Preparedness for when

nuatha

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

I've been reading the posts about where to keep cash with interest. If we really believe that property and stocks etc are so massively overvalued (and likely to crash, which doesn't necessarily follow) the only sensible option is to invest in hard assets. Gold is traditional, although also overvalued at the moment IMO, so I think the best investments are likely to be in tools and equipment to improve life in a difficult world. Maybe we could get a deal on a bulk pitchfork order

It may well be my contrary nature, but I disagree with the idea that the only sensible option is to invest in hard assets. I do know people who have fled disasters (both natural and man-made) who have thrived in their new country due to arriving with a substantial value in gold and jewels, so can't discount these as useful in a SHTF scenario. However I regard the best possible investments to be in soft assets, particularly knowledge and skills. The tools to support them are important in order to practise them, but most tools can be replicated or replaced if you can't take them with you if disaster strikes.

Ryanna2599 wrote: »

We're also trying to invest in the house (getting it reroofed with extra insulation) and buying useful things to help in the future, such as a dehydrator at the end of last year... I don't see how else to invest our meagre savings at the time being and as for pensions I've got many years before I become eligible (if that ever happens).

To me this is the other principal area of investment. The conventional wisdom is that you buy a "Starter Home" after a few years buy small family home then a larger family home eventually down sizing into a retirement bungalow. Each of these moves can cost thousands in removal and legal expenses as well as extending the time period that you're paying a mortgage. If its at all possible skip a few rungs on the ladder.
Invest in the skills to maintain and improve it - where possible, and where it isn't, get trades who will let you observe and explain what they are doing.

siegemode wrote: »

As we are struggling to fit all my requirements:odreams perhaps we need to look at installing a woodburner. With this in mind are there any considerations we should be aware of or restrictions, costs, pitfalls etc.

OH is starting to get a tad frustrated as I turn everything he finds down due to the kitchen being too small or badly laid out along with the lack of independant heating etc.

OH wants to get on with it and move, me however wants to wait for the perfect place which I am convinced is out there and will present when the time is right.

There are things you can change and things you can't.
It might seem obvious to say that you can't add a decent size garden or substantially increase the size of the house but these are things I've know people buy without considering (Friends are moaning they bought a two bedroom house with a postage stamp lawn but want a larger house and a decent garden)
However there are a lot of things you can change, even swapping room functions around - though this can be costly.

My wants list from 10 years ago when we bought this house, Garden, not rear yard for fruit growing.
Either garage or dining room for woodwork/craft space. (preference for both)
Three bedrooms - one for us, 1 as an office (a substantial part of my work was from home) 1 guest room - regularly had friends using us as a base when back in country.
Kitchen, largish, with a lot of usable workbench.
Real chimney

I didn't get the dining room (did get the garage) as to get the kitchen size the dining room had been knocked through.
I didn't consider (or check at the time) this place has concrete floors, which makes a substantial alternation to the kitchen very expensive. Later this year I hope to rearrange the kitchen, a job that was on the cards before we bought it, but knew we could put up with and alter in due course. The last of the original decor will go at this time.

We could have bought our dream home, every box ticked and decorated to our tastes - presuming we had an unlimited budget and plenty of time to wait, or we could buy a shell and make our dream home from it. The reality being somewhere between the two, it ticked all the boxes on our must list (it still does though our lives have changed fairly substantially in ten years) and we've worked to make it what we've wanted.

Partly it depends on your ability to live in chaos while you do work - or if you have sufficient surplus (or a small mortgage?) get the substantial work done before you move in.

Work out your musts, and which of those can't be changed and which merely take some time and money to correct.

I hope some of this makes sense.

Frugalsod

What you have really selected are things that give flexibility to adapt. Gold and silver in case you have to move. Though never underestimate how much everything costs when you are on the run. There will be traffickers who will do what they can to strip you off all you have to get you to safety. Even basics will cost more as people panic, you certainly will not be able to bulk buy and batch cook efficiently on the move.

Soft skills are very good in terms of flexibility as they give you idea of how to cope without the tools and what you need that can do just as well. Though going into debt to acquire these skills might actually be a problem.

The house you described also fits that option, either room for working or crafts. A garden that can provide food etc. Lots of options with the house you described. The problem is that many people living in flats or whose scope is restricted by benefits and housing benefit cannot live in a home that has the extra space for flexibility, or lack the resources to do many of these things. And in landlords restrictions and you have even less scope.

Even keeping too much money in the bank as a safety net is not allowed by benefit regulations. Also many are resource constrained by low pay or existing debts to prep for these things. Home ownership at any level is now probably off the table for most of the children of baby boomers (except via inheritance) and renting is the only option for them and renting a home limits their options. Debts and a lack of disposable income severely limit peoples options.

I wonder how many people have made adequate plans for their future based on them working until retirement age only to have these plans upset by unemployment in their late 50's when they come into contact with the benefits agency.

