Preparedness for when

Frugalsod

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

...and does anyone have any thoughts on the recently-enacted thing whereby some people 55 plus age group can get at their pension lump sums now.

- Do you think many will?
- What do you think they will spend it on if they do (between subsidising generations above or beneath them OR buying some extra "bricks and mortar" OR they've already been subsidising other generations or been borrowing heavily just to "stay put" in position).

Thoughts?

The potential for there to be a mis-selling scandal a few years down the road is massive. Most people have a pension pot that is so small that it makes no sense buying an annuity. It might make better sense clearing any last debts and living on the state pension. Though I would get professional advice if in that position.

[Deleted User]

Does anyone else find themselves making mental notes as to what edibles and useful plants they are walking past when out and about, no matter where? I find myself looking at waste patches even in town and making salad??? I know I'm alternative but AM I ALONE??? I find it a useful tool to keep in mind what the actual growing plants look like during all four seasons, after all we can't guarantee that an emergency will occur in the middle of summer when there's a lot to use/eat that is easily accessible and easily harvested can we?

boultdj

Same here, Mrs L, it's how I found 2 apple and a pear tree, stuck in a traffic jam.

Frugalsod

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Does anyone else find themselves making mental notes as to what edibles and useful plants they are walking past when out and about, no matter where? I find myself looking at waste patches even in town and making salad??? I know I'm alternative but AM I ALONE??? I find it a useful tool to keep in mind what the actual growing plants look like during all four seasons, after all we can't guarantee that an emergency will occur in the middle of summer when there's a lot to use/eat that is easily accessible and easily harvested can we?

I think it all depends on your local circumstances. I do not live particularly close to the countryside and what is close is open meadow, with few hedgerows. Much of what might be edible will be in peoples gardens or allotments and "harvesting" those would be theft. If you have such resources locally it makes plenty of sense to make a note of its locations and abundance. What would be interesting to note is how much is harvested during a crisis. You might find that you will have a lot of competition for it or none at all.

[Deleted User]

I look everywhere, roadside verges, footpaths, council verges and motorway banks or railway verges when I'm travelling. There always seems to be something useful around, whether I can actually get to it though is another matter. In an emergency I doubt if the council will send someone to chase me away if I'm digging for ox eye daisy roots or pulling up cattail roots from a pond, they might even applaud the enterprise?

Karmacat

Yes, I do that - footpaths at the backs of houses, the grass verge that leads to the little nature reserve that surrounds a stream (and I *have* taken loads of fallen leaves from there, outside the reserve itself, to compost down into leaf mould).

ivyleaf

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

In an emergency I doubt if the council will send someone to chase me away if I'm digging for ox eye daisy roots or pulling up cattail roots from a pond, they might even applaud the enterprise?

I'm afraid they probably would around here, on grounds of Elf n Safety

Are oxeye daisy roots edible, then? I'd never have known!

[Deleted User]

They used to be a famine food in Spain apparently, they make a small starchy tuber, I've never tried them but it might be worth doing some research to see if they were worth growing in your garden, I know they have established very well in mine.

The kind of emergency that would have me contemplating actually eating them would probably mean Elf n Safety went out of the window along with civilisation as we know it though, not much else! Did you know you can actually eat young primrose leaves though? as in they are actually edible, I don't know how legal it is to actually pick them from the wild though, also violets but again I don't know how you stand legally in peace time!

Frugalsod

I do not know if any of you have seen this.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-09/bank-deposits-no-longer-guaranteed-austrian-government

It looks like the current state deposit protection has now been scrapped so this will hurt those with money in the banks during a run. Though considering that the deposit protection fund quoted is completely inadequate then there will be significant losses for bank depositors when there is a bank failure. These losses could be even more significant if there is a series of bank runs which is now much more likely.

Obviously this example is for Austria, but I do not think things are any better here. So it might be better to keep your money out of the banks rather than risk losing it. The real risk will be if you have debts as well. If you had £1001 in a current account and £1000 of debts. They could treat them separately and so you could lose 100% of your current account and then they would immediately chase you for the £1000 debt outstanding. Leaving you £1000 worse off.

Though if you paid off the debt in full leaving you with just a £1 left, when they raid the accounts you might have a loss of £1 or 100% of your current account, but there would be no debt for them to chase.

It also changes depending on what the level of protection is.

thriftwizard

I do that too, not just in the surrounding countryside, which is a veritable larder that we don't seem to have much competition for most of the time (blackberries excepted) but also in & around town. It's astonishing how many people have no idea that they can eat the fruit that grows in their gardens, until I knock on their door & offer to make jam from it! They even take boxes of apples & pears & nuts to the tip, saying they don't know whether they're an edible variety...

There are a few other foragers around; it's a small town & most of us know each other, and will even (cagily) share good tips & sometimes tools too. That's how I know about the best green crab apple, the walnut and the red cooking apple behind our local ancient monument. We have united to defend a couple of apple trees that were threatened by developments, too, and often talk to the chaps & chapesses in charge of these affairs on the ground - site managers & the like. They're usually very helpful once they realise that they're not just random landscape features!