Preparedness for when

mumoftwo

GreyQueen wrote: »

Could I be nosey and ask how Mrs LW knows homesteadchick's sister? Is she on MSE too?

It's me, the sister of homesteadchick :j I read mostly, don't post, got scared because of the arguments a while back and judgements and don't see myself as a very good prepper with anything useful to contribute. I have great admiration for my sister and others on here. In the end we all have similar goals: to feed our families, to keep warm and a secure roof over our heads, to be free of debts and to be able to cope with whatever life throws at us

[Deleted User]

Hello AGREENMESS welcome to the thread, if there's one tip I would give you it's to only buy things you know you'll use. There are so many things available that seem like a necessity that will then sit forever on your shelves and take up space and money that could be used elsewhere. Also never be afraid to ask questions, no matter how obvious no matter how basic they may seem, someone here will be able to help and we all do so willingly. The biggest thing though is to follow your own path and just don't take any notice of those who would pour scorn and ridicule on the very idea of prepping in the first place, there are many who will and many who will think it hilariously funny but, if ever there is a need for your preparations, they will be the first one to ask for help. Prepping gives a sense of security and a little peace of mind in todays uncertain world, the very best of good luck with it all, nice to have you with us, Cheers Lyn x.

Confuzzled

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

HOMESTEADCHICK you have arrived at your destination if your neighbours think you're off your rocker, ours know we are, they have no doubts at all about the fact, but they still like us and if they don't entirely understand why we live the way we do they still give us any burnable wood they have cut from the gardens and even get their friends to bring us theirs too! What they do find difficult to understand about us is how we can be so content with what we have and not want the cruises and abroad holidays and new furniture and clothes that seem so important to them. One neighbour who I love to bits gets her husband to do all the cooking in their pristine new kitchen because she can't bear to see it untidy, I don't understand that at all!!! They deck their gardens, we grow veg, they have sculptured lawns we have the dog, they go to expensive restaurants we have fish and chips, and so it goes on but somehow we all rub along fairly well together and I keep them all supplied with jam an chutney, it seems to work, off your rocker is lots of fun isn't it? Cheers Lyn xxx.

this reminded me very much of the good life... only i dare say your neighbours sound a bit less condescending, well, i hope so

[Deleted User]

Hi CONFUZZLED yes, very much the good life, and we have apple trees and damson trees on the front garden and an allotment over the road too. No one else has even a veg patch and no one else has ever had pets but our neighbours one side are renting and are the very best and nicest people you could ever hope to live next to, and have a clause in their rental that preludes them from doing anything in the garden, so we keep them supplied with fruit and veg and spend lots of time chatting over the garden fence, lovely! If they ever get to buy the property which is what they would love to do we have plans to take down the dividing fence and have a mini smallholding, between us. The rest of the locals are now actually speaking to us and it's only taken 20 years to achieve, so, life is good!!! Cheers Lyn xxx.

pineapple

Today I picked up a cozzie at my favourite charity shop. I can hear the 'Eww's and 'gross' from here! Except it looked brand new and it is already out on the line after a good wash.
Sadly I'm like many women in that I am constantly 'about to get thin'. So I am not about to part with serious dosh for what is after all a temporary state of 'ampleness' .
If there should be a tsunami this side of Watford, it may just be me enjoying my oldies discount at the local pool.

agreenmess

Thanks for the advice MrsLurcherwalker it seems that I am prepping for something quite different to most people, as we live on an Island I am prepping for the "finance sector" to leave and the Island not being able to withstand living off its already small farming community. For this I am looking more towards off the grid living/self-sufficient/homesteading kind of prepping . Cannot wait to get stuck in with everything here!

ginnyknit

Mrs LW that shared smallholding sounds a lovely idea, my neighbour is the nicest man on earth, a gentle hippy with long white hair (wish mine was like his) and a totally empty, fenced back garden. I look longingly out the bedroom window at his blank canvas and know he is so resistant to change he still eats exactly the same meal plan his late Mum had, his alarm goes off at 5.15 am though he retired 10 years ago ..and so on. I dream of planting orchard 2 along the fence and putting another line of greenhouses on the other side - oh well dreams are good but this man is set in stone.

mardatha

My neighbour and I had the same sort of plans MrsL, we have no fence between our gardens. But she left her partner and I think some day he will move out. Neighbours are important parts of prepping eh!

[Deleted User]

Very important part MAR, I think it would be very difficult without kindred spirits to share your philosophy on life with. This thread is a veritable lifeline as we all seem to be sharing the same plans and doubts for diverse reasons and purposes. It makes a haven where everyone shares the feeling of needing to take responsibility for your own future wellbeing and that of your family and the information and experience sharing is really beyond price.

AGREENMESS whatever the thinking behind your decision to make preparations for the future there will be so much help here for the life you envisage having to live in the future. There are some canny folk who have so much knowledge to share, you're in the right place m'dear and I hope we can all help you to your goal and keep you smiling at the same time, Cheers Lyn xxx.

BessieBooBoo

agreenmess wrote: »

Hello all, just started reading the beginning of this thread, on page six, and just wanted to say that I'm just starting up prepping, does anyone have any tips or advice for starting up??

Hello AGM

My best advice is please don't panic.

After reading on here, and several prepper sites/books I had to fight the urge to splurge on outdoors survival gear, food, wood, etc, etc.

It can over-whelm you at first, when you start to consider all the possible scenarios out there...

I did calm down, and just started slowly to build up some spare food supplies. Just starting doing something made me feel better.

I thought about the short term first: possible job loss, flood, fire, evacuation of home. So started to get together food (dried, tinned), a bit of spare cash saved up, we already had camping equipment, so checked if there was anything else that would be needed in an evacuation scenario, that we didn't already have, then started to do BOB - bug out bags, that we could have to hand. You'll see a lot of abbreviations like that on here...

We already started to grow our own veg at home, and now we also have an alternative way to heat & cook, in case of power failure (or more likely we can't afford the energy costs).

It's taken months to get to this stage, partly because of not having a huge cash surplus, but also, not wanting to rush out and buy everything only to find it cheaper elsewhere, or not necessarily needed. We have also encouraged family, etc. to gift us camping stuff for birthdays or Xmas, as they know we are getting more into camping for cheap hols anyway.

I would also recommend a lot of reading of prepper books or sites. But temper your reading by thinking of what would work for you and yours. I would thoroughly recommend Cody Lundon (sp?) as his books have a lot of common sense.

We are now looking at doing some more serious prepping, like possibly building a root cellar, doing bushcraft courses, and the like, as both OH and I like the whole ethos of being self-reliant even if the S never does HTF.

Hope you enjoy this thread, we certainly have, and gained some great nuggets of info too!

BBB