Preparedness for when

Perplexed_Pineapple

MrsLW, the affordability of many of the things you mention depends on cheap energy to keep production costs down and most of the energy-efficient gadgets that would be very useful in the event of power shortages are manufactured from oil-derived plastics, as are many modern synthetic fibres for clothing. I don't think there will be shortages of plastics (unless major civic disorder disrupts production) but prices will go up with the cost of raw materials and energy - a very good reason to have some basic supplies in now! Solar photovoltaic panels (as used in solar phone chargers and the solar Columbus radio (thanks, GQ!)) are relatively cheap at the moment and should if not abused work for decades (roof panels are exposed all the time obviously and may deteriorate faster, although there is some interesting reading on the Centre for Alternative Technology website suggesting it isn't much of a problem). Difficult to justify spending cash on such things as a fixed installation though unless you are secure in your long-term location and well supplied with the basics.

2tonsils

Just to catch up , my OH went for acupuncture on Friday and I went along with him. The doc kindly had a look at my shoulder/arm while I was there and told me I can go back to light workouts at the gym as it will increase the strength and flexibility. While I was there I told him I had reacted badly to the cheap copy medicine they gave me from the pharmacy so from now on he is naming the meds he wants me to have. Honestly, I went back and bought the real ones over the counter and it was only 3 euros for thirty tablets...so I told him I will buy my own rather than feel sick and get a rash next time. Sometimes cost cutting gets taken too far...I think the copy ones had gluten in them..

I am looking forward to going back to the gym tomorrow to exercise lightly, although it will be a nightmare with everyone in the gym eyeballing me to make sure I don't overdo it!. Inspired by the sunshine and 22 degrees today I went out power walking for the first time in ages. Of course, being a prepper I had a spare paper bag folded in my pocket in case I spotted anything I could use.

I did, and came back with 3 kg of windfall lemons and two oranges straight off the tree! I now have slices of lemon in the freezer in bags ready for drinks and my earl grey tea treat....three on the side to make some lemon sauce for the duck later, and a two litre jug of ginger and lemon sitting in the fridge for some nice refreshing drinks. It was hell of a walk back up the mountain with that little lot to carry lol, by the time I got home I was soaked in sweat and my OH thought I had run back ha ha.
Got a busy week coming up so taking it easy today. Tomorrow we have to find the policeman/make an appointment to renew our residents permits, fill the car with petrol and go to the gym for an hour, besides the little jobs I have to do in the house. Tuesday I am sorting all the things out to donate to the jumble sales in aid of charities. Wednesday the workman is arriving to start cutting the old plaster off the hall walls and seal it all before he puts the new stuff on. It will take 3 or 4 days which will take us up to the weekend again. Doesn't time fly when you are enjoying yourself? LOL

The storms missed us again thankfully, but we have had two nights with a sudden cloudburst and wind that sounds like a hurricane roaring above the village. Thank goodness no more leaks getting into the house and it feels like the weather is on the change to spring. It has been one hell of a winter and I don't want another one like it! Now bring on the long hot summer when all we complain about is being too hot...for all of us!

2tonsils

katieclampet wrote: »

I so agree, Thriftwizard amd MRSLW. I am not sure whether people just arent interested or just dont want to know. I know where I work there are a lot of people in debt, but apart from complaining, dont want to do anything about it. One (very nice) lady has just upped her hours to full time and still puts down for loads of over time. She is constantly complaining of being tired and being skint. I used to feel a bit sorry for her.

However a couple of days ago she was telling everyone about a designer handbag she had won on ebay, for over a hundred quid! Yet I truly think it would never occur to her to work less and spend less, never mind think about the future and how to make things more secure for her home and her family.

I have been buying a few things, solar/windup radio, torch, mobile phone windup charger, extra thermals and have sorted out my store cupboard (bought a bottle of brandy yesterday) rather than putting the money in the bank. With interest rates so low I am looking on it as an investment.

