Preparedness for when

thriftwizard

You see a lot of good quality bedlinen going very cheap at the car boots in the summer. But sadly, a lot of it won't fit on modern beds; a 200cm bed is 6" longer than a 6' one, and mattresses tend to be a lot deeper nowadays. And yes, people can't be bothered with, or don't have time for, ironing, or starching, or hot washes. Or space to keep "best" linen that isn't in constant use.

However, a bit of ingenuity & craftiness can turn an old sheet into a quilt backing, or two of them into a duvet cover. Or use the good bits (usually the edges) of a damaged/stained one to extend the edges of a better one & make it big enough. One of my friends has even run elastic round the edges of the corners of one of hers & made it into a fitted sheet for her IKEA day-bed.

The best sheets I've ever bought new were from a wholesaler who sells to the big hotels round here. They were white Egyptian cotton, made to be boil-washed time after time, and have lasted through at least 15 years of big-family life & still look pretty much crisp & clean, though they feel much softer. But I went to invest in some more a few weeks ago, and sadly they don't do them any more, just the standard 50/50 polycotton ones. I didn't buy.

However, to up the stakes in the gadget, I do have an electric log splitter with a 7-tonne hydraulic press

I now have log-splitter envy... but nowhere to keep one! Down at the riverbank, if a big willow comes down (which they frequently do - doesn't kill the tree, it'll pop back up from the roots) the council workers come & cut it into sections which are free for us inhabitants to take away. I suppose that saves them paying someone to come & chip it & take it away! It's very damp down there; you wouldn't want to take a vehicle of any weight onto the mud, so anyone wishing to stock up has to take a barrow or shopping trolley down. Our pond is edged with willow logs, and there's a fair bit maturing gently in our woodshed. Thanks to the wandering nature of the river, trees come down every year & the debris has to be tidied away, so sometimes wood can be acquired for free here, although it'll have to be stored for a couple of years before it can be burnt.

Yet people do still rush out & buy logs, and sometimes they do have to take the chipper down there as not enough's been taken to clear the footpaths. But they can only do that after a few weeks of dry weather, so we do get a fair chance.

greenbee

Once I've split this lot and cleared my patio I'm going to be keeping an eye out for anything going free. Sometimes you see people offering stuff on freegle when they've had a tree felled. Most people forget that you need to plan a couple of years ahead. I had no wood of my own last year, despite having had half a dozen trees felled. This year a small amount of it is burnable, so I'm rationing it.

Having discovered I'm using less oil than I'd thought I might, now the watchman (despite it's unreliability) is installed I can at least keep the heating on and keep the firewood for powercuts. I've also been given a coal bunker with a kindling store for Christmas, so need to work out where it is going and construct it. I have lots of old fence panels that I use for kindling - two plastic dustbins full for this year, the rest stacked up - and it would be good to get it stored properly. I just need to save up to get the stove installed!

Most of my beds are non-standard sizes, as they're antique. Replacing the mattresses means either expensive bespoke ones, or ones that don't quite fit. I have a doesn't quite fit one that needs replacing shortly. I guess those are the kind of beds that I may well find old sheets for still.

calicocat

Depending on how high a thread count you want, TKMAXX have some nice ones in sometimes.....it might even have been someone on here that mentioned it first.

I managed to bag 2 covers, should have been 160 smackeroonies....i paid 55. I haven't tried them yet as they are part of my 'stash'....but I always open the package to feel test before I buy and they do seem to be good quality.

I'm just buying plain white for now, so no matter what colour scheme I have in the future they will go.

I'm figuring if I have around 24 sets....and change them every week to two weeks depending.....then they will only be used a few times a year.....so should last me until i'm dead.....:D.

Actually that's a bit OTT.....i don't need that many do i.....:rotfl: I think I can stop at 12 covers.

Frugalsod

Ryanna2599 wrote: »

I was curious reading your post Frugalsod - what are Wonderbags? I've since googled "Wonderbags" and they look perfect for times with little energy or even camping trips. Have you used yours in anger? Any idea what the difference between the different models are? Thanks

I have not used mine yet. I was missing a suitable stock pot and that has been ordered so I waiting for it to arrive. As I have given it some thought I have opted for a black stockpot so that it could be used in a solar oven if necessary as well. The only difference I can make out is the colour combos. If you are on a tight budget they can be made quite cheaply.

Frugalsod

kittie wrote: »

The thing that we really want to change one day is our ground level oven, what a stupid height for oldies or anyone with bad knees or backache

Have you considered a combination microwave? I have two identical ones and bake my bread in them. Being that they are on the work surface there is no bending over. If you can get as large as possible then you can cook most things in it. I do not bother with a turkey but do cook a turkey crown roast instead. You can cheat and cook a little faster and cook in combo mode, but even simple convection mode is enough for many meals.

nuatha

GreyQueen wrote: »

Some of the best linen purchased in recent years was Utility Brand plain white cotton sheets, so made either during or just after WW2, and had sat in their wrapper until turning up in a secondhand store in the Noughties. Lovely things, makes you realise how carp a lot of modern stuff is.

Its worth looking out for the CC41 label - the Utility Mark meant that the item met the governments austerity standards and may not be up to the usual standard from that company. Well I'd love to find pre CC41 examples as linens with that mark are among the best I've come across.

