Preparedness for when

nuatha

VJsmum wrote: »

An empty fabric softener bottle is an essential part of my Glastonbury preps - it goes with my she wee :rotfl: I only buy one bottle of softener a year - purely for that purpose. No of course I don't re use the old one, I'm not minging... :rotfl:

There's times when I'd really like a "Like" button on here, this being one of them.

[Deleted User]

Karmacat wrote: »

:rotfl: fabric softener bottle!

Yep, nothing else is suitable.

Us blokes need the large diameter neck, to enable us to fit in the bottle.

moneyistooshorttomention

fuddle wrote: »

You're so focused on avoiding come what may and I'm trying to deal with the fallout of something that has already hit and sensitive to the fact that my family are lucky. Many families aren't.

I agree with you about changing preps as we experience more and gain more insight. I have a plan in my mind of how I need to tweak.

But I can see where you are both coming from.

We each come from our own experience of life and, to a certain extent, upbringing.

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle of you and Frugalsod and fix very strong intentions on "How I have decided Life will be"...knowing it aint necessarily going to go according to plan. But.....planning means getting at least halfway there in my experience...

So - I'm fully with Frugalsod on Plan, Plan and then Plan some more. That's because my own personal experience of life is that if I hadn't made up my mind what I thought was fair to have and then planned and fought and planned and fought some more I know exactly where my life would be at right now. My own life would be that I was still renting somewhere and that somewhere would be in the private rented sector - and that is a place that I don't think represents good news these days (from all I read about short-term tenancies/fees/etc). I would be very unhealthy and fat and in constant pain from a variety of sources. I would have ricocheted between NMW jobs with antisocial hours and unemployment.

Deciding what is reasonable to expect and then planning and fighting for it has meant a good bit better life than that with a good bit better health than that (if still a work in progress on both fronts).

So - yep...I think one should take a good hard look at life/decide how it might go left to itself and then plan and plan and plan some more - and fight for it (if one must....sighs...).

FRUGAL SOD

I confess to not quite following your logic re changing banks later on. If you have decided the bank you are with now is a bit risky in the fairly short-term future - then why not just "cut and run" and dump them right away? I certainly wasn't going to hang around when the Co-op Bank started looking dicey - I just took off and dumped them rather than hang around and wait to see what happened to them one way or another. I haven't been following the latest news re them to know how they are doing these days, but I've lost nothing by doing so....so...

Frugalsod

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

So - I'm fully with Frugalsod on Plan, Plan and then Plan some more.

Planning is good but you need to maintain some flexibility in case things go against you. Flexibility is the safety net. Those that have allotments have much more flexibility to cope with food price changes. I may be wrong in respects to how things turn out or how fast but flexibility to change is good. Even changing ideas and maintaining flexibility to adapt is much more useful than rigidity.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

FRUGAL SOD

I confess to not quite following your logic re changing banks later on. If you have decided the bank you are with now is a bit risky in the fairly short-term future - then why not just "cut and run" and dump them right away? I certainly wasn't going to hang around when the Co-op Bank started looking dicey - I just took off and dumped them rather than hang around and wait to see what happened to them one way or another. I haven't been following the latest news re them to know how they are doing these days, but I've lost nothing by doing so....so...

The reason I am holding off on switching is that I still have a credit card balance with them and by maintaining an account with them I can do same day payments between bank and credit card if necessary. Once that debt is gone then I will be free to move everything.

greenbee

Frugalsod wrote: »

Planning is good but you need to maintain some flexibility in case things go against you. Flexibility is the safety net.

This is the key point. The world won't necessarily comply with your plans. If you're prepared to be flexible then you won't end up feeling disappointed or upset that life hasn't gone to plan.

I know fuddle has found life stressful recently, but her family's willingness to be flexible in terms of where they live has meant her DH has been able to hang on to his job when others may not have been able to. And hopefully the experience of these moves and living in different places will be an enriching experience (she's already learned how to live amongst southerners ) for her and her family.