I think prepping is a bit like being a moneysaver, you either get it, or you dont, and until you get that "light bulb moment" :jno one can convince you that it makes sense.

katie

ps GQ got a copy of David Brin - Earth for 50p in charity shop yesterday, nice big fat book, looks like a good read.

Oh you sound just like me....I was talking to someone the other night about having to make do and mend and how tight things are getting and she was complaining about having to spend money on health care and medicines. Meanwhile she was drinking gin and tonic and smoking.....while I don't begrudge someone their pleasures I do think you need to get priorities right.

Most of our money goes on necessities like mortgage, bills, health care, and the best food we can afford. I cook everything from scratch and make lots of things like curtains etc myself to save money. I do think prepping helps you put your mind to what things are necessary and which can be put further down your list of purchases.

I bought a sack of good potatoes earlier this week, although I paid nearly 40 cents a kilo for them , when I went to the shops they were 1.35 a kilo! So it will certainly save me money using them up. I am totally in agreement with everyone here who stocks up on things they will use over time, as the prices are rising all the time. It seems every time we go to the supermarket the prices are higher.

I am just glad I am not in any debt. If I have a little extra money I will either save it for something I need or buy myself a small treat. I have a credit card and never use it (the bank actually complained about me having one and not owing anything last time I went in !). I only carry it for emergency situations and have never had to use it. I have a debit card but use it so rarely I have forgotten the pin number to it. I have a fixed amount to spend each week on housekeeping and food and once that is gone I manage till the next week. I look for offers , cheaper substitutes but still the same quality, and I am using up all the toiletries in the house before I buy any more.

Frugal is my middle name....

GreyQueen

Afternoon all.

Been a busy little bee this weekend, in fact haven't had the pooter on until late afternoon at all, which is most unlike me. I have been getting a few supplies in and stocktaking what is on the premises. Because I don't have a larder, or indeed much kitchen space at all, the goods are dotted here and there.

Perplexed Pineapple, glad you are enjoying your Columbus, mine is currently attached to the mothership on a USB cable topping up. I shall keep it on the windowledge but I don't enjoy a lot a natural light in this flat, being as I am at the base of a tower block in a built-up area and shadowed by other buildings. I'm hoping that it will be able to keep topped up on the solar in the sunnier weather.

thriftwizard, excellent post. I know you're a fellow reader of the Archdruid Report blog, so we both know that the biofuel plants built recently in the US to turn their corn into ethanol are being sold off for scrap as we speak, for cents on the thousands of dollars, too. Biofuels aren't the answer, the conversion rates are too poor. The future will be a lot less mobile than the present and this mobility will apply to goods and service providers as well as our individual mobility as private citizens for work and leisure.

I've long considered that TV and celebrity mags etc are all part of the circuses which we're allowing to distract us. And "the social" has been a form of the bread dole which the senatorial and equestrian classes of imperial Rome would recognise. As in, give the plebians free entertainment and enough to stop them going hungry and hope that they won't listen to some demagogue railing against the current order and sit up and notice that some pigs are more equal than others...............

A lot of people don't want to think about things being uncomfortable or inconvenient and try all sorts of distractions to avoid the kind of scenarios which some of us are prepared to entertain as possibilities, and prepared to prep in mitigation of said possibilities.

I liken it to how I was as a small child. I can remember being terrified that if I went to bed with the wardrobe door ajar, Something Horrible would come out and attack me. The defence against this attack was hiding under the bedcovers. You can try this strategy as an adult but real-life horrors don't pay the slightest attention to avoidance tactics.

I guess the proof of the pudding will be in the passage of time. All I know is that I talk to people who can remember the 1930s and the hardships then and they cannot believe what they're seeing re foodbanks etc.

A secondary schoolteacher I know has children collapsing on the premises with hunger in this nice leafy part of England. When she calls Social Services to express her grave concern about neglected, dirty and underfed pupils, their weary reaction is to ask how old they are?

