Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

Hillbilly2 wrote: »

wind up radio (amazing in the garden)

They work quite well indoors too, especially when there's no interference from other electrical items.

BTW. May I ask, which stove did you get?

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

it's 9 inches long and 6 inches in circumference (oo-err missus). The first carrot of 2013.

That was a bit of an anticlimax.

thriftwizard

Just thought I would nip back & say, despite my moaning about time & energy & money spent on my family, I'm actually very conscious that I'm really lucky to have them & wouldn't be without them for one minute. Though that day will come, someday, inevitably. Will shut up now & go & sort my treadle out - needs a drink of oil.

I do wonder sometimes; it's clattered away happily for 104 years, will it still be going strong in another hundred, or will sewing machine oil be so rare & expensive that home-sewing is done by hand again?

GreyQueen

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

That was a bit of an anticlimax.

But it was very firm.

Am now off to pack my schoolbag and do the dishes.

Play nicely, children.

bluebag

fuddle wrote: »

I tend to worry about SLS and nasties in toiletries but will go look at what is in the baby shampoo.. thanks craigy.

I was wondering what the 'eck you were going to say then GQ. Well done

I'll be honest, the mooncup scares me especially as I was er, butchered by DDeldest but I think have to try it. Thanks for the views on it folks

Maybe a plain unscented soap, never looked at the ingredients tho,

I used fAIry household soap all my life but they stopped making it now, using a palm of the olive soap at the mo, tried the hot flannel olive oil thing but couldn't get on with it, old habits being hard to break and all that.

bluebag

thriftwizard wrote: »

Just thought I would nip back & say, despite my moaning about time & energy & money spent on my family, I'm actually very conscious that I'm really lucky to have them & wouldn't be without them for one minute. Though that day will come, someday, inevitably. Will shut up now & go & sort my treadle out - needs a drink of oil.

I do wonder sometimes; it's clattered away happily for 104 years, will it still be going strong in another hundred, or will sewing machine oil be so rare & expensive that home-sewing is done by hand again?

Oooohhh, black market machine oil!! LOL. I bet there will be some sort of oily stuff even when we are all chatting on the great forum in the sky.

[Deleted User]

My local market sells the original Household Soap, at 4 bars for £1.



Carbolic I hear you say, but it's actually true.

bluebag

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

My local market sells the original Household Soap, at 4 bars for £1.



Carbolic I hear you say, but it's actually true.

Cheers Bob, grateful to you for making the effort. I tried that one and the green one but sadly (sob) it isn't the same.

I looked on fleabay and they had some but at £10 a bar:eek: I had to have smelling salts and a lie down. No way, no how I'm paying that!

thenanny2die4

bluebag wrote: »

westcoastscot,
Many elderly are being looked after by family to avoid losing the family home to care home/carer costs.

Oh my gosh, don't get me started on this one... MIL has Alzheimer's. After some years of living alone (she's divorced) with the early, and worsening, symptoms of the disease, she reached crisis point (as tends to happen) when she was found wandering miles from home in the pouring rain, telling people her house had been bombed. It was at this point that Social Services insisted she needed to be in residential care. DH and I discussed the possibility of her moving in with us - she has two other sons but neither of them are in a position to even consider it - but the reality is that I would have had to stay home with her, thus being unable to earn a wage, and, frankly, I'm not sure I could have coped full time. In the end we moved her from Hampshire to be near us in Derbyshire, in a care home which we liked very much. However, in order to fund her care, her little bungalow has now been sold and two small rental properties purchased up here. Even so, there will not be enough income from the rents to pay for her care, so, when the surplus runs out, Lord knows what will happen.

bluebag wrote: »

I think when it comes to the governments inability to pay pensions, my view is they will keep pushing the pension date out until few survive long enough to be able to claim. That coupled with inflation will see what pension is claimed worth very little.

Isn't this how things started out? The original version of the State Pension was for men over 70 and this at a time when life expectancy was much lower. The money in the pot now has to go so much further. The answer? I wish I knew and I suspect the Government is in the same boat

maryb

Lively discussions this afternoon.

I agree with Mar that it's divide and rule. All this talk about pensions being a "benefit" is very recent - until a couple of years ago, the contributory principle was well to the foremost and the fact that it was actually Pay As you Go was quietly brushed under the carpet. I'm one of those who was fortunate enough to be a high earner in my (fairly short) heyday and I know that the contributions I paid were more than adequate on an actuarial basis to cover the amount I will eventually get in the new state pension (I still can't get any real clarity on whether I will be worse off under the new system - my basic state plus SERPS would be a bit more than the new flat rate. Do I keep what I have accrued or will I lose that bit extra over and above the flat rate? Can't find out)

And child benefit - I can remember when the rhetoric really was that we are all in this together - the idea of universal, non means tested, benefits was to recognise that the people who pay the bulk of the basic rate tax are not simply cash cows. We all pay in and we all benefit at times of need. Having children is not simply a lifestyle choice, parents are doing useful social work raising the next generation that will take its part in making society as a whole work

Sounds so old fashioned now, doesn't it? But I can see the subtle changes in language changing attitudes. People who think that this government is evil when it comes to overt limits to benefits can still be blindsided if the approach is subtle enough to make them think that, yes, such and such really is unfair.

I think from a prepping POV it just goes to show that you need to rely on yourself - as far as anyone can. Which is not necessarily very far, when a lifetime of prudence can still be wiped out by deliberate policy. Low interest rates mean that , after tax, savings are earning negative interest. Add in high inflation (which is almost certainly on its way) and I can see a rerun of the 1970s when people retiring on good pensions were reduced to paupers in a few years.

When you look at things like the payback period on energy saving measures, don't look at the headline figure. Instead, think of it as an index linked return on your savings to the extent it reduces your expenditure. Much better than annuity rates. It works if you are in a place that you won't need to/want to move from - it's different if you think you might want to sell