Others may not have the flexibility to move in such situations (e.g. house ownership meaning they can't react so quickly), but may have the ability to change jobs or alter their lifestyle. In some cases one partner may work away during the week ... there are all sorts of options, but we have to be prepared to change our plans at short notice, and fuddle's experience is a great example to us of how that can be done. It's not ever likely to be stress-free, but I'm sure that being prepared, and understanding that nothing in life is certain, and being flexible has made it a lot easier for fuddle and her family than it might have been for others who haven't planned for insecurity of employment.

I know that I probably spend too much time working because I need to ensure that I'm in demand by clients in order to make sure that my employment is secure - I still have a lot of work to do on this house to make it habitable and/or saleable in the event of TSHTF.

On another note... I'm off to Canada next week. I need to get my packing done and be prepared for the cold. I have acquired thermals, a lovely sheepskin hat and mittens, some other thick gloves, and some warm jumpers. I just need to dig out my winter suits from wherever they are hiding... and will be spending the weekend working out how to pack enough clothes for 2 weeks (including gym kit and clothes for when I'm not working) into a relatively small suitcase (according to all the guides it is suitable for 4-6 days, but I'm sure they don't pack properly...)

spirit

calicocat wrote: »

Apparently, there has been a spate of people hacking into house ownership now it's all electronic and no longer on paper deeds. People have had their house effectively taken off them and it suddenly has someone else's name on the ownership. This is much harder to do if it still has a mortgage attached to it. So anothe reason I thought I would hang onto it a bit longer.

Delurking to say hello but also to let you know that you can register your property and get alerts if anyone tries to claim an interest in your house. I have registered my last 2 houses and have (luckily) never been alerted to anyone trying to fraudulently claim it as theirs.


https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/

GreyQueen

I've been a adult whose entire wealth has been a tenner, and who has no assets. Being very skint is absolutely paralysing, as every little hiccup becomes a disaster. It's part of the reason I like to be prepared as much as possible now, so I can avoid such uncomfortable emotions in the future.

We're all at different places in our lives, different ages, incomes, with/ without dependants. My worries are commonplace to the middle-aged; aging parents, own health a bit rocky, wages not keeping up with inflation. I am concerned for one dear friend who is heavily-indebted and a short step from disaster. Another dear friend is facing redundancy from the secure civil service job he's held for all his adult life. I don't think he has a clue how brutal the job market is, and I worry about his well-being, both mental and economic, when the S hits later this year.

Just about everything which concerns me most is beyond my power to affect. I have to get on with it as best I can, which is all most of us can ever expect to do.

fuddle, my heart goes out to you and your family, with so many upheavals in recent years. It was once the absolute norm for ordinary people raising children to be totally skint, things got easier for a couple of decades, now it's back to being harder again. Your children will be fine, they have a loving and sensible set of parents, and no amount of money in the bank or owner-occupation will ever make up for a child not having a loving family background.

Try to cut yourself some slack and enjoy the little moments together as a family, without obsessing over the big picture.

pollyanna_26

GQ - A lovely sensible post .
FUDDLE - I echo all GQ has said to you . You have the will and gumption and all the love to give your family . You can't be better prepared than that .Take care .
polly x

mardatha

I think too GQ, that younger people have brought up in a more affluent age which to them is the norm, but to anybody over 45-ish it's not. I remember too well when everybody went hungry on fridays waiting for the pay packet to come home with the husband.. eating HM soup and cheap bread and plates of custard because there was nothing else in the house. Having to go round neighbours to find one who had a shilling to lend cos the meter had gone out, and borrowing cups of sugar and an oxo cube.
That was the norm, and that was among decent hard working people who all had jobs. But no such thing as housing benefit or tax credits.
Now everybody expects -and has- everything right now.. Nobody's fault, just how life is now - but when you're used to that then it's harder when it stops. SHTF for me is me or the RV having a stroke or horrible illness, but SHTF for some of my family is the hair straighteners not working. lol SHTF is relative eh

craigywv

hi ,ok I said a few days ago fridge freezer broke and some kind peeps told me on here think its JKO to get ice packs,well I did ask in my work and we do not have them in stock so I just phoned to see if I could get my new one I ordered any earlier.............I now the proud owner of a shiny new one,me so excite cant stop stroking it ,I easy pleased . so thanks for your help anyway.