Household paper products – toilet paper included – still lead the list of items people are stocking up on in the pandemic.
One of my pandemic pastimes is seeing how spending habits have been altered by the need for physical distancing. Almost every week, a new item or commodity is found to be in short supply. Toilet paper, flour, bicycles and lumber have all made this at one point or another in the past six months.
A lot of us are doing the same things in the pandemic – staying home and baking more, getting out more on bikes and building up our homes as a refuge from the virus and the people who spread it. Something else we’re doing a lot is stockpiling some of the basic items of everyday life, notably toilet paper.
The polling firm Abacus Data recently surveyed people on what they’re stockpiling. At the top of the list, household paper products like toilet paper and paper towel. Almost 40 per cent were still stockpiling these products last month, down from 51 per cent in March.
Hey, didn’t we learn in March and April that the toilet paper supply chain is stronger than COVID-19? I still remember our local supermarket installing pallets of toilet paper at strategic points through the store in the spring to ease the mind of customers.
According to Abacus, other things we’re stockpiling include canned goods, dried goods like pasta, rice and beans, as well as cleaning supplies and baking supplies. Not extravagances, but things we need to keep it normal in the most abnormal year many of us have ever experienced.
All I can say as a personal finance guy is do what you need to do, but leave some toilet paper for the rest of us.
Subscribe to Carrick on Money
Are you reading this newsletter on the web or did someone forward the e-mail version to you? If so, you can sign up for Carrick on Money here.
Rob’s personal finance reading list
The case for bonds
Low interest rates have a lot of strategists and investors reassessing their holdings in bonds. Here are four reasons why bonds belong in your portfolio, even if they produce little interest income right now.
Hacks for cooks
Two kitchen hacks – one that will save burned pots and pans and another that will reduce your cleanup a bit after cooking.
What’s a good credit score?
Lots of information here on how to understand how good, middling or bad your credit score is.
The shame factor in personal finance
Here’s an article documenting how traditional personal finance shames those people who haven’t lived up to the ideals of aggressive saving, frugal spending and minimal debt. The examples are all drawn from the U.S. personal finance world, but there’s certainly some broader relevance.
Ask Rob
Q: In a post pandemic era with a growing deficit that makes stomachs flip, should my priority be maxing out my TFSA or RRSP?
A: Here’s a column I wrote on this topic not too long ago. To summarize, “Fill your TFSA.”
Do you have a question for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can’t answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length and clarity.
Tweet of the week
Steve Saretksy, a Vancouver-based realtor and housing analyst, started a lively exchange when he tweeted recently: “Unpopular view, but the next move for Canadian housing could be an absolute face ripping rally higher.”
The money-free zone
My wife recommended the book Radicalized by Cory Doctorow and I liked it a lot, particularly the story Model Minority. It’s about a super hero who stumbles trying to fight racism.
ICYMI
Here are some Globe and Mail personal finance-related stories
- Retirees making pennies from savings accounts may want to take a look at annuities
- Can Neil and Norma achieve their retirement dreams by downsizing?
- The surprising case for why bonds are a bargain despite dismal yields (for Globe Unlimited subscribers)
More Rob Carrick and money coverage
Subscribe to Stress Test on Apple podcasts or Spotify. For more money stories, follow me on Instagram and Twitter, and join the discussion on my Facebook page. Millennial readers, join our Gen Y Money Facebook group.
Even more coverage from Rob Carrick:
- 🎧 Catch up on Stress Test: How to survive the gig economy • How to get out of debt • Is now the right time to buy a house? • Crisis-proof your finances • Does investing change during a pandemic? • Can you afford to live downtown? • The cost of kids • Should you move back in with your parents?
- ✔️ A 10-point pandemic personal finance checklist: Create a "wartime" family budget; stop worrying about bank deposits; clean out your big-bank savings account; get relief on car payments; get preapproved for a mortgage; WFH? Save $1,000 a month; save, save, save; build resilience by not anxiety-buying; consider the cost of mortgage deferrals; get ready for the second wave of financial distress.
- 📈 Investing: The case for a tight portfolio of big blue chips dividend stocks; robo-advisers beat human advisers (and they’re thriving), why online banks that are better than the branch; is it time to invest your 2020 TFSA; don’t get your mortgage at a bank; why it’s so hard to invest in preferred shares; stock up on stocks to retire early; and are you following the 10-year rule with your investments?
- 💰 Saving: Food waste is wasted money; why you might regret that SUV and find out if CAA is worth it; juice your PC Optimum points; how an ex-Bay Street lawyer got out of debt; blindly easy tweak to your retirement investments to survive economic downturn; should you buy that latte?
Are you reading this newsletter on the web or did someone forward the e-mail version to you? If so, you can sign up for Carrick on Money here.
