Preparedness for when

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Don't know if this is a sign of what type of winter we are going to have. But I have seen loafs more squirrels scamperi g aroy d like headless chickens over the last week..

Also squirrels are well known for their nuts lol, but what do they eat apart from the nuts they have stolen from my cobnut trees???

fuddle

parsniphead wrote: »

I don't often comment on here but read regularly. I was born in 1970 and the mindset mentioned above is about as far off as it could be. I saw my parents struggle for many, many years and because of that I'm very frugal and very anti consumerist. We didn't get loads as children but I had a great childhood and couldn't have asked for better parents.

Like I said I was generalising and commenting on my experiences of upbringings of my own and others around me.

[Deleted User]

PARSNIPHEAD I think you are one of very few of your generation that actually do live a frugal life and from what you say always have. Your parents obviously set you an example to follow that made you the frugal person you are today. I don't know many people of your generation (I am assuming you are 30s?) who would have the strength of character to buck the 'spend, spend and then spend some more' normality and do their own thing, society doesn't treat those who are different kindly, peer groups are very judgemental and can apply severe pressure to ensure compliance with their creed, not always a comfortable place to be in life. There are quite a few of us on these OS threads who have either always been in the 'do your own lifestyle' category from necessity or from changes of circumstance or from choice and who have learned that 'have it all' comes with a very high price either from personal experience or by seeing peers, friends, relatives run into financial difficulties that are very hard to fix, or not fixable at all and having to see them face the consequences. Very sobering as an experience I think and would definitely make you a very different person with very different values in the aftermath. Problem is that most of those 1970s (and any other decade too) bright young things don't know how to get off the high life roundabout they are on currently and their debt will continue to spiral. The lucky ones if you like are the ones who did get off that ride by one means or another, face the consequences of their actions and then make that gigantic and daunting climb back to reality and frugal living, they are the ones to respect.

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

We used to have a door-to-door service for stolen supermarket goods, blinking numptie used to come to each flat with a couple of carrier bags of things like pkts of bacon, all in-date Tosspots stuff from up the road.

I went up to the store and had a quiet word with their management. The thief didn't live here but we knew his first name. The shop manager said they knew it went on and did their best to stop it, but lots of meat was being stolen. I later saw the thief reported in the paper for doing the same thing.

It annoys me because the cost of the stolen items, and the security measures, is passed across to the rest of us who don't steal and don't receive stolen goods.

I also think that the fact that food is more commonly stolen now is also a bad sign of poverty and financial struggles in the general population as a whole. The fact that hunger is now becoming a problem in the UK and will get worse as tax credits are cut might make the problem worse. There is the issue that more and more people will buy the food without asking questions, because they are struggling themselves. Many have not learnt frugal skills or deem it beneath them until things get so bad that they struggle significantly.

I remember watching I think it was Superscrimpers where a family were spending a fortune only on branded food. Yet switching to own brands and making from scratch made a significant dent in their outgoings, yet they were too proud to actually try alternatives before they appeared on the show.

[Deleted User]

Frugalsod wrote: »

I remember watching I think it was Superscrimpers where a family were spending a fortune only on branded food.

I know someone, who only buys top brand products.

Her husband tried to prove a point, by sneaking in a couple of alternate brand items, and, even though she ate them without question, and admitted she couldn't tell the difference, she still insists on buying the top branded product.

She also adamant, that she will never enter, let alone buy anything, from a £store.

GreyQueen

Marketeers laugh all the way to the bank when they successfully foster that kind of attitude.

I've worked on packing lines for a food business. All that changed between packing for different brands was the 'top web' - the heavy plastic film, on a roll, which was heat-sealed to the 'bottom web' (the film which was pressed into those little indents which hold the product itself). The top web was changed, the product was identical, but the top web held the branding for any number of different retailers, from cheap to prestigious. And the prices went up accordingly.

The woman thus described is a foolish galloping snob, who probably imagines that she is being classy. Rich people, the kind who own half the blinking county, don't play such games. Which is one of the ways that they get to stay rich.

sb44

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

ALI check ALL your other dry goods, if you've got pantry beetle in one thing you might have them in other open packets in store, I had this once and so has DD1 and we had to chuck out everything including dried fruit etc as the little blighters were EVERYWHERE, you might be lucky and have found the only thing but it's really worth checking or you'll have the devil of a job getting rid of them if they get a foothold! They were even in the chocolate!!!

Now that would be a SHTF moment!

Frugalsod

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I know someone, who only buys top brand products.

Her husband tried to prove a point, by sneaking in a couple of alternate brand items, and, even though she ate them without question, and admitted she couldn't tell the difference, she still insists on buying the top branded product.

She also adamant, that she will never enter, let alone buy anything, from a £store.

I was listening to Radio 4 a while back about supermarkets and she might actually be making a big mistake. The pound land chains are such big buyers of branded food that they are as competitive as any supermarket.

Own brand has improved so much that for many things even value versions are perfectly acceptable, and the price savings add up significantly.

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

Marketeers laugh all the way to the bank when they successfully foster that kind of attitude.

I've worked on packing lines for a food business. All that changed between packing for different brands was the 'top web' - the heavy plastic film, on a roll, which was heat-sealed to the 'bottom web' (the film which was pressed into those little indents which hold the product itself). The top web was changed, the product was identical, but the top web held the branding for any number of different retailers, from cheap to prestigious. And the prices went up accordingly.

The woman thus described is a foolish galloping snob, who probably imagines that she is being classy. Rich people, the kind who own half the blinking county, don't play such games. Which is one of the ways that they get to stay rich.

I was told that the value cornflakes were just the same as the regular but not large enough to appeal to the public as much. Though considering the price difference and 20 seconds of saturation under milk I doubt that I would be able to tell the difference.

Though there are signs of snobbery galore.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614554/The-town-thinks-posh-Lidl-100-people-Hertfordshire-town-Berkhamsted-sign-petition-opposing-plans-store.html

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm never quite sure how far products are going to be the same - whether with a budget, mid-market or top market label on personally. I know I've read that they are all the same before - but it certainly doesn't apply to all of them.

I'm thinking of T*sco downright watery cartons of orange juice, cans of Value baked beans (ditto watery and sort of "missing a bit" tastewise) and, if I were going to eat ham - then I'd want decent ham (and not thin rubbery virtually tasteless cheapest possible). Just thought of those cheap icecreams too - if I'm going to be treating myself to "what I didn't oughter" then there is a world of difference between the cheap ones and H*agen Daz for instance:EasterBun.

So there certainly are some "get what you pay for" products.