Preparedness for when

fuddle

Absolutely Lyn. If we think and have a positive frame of mind we can survive so much. Even if we have an accumulation of things to help us or strategies in place that feel fool proof, they will be no use whatsoever if there's no positive gusto to enable us to think and do.

I think that is the core to survival in any part of the world and in any given situation and prepping is all about survival in my eyes, whatever that survival situation may be.

kezlou

Of course prepping is not just about physical objectsb which is why I set my post post out in stages.

Stage four is all about the nature and environment around us. Its not just about foraging and knowing where to look for food.
It is also about caring for our environment, knowing how our soil when's, boosting and protecting our natural resources.


In our home we already know how to build shelters in fact we do it a lot with our children. Its fun for them and a good use of skills. We recycle everything we possibly can. Fuddle and Lynn you mention knowledge but do you practice it? If the shtf tomorrow would you know how to start a fire and build a dry shelter? My children and partner would from nothing. I know they could survive and together as a group. My partner knows how to fish, hunt etc comes from growing up in the countryside.

I on the understand gain knowledge and put into practice the gains of growing our own food, understanding how to place nitrogen into the soil in a safe organic way.

But we live in unstable times and as previous said by others a lot of us are living hand to month. So the only way we can prep is little by little. Whether it be by learning how to cook home made meals, building solar panels or figuring out how the ph of soil by using libraries and natural resources.

But many of us don't have the option of bankruptcy and instead struggle on with our lives.
Debt for some doesn't dominate they lives instead its normality. For others it takes over, positive thinking won't get you everywhere, its just means you don't see the wood for the trees.


Good shooting GQ, ds1 has a crossbow, he's desperate to his granddad's garden and shoot the trees.

Frugalsod

Knowledge is what I would call a no cost prep. In terms of overall planning things that cost nothing or very little can be done no matter what your circumstances. I do think old school skills are excellent ways to prep. My next plans are to learn how to make Apple cider vinegar and even malt vinegar, especially as I use it for most of my cleaning. It might not be cost effective to make my own malt vinegar but it is much cheaper to make my own Apple cider vinegar which has loads of old school uses.

Though there are many who are unable to make such transitions such as the elderly or mentally handicapped, as learning something very different can be hard or impossible. So having extra food stocks which costs money is a viable option for them.

For some people prepping includes 2 years food supplies and enough firepower to fight off the hoards. Most of us live in cities and urban areas, so woodland bushcraft skills are not easy to train for and are pretty irrelevant most of the time. Also if people had to move into the countryside to live off the land there are so many of us that the wildlife would collapse and the forests would be chopped down to make shelters and fires. It would only be a matter of weeks before they all starved unless they all moved on somewhere else.

We also need to be aware of what really are the real risks in our lives. Unemployment, homelessness, a fire at home, a death in the family, disability within the family, both personal and national financial crises are all much more prevalent and real than the coming zombie apocalypse. Also an end of rule of law is possible but even then most people will act equitably towards others.

So having some savings will allow you to walk away from that bad job or to hold out for that really good job. It will allow you to pay for that funeral without panicking. It will allow you to rent a place should your home get flooded and the insurance is umming and ahhing about who is liable. It will also help if you need to stay in hotel near a new job, until you can rent or buy somewhere nearby. If you have a family crisis it will allow to take time off work to deal with it, and sometimes only money will solve it. It will allow you to bulk buy and make some more savings on things that you buy and use regularly. So for me cutting my clearing my debt and so my costs of living give me that scope.

As for buying things to prep with, my priority is for things that have dual uses. Principally camping equipment. If there is a power cut I could still cook on a camping gas stove or light the home with lanterns. If there is a fuel crisis i could cycle to work. If there was a flood in my area I could abandon home and camp on some hillside nearby really quickly. If a family member was ill I could prepare an emergency bag to take to the hospital with essentials for them. If the heating failed during a cold winter the sleeping bags could be used in bed. They will be useful if family members are without such things. During the three day week my parents lent my aunt a camping gas stove as they were all electric.

If things are not so bad then I can still go camping, meaning cheap holidays.

So by clearing debts you can give yourself a lot more scope than some to cope with any such changes. Woodland skills are useful in some circumstances. And in every crisis essential items rocket in price.

moneyistooshorttomention

Prepping takes many forms FrugalSod indeed.

