Preparedness for when

AnimalTribe

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I need a plan for my animals too, apart from making sure I have an ample supply of food ( can't buy/ store too much as mite is a big problem in stored animal feeds)
I need to seriously think what we would do in a very serious SHTF situation..

Long post about animal preps:

I too have a host of animals - cats, dogs, farm animals (as pets). If something really bad happened and I had to leave the area I'm not sure what I'd do either. However, as I live miles from anywhere, high up (no risk of flooding) and solid ground (no danger of collapse) I've concentrated on a back up plan for if something makes the house uninhabitable. Basically, I bought a 2nd hand caravan for £300 delivered. It's away from the house and should be OK if there was a fire or anything. It does double duty as a workroom, and stores some extra supplies, and gives me peace of mind that if anything happened I could stay on site and look after my menagerie, until I could work out a long term solution. As you say food storage for them is a problem because you can't keep stuff too long. I don't have a lot of land and growing stuff is a problem (harsh conditions and lots of things that like to nibble anything remotely green), but I have found that willow is usually left alone, so I'm busy planting double willow hedges (wind break and animal feed). Willow's easy to plant cut off a 3 foot twig, stick a 3rd in the ground and hey presto a new tree. I've also ordered 250 sugar beet seeds, and will give them a go. The other thing that I do is get a batch of antibiotics for animals come winter. We have an elderly cat that the vet will prescribe for on the understanding we call before we give them to any of the animals. In 2010 one of my cats died because we couldn't get to the vet. I don't know if having antibiotics would have helped but ever since I've made sure I have some in for winter just in case. It was awful, my husband tried to make it through the snow but the car just couldn't make it through the 6 foot drifts, and walking would have risked my husband's life. I don't think we can prep for every eventuality we just have to lessen the risks as much as we can.

I might have mentioned it already but every time I take an animal to the vet for their check up or treatment I ask the vet to scan their microchip to make sure they can read it. One of my dogs microchips had moved down her shoulder and it took 2 vets to find it, even knowing she had one. If she had been lost I doubt that anyone would have found the 'wayward' chip. The only solution was to implant a 2nd chip where it is expected to be.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Just taken quick look at my bank file - the bills come to around £280 per month (including a regular £10 to a credit union I belong to just in case) and NHS bills are about £90 pa for the dentist, plus any "bits and bobs" and new glasses I ever need.
Would be nice if it was less - but I don't think that's bad and taking absolutely everything into account I should think £320 per month would cover it.

Then there's food/social life (expenditure for a very minimal level of, say, £15 a week and occasional theatre/film are extra)/haircuts/cosmetics/cleaning materials.

So - pretty minimal and basic.

This morning has seen me making some laundry gloop again (in lieu of detergent) and making my own toothpaste (the "healthy" ones are rather expensive - so out with cheapie coconut oil, bicarb of soda, peppermint oil and a touch of stevia). Breakfast included (as usual) homemade bread with homemade bread spread on it. Lunch focusing today round carrot and lentil soup/homemade bread/homegrown apples.

Pretty cheap lifestyle I think..:)

You actual outgoings are £310 as you are paying forwardinto your credit union account



After this discussion...did make me think.. There are loafs of people for to live on jib seekers etc( or what ever it is called these days) If I was a single person on this, I think I would get approx £70 a week, out of this I would have to pay for everything except mortgage and council tax.. So does put things into perspective.. And appreciate what I/ we have ..as fuddle said. Some people how no choice, but to manage

greenbee

jk0 wrote: »

Flaming American dates, eh?

I am always having to check the dates of things twice on my computer. Why do they have to be different to everyone else?

There's actually an ISO standard (8610) format for dates: Year/month/date. But as I work with Americans I generally now write the name of the month just to be on the safe side...

Frugalsod

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

You actual outgoings are £310 as you are paying forwardinto your credit union account



After this discussion...did make me think.. There are loafs of people for to live on jib seekers etc( or what ever it is called these days) If I was a single person on this, I think I would get approx £70 a week, out of this I would have to pay for everything except mortgage and council tax.. So does put things into perspective.. And appreciate what I/ we have ..as fuddle said. Some people how no choice, but to manage

If you are on benefits even Council Tax now has to be paid so you need to add something for that, and mortgage allowance may not be paid for many months meaning you could end up in arrears very quickly. So any cash pile could be eroded very rapidly.

This is the reason I keep my basic living costs to what I would expect to have to live on should unemployment strike. This is probably the most likely problem for people to face. A recession is becoming increasingly likely and so an increase in some unemployment would naturally follow. This should be most peoples first priority. It would also increase the probability of a banking crisis, though I think that is certain just a matter of timing now.

Frugalsod

greenbee wrote: »

There's actually an ISO standard (8610) format for dates: Year/month/date. But as I work with Americans I generally now write the name of the month just to be on the safe side...

