Get It While You Can

(Janis Joplin on the Dick Cavet show in 1970)

Get it while you can.

This is what I said to my wife when she mentioned something that would make her work easier. She was putting off the purchase until after her next paycheck. I thought we should get it now.

I didn’t mean it the way Port Arthur’s hometown wonder Janis Joplin did when she sang it. We already took Janis’ advice “Don’t you turn your back on love.” That’s why I’m here, almost half a world from where I began.

But let me get back to our conversation. I meant what I said. This is not a good time to put off getting something we’re going to need. Remember how bad supply chain disruptions got three years ago?

Pundits and politicians may be trying to tell us unicorns and rainbows are everywhere, but business journals aren’t. Business news has been getting concerned. It isn’t all about health news. It’s a combination of that plus soaring prices, companies going under, factories shutting or cutting back, the war in Ukraine, and for Brits the extra burden of Brexit (but I see more than British business news fretting about these times).

Over the past few days we looked at our budget, looked at our wish list and decided what to get now, just in case it isn’t so readily available when we intended to get it.

We aren’t talking about anything glamorous or exciting. Office chairs that are more comfortable to use all day now that we both work from home. Small pieces of equipment to make working from home easier or more productive. A replacement for an old winter coat that doesn’t cut the mustard any more. A replacement for a failed porch light. A couple of wooden boards to finish a garden project. A can of paint.

Nothing extravagent or big or frivolous. Just stuff that helps us keep going and helps us maintain our house.

If you have boring list kind of like ours, you may want to do the same, within the limits of your budget. Just in case. Get it while you can.