Preparing for Winter V

Chimi

Hi Chloepad1 I haven't bought any brushed cotton bedding since pre lockdown but i have found Primark usually stocks it at very reasonable prices. My daughter has several chronic conditions and can't regulate her body temperture so she suffers with the cold and also sweats a lot so I can honestly say her bedding is well tested. She loves there brushed cotton bedding and I have found it washes really well.

Chloepad1

Chimi said:

Hi Chloepad1 I haven't bought any brushed cotton bedding since pre lockdown but i have found Primark usually stocks it at very reasonable prices. My daughter has several chronic conditions and can't regulate her body temperture so she suffers with the cold and also sweats a lot so I can honestly say her bedding is well tested. She loves there brushed cotton bedding and I have found it washes really well.

Thank you Chimi.  I will try and have a look in Primark   Its good that it washes well. 

Primrose

It occurred to me the other day - and it's a rather gloomy but  necessary chore - that the best thing one can do to prepare for this winter, especially those of us in the older age group, is to ensure that our affairs are put in order - just in case!   That means getting Powers of Attorney for Finance Matters and Health & Wellbeing set up if not already in place, and ensuring that Wills are written and that Executors know where to find them if the worst happens.   

Sadly I've heard of people losing relatives during Lockdown or being in the situation of having vital decisions made about their medical fates without the legal documents being in place.   Losing somebody in those circumstances is bad enough anyway, but with the chaotic circumstances existing during any Lockdown, not having the correct documents turns the whole situation into a nightmare because few of the authorities involved seem to be operating at anywhere near normality at the moment, with many people still working from home. .   Don't put yourself or your loved ones in this situation. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@Primrose - very good points, yes. 

And no, everything does NOT automatically go to who you think it will - you really do NEED a will, even if you barely own a thing, and October is I think usually Fee Will Month where tons of solicitors inc online will do you a simple will free of charge although they hope for a donation in your will to a charity. 

Also, unless it was written sometime last century, a handwritten will is NOT legal... they changed the law well before the Millennium, but many people still think it's valid. It's not. 

My extended family had to learn all this the hard way a few years ago when someone died intestate and all those assumptions went belly-up... 

dreaming

One thing that occurred to me during lockdown was the fact that although I carry certain items (bank cards, driving licence etc.) that would identify me in the case of accident/illness, there was very little to indicate who to contact in an emergency. I do have family numbers on my mobile but that is kept locked so would be of no use. Although I have lived in my house for 10 years my neighbours do not know my family so even if I was at home and something happened it would take some detective work to find out who to notify. To that end I printed out a contacts list which I have pinned to my noticeboard at homeand copies are kept in the car and in my purse. I do have an address book at home but it is such a mish-mash of friends/tradesmen/odds, with amendments and crossings out, that it is probably incomprehensible to anyone but me. I also have printed out a list of my bank details (no account numbers or passwords) which I keep with my will. This was a tip picked up on a retirement planning course when I was at work. Now that many people have different accounts at different banks and often very little paperwork as so much is online it just helps those left behind doing to the admin. needed after a death.

dan958

dreaming said:

 there was very little to indicate who to contact in an emergency. I do have family numbers on my mobile but that is kept locked so would be of no use. 

Most phones allow an emergency contact to be set-up, which can be called from the lock screen without the password.

Primrose

Dreaming & Laura.  You make very good points which most of us in our distracted lives these days procrastinate about sorting out.  I have a transparent mobile protection case  and must type  emergency contact details on the back where it's easily visible as well as keeping a copy in my handbag.  We also have a TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN sealed envelope on display in our rather cluttered study.  Have also given my closest Attorney a house key and spreadsheet containing all domestic Providers with references and contact numbers.
i had Power of Attorney for my elderly parents for many years so got their tangled affairs finally organised and under control, thank heavens, so at least when they died I was not faced with the total chaos that some people sadly have to deal with.

greenbee

You can now lodge your will with the probate registry rather than keeping it at home/leaving it with a solicitor. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/store-a-will-with-the-probate-service

When my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer, we spent some time sorting things out so my mum wouldn't have too much to deal with when he died. All bills etc were put into her name, paid from her account and money transferred over from his each month. Two days before he died he transferred the rest of the money in his account to my mum's to ensure that she had enough cash while his pension provider sorted out her widows' pension. It was a good thing he did - and even so my brother and I had to transfer money to her to pay for the funeral and keep her ticking over for a couple of months. 

My dad had a very good filing system, which helped enormously with probate and IHT. We've archived much of it, and put a simpler one in place but all the info is there. The 'tell us once' service also proved to be useful. https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once

TBH, if you know you're coming towards the end of your life, it's worth considering whether to give things to people now. I've been given jewellery, pictures, books, bits of china etc by elderly relatives in the past so that I could enjoy them now rather than when they're gone - and they can see my enjoying them and/or listen to me telling them about it. They've enjoyed these things themselves, and can now see me enjoying them. Even the stuff I haven't been particularly keen on I've been able to thank them for, send them photos of in my home, or wear them when I see them which gives them much more pleasure than keeping stuff in cupboards. I do the same now for my younger relatives - my Beatrix Potter crockery, jewellery I'm now too old for etc. It's lovely to see it being used. 

Laura_Elsewhere

An online friend has died very recently, far too young, and in her last year or so she systematically cleared as much of her non-personal possessions as possible to her friends, selling us bits and pieces incredibly cheaply as a means of raising extra funds for her children's futures, as well as reducing the amount of stuff they'd have to deal with. 
I have her little hand-cranked wool-winding machine, and think of her whenever I use it. 

Si_Clist

Another thing worth thinking about if you're in "getting it all sorted out" mode is maybe arranging to leave your mortal remains to medical science.  We're both registered body donors and as far as we're concerned it's a win-win situation - the NHS gets a couple of desperately-needed corpses to do with, and whichever one of us survives longest is spared both the cost and the fuss of disposal