Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for July 30, 2020

I miss catalogs.

…and phone books too.

coffee filters, or phone books were still around back then

‘Exchange & Mart’ in England!

Love the upturned chair! LOL!!!

The catalogs aren’t nearly as popular since they started using glossy pages.

My mother worked and had no time to shop for us kids. We ordered all our clothing and lots of household items from the Sears Catalogue….kinda like the Amazon of it’s day.

But even if you ordered toilet paper from the Sears catalog, it would take days to arrive!

;-)

A&J were on a roll, even back then.

Glossy paper is less useful than the paper shopping bags (grocery sacks, pokes) widely available then.

One may joke, but that was the option at my uncle’s cabin. He said the (unnamed) critters stole TP from the outhouse.

Watch out for those staples, Arlo.

im 84, grew up on farm in Kansas. I remember the catalog very well.

I once heard that WLS AM radio station in Chicago originally meant “Worlds Largest Store” (Sears), Can anybody confirm?

The joy of Christmas catalogs. Looking through them to choose all the toys you wanted Santa to bring and then on Christmas the reality of the presents you actually got.

Great. Now my web browser is filled with ads for toilet paper.

I once got a “gag gift” at Christmas that was a paperback book of a very old Sears catalog. It had some really fascinating things in it.

1980’s Sears catalogs are going for over $30 on eBay. One person’s fodder, another person’s treasure.

That’s right: Toilet paper shortages aren’t funny—especially if you’re the one on the porcelain throne.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac still has a hole drilled in one corner. They started doing that as a favor to people who would use old issues in the outhouse. Made it easier to hang. True story.

With that tiny nose, good thing Janis didn’t wear glasses.

On my Grandparent’s farm there was only an out house – no indoor plumbing at all. They were also poor so we used magazines for toilet paper. Couldn’t wait for peach season! For those younger people, peaches came in a crate individually wrapped in tissue paper. MUCH nicer to use!

So, did Janis “knock him off his block” in the original comic? Come on Jimmy, I want to see the original!!!

That’s why you save newspapers! Online version is too bulky and messy!!

Did we the reader just punched him out in the last panel? How violent!

Me too.

That slick paper is the opposite of toilet paper. Also too hard to recycle.

JC Penney was a good backup in case your Sears had only the sports section left.

Anybody ever get a Service Merchandise catalog?

Man I love you

Early in March husband became one of the “We need toilet paper” people – and yes, we found same at BJs – easier to let him buy. We had over half of a Costco sized package, 2 spares and one started roll in each of 2 bathrooms – and a spare and started roll in our RV plus he has “special” TP he uses sometimes and we had a sealed Walmart package, a started and a full roll in each of the 2 bathrooms and in the RV. This went on like this with everything – hand soap, shower soap, dish soap, laundry soap, paper towels… we had plenty in the house and also had in our RV (think Chevy Express van conversion, not one of the big ones one sees on TV when traveling. If he found it, he bought it, even it if it was not the brand we use (meaning he prefers).

It is now 5 months – less a week or so – since he panic shopped. We still have not started any of the new items he had to buy in March and won’t need them for some time. It is just the two of us – how much of these things do we need.

Ok, to be fair – I am only allowed to use 1/2 a paper towel – and they are half sheets to start – at a time. Before this started I had been washing the dishes with paper towels (had to toss the sponges I used to use as he was sure they caused the ants we had in summer 2019) and he told me in March I could no longer do so. “Back to sponges?” I asked. “NO sponges- ants! NO paper towels – will run out!” Okay what could I wash the dishes with? I had some old dish towels that were just this side of rags – each made 9 washable, reusable dish washing cloths.