Even keeping too much money in the bank as a safety net is not allowed by benefit regulations. I wonder how many people have made adequate plans for their future based on them working until retirement age only to have these plans upset by unemployment in their late 50's when they come into contact with the benefits agency.

Also many are resource constrained by low pay to prep for these things. Home ownership at any level is now probably off the table for most of the children of baby boomers and renting is the only option for them and renting a home limits their options. Debts and a lack of disposable income severely limit peoples options.

[Deleted User]

Prepping is as much about mindset and looking for solutions as it is about having things. You could live in a bedsit and still be prepared for the unexpected, I know I did!!!

sb44

I read that a big part of preparing for a big SHTF scenario is storing lots of food.

You have no food but have gold and silver, so plan to barter.

Someone has food (which is very scarce), they can't eat gold or silver so why should they risk the possibility of running short of food for a bit of precious metal, greed in some maybe, but would you risk the chance of your children starving for it.

You can have all the gold in the world but if there is no food source to swap it for you are stuffed!

Stock up on veg and flower seeds (to attract pollinators to your veg), so that you can at least grow something to eat, even if you only have patio pots to grow it in.

BettiePage

Kittie and Twiglet, I am sorry for your losses.

We too had an unexpected death in the family last week. Our SHTF preps helped us in that we had spare cash, a grab bag and a full tank of petrol to get across the country to the hospital before they died. We also had food in the cupbards for when we got back and were too tired and upset to go shopping.

Frugalsod

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Prepping is as much about mindset and looking for solutions as it is about having things. You could live in a bedsit and still be prepared for the unexpected, I know I did!!!

Yes but your options are limited. You might struggle to keep lots of food, but it does have some advantages in that you have to really prioritise for things that could happen to you. Stage one for all preppers should be clearing debt. That limits your options for flexibility. As you clear debts your minimum required income to cope drops and so if your income does fall then you can still have leeway. Once debt free you can apply anything over and above that to prepping or saving. In a deflationary world cash is as good as investment as any. Large food supplies will give you security in uncertain times, unless people know about it so making you a target. In volatile times it allows you to even out the price swings.

[Deleted User]

I had food enough for a month, a small amount of equipment i.e a decent penknife with tools, the camping stove, small tent, good tog sleeping bag, , enamel plates etc and billy cans and a water cannister, first aid kit and skills in my head and practical skills in my hands. In an emergency I'd have been able to grab it, put on my rucksack, waterproofs, walking boots and walk out to wherever I had to go, had all the necessities I would have needed to remove myself from the cause of danger, what more could I have needed?

fuddle

Whatever preps are in place won't ever be enough and won't ever be appropriate for any eventuality.

Some of us are trying very hard to just make it in this life. Some of us are trying to make do with what we have, trying to plan around what we have and what we are able to achieve. The clever of us know that best laid plans go awry and have to be adaptable and flexible. No amount of knowledge, no amount of possessions and no amount of sound life decisions will ever be enough because the nature of SHTF means that the rug will pulled and will be pulled fast.

A sound healthy mind is the only thing that will get you through in a SHTF situation in my opinion. Anything else you have is a bonus but never a guarantee of survival unscathed.

moneyistooshorttomention

I certainly agree with FrugalSod re one of the first and most basic bits of preparation is to get rid of debt (and mortgage).

I have certainly found personally it helped me to be a lot more "secure" in dealing with various scenarios I've encountered in the past.

Because I always saw being as clear of debt as possible and trying to have a bit of money to one side as essential it helped me to weather the "storms" of basically relying on an employer to provide my income. There was definitely an instance one time where I was in a period of unemployment and could see I was about to be offered a job that both looked like a possible potential health hazard AND the employer concerned was asking about my religious beliefs (or lack of) (ie a personal question that was none of his business!) and I could see the job looked a lot like potential trouble on two fronts. With that, I was able to deflect a possible job offer from being made on that job in the first place...because I wasn't desperate to have a salary coming in again the following month and could afford to hold out for a job without potential problems clearly visible.

That's just one instance. There have certainly been others where it was a very good idea to let an employer I actually had know they didn't have a way to make me "gasping desperate" to keep my salary coming in and had correspondingly less "hold" over me and had to treat me that bit better than they really wanted to:rotfl:.

Think its called "s*d off" money...always as well to have some if possible;)

fuddle

Ok, a basic preparation is to get rid of debt and mortgage. I don't have either.

What I do have is rent to pay and at 35 I am losing the ability to 'prep' for my retirement. I am looking to get mortgaged to the hilt to 'prep' for my elder years. I am behind everyone else. Time is of the essence and it's my bad for making poor life decisions but hey, face up, relearn, grow and do something about it! I am trying to.

I think the idea that the most basic and first bits of prepping is to rid of all debt including the mortgage is an ignorant view based on idealisms. It's not at all 'basic' in real terms. To prep for SHTF is much more about bread and butter than surplus money to buy people off. I think anyway.