Preparedness for when

ivyleaf

That's interesting about the M & S dresses, thriftwizard - do you know what they're made of?

I can't imagine there are many chainstore dresses being made these days that will still be being worn in 30 years' time

mardatha

I love wool, love stroking it, wearing it, knitting it, looking at, sniffing it.
Only thing I've found that's warmer is cashmere/silk/wool blends.

GreyQueen

mardatha wrote: »

I love wool, love stroking it, wearing it, knitting it, looking at, sniffing it.
Only thing I've found that's warmer is cashmere/silk/wool blends.

I say, lass, steady on! People reading this might think you're some kind of perv...........:rotfl:

mardatha

:D:D Obviously spending too much time in here wi you lot!

[Deleted User]

Another aspect of Bartering is tradeable skills, some more useful than others but being able to cut hair (just been to the hairdresser and it's not as easy as it looks) would be a useful skill and an achieveable morale boost in a difficult world, sewing and knitting (neither of which I'm a natural at) would be useful in exchange for goods, DIY skills would be useful not just for yourselves but for others without them, many things applicable and a wide set of practical skills between us that would be useful to others too. It's how the LETS (Local Exchange Trading Society) works now, skills in exchange for vouchers to trade in to others with skills you lack.

Even being able to play a musical instrument or sing would be barterable in a world that has been used to 24 hour entertainment and no longer has access to it!

nuatha

Barterables
Herbs and spices, salt.
Herbs and spices are light, relatively easy to store and make a huge difference to an otherwise bland diet. Whereas many herbs can be grown and dried for storage, most of the spices we're used don't grow well in the UK. Hence a world wide trade in these commodities going back millennia.
Salt can be mined or extracted from sea water, depending where in the UK you are. Its vital to continued life.

Labour
Skilled labour would have a higher premium, see below. But a willing pair of hands of a strong back is a useful trade item, exchanging some of your labour for items you need, the basis of most work.

Skills
Skills and knowledge attract premium prices. At least the right skills do. My IT knowledge might be fairly useless post apocalypse (it might be useful, one never knows) my ability to turn ingredients into meals and feed large numbers is more likely to be useful. Woodworking knowledge, is likely to be a handy thing.

Knowledge
A well stocked library is a gold mine, if you know how to use it. In the days of full internet access and youtube videos demonstrating everything its easy to forget that we used to rely on people and books for that knowledge. There's a lot of lower tech skills preserved in dusty old tomes.
Knowing how to read, how to interpret drawings, how to find the text in the first place could be vital skills.

pineapple

mardatha wrote: »

I love wool, love stroking it, wearing it, knitting it, looking at, sniffing it.

I'm having some fun with this finding substitutes for the word 'wool'.

boultdj

Chocolate is the one that comes to my mind pineapple, but that could just be down to the fact I'm getting hungry.

Cappella

Hmm. Wool addicts :rotfl::rotfl:

Cautionary tale today.
MrC dropped me outside our local library this morning with a bag of library books and two bags of clothes for the charity shop. I got out at the traffic lights because parking spots are hard to find and he drove quickly away to the allotment.
With my handbag still in the car. Which fact escaped me until I tried to pay a reservation fee in the library.
So I've just had a 3 mile walk home after dropping in library books and clothes, and a good long time to think about being prepared. Luckily I enjoy walking, and it's a beautiful day; but I was effectively stranded with no money, no cards, no mobile and no front door key.
So I had to come back via the allotment and I've just spent the last half hour making sure that I've got emergency cash in all of my coats; the spare mobile is charged and zipped into the coat I wear most.
And I've swapped everything from my new Christmas handbag into my old faithful shoulder bag; which I wear round my neck and don't just drop onto the floor of the car when I get in.
Obviously I'm a complete failure as a prepper but at least I learn from my mistakes. Even the really stupid ones:)

[Deleted User]

CAPELLA does it help to know you're not alone in this as a situation??? Done the same thing a couple of times and even picked up the wrong set of keys (not my fault as these were on 'my' peg in the house and I didn't even look at them, just picked them up and slammed the front door! OOOps!) and had to call He Who Knows home from work to let me in!

Just a little heads up for the store cupboard Tes*o this morning in our local stores World Foods aisle have GHEE on offer at £2.50 and in the POLISH FOODS section KEILBASA SAUSAGE and a couple of other types of meat in jars are on offer at £1.70. The sausage is particularly useful and makes a nice base for pasta sauces and even shepherds pie so I always have half a dozen jars in, particularly good is the fact that the top of the jar has pure white pork lard where the meat is cooked in the jar which is very handy for using to fry down the veg that go in the sauce too.