Preparedness for when

pumpkinlife

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Another prepping thing I have found out today... either have spare batteries for your weighing scales, or have an old fashioned one... yep in the middle of batch cooking, weighing out stuff to make pastry and the batteries in my weighing scales decided to give up:mad: went over to A$da ( literly a strong throw away) the batteries were 4 for 2 and the basic manual scales were £2.50, so I bought the cheap one:rotfl:

Motto of this don't forget to check all things that use batteries in your house to check you either have back up/spares, or have a manual replacement ready to step in..:D

Measuring cups - they are the future! I now prefer to do nearly all my cooking using cups/spoon measures. Quite a few American cookbooks list ingredients by volume and weight so you can pick and choose (though never mix the two). I would love to have room for old fashioned iron balance scales, but alas, I live in terraceville UK with a tiny extension kitchen.

thriftwizard

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Does leprosy run in your family thriftwizard?

More like lunacy, Bob :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Is this a case of W-H-O-O-S-H, thriftwizard?

grandma247

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

It does occur to me (and I think someone may have alluded to it earlier) that, it's a good idea to spend any spare money, on bulk quantities of storable food, cleaning products, clothing, etc.

With prices rising faster than the interest you can earn on savings, money sitting in the bank is worth less, with each passing day.

Therefore (aside from being prepared for an emergency situation), you are fixing the value of the money you spend.

Put another way, you are, in effect, living at last week's/month's/year's prices.

I have started putting away none food items with a goal of five years worth starting with washing powder tablets which are in small boxes from L!dl. We only use 1 box a month and I am buying two a week so it will not take long. I also have washing soda and bar soaps for making my own if I have to.

GreyQueen

thriftwizard wrote: »

My scales came from the Tip, and work in either imperial or metric depending on which set of weights I use with them! Seriously, got fed up long ago with batteries going flat at the wrong moment, or knobs or arms falling off, and just decided that old balance scales were a lot easier to clean & maintain. Have been using them ever since. I suspect DS1 was about 4 when I gave up on modern ones; he's 25 now.

I've got a set of balance scales, just cheapy ones, although I am eyeing up the gorgeous cast-iron and brass ones Mum has as an inheritance one day ( a long time hence). Coupla years ago I got a set of metric weights for Xmas to add to the imperial ones which came with it.

I like simple things without bits to go wrong.

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Does leprosy run in your family thriftwizard?

:rotfl:Oh, that's baaaad, just nearly choked on a danish pastry (YS this afternoon, two for 24p, wouldn't normally indulge).

Been gardening, talking to folks, pulling the candle-stash around. I'm good for powercuts for the foreseeable and when I have pals around this coming Friday night, I shall hide some of the TP mountain. You mean not everyone has 40 rolls of TP stashed on top of the toilet cistern? And that's just the summit cairn, as it were; the rest of the mountain is elsewhere.

Lottie is looking respectable and after a shower, laundry being done and a change of clothes, so am I, more or less. Tomorrow it's back at the office impersonating a normal member of society for a few hours then let out to play about my own affairs for a while.

I bookmarked a new-to-me website last night; http://jjluna.com/

I read this guy's book How to Disappear years ago, in bookshops in New Zealand. Too darned cheap to buy it but it was interesting. Mebbe something on here will be of interest to the rest of you?

I have also bookmarked The Daily Mash; seems like my sort of thing.

OK, onward and outwards. Am tired enough to fall face-first into the keyboard but need to stay awake as have bread rolls proving and will want to bake them before beddy-byes as one of them will feature in tomorrow's light luncheon.

ETA; Ooohh, this is the only sensible reaction to a news story in the past few days suggesting that maybe under 18s shouldn't be having their perfectly normal ladygardens remodelled by surgery............I think it was actually on Radio 4 but these days I have to check carefully to make sure I haven't retuned to a comdey channel.http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/health/your-vagina-is-not-a-kitchen-women-told-200809241278?Itemid=77&id=1278&option=com_content&task=view%255C%2527

pumpkinlife

grandma247 wrote: »

I have started putting away none food items with a goal of five years worth starting with washing powder tablets which are in small boxes from L!dl. We only use 1 box a month and I am buying two a week so it will not take long. I also have washing soda and bar soaps for making my own if I have to.

Back in 2008, in the run up to my going on maternity leave, we started bulk buying. This was partly to ensure I didn't have to worry about running out of basics with a small baby in the house and partly to make sure that my maternity pay stretched as far as possible. We had a good few months worth of high price items like cat food on hand.

2008 was the summer of crop failures and rocketing food and fuel prices, culminating in the start of the financial crisis...we saved a fortune. If I had just banked the money and bought as we went along, things would have been a lot tougher for us for a few months.

Perplexed_Pineapple

Storing up bulk buy items which don't go off is a good move at the moment, money in the bank is doing nothing except losing value slowly. However this is IMO only worth doing once debt is paid off, and also it is very likely that interest rates will rise again so you may get a useful return on savings. I'm not entirely sure of that though, that's just normalcy bias telling me that current low interest rates can't last for long, if the economy tanks they may stay very low. There have been some very true comments made about manipulation of economic data but until we can rebalance the economy with a reasonable manufacturing base to go alongside financial and service sectors it will be mostly smoke and mirrors, I think.
I'm aiming to invest a few quid every month in something prepping related, at the moment concentrating on building a better BOB. I had the thought that my ancient Maglite while good as a blunt instrument is too heavy to be carrying for miles when every ounce counts so have bought a new LED torch. I know you can pick up LED flashlights at £land but I wanted something that would stand a bit of abuse so have spent a bit more on something called a Wolf Eyes Fox :rotfl:. (Heavily reduced as end-of-line, of course). Despite the daft name it looks virtually indestructible and is at least as bright as my 6-cell maglite at less than half the weight and size. Only downside is non-standard batteries but this is supposed to be for brief emergencies so convenience and portability wins out.

Goldiegirl

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

It does occur to me (and I think someone may have alluded to it earlier) that, it's a good idea to spend any spare money, on bulk quantities of storable food, cleaning products, clothing, etc.

With prices rising faster than the interest you can earn on savings, money sitting in the bank is worth less, with each passing day.

Therefore (aside from being prepared for an emergency situation), you are fixing the value of the money you spend.

Put another way, you are, in effect, living at last week's/month's/year's prices.

This is exactly what I have begun to do.

I'm working towards an early retirement in 2 years time, so I want to get stores in whilst I have more disposable income.

If I can get a good stock, it'll help for the first year or two of retirement, before my husbands state pension and other work pension kicks in.

[Deleted User]

Buying in stock also means, you can take advantage of offers, like reduced price, BOGOF, BTGOF, etc.

I recently bought 48 cans of Heinz soup, which was on offer at 50p a tin.

ginnyknit

I tried the own brand tomato soup....euch.....never again!

Its good knowing that at any time you have the makings of a meal, it allows for bad weather, illness and unforseen circumstances - Insurance in a tin :j and no premiums to pay.

I have to agree Bob every little thing we buy at todays prices saves us pennies next week, and every extra penny we invest saves us more. its also stress relieving having bits and bobs stashed away such as batteries, candles, clothes and warm bedding. I coudnt be like the sheep out there living from day to day. Hubby has been in bed for most of the last 2 weeks and I cannot leave him for long and my income comes in dribs and drabs so cannot do a big shop to be delivered so my stock cupboard has meant I have been able to concentrate on making Christmas stuff and relaxing - other than the stress of hubbys illness.