Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter

Panic, Scarcity and Opportunity

Despite my cynical approach to marketing, at heart I’m an optimist. While some may panic, I see an opportunity here.

It’s natural in times of uncertainty for people to have the urge to stock up. Even I, at my husband’s insistence, got some extra toilet paper. But I live my life confronting the problems caused by abundance, not scarcity. What if I had to make do? What if my family was suddenly quarantined for two weeks? Could we use up the stuff from the back of the pantry? Could we use up the mini shampoos we brought back from vacation? The leftover paper napkins from bygone birthday parties?

I’m not in denial. I got some rice and beans and pasta, because I’ll use them eventually. But I also know that going to the store and seeing emptied shelves triggers something that makes you want to buy stuff that you probably don’t need—and it also leaves less for other people.

I don’t need to tell you how much stuff I have thrown out over twenty years of doing this work. Sometimes, I come upon a particularly dusty cache of bottled water or medicine or canned goods, relics from 9/11 or Hurricane Sandy or that Snowpocolypse that ended up not being so big. By now, it’s all expired, dusty, headed to the garbage bin.

That said, this pandemic may be the one of the most real disasters we’ve faced in a while. We should try to be calm, rational and logical. By all means, stock up. But take inventory first, because if it turns out you already have a ton of Robitussin in the back of the closet, the civic and organized thing to do is leave that last one on the shelf at CVS for someone else.