic covered wire . Turn buckles at each end of the clothes line will let you adjust the line when it starts to sag.
A nail at the top of a 1x1 works in the middle of the line.
so does a strong branch.
so do the deck rails.
lol
 

Gold Dust

Veteran Member
I was happy to find puzzles at Walmart- they were out of them so long. However, their selection is not deep, especially in the 1000 piece that I like, or in the 2000 piece that others I know prefer. They had quit a few of the 300 and 500 piece ones for kids. Puzzles are great if one is indoors a lot, and my take is that this will be a cold, hard winter, nevermind if we get lockdown or not. If i had to guess, the fed.gov will try to lock us down again, which will certainly stress out businesses and shipping, so a careful prep for mental sanity and a little fun is in order.
Hobby Lobby has a great puzzle selection and they were on sale about two weeks ago...keep an eye out..
 

Siskiyoumom

Veteran Member
Shop at Costco today.
The fella in front of me had two flat carts full of hard liquor.
I asked if he was stocking up due to the news reports of a hard liquor shortage?
He said nope, we are from Washington state and liquor prices in California are awesome compared to Washington.
They were doing a group buy.
 

oops

Veteran Member
All I can say is thank God for mountain man re enactments and numerous winter storms that have isolated the ridge for days to a week or more...n summer storms that removed power for weeks...all of which drove gran's teachings home...we may not like it but we will survive it...hummmm...wonder if we have extra decks of cards...
 

Dm19cm

Contributing Member
You can do laundry in a clean bucket with a plunger. I did that recently. Hung things on hangers from a cheap DollarTree rope. Just tie small loops in the rope every few inches and put the hanger on the loop.
Helen, you can save the work of making all those loops and get some wooden clothes pins!
I grew up using a clothes line that had wheels at each end of the pole. You just pulled the line as you hung clothes...and you could hang things from the top line too if you still had more clothes and no more length of line. If you can find this type I highly recommend getting it.
These days I have two clothes lines hung from my deck to two trees in my backyard. Not fancy, but I love the scent of towels and linens dried outside. You can't get that from a bottle. And it saves on the energy bill too!
 

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
This is true in Central Iowa. I have been doing a lot of in-person shopping to re-stock my pantry. I was at a local Target when the employees were stocking the school supply section. When I went back the next day, there was very little left!
It's going out as fast as it is coming in.
That section in our Kroger store has plenty of school stuff. At least right now it does.
But I don’t have children, so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about either.
 

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Keep calm. Keep it simple. Steady in the boat.

The lists here are comprehensive, but I wanted to highlight:
1. medication
2. batteries
3. vitamin C -- It helps a lot of different ailments.
4. liquor -- Calms the nerves. Helps sleep. Antiseptic. Trade.

My friend, who went through one of the bad hurricanes in Florida, said that she didn't want to eat her stored food, but craved junk food and snacks. In the heat, she said anything cold --especially cold fruit -- was like gold.

Also, when I went through a few weeks of rolling blackouts one year, I thought I would be fine with my battery-powered lanterns and books, but noooo. I was too anxious to sit still. I was also surprised that my well-insulated house lost heat so quickly after the power was shut off.

People don't really change in the midst of a crisis. In other words, I'm not gonna' suddenly become my grandmother who lived on a self-sufficient farm for most of her !ife. I need to realize that I'm a just Baby Boomer who's very accustomed to creature comforts such as air conditioning, heat, hot coffee, cold drinks, munchies, and the internet.

Just factor in who you are and what you're used to. Have realistic expectations.
+1000

It’s true, we just don’t want to admit it sometimes but you wrote the truth!
I get too anxious to sit still, too.
Also, it’s normalcy bias that creeps in during a power failure. At my house that’s what happened two winters ago with a wicked, freezing temps windstorm blew through here. I knew it was coming. We’d been warned for two days.
That Sunday morning I started cooking early. As the day crept on, winds got very bad, power outages were showing up all over central Indiana.
I had hot food cooked and ready, but around 4 pm, when OUR power finally went out, hubby had NO patience for anything I’d prepared and got irritated at with my idea of staying by the fireplace eating what I had ready. We also found out the hard way when the stored batteries we had were not good anymore , too.