Have been hanging with a pal this afternoon and we went to buy a really big axe as a present for a rellie of hers who has just got a woodburner and wants to do Manly Things with a Big Chopper (see how I'm leaving an innuendo-opening there for Bedsit Bob to play with. )

Bob needs excuses to write innuendos about playing with big choppers?

They don't have axes on the shop floor. Mattocks and lump hammers with great big handles are OK but an axe is too dangerous.......hmm.

'Elf and stupidity strike again - mattocks obviously aren't dangerous and no one ever had the head broken by a lump hammer - it does surprise me what is considered safe to sell/display and what is restricted.

calicocat wrote: »

And was discussing furniture etc the other night. My sofas are new, so will last year's yet, but the plan for the next purchase will be ones that will hopefully see me through old age, and will be of a type to be useful for those years.

It surprises me what passes for quality in modern goods - I regularly see furniture still in use from the '70s and earlier but hear complaints that modern suites aren't fir for use after a few years.

If someone had told me a few years ago I would be planning like this I would have said they needed their head looking at.....:rotfl: but there is something very satisfying and secure about having a bit of a plan, and having things ready and in place. ...:)

Likewise, and it is satisfying.

Karmacat wrote: »

Very interesting discussion about money ... thing is, when its your pension savings, what do you do? I can't keep the money thats being put by for my pension in the house ... has anybody got any safeguards in place for that? **Are** there any?

Hope you're feeling well soon.
I've assumed my pension will fail - if I'm wrong, then its a bonus,(Both my state and previous employment pensions) the state pension from being pushed back until I'm unlikely to live long enough to collect it, the previous employment pension because it depends on the stock market system) I have some property that might yield a small income or some capital but largely expect to have to continue working to some extent to make ends meet, though I aim to be as self sufficient as possible.
Sorry that's not a particularly optimistic point of view.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

we get cc41 bedding and clothes in work, on the odd occasion, the quality is brilliant... towels too,


I just store them, and stroke them now and again.. lol...


but will use them one day...

nuatha

greenbee wrote: »

Hopefully they manage not to end up in A&E as a result... I'm currently chainsawing and splitting the last 1/3 of trees felled last year. I finally have my log store built (of pallets, I think GQ gave me the idea) It is 6 pallets long and half a pallet deep, so takes quite a lot of wood but I'm rapidly running out of space and may need to extend it. It's handy having separate sections created by each pallet, as it allows me to manage the seasoning process and use up the logs in the right order.

The case I was thinking of did end up in hospital (and then in police cells) having strenuously objected when the landowner and later the police prevented him from collecting his free firewood. Chainsaws are useful tools in the right hands and with proper protection, I do worry just how widely available they are and at the ability to buy and use them without training or safety equipment.

I'm debating getting a new axe, as my current one belonged to my grandfather. I can see where the head has been fixed, and it has a very heavy wooden handle. However, I've had it for years and know how to work with it. I borrowed my brother's flashy new one and couldn't even hit the log. However, to up the stakes in the gadget, I do have an electric log splitter with a 7-tonne hydraulic press

Show off
I tried using a modern fibreglass handled axe, the balance was right, but it didn't swing right or bite at the angle I was used to. Whereas I'm sure I could have earned a fair number of blisters learning to make it work for me, I gave it away and continue to the axe my muscles know (blisters earned when I was young enough to ignore them).

Frugalsod

How to tell when TPTB are idiots.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-21/two-months-after-saying-deflation-isnt-going-happen-ecb-warns-negative-inflation-com

What they all seem to miss is that when you squeeze living standards for the majority they cannot afford to sustain the asset bubbles that the government and central banks have so carefully created. Deflation is the consequence of a concentration of financial power. When the average person really has no leverage they have to cut back when their incomes are squeezed. It is a zero sum game.

GreyQueen

Yeah, the trouble with squeezing millions of the little people (and I am an economic titch myself) is that we start making different choices, and it's the thousands of millions of little everyday choices which millions of us make which shape this thing called the economy.

Let's use an example. Nearly three years ago, my existing couch, which wasn't new when I had it, and I'd had it 10 years, needed to be replaced because it was so worn-out that I could feel the wooden frame through the foam. Had costed up foam for refurbishment and it wasn't ecomomically viable.

I shopped around and got an as-new leather sofa, same design but different colour to the one I was replacing, for exactly one-tenth of the new price, from a charity shop. The new price for the same item would have been 1.5 months' salary, the used price was 0.15 % of a month's salary. And, of course, the tax man would have gouged 20% VAT of the new one's price.

Or I buy a litre of shampoo with plenty of change from £1 which will last me 6-8 months. I discover by downbranding that the cheap stuff is no less effective than the expensive stuff. Do I then go back to the more-expensive brand when my personal economy picks up a bit? I don't think so, but it hasn't picked up, so that's still to be discovered.

Or people decide that the car will have to do for another year or two, or they learn how to do home repairs, or cook at home from basic ingredients or to grow their own veg, to make do and mend.

Do those things suddenly become forgotten when it suits TPTB to have us all switch back into hyperconsumerism mode? I doubt it! They may well find that The New Austerity has unintended consequences.