I would rather paper towels compared to corn cob. Seriously though, there are a lot of chems out there that destroy just about anything for the septic tank folks and if all else fails there’s always the Mexican option. When I lived in Nogales, the sanitation system was so bad that the only thing that got flushed was human waste and nothing more. Even when going to a restaurant, cantina etc, there was always a small basket or bucket with a lid in order to dispose of the used paper. Also, being serious, toilet paper is a sort of luxury that we’ve gotten used to having but knowing that there are alternatives keeps us out of the gotta have it emergency mode.
Gonna do my shopping on Monday or Tuesday and wonder if toilet paper will be available. If the worst comes to the worst, I'll be using my bidet.
Ya know, I was looking at a add-on modification bidet system on Amazon just 2 or 3 months ago and I’m still tempted to buy one just to see if it really fits an existing commode. If it does, problem solved.
While I would miss a lot of the foods that I enjoy, we have enough food to last us a few years in the house, including that with 7-25-year expiration dates, and enough toilet paper and paper towels for a few months, at least. It seems the early panicky people spent more time crying wolf than they did preparing for anything. While few of us even know anyone with the virus, and probably wouldn't even notice if we had it ourselves, we're suffering from stupid government decisions, empty shelves, and unnecessary panic. I haven't bought a whole lot of new stuff for this current nonsense. For whatever might happen, it has long made sense to have a store of food and other supplies for situations like this, where stores aren't being restocked. I didn't expect this but, since we have food and other supplies, I haven't felt the need to even visit the stores.
Still don't understand why you think this whole thing is "nonsense"? Well, I'll put this in another way, I do understand, in a way, but other ways I don't. Ken, all the local, state and Federal governments are trying to do is to either stop or at least slow down this virus spread. Can't do that with the way a lot of young folks want to continue acting. The ones that plainly don't care about this virus thing. "It's not in my age group, so why should I care?" is what they say.
Store shelves aren't empty because of the virus. Most of us don't even know anyone who has the virus. Store shelves are empty because of panic. People are panicked because they are being told to panic, and because they believe what they are told. Given that the relatively few people in this country who have the virus have come here from overseas, it makes sense to limit travel, not just by foreigners but by everyone. Testing people for this new strain of the cold virus makes sense, also. Panic does not make sense, yet panic is inevitable when we are confronted with a 24-hour news cycle that consists of nothing but dire predictions based on worst-case scenarios and projections rather than facts and are about as accurate as predictions of global warming and UFO invasions. Panic is inevitable when every case of the coronavirus is reported as if it were this new strain, and every new positive is reported as if the disease is spreading when the truth is simply that more people are being tested. Panic can be expected when every case of COVID-19 is reported a thousand times, but we're seldom told that the majority of these people recover without difficulty. People panic when that is all that they hear. Because nothing else is being reported in the news, people aren't talking about anything else. So they panic. It also comes from obsessing on it. Even here, there is very little talk of anything else. They don't do anything practical that might minimize their chances of catching the disease. Instead, they crowd into empty stores fighting with one another over the last roll of toilet paper, and they look for people to blame, all the while doing little or nothing to prepare for their own needs or to limit their own exposure. I could shut myself up in my house and have enough food for a couple of years, I think. But, other than buying a couple of cases of toilet paper and some paper towels, largely to prove to myself that people were wrong when they told me it was unavailable, I haven't participated in the panic buying frenzy. I haven't been to a grocery store in a couple of weeks. Knowing that any number of things might make it difficult for me to buy what I need from week to week, I have long stocked up on things that have long expiration dates, such as dried beans, freeze-dried foods, and canned foods. Hell, I did that when I was in my twenties, if only to limit any discomfort that might come from losing a job or something. Pretty much all of the discomforts that people are experiencing now comes from people placing too much value on what they hear in the news and from irresponsible government mandates made by politicians who are simply responding to the same unreasonable panic. When people are worried, politicians need to appear to be doing something, and they don't much care if it makes sense or not. Simultaneously, more forward-thinking politicians take advantage of the panic to enact laws that people would have never put up with otherwise. The virus isn't doing this. People are doing it.
Absolutely agree with Ken on the post above - Government and the media have created panic and I'm very angry about it all. They always seem to act once the horse has bolted too So fed up to write anymore on it - its a bloomin' mess
They are being very careful here at Assisted Living because of the average age of the residents and their health.
Don't forget conspiracy websites and crackpots who stage nonsense for hits; click bait. They create greater panic.
Actually, most of the conspiracy websites pretty much agree that this is manufactured crisis, for one reason or another, depending on which theory you read. I haven’t seen anyplace except for the mainstream news telling people about panic buying in stores. They happily show pictures of people in long lines at Costco stores, waiting to get their share of whatever is left available, and such as that. Not only that, I am pretty sure that I saw the same line of people advertised as a Costco store somewhere on the east coast, and then again in California, because it looked like they were playing the exact same video of the lines of people waiting to shop.
Doggone it. I guess somebody else got the same idea. There was not a single dried pinto bean in the whole store, and this store sells some very large bags of dried beans. Only a few lentils and white beans. It is odd what people choose. The ramen-like dried noodles and soup, and canned soup were all gone. But plenty of frozen foods and canned vegetables, and most anything else. Only some white bread, but they are often out of bread on Sunday here anyway. I heard someone say no canned dog food.
My granddaughter said she was at some store today and they had restocked toilet paper. I don't know how long before it sold out, though.
I have boxes of magazines we can always use for TP if we run out and there is no more at the stores. I guess people are thinking this virus is going to give them the runs...but it's more their respiratory systems they are going to have to worry about.