Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

None of us can know the hour, etc, but based on actuarial tables and family history, I can probably expect to see another 30-35 years, so feel quite relaxed about having foodstuffs with dates in the 2015-2017 range.

Many non-food household items will last a long time so long as they're kept dry, such as t.p. and bar soap. When I realised that my usual product (Knights Cast*le 6 bars for £1) was starting to show up in a few places at 5 bars for £1, I bought big at on the last of the old pack and stashed in the airing cupboard.

Said product shrank by 1 bar, then each bar shrank from 100g to 90g. Which means stealth inflation £1 gets you 450g of soap whereas it used to get you 600g.

Look out for shrinkage on the packs as well price inflation; they're getting you coming and going these days.

jk0

Knight's Castile. That takes me back. Dad had a whole drawer full in 1977. It saw him out, mind you. The house clearers had to remove some in 1996.

westcoastscot

Also good in a hospital bag is a little food if you have any allergens - think i've said before but I keep long life juice and a couple of tins of hummus and tuna in ours for youngest - it usually takes 2 - 3 days for the hospital to get up to speed with what he can and cannot eat - even when we're booked in!!!!

Only accident i've been involved in was a common one on the island - a car was approaching and came into the passing place on my side of the road instead of stopping parallel to it - pushed me right out and I had a choice of a big rock or the sea - chose the rock and although the car was crushed between it and the guy's volvo me and the kids walked away without a scratch - really lucky!

Must be the weather for stocking up - I'm back up to strength again, which always makes me feel better.

Well, back to work tomorrow,

WCS

GreyQueen

jk0 wrote: »

Knight's Castile. That takes me back. Dad had a whole drawer full in 1977. It saw him out, mind you. The house clearers had to remove some in 1996.

Blimey, must have been a big drawer to last him 19 years. I think I'm OK for soap for a few years, but nothing nearly that long.

Righty, gonna take myself over to see a pal. She's got the kettle on so I best hit the street. One of the joys if city centre living is having pals anything from 30 sec to 5 mins walk away. And I can jettison the recycling on my way out of the Towers.

Laters, my lovelies, laters. GQ xx

nuatha

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

Thanks Nuatha, it really is beyond a bodyshop job, the radiator is in smithereens and the engine is a big lump of twisted metal with bit and pieces hanging out. I think I've been very lucky to walk away relatively unscathed to be honest.

That does sound like a lucky escape, long may the Lady keep you in her favour.
Do check what a like for like replacement costs in your area, from your description there's no way it won't be a write-off.

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

Possibly it's a futile gesture as everything can be accessed anyway but I still think it's a good idea to sign up to things like ghostery.
http://www.ghostery.com/ - which enables you not only to block trackers but lets you investigate trackers and their privacy policy on the sites you visit.

Get yourself a PAYG Dongle.

That way, even your ISP doesn't know who you are.

jk0

I think S hit the F today in Japan:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23918882

thriftwizard

jk0 wrote: »

I think S hit the F today in Japan:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23918882

Oh dear, poor souls. I hope the reports I've read that suggest that there could be far worse to come are apocryphal.

Off on my hols tomorrow & crossing my fingers that our cousins over The Pond behave & play nicely for a week or so. Preferably for ever, really, but at least until I get back...

nuatha

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Get yourself a PAYG Dongle.

That way, even your ISP doesn't know who you are.

Only if you've bought the dongle with cash and only ever top it up that way.
ISPs routinely record MAC addresses against IP leases, so any site you visit which requires a login should only be visited with that dongle.
They may not know who you are, but they will still know where you are.

Perplexed_Pineapple

Nuatha, I'm thinking that cash is the way to go for all sorts of things. Partly because I'm increasingly bothered by the amount of information that commercial entities hold about us (logged of course against "loyalty" cards, debit and credit cards), and partly because I think making more transactions with cash is an insulation against banking failures (see Cyprus). There is a clear drive by banks towards more electronic transactions, because it reduces overheads and increases profits. They have attempted to abolish chequebooks already and with the drive towards "contactless" debit card transactions for small amounts I think there may be a further drift away from cash. I don't see the cashless society as being a secure set up, there are so many things that can go wrong and while you can't eat money, it does give some security to have cash in hand. Besides, if we have hyperinflation then we could use fivers for toilet paper and jars of pound coins as a handy paperweight, not much you can do with numbers on a screen.