I'm not seeing a lot of people out of work in my area at all. Have been keeping a close eye on the real estate market, since we'll be listing our house soon--and houses around here are selling quickly, for every bit as much as they were selling a year ago. To be honest, the news IS reporting that the real estate market in our area hasn't been much affected. However, just 30 miles away, the area where we're moving, houses are sitting and sitting, not selling. Many have been for sale for a year or more. Great for us, of course, we bought low, and should be able to 'sell high' to maximize our $$$, but there are a lot of variations, I think, from one place to the next. But there are a lot of good bargains out there. Restuarants have a lot of BOGO offers, coupons. Prices for all sorts of things are down here. We've been finding a lot of amazing prices on things we need for the new house--again, lucky time to be fixing up 2 homes--one to move into, one to sell.

Love that diagram, Sophie! I went halfway. I used a small "home services" firm that did the tear out, plumbing, electrical, wall repair, window, and other installations. I planned (with GW help), sourced and bought the cabinets, granite (with installation), hardware, sink, faucet, and light fixtures; decided on (at the last minute) to refinish the floor so found floor people; and did the painting myself. This approach saved me nearly $10k over the quotes from both full service companies that would include plans and contractors who would execute my plan but source and perform all. Note that my remodel was not extensive, was in a smaller space, no change in footprint, just repositioning some appliances which did require moving the gas line and adding a window, lights, outlets and switches. There were delays due to me, about the floor decision and getting that scheduled, and changes in the planned counter material which the home service company was able to work around (thankfully). My only complaint in the end was with the counter granite installer -- who came highly recommended, but didn't do the quality of work that I'd seen here on GW, but who did fix what could be fixed. Still, saving $10K was worth the mild disappointment IMO.

To those of you who contemplate using coffee filters inside a cloth mask - the mask is supposed to filter out droplets (moisture). The coffee filters are designed to let moisture through, otherwise we would have no coffee. I moved out of retirement 5 bandanas, folded them as was shown on TV and shoved the ends into each other so that they would not slide. Result 16 layers of cloth and pretty impossible to blow out a candle. Advantage of these, they can be washed, thrown in the dryer and ironed on hot. I have to be extra careful because I have to get my husband to his cancer clinic for chemo and radiation 5 times a week and his immunity is totally shot.

Thanks, sleeve. I have an 11 yr old opened BOS of the no vent N95 respirators. Date says (c) 2002 or close. Time flies. I think these were for SARS outbreak. surprisingly the yellow rubber like bare elastic is still good. The exhaust vent types were purchased in early January 2020. No one of my siblings wants any, saying that their too uncomfortable. I mostly stay HOME. We don't socialize, and make very few trips out. But, yesterday was a gorgeous day and I went with a masked neighbor who seems very careful to buy some tomato plants, lettuces, organic milk and deli salads (darn pricy) at at super aware country store. Only a couple people in at a time with masks, distancing and no bags from elsewhere. Half gal milk = $7.75 in glass bottle ($1.50 if return bottle). A cup of bean salad, $4. I will figure out their recipe. I put it through the mass spectrometer in my mouth. I wore an old, non vented N95 and safety goggles. Mask was u o for table and hot. I DID keep messing with it, so was glad I was pretty much in the clean rural woodsy boondocks. (But you never know). When we passed through a working class small city, I went into a store for wine. I had on my gear, the cashier had on a cowboy bandana. A 30-ish woman came into the store, o mask, and barbed into my shelf area. I left For the cashier. She was right behind me, no mask, no distance, no sense. I asked her to please back up (like 5 feet!). She had a bunch of pink and lavender colored toy wine. She looked at me as though I’d told her that there was a deadly global pandemic. Meh. No worries. No cares. My friend encountered a couple of women in a grocery store. No mask, crowding her. She asked them why they were not wearing a mask. They fired back that it was their freedom of choice, blah blah. The State is on MASK rules if outside your home. Oh, and distance. What is with these clueless people. Flyovers are okay, but how about some public service announcement, mini tutorials on infection control? Think I might tell the next maskless fool who won’t keep back that, oops! You e got something stuck on your face! Then disappear as they rubs cooties into their fave with dirty hands. I won’t do it. But what is with the clueless, right to infect others, mask-less zombies? At least they didn’t shoot us in the back of the head (Recent MI news). I spotted a 25Lb bag or organic, unbleached, AP flour for $25. Maybe I should go back to the clean store for it. But that’s a lotta flour.