Staying in a condo on a beach in Florida for a few months has lots of pluses. One is that we do not need to plan out every detail of our life so it fits into our beloved van Sparty. But I am married to a retired engineer so even simple things like running low on toilet paper is not as simple as it first appears.
We have stores within 5 minutes of us so if we did run out of TP, we could walk, bike or drive to the nearest store. Walgreens, Walmart, or Dollar General would have a few rolls of toilet paper if we needed any.
Despite this, Mr Ram is sitting beside me with a calculator, pen and paper. He is calculating our TP use as if we were living on the Space Station and needed to make it to the end of our stay. He mentions we go through a little less than a roll a day (48 rolls in 53 days). We will be here for about 40 more days so he “knows” what package of double-roll Angel Soft we need. But we are expecting guests for about 3 days so he estimated we will need 5% more or about 3 rolls.
Joking, I say, ‘So I meet our friends at the door and give them their 3 rolls of TP and tell them this is for your entire stay. No more, no less so make the best of it!’ I wondered what they might say. I presume knowing my friend (and one time college roommate), she would laugh and take it as just another one of those weird moments like we had in college.
Mr Ram’s obsession with toilet paper is part of his plan to reorganize and hit the road again at the end of March. My engineer husband thinks his engineering days are over but once an engineer, ALWAYS an engineer. He will calculate and figure out how much TP, paper towels and other supplies we will need till the end of our stay.
Food is my job. I figure we eat what we have in the condo and only buy more as needed. Since I am NOT an Engineer, I will not calculate our rate of pasta use or how many cans of chili we might use to the end of our stay. I will slowly empty out the cupboards and pantry as we move through the month of March. When we are low on food, I will send Mr Ram to the store for a few items we might need. Or better yet I have coupons for that Red Frogs restaurant with those tasty ribs!
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Note from Mr Ram – It has nothing to do with being an engineer. One should understand the rate you use resources so you can plan accordingly and minimize trips to the store while also getting best per-roll price. And I have been meaning to talk to you about our rate of pasta use….
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Note from Mrs. Ram – A word to the wise. Don’t ask an engineer the time. He’ll tell you how to build a clock!