Preparedness for when

BessieBooBoo

missrlr wrote: »

Thanks for all the kind comments. T'was Totally unexpected, Monday email notice, amounts given Thurs .... Talk about take the wind out of your sails! No one in company can believe it no one saw this one coming! Just waiting to see info on pension and then I guess it is fingers crossed time! In mean time taking all OT possible and reviewing stocks.

So sorry to hear that misslr, it is a shocker that you weren't forewarned, but you can adjust and adapt.

Been there, done that, etc it's a relief to have stocks in, as it means belt-tightening is less stressful... You have been doing so well with cutting the debts too, try not to stress, take a deep breath, and go over your finances carefully if you haven't already. Prioritise your outgoings, see where you can cut back, and help your OH keep his chin up....

Job searching will be a full-time job for him, and it is so hard to be motivated when redundancy strikes, but the sooner he starts the better.

Take care and good luck to you both.

BBB, SS and HH

katieclampet

pineapple wrote: »

If it is this one like mine (Degen) it should take batteries. That's how the charging (whatever method) works. Mine has the option of rechargeable or regular batteries.

Will have a look, thanks. I am not very "handy" and pretty useless at techy things, but I dont think thats an excuse to be helpless!

Thanks also to MS LW, might leave it there then!

katie

mardatha

Mrs L - do you use the solar lamp every night - and would it be ok for computing or knitting ?

pineapple

My mission to cut costs has been well and truly stuffed by recent vets bills plus likely ongoing drugs and a special diet. Looks like my collie will be on haute cuisine while yours truly is on gruel! In fact I'm researching home made alternatives to ready made 'special' pet food (odd we were only recently having that discussion). But she's a wonderful dog and if I find my back truly against the wall, I will do what I have to, to find the funds.
Sadly a quick check in the mirror revealed my body is past selling :eek: so the last ditch option would be equity release - not necessarily bad if you don't have any heirs apparent .

2tonsils

Went out to the table top sales this morning as it wasn't raining for the first time in weeks...the first one was supposed to be at a bar on the sea front but the wind was gusting and the sea was wild so only two tables had turned up .

They were selling sausages (can't eat because of the gluten) and olive oil and home made wine (get the first free from my neighbours and I don't drink) so went to the other one which was just down the road. Spent more time explaining the sling on my shoulder than I did shopping but I did get some nice silk scarves.

The weather is bizarre here now, we have hot southerly winds coming from North Africa which feel like you are standing in front of a hair dryer. The gusts are horrendous and the fine sand in the wind is making me cough and wheeze. It is currently 19 degrees and very cloudy . We are on a storm warning again for tonight and tomorrow. I have just locked all my shutters as the whole street seems to have them banging and clattering in the wind.The sky is a horrible pinky grey colour but fortunately I can't see any scary cloud formations.

I have two more weeks at least before I am allowed to go to the gym and I really miss going . I am glad to say I have not put any weight on while I have been laid up but that is down to healthy eating. I miss working out with the weights but its going to be back to the very light weights when I start back again. Little pink plastic dumbells for a while for me by the look of it......

Love to all, stay warm and safe folks..

GreyQueen

katieclampet wrote: »

Well pleased to say windup radio arrived from amazon on satuday. Looks very small, but I was really surprisd at how good it is. Doesnt take batteries, but can charge via usb on computer, has windup handle, or solar charge.

I am guessing to use solar power to charge that I need to leave it on a sunny window sill? Didnt come with any real instructions as such.

No sun here today, just bitter cold, so I will be hand winding radio up to have a play!



I think I might do a little more stocking up of supplies, after seeing we are
losing our triple A rating. I keep thinking if interest rates go down, WE will
be paying the banks to keep our money in savings accounts!

katie

Hi, if the Degen is a deadringer for the JL Columbus II World Radio (and I looked at all the views and it does seem to be identical except that the JL is silver and the Degen is green) you'll find a compartment for 2 x AA batteries on the bottom (got a little bit you push with your thumb) and a compartment for the reachargable battery pack thingy on the back (has writing on it). HTH.

I know just what you mean about struggling with new toys. I figured I'd be referring to the instuctions so much that I "laminated" them between two sheets of clear sticky film and have them floating around on my desk. If you have any particular queries, just ask and I'll look them up.

It wasn't keeping enough of a charge on the sill in the shortest days of the year so I charged it off the USB port but have it roosting on the sill now. It's small because it's marketed as a travel radio. Be a good thing to shove in the BOB on the way out the door; info is always useful in an emergency.

Well, I have kept a big box of cook's matches at the lottie shed for years, bonfires for the starting of, so was a bit cross to discover when I went to use them them last month that they wouldn't strike. I mean, the brown stuff on the end just rubbed off against the side of the box.

What I discovered from further reading is that matches can absorb dampness from the environment if just kept in their cardboard cartons, and this can render them unusable. You need to keep them in something weatherproof, preferably with a dessicant sachet (check your recently-purchased shoes/ bags to find one of these).

Luckily for me, this was not a critical set of circs, just a minor inconvenience, but it set me thinking.

My latest library book tells you how to waterproof matches; drop them one by one into melted candlewax, fish out with tweezers and park butt-end down in something (polystrene/ oasis?) to dry before decanting into a waterproof container. I was thinking the tubs my iron tablets came in, or 35 mm film canisters. You'll need to include a striking surface (I was gonna glue some sandpaper after checking it works) and bob's yer uncle. You can also use an empty lipbalm tube if you only want to carry a few.

When you're ready to go, you scratch the wax off the match end and strike it.

I left my "damp" matches spread out on a tabletop in warm room for few weeks and they've dried out and are fully functional now.

