Preparedness for when

siegemode

Just coming out of lurkdom to say thanks again for a good read.
I've been checking out real seeds and love the website. As soon as I get my @$$ into gear going to try and get organised out in the garden but patio and fence need replacing and mending. Also once thats done I want raised beds and we will then be designing a permaculture garden, so it might not all happen this year. Unfortunately with Chronic fatigue my energy levels are dire and when I become focused or ocd about stuff all ideas of pacing myself fly out the window and I pay for it. my oh has probs too so nothing happens quickly.

I'm seriously stressing over money and the imminent brown envelopes and forms this year and feel myself slipping more and more into siege mode. I've been taking advantage of extra nectar points at sainsbobs and offers. This year we have already managed over £90 in points
Last month I stocked up on enough cat food for about 4 months. Today it was tampax and loo rolls. Loo roll stash had fallen to 72 and I hate going below 75 but no worries we now have 144 !!!!!!!! Hmmmmm should be ok for a while, there's only 2 of us :rotfl:
As for pasta and flour we have over 20 bags of pasta and had to move all the flour downstairs and bought a v big box that sits behind the sofa. On the last count we had 53 x 1.5kg :eek::eek:
We do make our own bread and I love to bake so not sure if that's excessive or not.

Found a few bargains marked as sale on the normal shelves in sainsbobs earlier for anyone stocking up on first aid stuff. savlon wound wash was £2.69 now 49p and germolene kids antiseptic wipes was £2.49 now 69p pk of 10 individually wrapped. Large tub of johnsons cotton buds going for 25p, brilliant I've found for hand pollinating. have 12 tubs tucked away at that price.

I feel quite disturbed by everything that is happening around the world and doesn't hit the general media. I just can't deal with it sometimes and feel like my brain is going to implode. It's interesting I think how many leaving the forces are being urged to join the police force and the TA. Also recalling the army from bases in Germany to be based in the uk. Is this so when and not if tshtf the country can be controlled.

On another note we have a couple of trangas and a small folding gas stove, plus oh wants to make/build a rocket stove. Really like the idea of a KK but do you think that would be a bit ott ?

Popperwell

There's only me but I have had a good store of toilet rolls but that is reducing so may have to top that up again...good value on the first aid stuff, especially if it was genuine offer which it seems to have been...

bluebag

She who grows sticks has some things sprouting from her green bean seeds.

The yellow ball in the sky was shining on the things and they did this all on their own!

I shall report any further breaking news as it develops.

pineapple

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

Between the two of us I think we have about 9 (possibly 10) bank accounts and I sort of use them as envelopes:rotfl:

:eek::eek::eek:
I think that's far too many for two people. May I suggest you lob a couple my way for me to manage. Your dosh will be safe in my hands (maybe just a small management fee). :rotfl:

FairyPrincessk

:rotfl:It is far too many, but don't worry, there isn't much money in them. We're both students and when we first combined our finances we both had funding payments that went into specific accounts. It was going to be a nightmare to change all of that around. Plus, we're trying really hard to live off as little as possible and save up for paying off student loans as quickly as possible--so we just have one joint account and we transfer housekeeping over each month. I does not have an over-draft on it so it keeps us VERY accountable as if we go over we get charged £25.:eek: I've got a spreadsheet where I keep track of all of our bills, so usually within about £50 I know exactly what will will need any given month and I check our joint account every week to make sure we're on top of it. If it needs topping up it has to come out of one of our pocket money accounts. Pocket money covers transport, clothing, stationery (printer cartridges included:() and all the normal stuff--so we hate dipping into that. The rest goes straight into one of our many, many savings accounts, along with whatever pocket money is left in our individual accounts at the end of the month.

