I have always considered myself a purger. I throw out anything that is not nailed down. Clutter does not accumulate on my counters and my closets are tidy. Trash pick-up day is my favorite day of the week and I consider carefully when I make any purchase. Do I really need this? Is there room to store it out of sight? My mother was the same way. As are my two siblings. Then, along came Covid-19 and our family trait reversed. No longer a purger. I have become, to my dismay, a sort of hoarder.
I remember the moment my hoarding tendency began. I have the picture on my phone. It shows empty shelves at the grocery store. Overnight, vast bare spaces appeared where toilet paper, tissues and paper towels belonged. Where, since my earliest childhood memories, those goods stood in solid, reliable lines. I discovered more of the same an aisle over. There were no cleaning supplies. Nor could I buy flour or yeast. My favorite pasta sauce was missing. In an instant of terror, I wondered: Was the same thing happening with wine?
Adding to the surreal vision was the fact that I was masked when I discovered all this. My hands were sticky with sanitizer. I was trying to follow one-way arrows down narrow aisles, and to maintain six-feet of distance from fellow shoppers. This shopping spree was crucial. I would not return for groceries again for at least another week. These factors, combined with a growing anxiety about the future of the world, created my new hoarding trait.
Fast-forward six months into the pandemic. As paper products trickled back to the shelves, I purchased them. If there was a one-per-customer limit, I bought one. Then, I circled back into the store and bought another. I wasn’t alone spinning in and out of the exit. Many fellow shoppers mastered the same technique.
Now, I have enough flour and yeast to open a bakery. If my favorite pasta sauce is looking sparse on grocery shelves, it’s because my pantry is full of jars, cans and bags, a surplus I never would have dreamt of a year ago. I’m feeding three people, but I have enough on hand to nourish my neighborhood. I’m willing to share. If anyone runs short on paper products, one of my formerly tidy closets is as full as a warehouse. I can offer you a box of spaghetti and a jar of sauce. You have only to ask.
I’ve known folks who grew up during the Great Depression. They didn’t take affluence for granted. They understood wealth’s fleeting nature — like toilet paper, here one day gone the next. They never forgot the feeling of want, and they wouldn’t risk being caught short again. They saved their money and they stuffed their larders. Can you call them hoarders? Maybe. Is it understandable? I believe so.
The Irish use the word ‘mean’ to describe someone who is stingy. Over the years, I’ve seen some of my Irish ancestors in that light, wasting not and cautious with dinner portions. I understand better now. My forerunners lived through famine. They knew crops could fail, food could disappear and children could go hungry. What they discovered generations ago, we’re experiencing now. These are hard times that change us. Like the survivors of the Great Depression and the Irish Famine, we each meet challenges in a different way.
I continue to volunteer once a week at our church food pantry. I’m struck by the community’s need and impressed by our citizens’ generosity. Historically, hunger has been a force that separates the haves from the have-nots. Hunger can also unite us.
Right now, our church pantry has adequate amounts to meet the requirements of our customers. Our nation’s workforce is still healthy, able to manufacture and move product. Should this change, I know I’ll have to dig into my own pantry and pass on some of the goods I’ve been fortunate enough to accumulate. That dystopian notion is unnerving.
As for the wine question, blessedly a shortage did not happen. My favorite red has been available throughout the crisis. I enthusiastically agree that liquor stores are vital services. They are as necessary as paper goods, as pasta sauce and as caring for family, friends and strangers. And yes, I’m not above hoarding a case or two of wine.
Joyce, I like your process and how you came full circle from throwing out everything and having no clutter to, “I circled back in the store to buy another,” to now, “I know I’ll have to dig into my own pantry and pass on some of the goods.” I also like your comparison of surviving in The Great Depression and the Irish Famine to surviving, now, which I hadn’t thought of but makes a lot of sense. “These are hard times and they change us.” I’m the opposite of you and always had many jars of pasta sauce, but I never realized why. Thank you for reminding me that my grandparents and parents taught me the valuable lesson of “stocking up.”
I also liked how you used humor to lessen the harshness and seriousness. I also have stocked up on toilet paper, paper towels, and wine. Thank you. I enjoyed reading this.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. I appreciate your valuable input.
Joyce I so enjoyed reading this!! I too am a purger and look forward to garbage night. I know where all the donation bins are located in the neighborhood.
However, like you I now find I have many more extras of what I think of as escentuals!! Maybe being of Irish decent and having two parents that lived though the depression explains my change of view!!
I always enjoy your writing!!
THANKS!
Great piece, Joyce. I recognize some of the characters. Cheers!
Thanks!
I’m sure you do!
Joyce…..a good read start to finish! Yours was a nice loop. My story would be just the opposite. The quiet days led us to the great purge! From every closet, drawer, shelf, cubby or stacked storage space. . . Out. Out. Out. Our space was always organized with much, much more than ample supplies, but now it pristine yet well-stocked
Your story made me smile, thanks.
Thanks for taking the time to respond!
Joyce,
I thoroughly enjoyed your article. I think most of us can relate to many things in the article. Thanks for your great perspective on this time of crisis.
Thanks for reading it, Julie!
Joyce, what a wonderful piece. You made me reflect on why I do what I do. My mother, grandmothers and aunts taught me that we needed to prepare for the next potato famine. This is interesting as none of them experienced it or knew relatives who had. Yes they all survived the Great Depression. Yet none of them talked about being hungry growing up. So preparing for the Covid 19 long haul prompted me to stock up on even more. But the light went on when I realized how many within our own community are struggle to feed their families. So we packed up all of it and took it our local food pantry. Thank you again for what you have written.
I appreciate your taking the time to read it. Hope all is well!
so much of the residue of depression fear was a factor when i grew up. down in the bowels of our basement was a pantry filled with food we never ate, served,,, nor recognized! kippers? vienna sausages? also, strangely, marshmallows! cans of “vintage” vegetables, boxes of crackers that might have been purchased during the kennedy era, on the bright side, a refrigerator always stocked with beer….would often think of the classic peggy lee song “is that all there is?”…ln the event of another depression, nuclear attack, “we’ll bring out the booze and have a ball” you can still hold rhe vienna sausages, thank you!