....after a couple of hours, he’d had enough...we got in the car found an open Restaraunt (it might have been a Texas Roadhouse I think?) and waited, along with the other people without power, for a table.

He hates the quiet, “sitting in silence” sort of thing when there’s no power.

I guess that’s “one way” to get to go out to eat lol. I’ll admit though, I was kind of bummed out all my prep efforts didn’t matter much.
 

CaryC

Has No Life - Lives on TB
+1000

It’s true, we just don’t want to admit it sometimes but you wrote the truth!
I get too anxious to sit still, too.
Also, it’s normalcy bias that creeps in during a power failure. At my house that’s what happened two winters ago with a wicked, freezing temps windstorm blew through here. I knew it was coming. We’d been warned for two days.
That Sunday morning I started cooking early. As the day crept on, winds got very bad, power outages were showing up all over central Indiana.
I had hot food cooked and ready, but around 4 pm, when OUR power finally went out, hubby had NO patience for anything I’d prepared and got irritated at with my idea of staying by the fireplace eating what I had ready. We also found out the hard way when the stored batteries we had were not good anymore , too.

....after a couple of hours, he’d had enough...we got in the car found an open Restaraunt (it might have been a Texas Roadhouse I think?) and waited, along with the other people without power, for a table.

He hates the quiet, “sitting in silence” sort of thing when there’s no power.

I guess that’s “one way” to get to go out to eat lol. I’ll admit though, I was kind of bummed out all my prep efforts didn’t matter much.
I consider those days, and time spent shopping with SB as practice for sitting in a deer stand all day. LOL

However I do admit I do enjoy scenery type stuff. I like sitting on the back deck with a little wine and a fire watching the sun go down and the shadows creeping up the trees. We did the same thing when we went to Gatlinburg, TN sat on the veranda at the hotel, a fire, wine, watching the clouds in the valleys.

Plain ol' playing cards. An actual physical deck of cards. So you can play solitaire, hearts, spades, poker, without a computer.

Plain ol' pencils, and some printer paper. Let the children draw, upgrade to crayons, and color pencils. Even teens, might surprise you.

BTW for informational purposes: back in the day, women used fences to "hang" cloths on. Draped them over. And in the winter put them on hangers around the fire to dry. 'Course having to use a rub board (what, you don't have a rub board???) and no. 3 washtub, was a lot of work, so people wore their clothes for more than one day.

Also if you're having to heat your water on a fire, something other than an electric stove, or electric hot water heater, better consider getting a couple of (metal) dish pans. Heating water for dishes or clothes or baths, and doing it a pot at a time, you've never get it hot enough.

Since we are going that way: also consider getting a couple three wash tubs in different sizes. Smaller ones for washing the harvest, beans, peas, corn etc. and Larger ones for clothes, and taking baths. Fill the tub about half full in the morning let it sit all day in the sun, and take your bath near sun down. Place the bath tub somewhere in the yard, where it will get full sun all day, and out of view from the road. Have a couple of buckets (metal 1 and 1/2 gallon size) for rinsing, sitting close.

Hope that helps.
 

CaryC

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I haven't seen a real, metal dishpan in forever.
Like SB said and they ain't hand me downs either. I would bet (not money or food but like cow chips to buffalo chips - dried LOL) that if you know where to get wash tubs, they would have metal dishpans too.

We don't normally use them for washing dishes, (we have a kitchen sink for that, came with the house) but more for snapping beans, and shelling peas. I'm not a canner by any stretch, but I think SB cooked the peas in them on the stove before she would can them. I remember her cooking something in them anyway.
 

pauldingbabe

The Great Cat
i hav a box full of puzzles sitting here looking fo a new home. Shipping is the issue.


