Preparedness for when

ivyleaf

Thanks for your posts, Doveling, thriftwizard and elona - I can only agree with you! All we can do really is try to "Keep calm and carry on".

Lovely to see you back Butterfly Brain, but so sorry you've been having such a difficult time ((HUGS))

Frugalsod

Like everyone else I am fearful of the future. I wonder how long it will take before things are harder to hide like more homelessness and more people becoming dependent on food banks. Steve Keen the economist did say that now that the Tories are in power alone it will allow us all to see how bad their policies really are. In the past when Thatcher tried austerity it failed and was only saved by a change of policy, a surge in bank lending and a war. Now they cannot rely on a surge in lending keeping people happy as most are too indebted to start with. A change in policy would need to be dramatic as well.

Doveling

I suppose people's definition of "comfortable" is also very individual. I take it to mean not having to worry about everyday life and living.

Our car is ten years old but we have good bikes. Holidays are camping or Youth hostelling because that is what we enjoy.
I am not high maintenance re: clothes, hair etc.
(Note I didn't mention shoes and handbags there :rotfl:)

We have downsized already and have nearly finished making the house to our liking (and cost effective) while we have funds available. I would like a greenhouse and a shed large enough to use as a workshop (I like to repair and restore furniture) these things will be the icing on my cake.

But I would like everyone to wake up in the morning and think

"Oh, good another day" not "Oh, God, another day"

Most people wouldn't need loads of cash for that.
I wish I could make it happen.

nuatha

Doveling wrote: »

Have a few of us been stunned into silence?

I'm around though somewhat distracted by Real LifeTM at the moment.

We are "comfortable" and with the help of this site I am trying to make sure that we stay that way.
But I have been on the "other side of the fence" when I was younger . Maybe you know the scenario, looking in every pocket and down the sides of the sofa to make up the price of a loaf with loose change.

Been there and hoping not to return in that direction - though one never knows.
I've just finished my books for the year ending April - I've actually earned less money than any year in the last 25. I cut back on contracts when Herself became ill, had some health issues myself at the beginning of the year all of which means the reserves took a hiding and rebuilding them will take far longer than I'd wish.
Aside from which there are too many variables to effectively plan ahead - we may need to sell our house and buy something more suitable for MiL to join us. My health isn't stable, work prospects look bleak - business aren't investing in IT at the moment.

Still, on the good news front, MiL took her first step on Sunday and yesterday managed 20, 10 days back we were wondering if she'd need to be in a care home for the rest of her life.

I hope the hound works out for you.

moneyistooshorttomention

I've been around - but a lot of the "electrics" in my house went down yesterday:(:mad::(. One electrician and some money I couldn't really afford thrown at it later and all is well (fingers crossed) and I've got a fully functional house again and am back on line. Part of the electrical problem meant my computer was unusable for the time being.

So - somewhat lighter of pocket - and Its All Working again....fingers crossed and doesn't wish to tempt fate...:cool:.

This is where I think "Just as well that part of my personal Preps. is the fact that the workmen round here have clearly sussed they get paid on the dot literally the second they've finished whatever-job-it-is and I've inspected it". They know very well that working for me means money coming in instantly and that's not an unattractive prospect....

Having had spells where I was even harder-up-than-now means I am well up on cash flow problems can cause unnecessary hassle/financial loss...so in an area like I'm now in I've got it figured out just how efficient the town grapevine is at letting them know who pays promptly and who gets chased/but never does pay.

Doveling

Nuatha - glad your MIL is doing well

MTSM - I have a list of good workmen which I guard closely:D

Just been reading BBC news online and seen the bit about "Scotland take us with you!"

I'm being pro-active here and sending my CV and applications in before the rest of the English get up there and take all the jobs

First application nearly finished.......
I'm applying to be a river gambler on the Ballachulish Ferry :rotfl:

GreyQueen

Very glad to hear that your MIL has been taking some steps, nuatha. May she improve steadily each day.

I've been (relatively) quiet as am 1.5 weeks into a terrible cold. It's getting a touch better each day but has really knocked the stuffing out of me, and I've done very little bar working the day job and the basics of housekeeping. Even my beloved archery has had to go [STRIKE]hang [/STRIKE] err, make that twang!

Today I put my meter readings in online and paid my bills. Leccy consumption is a shocking 45p per day and the gas cooker costs 11p per day, but I boil tea kettles and bake bread on that. Pretty pleased with the low usage (my heating and hot water are a fixed servuce charge paid monthly and not included in either of the above). They work out at £1.23 a day.