We've both done three degrees, and no OH is on his fourth. I'm going to stop at the end of my PhD, I'd like to be out of full time education by the time I'm 31:rotfl:. He is British and his first degree was quite cheap, but I'm American and my first degree well...it wasn't. And neither were my other two. I often wake up in the night anxious about my student loans which are absolutely huge and then remind myself that I need to focus on living frugally now and doing the best I can to make myself employable when I finish. I also remember that I thought long and hard about this and decided that it was worth it to me, even if it meant I would never be wealthy. Building up our savings and keeping up my OS skills makes me feel more secure as it re-assures me that we'll be able to manage when our payments start. Plus, OH is looking for jobs now and will hopefully be employed for a year before I finish. I haven't told him yet, but I have a scheme to pay down as much of his debt as possible during that year.:D

Wow, that turned into an essay. Sorry:rotfl:

GreyQueen

((((((((((seigemode))))))))) remember to breathe from your abdomen. Shallow breathing from the upper chest adds and can even cause panicky feelings on its own.

I currently have 60 rolls of t.p. excluding the one in use and am keeping my eyes peeled for more bargains to sock into the stores. Possible food insecurity and jesting about zombies aside, the laughable interest rates on savings vs galloping inflation on essential goods make laying up some tangibles prudent. I have a mega stash of basics custard sachets laid in at 6p and 7p and they are now 15p.

I'm waiting for the landlord's letter advising me what the service charges will be from 1st of April. Know the basic rent which is up 47% in the past 7 years but don't know the service charges yet. One of them is for the communal heating and will be a biggie (it's £40 a month now). All this is coming off my account in a direct debit in late April and it's doing my head in not knowing how much it'll be. How the heck are you supposed to run a budget like this?!

Re whether a KK is a prudent investment, only you can know. I know what a Trangia is although I don't have one; they run on methylated spirits? or something similiar? Which is obviously a product which will have to be purchased whereas grass and trees produce organic detritus for free.

I'm hoping to get to a bootsale on BH Monday and add to my cache of candles as I made out very well there last year. Booters are great places for hunting preptastic equipment, I find. All sorts of stuff at modest prices. Just need to keep fingers crossed that the weather will be dry enough for the sale to go ahead.

All righty, will be doing something creative with the whoopsies for tea tonight. Was going to add courgettes to it but have you seen the bliddy price of the things? I'd want them made in choclotate at that price.

Onwards and outwards...............

[Deleted User]

I shall be making pasta sauce from my home grown and frozen tomatoes with a L*dl onion from a bargain 5kg pack, some home grown garlic and a few pieces of 'cooking bacon' from I*eland, using some SM own brand herbs. I shall be making a big batch of sauce and freezing 2 or 3 double portions for the future, I too know how to live!!!

SIEGEMODE not wanting to throw any kind of spanner in your works, be sure to check your flour stash once in a while, you'll have to open a bag to do so, and make sure you don't have weevils. It is a known way to loose the whole lot of your dried stores as is an infestation of pantry beetles and moths. I know, we've had both in the past. The best way to avoid this is to separately poly bag each packet and give it 24 - 48 hours in the freezer and then store it in the sealed poly bag. Pantry beetles will decimate practically any stored, dried product and the first you know is when they arrive on your windowsills going towards the light, but by then they are in your stores in huge numbers. Check often and use up the stored produce as quickly as you can once you have it is the best advice I can give anyone, be vigilant!!!

Sorry to make you all itch and squirm, but it's worth doing the checking, Cheers Lyn xxx.

pineapple

Got the car insurance details through and rung them to complain that they'd put me down as having security fitted and I had been quite specific on the phone that I don't.
'Yes you do' he said. 'All those models have had a built in immobilizer as standard since 1998'.
I couldn't quite believe it and checked my manual and I do! Dohh.... Mind you, I have only had that car since 2004 - I guess I am still getting to know it :rotfl:
As for matters of prepping - two firebars on the multifuel stove gave up the ghost this week. Fortunately I had kept a couple of only slightly knackered ones as spares. Guess it's a reminder to stock up on things like that as well as food.

pineapple

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

Wow, that turned into an essay. Sorry:rotfl:

Not at all - I am stunned by your organisational skills! :j

Butterfly_Brain

Had the house and contents renewal today and it has gone up by £50 and I have never claimed :mad: thieving barstewards and to top it all a letter from o2 saying that they have sold their broadband to sky :mad: which is a company I boycott mainly because it is owned by that vile Murdoch. So now I have to go and get lots of quotes, this afternoon.