On hearing that they're teenagers, there's a silence at the other end for several seconds and a weary They'll have to get on with it, then. The intimation being that SS are so run off their feet with younger children's welfare that a child in his or her teens, in a house with neither food nor money to buy food, is expected to fend for themselves. I assume SS intend them to shoplift food rather than prostitute themselves. :mad:

[Deleted User]

PP I am certain that when peak oil impacts itself there will be a very noticable absence of plastic products and those that are available will be out of reach pricewise, so the message is certainly if you can afford them now - buy them as an investment, you'll not afford them later on!!! It's a valid point about cheap energy making things affordable now and cheap energy will be a thing of the past too, even reliable supplies of energy will be uncertain. I see all the cookery programmes as a modern take on 'Let them Eat Cake' and all the bling programmes like 'Strictly Come Dancing' as part of the circus, pretty things to distract the nation from the realities of thier lives!!!! None of us will be exempt from what happens but, some of us will fare better for forethought and preparedness!!! Cheers Lyn xxx.

GreyQueen

I'm looking to replace things made from plastic (when such things need replacing or whenever I get a sweet deal preferably 2nd hand) with more long-lasting alternatives. Preferably non-breakable ones.

F'rinstance, I have several large bowls used for food prep, baking etc. A mixture of stainless steel ones and plastic ones. Have noticed one of the plastic ones is on it's way out, so will be carboot-questing for it's replacement.

Plastic may take hundreds of years to decay but it becomes brittle after a only few years and may well be useless at a crucial time. Sunlight hastens this process, as it hastens decay for many things including textiles.

I don't know if the same thing happens on Corfu, 2tonsils, but on Crete in summer I've seen people pegging their washing out under cover, even when it is 80 + and cloudless, I assume this is to allow stuff to dry without getting the full force of the sun which would fade and rot things?

Today in Liddly I was mooching around looking at disinfectant, not something I normally buy, but I was thinking about adding a few bottles to the prep. Could be very handy if there was a compromised sanitation situation/ flood cleanup/ etc. I've also known people who've lived on Greek islands with no potable water where it's customary to add some bleach to the dishwashing water to improve hygiene.

I noticed that the disintfectant had a BB date (2015 in this case) so if this was added to the stores, this would need to be used in rotation. Liquid bleach loses its effectiveness after a couple of years so you'll end up with some slightly bleachy-smelling water which does burger-all. I believe there is powdered bleach available which can be reconsititued, and I've come across US websites referencing something called Pool Shock which I think is a brand name for a swimming pool treatment product.

:eek: Needless to say, none of us will go adding stuff to our drinking water supplies without very careful research into what is healthy and what is not.

I think it's important to consider that if the SHTF that there may well be the need for home nursing of contaigous illnesses and to think about having rubber gloves and disinfectant/ bleach to hand to avoid spreading disease to otherwise healthy household members.

I've just finished reading the Terry Nation 1975 Survivors book, which has many differences from the 1970s Survivors series which I won't enumerate, to avoid spoiling it for other people.

What I did condsider has been a common thread of books and films on post-SHTF situations is the inadvisability of keeping all your food (and other preps) in one place, where they are vulnerable to disaster or theft.

Whilst I appreciate a flood (or a flood of looters ) is being used as a plot device to drive the action forward, it's something to think about, no? If we're storing stuff, we need to pay attention to the conditions in which we're keeping it, to prevent wastage due to bugs, vermin, letting it get too elderly or just plain forgetting what we have.

This means some form of inventory control unless you have a darned good memory, attention paid to the climate (I lost 2 sacks of spuds due to a series of hard frosts on the allotment hurting them in the shed) and knowledge of the habits of vermin and pesties. You can still buy old skool spring mousetraps like the Little Nippers set in my Nan's undersink cupboard and claiming the occasional victim.

Cheapskate

Our older two have the head-in-the-sand approach to life, money, etc., as do many of my friends, and they think of me as a sort of Cassandra, but even now it's me they ask for money loans or advice, cooking help, OS tips, you name it. Sometimes I fear for them whenever TSHTF - I hope I'd be able to help, but if things got really hairy, it'd be our family we'd bring into the fold, there wouldn't be enough for those who didn't prepare. Does that sound mean? I think you could only do so much!

