Supermarket Disappointment

Other places around the world deal with shortages and inflation.  Lines and rations happened in the Soviet Union and in leftist South America, a very compelling reason to avoid being leftist, one that sells in America today.  Not that we haven't had rationing of the World War II era or periods of uncontrolled inflation that voters remember at the next opportunity.  We have, though they are transient.  For my consumer lifetime, I've lived amid abundance.  For most of my earning years, I've lived amid prosperity, though fortunately imprinted with a restraint on boundless consumption.

I look for what's on sale, even seeking something out that I don't really need because its price has been reduced.  My basket fills easily at Shop-Rite and before that at Pathmark, the Boston area's Stop & Shop, and metro St. Louis' Schnuck's.  As long as I had a car I could buy as much as I wanted, a level of consumption that usually exceeded what I needed. Over time these became megamarts.  Food manufacturers learned that Kosher certification has a return on investment, so availability of Kosher increased with other abundance.  Megamarts became big box stores, including Martinetti's in Boston and Total Wine for anything alcohol in states that do not allow unrestricted sales in their supermarkets.

In order to have this, we need a global economy that starts with producers who can sell to distributors who provide the retailers that I patronize.  Once an orderly and lucrative process, perhaps even competitive to restrain prices, my trips to some of my usual sources of groceries showed evidence that all might not be well.  In addition to my own nutrition, I've invited an old friend, recently bereaved, who now lives alone for shabbos dinner in our Sukkah.  Creating an eclectic menu, challenging for me but very doable, I listed ingredients, noting which are best obtained at Trader Joe's, Shop-Rite, and Sprouts.  While the latter is highly targeted to produce, the other two afford some browsing time, usually resulting in a small amount of impulse buying.  

On my visit to Shop-Rite, shortages became evident.  Some produce items had run out, particularly the advertised sales.  Some of the price labelling could have been better.  Most significantly, as my household's experienced grocery shopper, prices for many of my frequent items had risen.  I expect fresh fruits and vegetables to fluctuate with season, with apple prices declining with the annual fall harvest about to arrive.  They haven't yet.  Potatoes, onions, mushrooms, citrus, greens each cost a few cents more than they had a few months ago.  Coffee approaches prohibitive except for the item on sale. Last time I got Maxwell House, my least favorite despite my appreciation for their Hagaddah efforts.  Now that can depleted, and only Maxwell House is on sale for replacement.  I will postpone ground coffee until next week's Shop-Rite circular with a new coffee special takes effect.  Kosher meat has declined in variety and up ticked in price.  A reason to eat less of it, though I already had cut back more for nutritional goals.  Egg prices fluctuate, Trader Joe's usually offering the best buy.  Recipe staples like flour and sugar command an additional few cents per package.  Juices cost more.  Pasta has a brand on sale each week, but the discounts seem less and the base prices for what is not on sale has risen.  And for the first time, pasta which has an indefinite shelf life, has some varieties unavailable.  I no longer buy squishy commercial bread or the evil soda, but my casual impression is that those prices are also a few cents more per package, even when on sale.  The limited shelf life forces the megamarts to discount high selling brands with some frequency. 

Between retirement and Covid, I have almost no reason to shop for clothing.  As long as I keep a stable weight, my clothing collection should last forever.  I don't know what a shirt, tie, or pants costs.  Baseball caps and T-shirts seem a bit higher in price.  I'm a sucker for loading up on school supplies that I no longer need.  Those disposables seem to cost about the same, the durables like binders I don't know.  The seasonal nature of these would be a disaster if the supply failed during the one opportunity to exploit consumer demand, so there doesn't seem to be a price or supply disruption.  Birthday's distribute over the year.  While electronic greetings have become the norm, the greeting card industry remains vibrant, selection ample, though prices definitely on the upswing, despite declining consumer demand.

I already have too much furniture and tools, so not much reason to shop for these.  I'm a much less frequent customer of Home Depot and Lowe's than I once was.  Seasonal gardening needs seem to cost slightly more but shelves seem fully stocked.

