Preparedness for when

ragz_2

GreyQueen wrote: »

Hey, ginny, I lived in abject poverty for three years in a bedsit with almost nowt and swept my disintegrating bit of "carpet" a couple of times a week with a stiff brush and pan.
.

My mum always did this when we lived in caravans when I was little, then we moved to a 2 bed flat and she carried on using the dustpan and brush to do the whole flat... we gave her a vacuum cleaner a few times but she just brushed around it.

She dis all our laundry in a big plastic bucket, wrung it out by hand. This was for family of three messy outdoors kids... Couldn't imagine doing it myself but I guess we all would if it came to it.

Molly41

We are currently having a few days away. Today we visited the James Herriot Museum in Thirsk Wow what a fantastic museum to Old Style way of life especially the air raid shelter which you could quite happily survive in if the worst were to happen.

In particular i was taken with the idea of flowerpot heating. A terracotta pot (not plastic) with a candle placed in it and another over the top - it gives out a lot of heat. This tip may have been mentioned before but I thought I would say it again !

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote:

Originally I bought Duracells but now I've changed to Sanyou eneloop batteries as these keep their charge for a year.

I use ASDA rechargeable AA batteries in my pocket camcorder.

They cost just £7-50 for 4, and have a very reasonable 2500mAh capacity.

ginnyknit

Kittie, lovely to hear from you, I missed your ideas and enthusiasm as do many others Im sure. Nice to know you are keeping your eye on us Those tin stackers are an excellent idea, I often have avalanches of tins in the pantry.

:j:j:j I did it :j:j:j and as I have now bored the family to death its your turn ....tada ..I made light crispy crusted bread :T:T:T Ok it wont work as a weapon anymore but it means I can cut out the middle man and make my own. Im so happy, even my Mum was puzzled that I was failing all the time. I mixed it in the bm then baked it and even waited till it was cool before I sampled it, even more amazing it was half wholemeal and hubby didnt notice.

Molly I dont think anyone has mentioned a simple 2 plant pot heater, we have had details of ones with bolts and multiple pots. I will give that one a go as heating is our problem here as we are all electric.

GreyQueen

Has anyone got a linkie to a pic of the flowerpot heater please?

msgnomey

http://heatstick.com/_KanHeet01.htm

GreyQueen

msgnomey wrote: »

http://heatstick.com/_KanHeet01.htm

:T Thank you!

I was thinking I ought to have the elements of this in the lottie shed and it would be an idea to have them clean and down to the shed at the flat before the cold weather.

BitterAndTwisted

I'm sure BedsitBob posted up a photo of one yonks ago. I should have bookmarked it at the time. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was in this very threadadiddly umpteen pages back.

[Deleted User]

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I'm sure BedsitBob posted up a photo of one yonks ago.

If you are referring to a photo of a flowerpot heater, then I'm pretty sure it wasn't me who posted it.

VJsmum

Hello,

Thanks for the good wishes everyone, yes I am backn from Glastonbury and have had a fantastic time.

If anyone wants to read about it, then it is here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=62192139&postcount=22320

Okay, so it isn't real bugging out but was reasonable as a "dry run", there was me and DS in a 3 man tent with porch in the middle of a field which had about 12 portaloos and 2 taps. I guess there were around 150 tents in our field (we were in a family camping field so not as cramped as you often see in Glastonbury pictures)

Here is what i learned,

That when there are few toilet facilities and the queues are long, a sheepee and an empty bottle of fabric conditioner do the job just as well (for liquids in any case), or at night
That the fabric conditioner bottle contents will unblock a portaloo that hasn't been flushed properly.
That people will still use a portaloo even when it is blocked (:o sorry if TMI)
THat soap is a true luxury. I had forgotten to take any, though I did have hand sanitiser. On the hand wash and water stations, if there was soap, people were falling on it with alacrity.
On a similar vein, it is amazing how much washing of yourself can be done with a small bowl of hot water and a facecloth, we didn't shower from Thursday morning till Monday when we got home, but we didn't smell. I used a small plastic bowl that DD had had a "pop and ping" chinese in a few weeks ago, with hot water from the Kelly Kettle and a supply of facecloths.
Some people had "solar showers" essentially a black water pouch and a hose. These were filled with water and hung on a fence to absorb the sun's heat (but I guess you could fill with warm water). I may consider one of these for another time as they would be quite light. DS missed washing his hair, though I was OK. Using talc as dry shampoo did a bit of a make do job on mine. I wouldn't have attempted to wash mine as it is extremely thick and curly and would need far too much water.
That compost toilets don't particularly smell, though DS said it was "breezy" :rotfl: They were amazingly clean compared with the portaloos and other types that were there. A cup of sawdust covers all deposits and helps the composting process. I will buy some sawdust to have if the SHTF - a pit in the garden would suffice in a really bad scenario
That the Kelly Kettle is hard to keep alight, especially if there are no twigs (&etc) to hand. I thought, being a farm, that these would be in plentiful supply. Nope, the security fence pretty much was inside the trees and there was nowt. Luckily I had bought a hexamine stove and tablets. I worked the kettle with home made lint and candle in an egg box fire lighters, half a hexamine tablet and ripped up paper. it was fine to boil the kettle for tea, hot chocolate, instant porridge "oatso simple" and washing but would have been difficult to cook on. I didn't cook as there were loads of food outlets and it was the only thing I spent money on - a bit like a food festival within the music festival - I would have used the hexamine stove if I'd wanted to cook.
Self inflating mats are extremely comfortable and, with a foil survival blanket underneath, really warm (thanks to whoever suggested that). One night I slept for 9 hours (and, no, I didn't drink whilst I was there so it wasn't that ). I didn't use an inflatable "camping" pillow, I weakened at the last minute and used an old baby pillow I still had. THis was a good move as they are very light and roll up quite small. A luxury that was worth having.
I saw posts above about the pound shop 5 litre water carrier. I had one of these and it works fine but the water does taste rather "plasticky". This may be because it was left outside in the sun (though the tent wouldn't have been any better)
If there had been more mud I would definitely have had to buy folding chairs. If I am lucky enough to go again I will take one each. We had a mini poundland camping stool and a mini poundland picnic rug, which was fine because the weather was good. I will never again underestimate the value of a chair
Paracetomol and ibuprofen are essential to ageing knees that are doing more than should be asked of them.
A poundland mallet works fine - honestly where would I have been without poundland
Some kind of light is essential - we had one battery operated lantern (not poundland, but not expensive) and it was fine.

We carried all this and clothes for 4 days in a large rucksack each, with bedding mats attached to the outside and then DS carried the tent and I carried a bag of "kitchen stuff". We were travelling very light compared to some. I knew the camping field we were aiming for was only about 1/4 mile from the bus station but we had to be prepared to walk a lot further. Clothes wise I took a pair of light canvas trousers and a similar pair of shorts, 3 t shirts and a long sleeved one, 2 fleeces and appropriate undies and pyjamas. DS had similar (but different undies )

HOpe that helps, not just for festivals but in any "bug out" situation.

Edit - I don't know why these mini links have sprung up but I don't know how to get rid of them.