Preparedness for when

Karmacat

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Complete waste of time and energy.

Indeed, all you are doing by responding, is confirming the address is "live", which will just attract visits.

Your letterbox should be like a black hole, from which nothing ever escapes.

I've only been tv-free for just over a year, but they haven't sent me anything since I stopped the licence and informed them online once.

armyknife wrote: »

:hmm:

I think arguments could be made that a bike is The MSE form of transport. :rotfl:

I agree :rotfl:

jk0 wrote: »

On the subject of banks, did anyone see this worrying story today?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11829581/Contactless-card-revolution-to-end-5-minimum-spend-in-shops-and-pubs.html

Good grief. They even come right out and say its more profitable than cash. They *don't* come right out and say it will help their leverage situation :eek:

fuddle

Contactless. People with poor credit ratings have difficulty accessing the contact card. It seems contactless cards take payment immediately at the terminal without checking if there is enough money available.

Now given my history (which is now over and I can choose to upgrade to a generic account with overdraft facility and pay a fee for benefits.. which I am not at all interested in) and that I have a basic account I can't get one of these cards. No overdraft, you see.

Interesting how this will play out. I haven't a clue about contactless and don't wish to find out.

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

On the subject of banks, did anyone see this worrying story today?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11829581/Contactless-card-revolution-to-end-5-minimum-spend-in-shops-and-pubs.html

It is by 2020, so they clearly expect no increase in interest rates before then.

thriftwizard

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

We would be OK to keep warm, as I have over 1000 vintage welsh blankets and hand made quilts. :cool:,

Nooooooo... I may just have gone green with envy!

jk0

Frugalsod wrote: »

It is by 2020, so they clearly expect no increase in interest rates before then.

I don't understand the connection Frugalsod. Can you explain?

[Deleted User]

My 99p shop was offering 3 x 170ml cans of evaporated milk for 99p, the 420ml can (the large one) was also 99p, the smaller ones are more use to us as just the two of us don't use up a whole large can at once, something to consider if the power is out. It's the alternative to UHT or dried milk and can be diluted with plain water to make something approaching ordinary milk. It is also (the full fat stuff) useable as baby milk for young children and as such might be worth having in your stores. The use by date will likely be longer than UHT!

fuddle

I learned something today Lyn thank you! On the prep list

ALIBOBSY

Frugalsod wrote: »

It looks like the water boiling for some will be over soon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-34082471

In laws in Preston no longer have to boil there water as of yesterday, but we are still on the boil list . Still got my filter now and it works quite quickly, was able to do a litre of water in about 5 mins or so.

If it all went off tomorrow I would be annoyed at losing my freezers contents but would eat what we could asap. Got tinned and dried food and at this time of year got quite alot of fresh veggies/fruit in the garden. Have a camping stove and some canisters, gas BBQ with a bottle, firepit in the garden, windup torches/lights/battery lights and a tilly lamp with parrafin, plus loads of candles and tealights. We have a windup/solar radio and are within walking distance of a clean river so with my newfilter could fill our 5b gallons storage unit with water from there or filter the stuff in our waterbutt for use.

On my preppy list are a solar panel and power charger unit for charging basic electrical items like mobiles/pads/laptops, a log burning stove, OH wants to get an air rifle again-he sold his when we needed the cash a few years ago-we know people with land where he could practice and even hunt rabbits etc. Also want a dehydrator for longer term storage and have been looking at the wonder bags to see if I could sew one myself.

Good idea to focus the mind but I honestly think it will be a long slow slide, with standards of living getting worse and worse. When petrol prices go up people cut usage and the same will happen with power we will be forced to use less and less power because of cost and availability so being ahead of the curve and having backups in place already will put you in a better position than the majority of people.

The absolute final backup for us is the friends with land who also are "prepper" types who have said if things got really bad we could all camp out at theirs and support each other through any really tough dangerous times.

TBH the idea that some have of packing up and wilderness living seems unreasonable and just not doable especially for families.

Ali x

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

I don't understand the connection Frugalsod. Can you explain?

Well if they want a cashless society so they can impose negative interest rates that clearly needs to be in place before they try that. If they tried negative interest rates ie you pay 1%or more just to keep your money in the bank then you will simply withdraw all your money. So they need to eradicate cash before they try negative interest rates. So add in falling wages (as a result of deflation) into a world with negative interest rates and you have a disaster waiting to happen.

As to rising interest rates that is never going to happen, unless they lose control of the situation. So assuming they manage to keep things stable they cannot raise them before then as the housing market would collapse.

The other things is that interest rates could rise beyond the scope of the central bank when those in the interbank market do not trust anyone else. They might simply ask for much higher rates of interest to compensate for the risk. This is basically a credit crunch. The same could also apply to bonds where buyers refuse to buy the bonds at the offered price. This just happened in Vietnam. So the central bank or any bond issuer will have to try again at a lower price or higher yield or effective interest rate. We are not yet there in many countries it will happen. There is simply too much debt about and those with money might think the risks of investing are too great so will simply hold cash instead.

[Deleted User]

I think being ahead of the game in all areas is a really good idea. Small things like food stores and water provision are quite easily achieved if you spread the cost and get a couple of items a week with the shop you normally do, buying in the best spec equipment and tools you can afford gives you another layer of prepping too. If you know you will be staying in your present property bigger things like being as insulated in all ways as you can, having the best double even triple glazing (they do this in scandinavia because of the extreme cold) you can afford if you need to replace windows, buying wool blankets and 15 tog down/feather quilts, having that wood burner installed, even and this is an extreme prep having a bore hole/ well dug to give you a water supply would be considered prepping. Make things like window quilts, draft excluders, warm rugs to keep your feet toasty, quilted wraps to snuggle into in the winter. Keep your maintanence up on your home, keep the fabric of the house in good repair and make sure your doors/windows are secure, we've just put a chain on the front door, not a failsafe but a little extra that might make a difference. Keep abreast of world happenings, I like to dip a toe online to check things like the latest status of bird flu, sars, mers etc. just to keep a finger on the pulse of the world could give you prior warning of problems. It sounds paranoid but I guess to come through events that would change society you'd need every tiny little bit of advantage you could possibly grab wouldn't you?