I'm a prosperous consumer, rarely forced to purchase.  Some do not have the same purchasing discretion or purchase power that it has been my good fortune to have.  Higher prices are noticed by weekly shoppers whose carts start to take on different contents, usually less desired contents.  While higher fuel and medicine prices provoke voters more than other forced purchases, the change in discretionary purchase gets noticed.  Scapegoats are not hard to identify.  Villains are much more difficult to exposes.

Crammed Week

Some middle of the night insomnia got the better of me.  I arose to My Space.  It had been my intent to plan out my week as I do nearly all Sundays unless pre-empted by yontiff or travel, but being awake anyway I took out my new multicolored gel pens, semi-annual initiative affirmations, and markers to get a head start.  There's a lot for me, much of it not discretionary.  Sukkot arrives this week.  With it, a sukkah to finish building, a dinner at somebody else's sukkah the first night, special guest with special menu at my sukkah for shabbos, a Torah reading done twice, and a haftarah reading done once.  I will need to get a better folding eating table for the sukkah, using the current one for serving.  We have a fly infestation, far less severe than our last one, but it needs some attention.

On Thursday evening I make a public medical presentation via Zoom.  My monthly Medscape submission needs writing with a few days out of action for yontiff.  This will be the first sent to my new interim editor.  Expenses get logged this week, and it being the end of the quarter, an Excel summary needs to be created for review.  My financial advisor thinks we should get together.  

Monthly donation day arrives right before yontiff.  OLLI has a full schedule this week.  Our congregational President tossed a verbal gauntlet that needs a response, a very mixed response.  The bank branch that houses our safe deposit box will be closing within a few weeks.  Need to make a transfer.  I think I know where I keep the key.  Have lost any recollection of what the box houses, but it's a good opportunity to reconsider what it should contain.

And then the ongoing exercise, tidying, reading, writing, medicines, and thinking.  The special initiatives eventually resolve.  These don't, as it is never really clear what determines their completion.

And before you know it, we're into next month, with its typical daily and weekly cadences. The Hebrew month which almost coincides this year, is called Mar Cheshvan, or Bitter Cheshvan, since it the only month without a special calendar event other than Rosh Chodesh.  Between Holy Days, travel, and preparation for arriving commitments, I'm ready for a month's activity reduction, or really replacement of this surge in committed days with something more discretionary.

 

Inviting Guests

Among this series of semi-annual initiatives is opening my home for visitors.  Family comes for Thanksgiving but for the most part our home remains an area of exclusivity to us.  In order to have guests, the lower level of the house and the bathrooms need to have upgrades in their visual attractiveness from removal of physical obstacles to cleanliness and repair.  While the living room, lower hall, dining room, and kitchen remain incomplete, they exceed threshold.  Bathrooms clean easily and on short notice, though the powder room which guests might use could use some real scrubbing.  Our upper landing remains free of any objects.  

So next step seems to be asking people to come.  Shabbos makes a good excuse, sukkah even better.  Ready to give it a go.

Replacing Stuff

This week I accumulated something of a petty shopping list, as things have broken or gotten used up.