For the puzzle PEEPs, lol

Zulily has pretty regular puzzle sales.

Its a neat little website. If you sign up pm me so that I can send you an invite. Then we both get % off purchase. I believe its 15%? They also have flat shopping rates and if you buy something it unlocks free shipping for 24 hours?

Yes it sounds strange but I have found some amazing deals there. They also match Amazon prices. I believe Zulily is a clearing house for HSN and Wayfair?

They even had a survivalist category last week. It was decent.

Anyways, hope this helps.

Oh, woot is an Amazon clearance site that is separate from Amazon warehouse. Gotta be quick with Woot!

Have fun.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
For the puzzle PEEPs, lol

Zulily has pretty regular puzzle sales.

Its a neat little website. If you sign up pm me so that I can send you an invite. Then we both get % off purchase. I believe its 15%? They also have flat shopping rates and if you buy something it unlocks free shipping for 24 hours?

Yes it sounds strange but I have found some amazing deals there. They also match Amazon prices. I believe Zulily is a clearing house for HSN and Wayfair?

They even had a survivalist category last week. It was decent.

Anyways, hope this helps.

Oh, woot is an Amazon clearance site that is separate from Amazon warehouse. Gotta be quick with Woot!

Have fun.

Have you tried clothing from Zulily? I've been considering it, but don't want to sign up for something I might not like. You have to sign up, before you can even look around.
 

pauldingbabe

The Great Cat
Have you tried clothing from Zulily? I've been considering it, but don't want to sign up for something I might not like. You have to sign up, before you can even look around.


I have tried mostly athletic wear, socks, basics and brands I know. there are mostly known brands like Clarke, Mukluk, Levi, MAC, Singer, in all categories. Sometimes you have to look for them.

You have to sign up to look? Wow, I never knew that. I'm sorry yall, I had no idea it was like that now. I've been on that site for six years and back then you didn't have to sign up.

:(
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I have tried mostly athletic wear, socks, basics and brands I know. there are mostly known brands like Clarke, Mukluk, Levi, MAC, Singer, in all categories. Sometimes you have to look for them.

You have to sign up to look? Wow, I never knew that. I'm sorry yall, I had no idea it was like that now. I've been on that site for six years and back then you didn't have to sign up.

:(

I get pop up adds all the time on my PC from Zulily. It's all adds for some really pretty clothing. I tried their website, but couldn't shop, unless I signed in. I'm looking for a nice place to shop online for clothing.
 

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
_______________
Look under things: bed, couches, and so on. I do that about this time of the year and find at least a dozen!
I also have a cat that steals them.

The console of my truck is an interdimensional portal.

Koozies, sharpies and earplugs gather there....and then disappear.

Only to pop up in other places.


Another one in the house transports tennis balls to odd places.

I'll trip over tennis balls all day.

In the afternoon, when it's time to play with the dogs....nary a ball to be found.

Next morning, I'm tripping over them again while making coffee.

Damndest thing.
 

pauldingbabe

The Great Cat
I get pop up adds all the time on my PC from Zulily. It's all adds for some really pretty clothing. I tried their website, but couldn't shop, unless I signed in. I'm looking for a nice place to shop online for clothing.

I hate that you would have to sign up.

They do have quite the selection of clothing there from big to small, short to some tall. Every kind of shoe.

There are also a lot of repeats and lately you have to be quick on some things. The sales only last at most 4 days but they can come around again. I just favorite things I might be interested in and when they become available again I get an email. Time zones also matter because sales end in my eastern time then begin in pacific time so if you know you want something you might have to be tricky about it.

There isn't a membership fee or anything. If your looking for Christmas things they are starting all the fall/winter stuff. Might be an answer for a few gifts if anyone is looking.

I just threw those two places up because they have worked for me in the past. Woot! had changed a lot and I don't frequent there as much but used to find some really nice electronics, outdoors, some of the best socks I've ever worn. I look there every now and then.
 
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