Over the next few weeks I'm upping the prepping now our garage is more organised, and hope to get the inside of the house into a better state to store more preptastic items. I feel several CS visits coming up, digging out my trusty sewing machine and jam-jar saving (extra to usual stash!) towards this end!

A xo

Paul_Varjak

I got a DUSSEL BAG a while ago from Amazon for £18.99p delivered. It really is excellent quality, better than CabinMax and cheaper.

You can see it in Amazon here...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dussel-Backp...pr_product_top

Maybe it could be used as a bug-out-bag? If not, then good money savers can use it on those Ryanair flights.

elaine241

Hello all, just logging in from the frozen wastes of a mountain in Wales! Been lurking for a bit as nothing interesting to say! LOL I got Alex Scarrows book Last Light from the library as someone mentioned it in a post on here. OMG !guaranteed to get you prepping! I read it in just two days and now I am determined to prep even more.

My house is self sufficient in heating, water supply but not power and that will be my next goal especially after reading this book. It really makes you think if the oil stopped flowing how quickly the civilised UK would degenerate into a lawless mob rule. As a rule I dont like having shotguns/ cartridges in the gun cabinet but after this book I am glad they are there!

My prepping involves growing veg, raising lambs, keeping hens, having the ability to forage, preserve food, running the house on wood fuel, keeping a stock cupboard, home brewing, and having plenty of candles etc if we have no lights. After reading this book I realise that all of this would be a target for those who have not prepared and that like it or not protection is a major requirement for prepping. I dont mean like our USA friends with their own private arsenals and loads of guns but protection of my supplies will need a major rethink. I will be packing my supplies so that in the case of a SHTF scenario I will be able to spread my stores in several locations.
Sorry to be so doom and gloom but the book has really made me think!:)

siegemode

I'm :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: with the gov and corporations and frustrated by the ignorance and apathy of some people. Because oh and I have health problems we are cash poor, but time rich so spend time and effort on keeping up with current affairs, politics, economics in the uk and worldwide. I have a questioning nature and oh says I have opened his eyes and he too is an information seeker and into prepping as far as we are able.
I think so many people are trying so hard to stay afloat and maintain their existence that the clever marketing people have lead them to believe the only way is to consume. Keeping up with the joneses etc and convincing themselves that they have to have or need something that they cannot afford. We are bombarded by stats and figures that can be manipulated to mean all sorts and unless you have a good understanding of maths and a questioning mind it's easy to be taken in and not to look closer and question. We are told that educational standards have not dropped, but with so many unable to budget and think for themselves I know what I believe. Could this dumbing down all be part of a much larger plan ? (yes I know I sound like a conspiracy nut)

I hate how we are misled and fed bull by those out to shaft us and line their own pockets. Global warming is a joke now referred to as climate change, but the masses don't question why. The economy is far worse than many realise. The media is more propaganda than true news. As for energy it seems that free sources are ignored for those that will be more profitable in the short term. I have never agreed with burning food and growing for energy instead of feeding the hungry.
Fracking has horrendous risks and if you look behind the companies and discover their links with the gov well it's an eye opener. Our water supply is in danger. Nuclear is also a ridiculous idea in my opinion. Too many risks, too much toxic waste and too many cover ups. The ene news website is a good read if you want to know more. Check out whats happening in the US regarding nuclear energy, power stations and leaks and the Louisianna sinkhole, it's truely shocking. People need to value our resources and learn to conserve them because nothing is for ever, but not because of the co2 carp.

Sometimes I feel like I'm watching the world from afar and find whats going on very disturbing. I am neither fit or young enough to make a difference so I do what I can to keep informed and stay prepared for whatever comes my way. I value the small things like the new visiting birdlife in the garden. Homecooking and homegrown. To us a meal out is a bag of chips at the coast, a holiday is a day away from home with a picnic. Quality outweighs quantity.
I wish and hope more people would wake up and see whats happening but when I talk to them I am seen as an alarmist, nuts, weird or crazy.

Sorry rant over Thank goodness you peeps are all here to remind me I'm not insane and that prepping is sensible.