Yes always keep an eye on the date. Personally I would always use the month if Americans are involved. Not sure about Canada but better to use the month as well.

thriftwizard

Speaking of dreams, I woke up one morning last week exhausted after a dream of trying to persuade people in some kind of institution - academy? Hospital? - to move because it was about to flood; you could see the water rushing into the grounds and carving its way towards the buildings. But they wouldn't budge, except a couple who ran around like headless chickens; the "management" hadn't told them what to do & they clearly thought I was some kind of silly, panicky disruptive influence. But the management couldn't be found anywhere... then the water reached the double doors of the gym and burst through... I think I scrambled up to the roof, then woke up.

It was one of those dreams that stays with you and I was pondering what it might mean, knowing that dreams rarely "mean" what you think they do. Then I turned on the computer & read about the floods in France... bizarrely, a few years back, I had a very clear dream about trying to save someone in a shop from drowning. Got up that morning & heard about the tsunami in Japan...

moneyistooshorttomention

Frugalsod wrote: »

If you are on benefits even Council Tax now has to be paid so you need to add something for that, and mortgage allowance may not be paid for many months meaning you could end up in arrears very quickly. So any cash pile could be eroded very rapidly.

This is the reason I keep my basic living costs to what I would expect to have to live on should unemployment strike. This is probably the most likely problem for people to face. A recession is becoming increasingly likely and so an increase in some unemployment would naturally follow. This should be most peoples first priority. It would also increase the probability of a banking crisis, though I think that is certain just a matter of timing now.

I understood that local authorities have the discretion as to whether to expect even the unemployed to pay 10% of their Council Tax. So - as well to bargain on having to pay a portion of that bill too out of benefit if it comes to it.

My own personal take - on finding that, even at a very modest standard of living, that there would literally be no money left for food even (never mind social life, etc) is that its literally impossible to live on that level of income.

It would be my suspicion that, if anyone actually manages to do so, it would be by dint of missing out on paying vital bills (like insurance, dental costs, etc), going cold, living off savings, getting into debt, cadging off people, earning money on the side, etc. I literally don't see how it would be possible - even at the very very cheapest bare bones level otherwise - I know I couldn't manage it and think I would have had to do a combination of earning money on the side (though I don't agree with it) and running savings down until they were gone totally and then what...?

Frugalsod

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I understood that local authorities have the discretion as to whether to expect even the unemployed to pay 10% of their Council Tax. So - as well to bargain on having to pay a portion of that bill too out of benefit if it comes to it.

Yes but many councils have absolutely no discretion in terms of if they pass it on, or make additional cuts elsewhere, they have no slack in their budgets for such cuts so have to pass them on.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

My own personal take - on finding that, even at a very modest standard of living, that there would literally be no money left for food even (never mind social life, etc) is that its literally impossible to live on that level of income.

Yes but many people will only discover what they voted for once they lose their jobs. Yes it is nearly impossible to maintain any sense of what most call a normal life on benefits. Socialising is one of the first things to go.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

It would be my suspicion that, if anyone actually manages to do so, it would be by dint of missing out on paying vital bills (like insurance, dental costs, etc), going cold, living off savings, getting into debt, cadging off people, earning money on the side, etc. I literally don't see how it would be possible - even at the very very cheapest bare bones level otherwise - I know I couldn't manage it and think I would have had to do a combination of earning money on the side (though I don't agree with it) and running savings down until they were gone totally and then what...?

First of all most people have very little in the way of savings and what ever is in their current account would be gone within a month of losing a job anyway. Most are a pay cheque from disaster anyway. Even earning money on the side is hard because there are few cash jobs and the tax man would be watching such industries closely anyway. In addition it would be a criminal matter if you are getting benefits and not reporting it. That is why I manage my main expenses as if on benefits. The transition would not be so stark.

Also a good stash of food will help you transition as well. Cooking from scratch is the cheapest way of eating though you will have to abandon any fancy meal ideas.

fuddle

Socialising? It doesn't enter brain space at all when in a dire situation. Neither does eye tests, dental checks, house and pet ins, in fact anything that you can't eat, get warm, earn money or keep you from prison goes out the window. When you've been in that situation you get by day by day in deep deep panic over keeping the roof that is over your heads.

A stash of £500 isn't going to get you very far and neither is a store of food unless you are mentally strong enough to deal with what is about to come your way.

And I do take extreme exception at the suggestion that a normal life can't be maintained when in dire need. Life is tough in those times but life is normal for whatever situation you are in and you get through it. What you eat, where you go, what you buy, how you sleep, how warm your house is, how calm you can be, how much you cry, how sad you get, how frantic you become all changes... but life is normal and life you get on with cutting the cloth accordingly.

[Deleted User]

What a lot of pre cog dreams today, I wouldn't try to guess what it all means but if MAR is still knitting that ARK I'd suggest she pulls the digit out and knits faster!!!

Seriously though the news IS full on and worrysome at the moment so it's no wonder our dreams are disturbing and containing perhaps the things that are our biggest concern and the things that would give us the biggest headache if they really did happen. I think that all the worrying in the world won't change the course we're set on though and we'll have to just make sure we're ready for things we can feasibly get through and prepare for those things, anything too big is out of anyones control and you'd each have to play things according to the problem presenting to you individually. You can't prep for every thing you can envisage happening, so prep for those things you CAN do something about we'll worry about the others IF they happen, when they happen!