I bought nothing today. My daughter bought a bottle of olive oil, 4 bread rolls and butter. We had run out.

Then, again, yesterday, I bought a blanket for my daughter. It's getting very cold, and while we've been in Ireland for six months now, we still find that there are things we need for a home.

Perhaps some of the things we bought played too much towards consumerism. For instancde, there is, apparently, a good chance that electricty and gas are going to fail this winter in the EU because of Russian gas shortages. So I bought two flashlights that could last for 8 hours and where one could recharge phones, etc. Of course, they have to be fully charged before they can be used.

My question to myself is, "Am I wasting money by buying something I might never use? Or am I preparing for a disaster that may come?"

My daughter was caught in the hurricane in Houston where she was without electricity for three days, and it was very, very cold.,