The Mad Bushcrafters also showed us how to waterproof a small box of matches; just open it, make sure all the match-heads are at one end, then drip candlewax from a lit candle into it. Glues them together in a lump and you just ease them out as necessary.

I know you can buy waterproof matches, btw, but they're pretty expensive for what they are. Besides, I've become a little overfond of melting candlewax........:rotfl:

Deffo think it is a good time to review household supplies and perhaps consider any capital purchases which have been postponed. Money in the bank ain't keeping it's spending power. And with interest rates like they are, seems like you might just as well stash a wadge of tenners in a safe deposit box.

Err, do we have safe-deposit boxes in Britain? I've seen them in American films. Yes, you'd get no interest, but on the plus side the bank would have fewer deposits and would have to offer higher rates in order entice savers.......

Hmmmm, wanders off to see if I can fit any more canned goods under the bed. FB pies are horsemeat-free, apparently, and that's more than you can say for some things in this world.

[Deleted User]

Hi MAR we don't use them all the time but DD1 does use hers usually when she is marking homework (she teaches) and it gives a good bright light, good enough to read by so I assume that would let you knit. It is a fairly bright light in a small area. it doesn't light the whole room as it is basically a reading light in shape. We experimented when we first got them to see how long the charge would last on the solar cell and left it on all night on the landing and 12 hours later it was still light enough to see by, but dimmer than at the time of turning on, but I think you would expect that anyway. I think the Ikea ones are a good product for a good price. We are currently researching a good wind up/solar lantern for the kit that would light a whole room if needed, will let you know if we find anything worth having, Cheers Lyn xxx.

twiglet98

bluebag wrote: »

Please on the comfort stakes do not forget those hideous tartan wool trousers.

I rarely post here, though I read the daily updates on this fantastic thread, but had to respond to this - I was finally allowed tartan wool trousers when I was five, in 1961, for the walk to school, and they were truly my most treasured item of clothing until I was allowed jodhpurs some years later. I wanted trousers so badly, for so long, a minor element in my childhood conviction that boys had a damn-sight better deal than girls. The walk to school involved going down a steep hill where snow accumulation was much deeper than my wellingtons, and my wonderful trousers would be dried daily on Class 1's fireguard, along with those belonging to the boys who still wet theirs.

We too had an outside loo,, shiny Izal paper, just a cold tap in the kitchen, tin bath in the coal shed brought in on Sundays for us all to use in turn - as the youngest, mine was first as I had the earliest bedtime. Water heated in a gas copper, the bath used for Monday's laundry, wet washing hauled out with wooden tongs and fed through the mangle. My parents had bought the house next door to my grandparents, where my mother was born, in 1952, and my mother and brother still live there. They were the first in the road to have electricity connected, and to get a car. My first boyfriend lived on a council estate in town and his parents didn't drive - he thought I was classy because my father had a car, but I still cringe at the memory of his first visit, pointing him to the back door to go and find the loo.

They had gas fires put in later in the 1960s, aluminium windows in the 1970s, and converted the back bedroom to a bathroom after I moved out, adding a gas water-heater. Those little Victorian cottages go for £300k now. They bought it for £400.

GreyQueen wrote: »

Well, I have kept a big box of cook's matches at the lottie shed for years, bonfires for the starting of, so was a bit cross to discover when I went to use them them last month that they wouldn't strike. I mean, the brown stuff on the end just rubbed off against the side of the box.

What I discovered from further reading is that matches can absorb dampness from the environment if just kept in their cardboard cartons, and this can render them unusable. You need to keep them in something weatherproof, preferably with a dessicant sachet (check your recently-purchased shoes/ bags to find one of these).

Luckily for me, this was not a critical set of circs, just a minor inconvenience, but it set me thinking.

My latest library book tells you how to waterproof matches; drop them one by one into melted candlewax, fish out with tweezers and park butt-end down in something (polystrene/ oasis?) to dry before decanting into a waterproof container. I was thinking the tubs my iron tablets came in, or 35 mm film canisters. You'll need to include a striking surface (I was gonna glue some sandpaper after checking it works) and bob's yer uncle. You can also use an empty lipbalm tube if you only want to carry a few.

When you're ready to go, you scratch the wax off the match end and strike it.

I left my "damp" matches spread out on a tabletop in warm room for few weeks and they've dried out and are fully functional now.

The Mad Bushcrafters also showed us how to waterproof a small box of matches; just open it, make sure all the match-heads are at one end, then drip candlewax from a lit candle into it. Glues them together in a lump and you just ease them out as necessary.

GQ I love your posts. Thank you for this. There may yet be more tut-tutting and frustration over damp matches, but I'll no longer throw them onto the fire when it eventually does light!

the_cake

Horrible shock in Sainsbobs today: their Basics tea has gone up from 27p to ...........35p!! What the hell is that in percentage terms? There is no hope, we are truly doomed now.

wondercollie

pineapple wrote: »

My mission to cut costs has been well and truly stuffed by recent vets bills plus likely ongoing drugs and a special diet. Looks like my collie will be on haute cuisine while yours truly is on gruel! In fact I'm researching home made alternatives to ready made 'special' pet food (odd we were only recently having that discussion). But she's a wonderful dog and if I find my back truly against the wall, I will do what I have to, to find the funds.
Sadly a quick check in the mirror revealed my body is past selling :eek: so the last ditch option would be equity release - not necessarily bad if you don't have any heirs apparent .

So sorry to hear this! Can he manage some boiled rice and mince? My dog when I was a child needed a special diet and this was before they were commercially available. Still remember my Mum boiling rice, making cream of wheat, boiling up carrots and mince, taking all the fat off and keeping it in the fridge in a huge plastic container.

Never say never to selling th body. You never know what people are intrested in. My city used to hae a brother which specialized in pregnant women!