I do not believe that I am alone in my desire to maintain an extra quantity of certain household items that I always use such as paper towels, tissues, laundry detergent, toilet paper or garbage bags.  I do this because running out of these types of products seems insurmountable in being able to carry on with typical household functions.  I mean, what if you only bought laundry detergent after you ran out of it? This practice would result in not being able to do another load of laundry until you went to the store to buy more. And then what happens if you spill something on your favorite couch blanket or, worse, on your child’s special blankie?
Since I like to feel that I can do laundry anytime I need to, I adopt the practice of ensuring that I have more laundry detergent on hand before I actually run out of the old one. But this leads to a timing versus quantity issue. What happens if I have family or guests who suddenly decide to visit and I need to wash all of my sheets and towels? How much extra laundry detergent should I stock up on just in case? Two bottles? And if two bottles are good, then the extra third bottle is surely great because it’s on sale and then I won’t have to buy laundry detergent again for several months, or maybe weeks, or at least until it’s on sale again …
Soon, I find myself thinking that my laundry room shelving is too limited and I’m asking my husband for more garage space because it makes me feel better if I have lots of extra laundry detergent, and tissues, and toilet paper, and paper towels and garbage bags, just in case the entire Vienna Boys Choir decides to stay at our house for several weeks! Eventually, this leads to the bigger question of; when it comes to a stockpile, how much is enough?
This past year and current supply chain issues have changed my answer to this question in that when it comes to toilet paper and sanitizing wipes, A LOT extra is enough. However, the retailers selling these products significantly disagree as they will often impose limitations on the quantity that I can purchase.  This only fuels my desire to want to purchase more even though I may have 6 family packs (for the two of us) already at home.  For some reason, this feeling has extended to other products as well like soap, batteries, Band-Aids, and Tums. Recently, I noticed that I am even stockpiling Yankee Candles because they make my house smell nice and they are on sale and I never know when I will need a gift…
In the end, this behavior makes me a bigger consumer of stuff I don’t really need, or at least, not yet. And if I run out of tissues, I could always use toilet paper to blow my nose until I get to the store. Or maybe, I could buy more handkerchiefs so that it’s better for the environment by using things that I can simply wash and use again. Although, how much laundry detergent do I have?
Enough? Enough?  
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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