1. Flossers:  To get myself to habitually floss after tooth brushing, I've replaced extended floss with individual flossers.  This has kept me on track 100% of the time.  They come in packets of 60-90 either from the Dollar Store or Shop-Rite.  They travel well.  But every few months they run out
2. Bread: Usually no shortage, though in anticipation of travel I used up virtually all that I had.  As part of my weight control initiative, a very successful one, I've gotten more selective about what bread I purchase.  Trader Joe's offers the best, either pumpernickel or sourdough as the sliced bread, a package of bagels, a package of English muffins, and occasionally pita, with mini-challot for shabbos that they discontinued so I now have to get someplace else.
3. Coffee Creamer: My desire to lighten coffee has gone through phases.  Milk works well but has a short shelf-life.  Sometimes I will get heavy cream for something else and splash the leftovers into coffee.  For a long time, I would get liquid creamer which lasts a long time.  I like the flavoring, don't like the pre-sweetening.  What has worked best for me has been powdered creamer which I can get at the Dollar Store.  It lasts a long time.  In a pinch, I will save a packet or two of powdered creamer from an airline or fast food and store that, but Dollar Store seems to offer the best combination of price, convenience and utility.
4. Lasagna Pan: I forgot to oil it, leaving a burnt on coating that even steel wool could not remove.  Cleaning it became more trouble than it's worth.  Just get a new one.  Measured it as 9x13 inches.  There are 10x14 inch options, but I think commercial lasagna noodles seem to be cut for the smaller size.
5. Headphone: These cost about $5 each and break.  I sat on my current pair.  The earpiece coating dislodged, which I glued back.  However, it was the side that remained intact that no longer transmit sounds.  Do I need them?  While ear buds tend to be my preference, earphones with a microphone work better for Zoom sessions.
6. Coffee Pods: I like to have two different kinds, even though I have plastic baskets that will allow brewing in my Mr. Coffee ersatz k-cup machine from any bulk ground coffee if it's not too finely ground.  Now that I am a Costco member again, I get a good buy on bulk coffee as the daily baseline.  The second often comes from the Shop-Rite promotion the week I am there or from the Christmas Tree Shop which discounts boxes ranging from 42-96 pods depending on brand and flavor varieties.  For Melitta cone or French press I will treat myself to higher end bulk coffee.  For K-cups, I go cheap.
7. Redeem B&H Gift Certificate:  I received this for my birthday.  After puttering on their site episodically I decided to redeem it for a movie camera costing just the right amount, applicable to my desire to try creating a YouTube presence.  I went to redeem the gift card and the camera I had my sights on disappeared from their selections.  I'll give it another go next month.

Shopping Rounds.  One and Done.

All In

Worn out from travel this summer, all relatively petty travel with three night hotel stays in a single town, two by and with car, one by plane without car, one for recreation, two to visit people.  I think that's enough for a while, at least until I feel a need to exit My Space again.  For now I'm content to do what I can at home.  During the travel, daily planning gets suspended though replaced with a more global view of what to pursue and how to pursue it when I return home.  This semi-annual cycle I've done rather well except in the Frontier category.  Watching some TED Talks on my cell phone while away, it became apparent why.  I have to be All In, 100%, not 98%, to accomplish some of the more difficult projects.  I've not been doing that, maybe for lack of really wanting to proceed, maybe for other reasons.  But I have to give myself that chance of being All In.  New Year, new commitment.

Travel Prep

As much as I look forward to getting away from time to time, my upcoming journey leaves me unenthused.  It's for a laudable purpose, my son's delayed wedding reception, but I'm a little dragged out at present, trying to avert entering into the overwhelmed.  It's been a trying week, which should make an escape more inviting, yet I anticipate busy times when I return, some of which could have been less busy had I not traveled.  Best option seems to be to do what I can when I can, enjoy my days away and my expanded family, then move into a usually energizing fall season.

Opting Out

My days have sort of taken their form.  Out of Bed when the wrist buzzer signals at 6:30AM.  Brush teeth with electric toothbrush and floss with disposable pick device.  On Mondays step on the electric scale.  Then downstairs to make coffee.  While it brews, wash dishes, take out recycling, and retrieve newspaper.  When coffee ready to drink, return to My Space, check my messages on email, FB, Twitter, then spin the virtual roulette wheel to see if I am a participant in social media that day. Then look at the task list created the evening before.  Exercise goes best if done at a specified time, typically mid-morning.

And then there's a block of daylight with a very long discretionary list of what I could be doing and not a whole lot of must be doing.  Some of the must-do goes better when repackaged as get to do.  There is also some shouldn't do, like take advantage of the Virtual Roulette allowing me to participate in FB and Twitter that day. But since my opt-in/opt-out daily list segregates to housework, writing, recreation, many of which comprise my semi-annual initiatives, something of value gets chose.  That leaves me pretty well off when daylight wanes, mostly with some accomplishment to show for it.