Even at a very "everyday" level, part of my definition of prepping (now that I've moved to a more rural area) consists of never going out without the phone number of "my" taxi firm/my mobile phone (as usual) and enough cash around to cover the cost of a longish taxi journey just in case.....

Being in an area where hourly bus services are thought "good" and there are virtually non-existent evening and Sunday services then my everyday prepping plans centre round what to do if caught out in the middle of nowhere or even in the nearest bigger town (but the buses have stopped for the day). Cue plans for getting back from nearest bigger town if I miss the incredibly early "last bus" focus round catching a later one that leaves (grotty) Bigger Town and getting to Nicer Place half way to my destination and catching a taxi from there and having a couple of b & bs in mind if need be. Just reminded myself in the process that I need to work out the same "Whats the nearest to Here place buses will get me to after Last Bus and then some b & bs I could stay in there" scenario from Nicer Bigger Town I also visit.

See...prepping happens at all levels and this is one personal little bit of prepping now that the buses don't go on until after I've ever gone to bed of a night-time courtesy of having moved.

Another bit of personal level prepping (learnt from experience) is that its possible to ring for a take-away in emergency...but I wont like the one I'll get...and so I must always keep a stock of food in that its possible to eat cold if need be.

So there is a level of prepping at a very everyday standpoint that's necessary for those who've moved from cities to "somewhere more rural". My prepping (beyond the financial and being stocked-up one) back before consisted of "Its a city...so I can always get whatever wherever without too much problem"...ahem. For instance, a powercut in my immediate area translated into "Plenty of places a walking distance away that I can go to for food and/or entertainment until they've dealt with it". Not the case anymore....

GreyQueen

Frugalsod wrote: »

And in every crisis essential items rocket in price.

Unfortunately, there are always some people who have control of what suddenly become scarce and in-demand resources who take to price-gouging. Candles in the 1970s powercuts, as just one example. Which also happened in superstorm Sandy in NYC and environs the other year.

Also, a very common thing for many people to do in a crisis is to panic, and effectively cause shortages by swooping on all available examples of whatever item is needed. I can recall shopping in the 1970s with Mum and being very struck with supermarket hysteria; there was one lady whose trolley was piled high with kilo bags of sugar. And I do mean piled; trolley was full and heaped up a foot above the rim. Whatever she thought she needed all that for, I cannot imagine, she was probably using it up into the new millenium.:)

For those of us who have sufficient funds and space to store supplies, having a rotating inventory of consumables would prevent us running to the stores and stripping them in a crisis.

Also, in a protracted time of unrest, it would be better not to be exposed to panicking crowds and to stay off the roads if possible.

Given the size of the UK and the numbers of us living here, it would be absolute lunacy for most of us to even think about heading for the hills. I genuinely think I'd only leave a built-up environment for compelling reasons, such as rampaging gangs of murdering looters, total loss of water supply or outbreak of highly-contagious disease (the second would be involved in the third, of course).

And if the S does HTF, such authorities which exist will priotise getting resources back to cities and towns (electricity, water, policing) long before they consider the needs of villagers and those in isolated hamlets.

In my Nan's village, 48 hr powercuts aren't at all uncommon. In the city, the longest one I've experienced was 2 hours. Plus, our electricity cabling is mostly buried, and in the countryside, it's strung on poles and vulnerable to storm damage.

fuddle

Bankruptcy as an option? Nobody chooses bankruptcy. A judge will not use the law if there are no grounds to do so. Bankruptcy is never a choice.

I disagree with your comment Kezlou about positive thinking not enabling you to see the wood for the trees. I feel a positive mind is a very insightful mind that does let you see everything around you. A negative mind is a harmful mind because it chooses despair, panic and inaction, in my experience.

My family are of the outdoors types and yes we have a lot of knowledge and a good skill set. You know all about DH's outdoor hunter gatherer exploits kezlou and for that reason I am going back to lurking on this super thread as you are goading me again. You will not do to me here what you did to me on tougher.

Frugalsod

fuddle wrote: »

Bankruptcy as an option? Nobody chooses bankruptcy. A judge will not use the law if there are no grounds to do so. Bankruptcy is never a choice.

Agreed. A judge will only allow someone to declare themselves bankrupt if there is no alternative. Though there are other ways to reduce some of the debts legally.

fuddle wrote: »

I disagree with your comment Kezlou about positive thinking not enabling you to see the wood for the trees. I feel a positive mind is a very insightful mind that does let you see everything around you. A negative mind is a harmful mind because it chooses despair, panic and inaction, in my experience.

