Thank goodness for a full stockcupboard

ceridwen

mark88man wrote: »

stocked up with stuff to last through next weekend - felt that was good balance between getting enough stuff to be safe, without being socially irresponsible

I mis-estimated how much room I had in the fridge and freezer, so a fair bit of stuff is in a box outside - I figure if it stays cold it will last outside - and if it doesn't stay cold - well crisis over, and if a couple of bags of oven chips get defrosted by mistake - well I can live with that

have bought full fat milk though, so I can dilute it at home according to need at least 50% maybe more if things worsen

interesting thread - thanks all

....and this is the thing I feel...ie getting in all useful items and being WELL stocked-up with goods BEFORE things start getting bad (ie whilst everything is still in a state of plenty and the weather is good). MSE Martin makes the point frequently re peoples budgets that we all know that certain things will keep coming round again "as regular as clockwork" - and he was specifying Christmas for instance (ie that we all know that Christmas happens every single year on the dot of 25 December same as usual and intend to spend extra money on it - but many people dont sit down and work out a yearly budget and allocate so much per month of their income towards that expense). Equally - we all know that "regular as clockwork" winter comes round every year and that some years it will be worse than others (like this one for instance) - so its wise to plan in advance accordingly. As some posters have said - they have been able to go into shops and only want to buy their normal standard amount anyway - because they were already stocked-up.

We all have different circumstances.

In my case - I can do all the Christmas spending out of one month's salary - as I'm not that bothered about Christmas and dont have any children to buy for - so it doesnt mean much extra cost to me at all. To those with families, on the other hand, they know its going to cost them hundreds of £s - so it needs a budget heading of its own in a yearly budget.

In my case - with living in an urban area - I can head out up to a week or so in advance of any potential bad weather problems and stock up with loads of food - because there IS loads of food available in the shops round here and we've never had any shortages except for the odd isolated items. Whereas - I can appreciate that someone with only a village shop to rely on (with its few limited packets of everything on the shelves) would have to think months ahead and place a special order with the shopkeeper for large quantities of things to put in stock OR buy one extra packet of everything per week over a period of many weeks (in order not to leave the shopkeeper running short for others). I stay very well-stocked all the time - so there is never any question of rushing out and buying loads of anything and I did this by buying a bit at a time over a period of months.

I think its always a useful exercise to sit down at the beginning of each year and think "Right - what is this year likely to bring for me directly on the one hand." followed by "Right - what is this year likely to bring for the Society I live in and what is the impact of that likely to be on me?" on the other hand.

Personally - I think my way through all possible headings that might affect me over the coming year:
- my income
- my health
- make a list of outstanding tasks on the house
- work out a rough budget for the year
- think through anything I see as possible for friends and family
- think through what I think will happen in the wider Society and the impact its likely to have in any respect

and then take any precautionary measures I can take to protect against anything I see as a potential problem likely to occur during the forthcoming year. I dont think everyone would take it to "the fine art" I do these days - listing to the penny what money I have where/exactly what money I would get (in payout/benefit) if I lost my job, etc - but heck..what have I lost if I do this planning and nowt bad happens at all? - just wasted a few hours for the sake of greater "peace of mind". I can live with that.

I so frequently note threads on this Board by people who have been hit by an unexpected financial emergency and they come on asking how on earth to feed themselves for x number of weeks on a tiny tiny amount of money - and people duly do pile in and give them all sorts of useful advice on how to manage - and I "read and learn" from the advice and wish that they had "kept a good cupboard" and they wouldnt be in quite such a bad position. I also see posters there frequently on the Employment Boards stating that they have just been made unemployed and have only just found out what benefit they will be entitled to/or that they wouldnt be entitled to any and they are in shock at how low an income they are expected to manage on. I also believe firmly in everyone knowing their exact payout due/benefit due in advance of any possible job problems and being aware that benefit can take weeks to be coming through properly and, one way and another, having a bit of savings by them unless they are in some position where they have a "cast iron guarantee" that their employer would have to give them a decent payout on the spot if it came to it (in fact - maybe even then....it helps a lot on the "peace of mind" front to know one has "s*d you" money and could walk out of the job instantly if desperate to do so and not have to worry too much about the benefit disqualification the DWP would impose for up to 6 months as a penalty for having done that).

ceridwen

TINY THOUGHT TO WIVES(or husbands) WITH SPOUSES GOING ELSEWHERE IN COUNTRY ON BUSINESS

Give them a list of goods required from that area BEFORE they go.

:rotfl:Recalling a wife who rang me at work and left a list with me for her husband when he turned up on business for the day from elsewhere in the country (as she'd obviously realised belatedly he was going to a well stocked urban part of the country).

I didnt bother giving him the list - I went and bought it as soon as I put the phone down and it was ready waiting for him - with the bill for how much he owed me on top of it:rotfl::rotfl:

rosieben

I agree with you Ceridwen about people being a little better prepared and I've been grateful for all the good ideas on the preparing for winter thread that helped me to plan and given me peace of mind. I was born and bed in the country so I've always kept a store cupboard, medicine cabinet and candles etc for any emergency so we're managing very well.

housemouse100

SunnyGirl wrote: »

I always fill the kettle before bedtime anyway as I like to be able to have my morning cup of coffee as soon as possible & class kettle filling as an unacceptable delay :rotfl:

I have a cheapo kettle upstairs by bed so negates going downstairs to unheated kitchen to make tea, I have the milk in a flask so am toasty warm when having my first cuppa

larmy16

I have my trusty teamaker. Best thing I ever bought. X

anguk

housemouse100 wrote: »

I have a cheapo kettle upstairs by bed so negates going downstairs to unheated kitchen to make tea, I have the milk in a flask so am toasty warm when having my first cuppa

What a good idea. Unfortunately if I had a kettle next to the bed I don't think I'd get up until lunchtime!

D&DD

Well since that bit last night we've had no more snow and we seem to be thawing now
One good thing I saw on the news yesterday was a man with a small deli saying how much business had improved since the weather has been bad..Its good to see people using local shops again but wonder how many will continue to do so when the weather improves.

THIRZAH

Our local butcher was on the news claiming that trade was up by 150% !

One advantage of using local butchers and greengrocers is that their meat , veg etc usually come with less packaging and as our bins haven't been emptied for nearly a month we are all running out of bin space around here

ceridwen

We've noted about the bin-emptying too.

I'm wondering when our rubbish is ever going to get taken away - and presume there is some Council edict about not going down sideroads. Its generally felt roundabouts here that the main roads are passable - but I think pretty much everyone is refusing to go down the sideroads.

Reading yesterday's newspapers and it was being reported that Britain had (as at yesterday) 6 days of stored gas left (as compared, for instance, to Germany's 4 months worth) and Crown Estates are being awkward (i.e. trying to profiteer) from the fact that they own land that we are trying to use for storing gas in the future....hmmmm...(shoulda kept details of that...has anyone got a link to the article?). Not quite sure what happens at that point? - ie sometime this week - when we are due to run out. Dont know if theres arrangements in place to get some more in from some other country (hmmm...and probably get charged through the nose for it...) or - whoops!!! Does anyone know the position on that?

IMadeMyOwnLuck

I love the small local shops except for the bargain booze types. I hope this is the start of a revival but I doubt it. People have short memories