Preparedness for when

craigywv

morning all dull and grey over here . not too cold and have been able to get a wash out. I lucky I changed my bank last time the glitch happened so not affected this time around. I seen a fox this morning running around out the back of the houses, quite a strange sight as I am right in the center of Belfast it seemed quite happy rummaging about it was about half 5 in the morning i was quite thrilled to see wildlife so close to my garden . today is baking day so i shall pop in later ,have a lovely day all xxx

pumpkinlife

Delurking again to say that having money on hand is a very good idea. A couple of weeks ago I tried to withdraw cash on the way to a friends leaving do. I put my card into the machine and...it swallowed it. Didn't even acknowledge I had inserted it :mad:

The walk home to pick up cash was an annoyance but if I hadn't had it it would have ruined a lovely evening and made the following week awkward in terms of bus fares and small expenses. Food was covered by the store cupboard thankfully

Anyway, my mind still boggles that people rely on a single system for anything and are suprised when its not failproof. I am reading a book by John Michael Greer (of The Archdruid Report) in which he defines resilience simply as the opposite of efficiency. We value the latter far to highly these days.

mardatha

My money was in the account (and its now oot). Nipped into Sainsbugs for more porridge. Couldn't face armageddon without porridge
Thurs looking bad, gales and snow... a day at the fire knitting sounds good.

pumpkinlife

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/dec/02/shoppers-beware-materialism-worse-than-thought

Also, I stumbled across this and thought it was relevant.

opinions4u

Apologies if you've read what I posted elsewhere, but I thought it might help here:

Bank systems can and will go down. I'd be surprised if, over the last few years, any bank has avoided a situation like RBS / Nat West enjoyed last night.

Although they do have more form than most.

So while I'd always encourage leaving a bank that regularly naffs you off, make sure you do so with precautions.

Primary account with one banking group
Secondary account with another banking group
Savings account with an ATM card with another banking group
A small amount of cash in a drawer, just in case
Credit cards with two different banking groups too

Oh, and some pasta, rice, beans, bottled water, tin of tuna in the cupboard and a loaf in the freezer.

Your bank systems can fail. The payments system can fail. ATM networks can crash. They usually recover.

boultdj

jk0 wrote: »

Last year I bought myself this plug in electricity meter:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Energenie-ENER007-Power-Meter/dp/B003ELLGDC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386003633&sr=8-1&keywords=electricity+meter

It has been very interesting to find out how much things are using when you don't think they should be using anything at all.

For example, my washing machine has a built in timer to allow use of Economy 7 cheap rate electricity. While the timer is set, the machine uses 5 watts. Next morning, if I don't switch it off, it continues to use 5 watts. I'd been leaving the yellow light on for years without concern that it was using that much.

Last night, I found out that the machine uses 0.6W from just being plugged in, and not even switched on! I know that doesn't sound a lot, but it's over 5 units a year wasted.

Another item which uses surprisingly little energy is my Panasonic bread maker. For the smallest loaf, it takes only 0.38 kWh. Amazing that it only uses the same as boiling the kettle a few times.

Yup,found the same thing, and it's quite intresting that it's called 'vampire electric', seam's it's being going on for year's.

mardatha

Weather warnings out of Scotland on Thurs, winds of 80-100mph snow and blizzards.

GreyQueen

mardatha wrote: »

Weather warnings out of Scotland on Thurs, winds of 80-100mph snow and blizzards.

I get the distinct impression you like a good blizzard, Mar. Atm, warm enough around here to wander around outside with just a light jacket on.

Although I may wear my "burglar hat" up to archery in case it's colder when I come back out again.

ETA; Here's a thing; http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-12-03/bail-ins-and-deposit-confiscation-confirmed-%E2%80%98future-banking-europe%E2%80%99-conferenc

Adding a new phrase to the vocabulary; I've been Cyprussed.

alfsmum

I enjoy a good blizzard myself - as long as we are snug at home with food and warmth watching the snow can be very soothing and I think it's the feeling that you can't go anywhere or do anything whatever the usual demands on you may be that is oddly satisfying and relaxing.

Not that we get nearly as many blizzards as Mar.....:snow_laug:snow_laug

But we have plenty of emergency chocolate just in case

alfsmum

Hope you enjoyed your lunch GQ