I agree, I do not think that positive thinking does block out seeing the wood for the trees. I would regard myself as optimistic even though I see really serious financial problems ahead. It is because I know that there are ways that we can minimise the personal impact on ourselves, that I am hopeful, that is my prime objective right now. Maybe its because I can see the wood from the trees that I am positive? I can see the path through the wood.

Maybe because some people see despair that they mentally block out the reality because they do not like what they see? We can be all too influenced by our existing biases.

fuddle wrote: »

My family are of the outdoors types and yes we have a lot of knowledge and a good skill set. You know all about DH's outdoor hunter gatherer exploits kezlou and for that reason I am going back to lurking on this super thread as you are goading me again. You will not do to me here what you did to me on tougher.

I am envious of such skills but we all have different skills that are relevant. In an emergency I would still struggle to kill anything but I know someone who can. In return I would have camping equipment and the skills to use it to offer in exchange. Collectively we are better together even if we are not related. That is my escape to the hills plan.

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

Unfortunately, there are always some people who have control of what suddenly become scarce and in-demand resources who take to price-gouging. Candles in the 1970s powercuts, as just one example. Which also happened in superstorm Sandy in NYC and environs the other year.

Also, a very common thing for many people to do in a crisis is to panic, and effectively cause shortages by swooping on all available examples of whatever item is needed. I can recall shopping in the 1970s with Mum and being very struck with supermarket hysteria; there was one lady whose trolley was piled high with kilo bags of sugar. And I do mean piled; trolley was full and heaped up a foot above the rim. Whatever she thought she needed all that for, I cannot imagine, she was probably using it up into the new millenium.:)

That might have been my gran with the sugar. In the seventies there was a sugar shortage one year. She was organised and bought two tonnes (yes Tonnes) of sugar cubes. The family had a hotel at the time and we were the only hotel that had sugar for miles around. People would flock to the hotel for cups of tea with sugar. My gran would go around the tables every sitting and top up the sugar cubes and count them. In the end the crisis was averted but it took us three years to use up all that sugar.

Though in general prepping allows those of us with forethought to avoid getting gouged. If a crisis were to hit tomorrow the only thing I would get is my usual 4 pints of milk, and possibly some eggs. No more than that. Panic buying is for non-preppers.

Doveling

Sorry for your loss Thriftwizard, even when elderly and expected it is still painful. How wonderful that you've had all your bases covered so that your household wasn't impacted on too much.

I often wonder what people are like in RL. Maybe that's why I use a lot of smilies because you can't see me laughing and waving my arms about as I do when speaking .

Just over six months since we lost our dog and after the "Never again" I'm starting to get the "Well, possibly" twitches. I have been looking at banned websites. (Labrador rescue :rotfl:)
I am now walking reasonably well with just one stick so could perhaps manage an older dog that just wants a fireside.
I think , for me, a dog is part of prepping. A security thing obviously

Hope you're doing ok Kittie.

kezlou

I wasn't trying to goad or upset anyone or make it personal in anyway shape or form.

I was simply trying to show an example of using knowledge such as building a den and turning into something fun. So for example purifying water, I know theoretically how to do it. But haven't yet put it into practice. So we literally would be knackered as I haven't practised it.


Especially in my own personal case, two children, both in the autistic spectrum one who badly needed medication and cannot cope with change. So if we were going to get up and go it would be a major operation.

In all reality if the shtf here I.e nuclear wise we wouldn't last five minutes. We quite literally live in centre of industrial heaven.
Same as GQ I would stay at home with plenty of stores, much more likely to be measures put in place in terms of power cuts, spare medication, food and water supplies. Or if need be head closer to the beach as then ds2 and myself would have a greater chance of surviving less allergies and more chance of being seen.


I remember during the snow here a few year ago it was mental all bread and fresh food disappeared. No beans, rtins literally stripped, no sugar, I only wanted to make semolina lol it was shocking how quickly everything turned.

I read about pH in soil and things just simply because I'm interested in that kind of thing. I don't know every thing in the slightest and to be honest the technical biology and chemistry I don't understand. My eldest child can do he explains to me. Yep he read and understand physics at university level but doesn't understand you have to put washing up liquid in the sink with hot water to clean pots up. He honestly thought washing up liquid came mixed in with hot water and couldn't understand why they were no bubbles. Genius no common sense.