By Kate
As mentioned in a previous blog post, we are almost done with the home remodelling and are the midst of moving in.
Dave and I were listing down a list of items that we will need. One of the items that I had listed was that we needed extra chairs. Unsurprisingly, he asked why, especially since we were getting a set of dining table with chairs and there’s only three of us in the house.
“Well, just in case there are guests who come visit and we do not have sufficient chairs for them…” I explained.
Just in case.
Very often, we like to provide for many different scenarios. Just in case it rains, just in case we are hungry, just in case we might oversleep, etc.
And in many of these scenarios, we need an additional item, or even more, in anticipation of that possible situation unfolding.
Just in case it rains, we need an umbrella.
Just in case we are hungry, we need to stock up food.
Just in case we oversleep, we need an alarm clock.
It’s good to anticipate a different scenario from happening, as it prepares us for that situation, and allow us to be ready for it. It’s always good to have an umbrella ready isn’t it? It’s always good to have food in the house since the nearest supermarket is 10 miles away. It’s always good to have a alarm clock, and set timings to wake us up in the morning.
However, just how much provision should we provide for these “just-in-cases”?
It depends and here’s what I think.
Perishables – Are these items perishables? For instance, food. Not wise to store up too much and they all expire in the end. Also, you would rather eat them fresh from the store. Be selective about what you want to store up. Perhaps a pancake mix for breakfast in the mornings, frozen ice-cream to enjoy with the family, or even instant noodles (though I will not recommend eating too much of them) should you like to have some instant piping hot meals during a cold winter.
Sufficiency – well just like the case of umbrellas, you don’t need that many. If there are only 3 people in the household, you probably don’t need more than 3 or 4. Provide for just enough, and avoid cluttering up with too many which you probably won’t need anyway.
Wait and see – Just like the situation with getting chairs for our new place. Dave thinks we probably do not need them. And if we do, probably just 2 since we already have 4 dining chairs and we have plenty of sitting space in the living room (although I must emphasize that we are embracing the culture of floor sitting – yes I love it!). This is definitely not urgent, as we do not need the chairs now. We could wait and see, perhaps until before our housewarming before deciding whether those chairs are necessary. During then, we might or might not have a better idea whether we need them.