Have just finished re-reading Kunstler's The Long Emergency, which I commend to you if you haven't read it. Was published in 2006, so some matters have moved on since then, but he is bang on the money. He writes about how the different regions of the US will fare without cheap energy for moving water, providing heat and providing air-con, but even he hadn't grasped how bad the drought would effect the SW states. I wouldn't want to be sitting with my personal wealth tied up in Las Vegas real estate, for example.

Although I detest the conservatives to the very marrow of my being, I can't feel but a certain satisfaction that they will be stuck with the consequences of their policies for the next five years, and won't get a chance to sit on the sidelines carping that it would have been better if they'd stayed in power. Unfortunately, we can't isolate them in a petri dish and allow them to proliferate as an experiment; they're doing this in real time, with the rest of us.

The universal credit roll-out starts this November, phased in with the under 25s as the first group. Wherever it was trialled, it caused social housing rent arrears to go up nine-fold. It's expected to be a horror of debt, homelessness and despair. My lot are braced for disaster.

The social security network has been deliberately frayed these past thirty years, in tandem with working conditions and real pay rates becoming ever more parlous. I reckon that anyone who is of working age needs to make careful estimation of the risks of job loss/ pay cuts, and have as much banked in cash and grub as possible to tide them over hard times.:(

jk0

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've been around - but a lot of the "electrics" in my house went down yesterday:(:mad::(. One electrician and some money I couldn't really afford thrown at it later and all is well (fingers crossed) and I've got a fully functional house again and am back on line. Part of the electrical problem meant my computer was unusable for the time being.

So - somewhat lighter of pocket - and Its All Working again....fingers crossed and doesn't wish to tempt fate...:cool:.

This is where I think "Just as well that part of my personal Preps. is the fact that the workmen round here have clearly sussed they get paid on the dot literally the second they've finished whatever-job-it-is and I've inspected it". They know very well that working for me means money coming in instantly and that's not an unattractive prospect....

Having had spells where I was even harder-up-than-now means I am well up on cash flow problems can cause unnecessary hassle/financial loss...so in an area like I'm now in I've got it figured out just how efficient the town grapevine is at letting them know who pays promptly and who gets chased/but never does pay.

Yeah. I quite agree that having tradesmen trust you is important. (Even more important if you're a landlord.)

A number of my tenants however call me out for the stupidest jobs. One recently was unable to reset the trip on his consumer unit. Give me strength!

In view of this, I think it pays to have a little basic electrical knowledge, and a test meter that you know how to use.

moneyistooshorttomention

Doveling wrote: »

Nuatha - glad your MIL is doing well

MTSM - I have a list of good workmen which I guard closely:D

Just been reading BBC news online and seen the bit about "Scotland take us with you!"

I'm being pro-active here and sending my CV and applications in before the rest of the English get up there and take all the jobs

First application nearly finished.......
I'm applying to be a river gambler on the Ballachulish Ferry :rotfl:

I wont take it personally:rotfl:

I've definitely learnt that here in Welsh Wales there is a difference of opinion between us yur English (ie that we've moved to elsewhere in the same country in our opinion) and many of the "locals" (ie who regard us as having moved to a different country).

It will come out in the wash one day as to which one of us is "correct" on that (ie we have moved to somewhere in the same country v. we've moved to a different country). Meanwhile = my head hurts sometimes......:cool: and there are many different "swings and roundabouts" on that particular front.

By now I've got used to the "It can take a good 10 minutes or so before daylight dawns" scenario sometimes when one of us uses one term to describe something (eg the Government) and the other one of us then realises they don't mean what we mean by it and then work out how to talk in terms we will both understand from there on in.....

moneyistooshorttomention

Re the "who to vote for" question still surfacing re that last General Election and I honestly think that many voters bore in mind what year it was and voted accordingly.

Many of us are nowhere remotely near Conservative (or anything like:eek:) but have seen no option but to make a one-off protest vote that we guessed/knew would possibly go in their favour. That being because we felt/feel so strongly "Britains borders HAVE to be closed - and I mean right NOW" that there was very little option as to how to vote - but that means in 2015 and in 2015 only.

By the time of the next Election - we anticipate those borders will be closed/glued-shut/..... and we can then return to voting as per normal (ie based on Britain only).

It does boil down to what we personally feel has to be the highest priority in that particular year and ...yep...I hold my hands up ...and I've had the comments in person (by fellow English people here....if not everyone else......) but I felt I had no option but to vote UKIP...but I honestly couldn't see any option but to vote that way and hope to vote more in accordance with other issues in subsequent Elections again (ie as per normal).

It did not sit well with me (as, by choice, I will vote Green Party)....but I saw it as a one-off vote for what I felt was THE most major issue we have....and then hopefully that will be resolved and we can all go back to normal.....

So...shoot me....but what else was there that many of us could honestly do (ie being 2015) .....Answers on a postcard as to "what the heck else could we do in the current circumstances?:cool:"