Preparedness for when

Butterfly_Brain

Rosyq I buy 3kg bags of pasta (fuselli aka the twisty one) for £2.50 in Farmfoods.

Pineapple well done on your little insurance victory, every little helps as they say:D
Car went through its MOT today and only had to have a replacement switch which cost us £15 plus £45 for the MOT which is really good considering the old girl is 20

Just got to fork out £220 for the bloomin' car tax at the end of the month, yes it has gone up, methinks the government think that the motorist is their money pit as do insurance companies :mad: Thankfully the insurance isn't due until October phew

alfsmum

rosyq wrote: »

Hello
I've been reading this thread with great interest over the last couple of days and been spurred into action!
So today I've ordered a little gas stove, fuel & kettle, some water treatment tablets and a solar charger for my phone.
Also stocked up on food, bottled water, milk, cat food & cat litter.
Already have candles, matches, wind-up torch & full freezer.
There's only me & DD & 2 cats so it wasn't too big a job and its all stashed away in the spare room and I feel happier. We don't have outrageous weather here in the Thames Valley so I don't need as much as those of you who live in the wilds. I've only told DD as everyone else would think I'm dotty (if they don't already :rotfl: )

So just wanted to thank everyone who's posted and made me think about stuff!

Rosyq, may I ask where you are getting the solar charger for the phone from as I'd like to get hold of one. Thanks.

Popperwell

My one living aged relative used to work in insurance and was afraid to offend me but said as all my furniture/fittings are old and I have no one to leave anything to and because I can get nice second hand stuff from charity shops/freecycle. Save money and stop bothering with contents insurance. He may have a point.

The only good thing is I did get it down to approx £52 annually(better than when Mum was alive)we just paid and we're talking of £200+ annually. It probably could have always been that low.:mad:

It won't always happen but I may be entitled for now to a rebate from the utility company under the home front scheme, if I am I'll take it even though I have done all I can not to use the CH because it is costly.

Perhaps I can hang onto it for next winter or pay it so I am in credit, it will be roughly the same as three months DD with NPower and if they give me the promised £100 annual refund for being on duel fuel and paperless bills that will give me another couple of months credit.

As for the problem over the Aldi's voucher I can understand being angry. I would be able to spend enough to make a voucher worth using being single and income being limited. I don't buy newspapers and if I did I would lose some of the voucher's worth because of the cover cost of the paper.

System

alfsmum wrote: »

Rosyq, may I ask where you are getting the solar charger for the phone from as I'd like to get hold of one. Thanks.

Hi to my shame I'm getting it from the rainforest people it's a PowerTraveller Explorer. I'll let you know if it's any good. I thought it would come in handy on trips away as well as prep.
Cheers Rx

pineapple

Popperwell wrote: »

My one living aged relative used to work in insurance and was afraid to offend me but said as all my furniture/fittings are old and I have no one to leave anything to and because I can get nice second hand stuff from charity shops/freecycle. Save money and stop bothering with contents insurance. He may have a point.

The only good thing is I did get it down to approx £52 annually(better than when Mum was alive)we just paid and we're talking of £200+ annually. It probably could have always been that low.:mad:

I got mine down to £70. I had to search to find an insurer who didn't want to insure me (and charge for) a level of cover I don't need.
In fact I'm wondering, if I leave a window open, maybe a kindly burglar will donate something out of pity. :rotfl:

bluebag

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

I would really like to start doing this, but always find myself digging into it for this or that reason--does anyone know of any tricks like the "freezing the credit card trick" that could be used on cash to keep me in line?

I found it easy to keep one weeks extra 'cash money' on hand,in an envelope. I just use that money for this week and put next weeks in the envelope if that makes any kind of sense.

It isn't some sort of extra pot I can dip into willy nilly, but it is there for a dire emergency.

FairyPrincessk

Hi bluebag--thanks for the suggestion. I'm hoping we can move to that kind of system at some point. Between the two of us I think we have about 9 (possibly 10) bank accounts and I sort of use them as envelopes:rotfl:

Almost forgot, I was supposed to be counting the pennies out before bedtime tonight.:D

Perplexed_Pineapple

It's really only worth insuring for stuff that you can't afford to replace. A relative-of-sorts had his house burn to the ground while he was out at work with all contents gone apart from a packet of chicken sausages (yes, really). No insurance at all. It was his own house, which was a problem, but he managed to replace most of his essential contents with gifts from friends and family and even complete strangers who had heard about it (it made the local press). If you are flexible about the sort of stuff you have, you can get most of the essential bits and pieces from places like freecycle. The monitor I'm reading this on was a freebie from work - a perfectly good 21" CRT being chucked out during an upgrade, and when our microwave went kaput we were offered a replacement within a day from a friend whose workplace was having a clear out - if we hadn't taken it it would have gone in a skip, it's actually better than the one that died. I guess it depends on the sort of community you live in but in our area people are pretty helpful as I hope are we. Most of the stuff we might lose that actually matters to us is personal stuff that would be irreplaceable anyway.

beaujolais-nouveau

JayneC wrote: »

Although I was contemplating trying to grow barley as it's supposed to be quite quick and easy and I could use it to feed my chicks (esp if the SHTF, not sure layers pellets for small scale use would be very available - good to have a back up plan). Anyone else tried grain on a small scale?

I am thinking about red lentils to feel my hens, when/if layers pellets are no longer available or too expensive. I realise that lentils are imported but I am hoping that Asian stores will have them in large sacks for the foreseeable future.

beaujolais-nouveau

Rosetta92 wrote: »

One other thought occurred in the wee small hours. As well as prepping for SHTF, I'm thinking we should also keep our eyes open and try to take preventive action.

This prompts me to say that I suspect that the politicians do not have a viable plan at all for economic recovery. Watching them weaken our emergency preparedness by closing fire stations and A&Es in London, cutting back the police and the army, and hearing the talk of abolishing human rights laws (that outlaw torture and unfair trials), it looks to me as if the politicians hope to avert economic Armageddon by letting the UK become a protectorate of the USA. I read somewhere recently that the entire British army is now so reduced in numbers that it could now be accommodated within Wembley Stadium.

I'd rather be invaded by France or Germany than become a US protectorate. But perhaps Russia will see an opportunity ...