$28 of Pandemic Groceries and a Housing Update

It's 10pm and I just got back from the grocery store. Why, you might ask? Well, I was watching the ABC app via my friend's cable sign-in and some live news got through.

If you don't know, my default setting is to avoid the media.

The clip of local news that came through several times announced, among other things, that the governor of NC had closed restaurants. I did not know that was a thing!

I've gotten bits and pieces of the pandemic from reading other people's blogs and overhearing conversations but because it hadn't really affected me, I had paid it no mind.

Recall that it's Tuesday, and I've been on vacation since last Wednesday. So I had even less contact with the outside world than normal.

So at 9p in the middle of whatever show I was watching, I decided I should probably get groceries.

I quickly scanned the local news channel's website to make sure I'd heard it correctly. Yup, schools were closed even NC State U; as were the Science Olympiad competitions I'd signed up to judge this month; and yes the governor had indeed ordered restaurants to close. W-O-W.  From what I could tell, a lot of things were closed until a future time TBD but some things were closed until the end of the month.

Pandemic Groceries
In my mind I decided I should probably try to get groceries for 1 to 2 weeks. Here's the thing. I'm supposed to be moving in 1 week, next Saturday to be exact. As a result, I'd been emptying out my fridge and cabinets and just getting fun snacks and minor things as I need them. For the most part, I'd been enjoying my solitude in the name of celebrating my birthday month.

I just figured I'd go out to eat, if I got hungry enough. In fact today, I'd had popcorn, a banana, and cookies. The when it got dark, I looked in my freezer and decided to use my deep fryer to finish off 2 egg rolls that had been there since last year and a handful of fries, like literally maybe 7 to 10 fries, and I fried one remaining fish fillet that I ended up just saving for later.  The plan being two fold - fry whatever I could so that I could clean out the fryer in prep for my move next weekend.

Even with the trip to the grocery store, I figured I'd just get pasta and ground meat to make a pot of spaghetti that could get me through to the next weekend. Then the angst of the pandemic, thoughts of going back to work, and the real possibility that I could lose access to other things gave my emotions cruise control.

So I walked out of my nearby Food Lion with cut fruit, strawberries, french toast sticks, 5 pounds of potatoes ( I only really wanted 2 single potatoes but that was all they had), pita bread, no eggs (out of stock), the pasta and meat I came for, juices, and some cereal.

I just didn't know what to buy. Some things I felt made sense - spaghetti, cereal. Others I bought in anticipation of some emotional decline, and still others in case I'm house bound for a second week - the potatoes.

I still have about 5 pounds of not-so-tasty Jasmine rice here, so I vacillated on the potatoes for quite a while. Which is worse - rice I don't want to eat or potatoes I don't want to peel. I erred on the side of pandemic and emergency preparedness and purchased the potatoes so I'd have options.

Housing Update
After all that, I still don't really know if I'm closing on Monday.  I guess I thought the week ramping up to closing would be more hectic in terms of communication with the other parties. But really not much so far.

I had the New Home Orientation yesterday. It was supposed to last 1.5 hours, I think it lasted almost four. But I enjoyed it. I didn't know something like that was a part of the process. If you've never done it, the builder set it up. It's a walk through for things that need to be touched up, but he also explained how to use the appliances, where basic functional things were - such as hot and cold water shut offs, important electrical outlets, the breakers, emergency numbers for the HVAC and plumbing that came with the house, warranties I'd need to update, notes on things maintenance of things like the HVAC, the dishwasher, the attic. Little things like that really help an anxious soul like myself.

I'm just better at doing life when I know what to expect.

Today, in my clicking around, I went ahead and priced out some appliances I'll need, i.e fridge, washer, dryer. Based on just store-brand recognition, I did some basic searches at Lowe's, Home Depot, Best Buy, and Sears.  For the most part, they all offered 0% financing with their credit card or some version of 5% off.

For now, Lowe's had the best prices because they included free delivery and basic installation. Sears' prices were comparable but they had a delivery charge which did not include installation.

And as for whether to take the special financing or the 5% off, I think I'm leaning toward the 5% off. Because my cash to close is so low, I should have enough to cover the appliances which I'm estimating to be around $1600.  (Side note, it turns out hoarding funds in anticipation of the move might actually not be a bad thing because the blogosphere is saying now is a good time to buy low, in terms of investing.)

Three Cheers for America
I imagine people have strong opinions on the pandemic and how local and national government are handling it. Some people are even positing on how it'll affect financial futures - locally, nationally, internationally. People are talking about down turns in the stock market and another recession like what we saw in 2009.

My mind definitely hasn't gone there. I mean I barely knew anything was happening until a couple hours ago.

However, when I was in the grocery store  - free from panic - I just found a quiet moment of gratitude. In another time, I think business owners would take this opportunity to gouge prices or take advantage of consumers. Instead, all the prices at the grocery store were the same. In fact, I've seen people talking about ways to help local business and each other. I've gotten a few emails about free delivery options from restaurants. Even my leasing office has offered to renew our leases without an increase in the midst of this mild crisis.

I know it's a marketing ploy to keep their businesses thriving, but I still think it could have gone in a different direction.

And whether it's the law or not to not price-gouge or take advantage of consumers, I'm happy to live here.

In a final thought, can you imagine if I were still on sabbatical. This would definitely be a strange time to be coming back from sabbatical. Unexpected, to say the least.