Dear James;
Here is an easy way to determine a year's supply of anything. You just need a calendar, a pencil, and the ability to count to two.
Say you're down to your last jug of cooking oil. Instead of buying one at the store, buy two, and write the item you purchased on the starting date on your calendar. Now, every time you replace that empty item, buy two more, instead of one, and rotate the oldest.
At the end of the year, when you transfer over Birthdays, etc, to next year's calendar, be sure to add the items you're tracking to the appropriate months.
At the end of one year's time, count the items you stored, and write that number down on your calendar. In one year's time, you will not only have stored a full year's worth of that item, you've recorded that amount on a permanent record. A year's worth of information eliminates unconscious over/under use or the occasional craving that might skew the desired tally.
If you've got a piece of scratch paper handy, here's how it works...
Make a mark for the one of whatever you're using. Add two more marks for the replacements, and line out the first mark you've theoretically used up. Now line out one of the marks, and add two more... Say you ran this out to 10 marks lined out. You have 11 marks left ...10 stored items, and the current one you're using. Neat trick, eh?
I suppose it's more fashionable to do the same thing on a shopping database, but we farmers are a stubborn bunch. Now, if only the banks would give out these wall calendars with the pocket for the month, like they used to, I'd be a lot happier. - Feral Farmer
