THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

GreyQueen

I don't use laundry tablets either, I nicked the mesh bags from Mum's and there were several brand new unused ones in the kitchen drawers at Nan's bungalow when we cleared that last autumn. Happiness is a small mesh bag with a nice chunky sprung toggle on it.

I'm very fond of sprung toggles and always salvage them from any worn out item of clothing or ruckie. I also save those elasticated cords you sometimes get on ruckies etc. I use one around the top of the black flower bucket from Morries which serves as my kitchen bin. Keeps the bag in place a treat.

NewShadow

maryb wrote: »

New Shadow in the short term at least, most Civil Servants will be OK, won't they? - I mean there is so much to sort out with Brexit and afterwards we'll have to do a lot for ourselves that the EU currently manages for the member countries. I know there are no guarantees but hopefully that rainy day fund will stay dry

Who know's - remember, I'm in Wales rather than in Whitehall.

The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party launched in 2015 and at their first election in 2016 got nearly 5% of the votes. The government hasn't accepted the people of Wales voted to leave in the referendum, doing all but stating they think the people don't know what's best for themselves. UKIP currently have 10% of the seats in the assembly. We've just been told legally that no one in Whitehall has to listen to the Assembly in the EU negotiations.

I could be being paranoid, but I smell change on the wind.

Short of revolution - there are lots of reasons why I could end up jobless. All of them improved by having a stash of emergency cash.

When I switched jobs 2 years ago, £3.5k used to be enough for 6 months - around £600 a month.

I've just worked out my liabilities (under contract) and my monthly minimum is now much closer to £800 (£5k)

Gas/Electric's gone up, as has council tax, internet is on a contract I couldn't cancel right away - water oddly has gone down, but not by much. Plus the price of things like the bus into town.

jk0

I think we all suspected this was in the pipeline, didn't we?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-27/europe-proposes-restrictions-payments-cash

GreyQueen

:mad: Goshdarnit, if I have to take all the bank notes out of my mattress, it's going to be very thin and uncomfortable. I was enjoying cuddling up to my fiats like a hamster in its nest.

I think we all need to go to cash as much as possible. I pay my futility bills on direct debit, and for everything else, there's the folding stuff and total privacy.

I read that article earlier this evening. Good job the EU itself is on its last knockings, they can't leave well alone.

Nargleblast

mardatha wrote: »

My teabags are the Costco 1000s, 5 of them. When I open one then I'm going to be under pressure to drink 1000 cups of tea as fast as I can :rotfl:

It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it!

lobbyludd

monnagran wrote: »

I think this every time someone picks up my handbag, staggers under the weight and says "Whatever to do you keep in here."
Answer is almost anything you are likely to need.

I can't beat something that happened on a visit to the Hampton Court Flower Show. A member of our group had dropped her specs and an arm had come loose. I said, quite quietly, "What we need is an optical screwdriver."
One of the thousands of visitors streaming past us, detached himself from the crowd, fished inside his jacket pocket, produced just that thing and effected an immediate repair.

Respect!

x

my personal preparedness to random strangers "height" was whilst waiting in town to pick up the littlies a woman limped past the car with a shoe whose sole was flapping free from it's uppers. I was able to wind down the window and offer her some shoe glue that was in my glove compartment; which she used to fix her footware at the nearest hostelry.

She was astonished that I'd give that freely and I like to think that she'll pay that forward when she sees someone else in trouble that she's able to help in some way. I have been in receipt of many acts of random kindness by strangers and in my experience the more I act kindly the more I receive back - it helps make kindness and helpfulness become normal?

we can't individually cover all bases for the future but within a community we can each use our strengths and resources to form a cohesive, resilient whole?

moneyistooshorttomention

jk0 wrote: »

I think we all suspected this was in the pipeline, didn't we?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-27/europe-proposes-restrictions-payments-cash

The daft thing about that (if it happened) is the intended targets (ie terrorists) can probably figure out ways round these things.

Whereas - with anything like that/the current money laundering regulations etc then Joe and Joanna Average In The Street can't.

It's of my "impossible dreams" to be able to just magic up a stash of banknotes and one of the first things I'd do would be to head into an EA with £half million in hand and say "I'll have that house there - and I'm paying cash" and basically just hand the money over the counter there and then. But, if I suddenly acquired "impossible" abilities and had that cash - then (as Joanna Average) I couldnt figure out a way round how to get the EA to just accept such a wodge of cash. But I bet Mr Terrorist could.....

So what's the point of them restricting us Mr/Ms Averages then?

NewShadow

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

But I bet Mr Terrorist could.....

So what's the point of them restricting us Mr/Ms Averages then?

The point is to allow them to track smaller spends than 9k at a time and notice odd/sudden changes in spending patterns because more and more terrorists seem to be Mr/Ms Averages.

Radicalising disenfranchised independents is a more successful strategy for modern day terrorism as not being part of a 'cell' results in less ways for the authorities to track, and therefore prevent, incidents - less chatter, fewer connections to people they might already be tracking, no history of association with previous atrocities.

Combine that with the ability to cause mass terror relatively easily (since the advent of social media) and Mr Terrorist is now more likely to be that slightly odd bloke, harmless but with a history of mental illness and that never really fitted in anywhere, in the flat down the road, that always kept to himself...

I don't approve, but I can understand the logic.

Jazee

Morning all. I still have a lot to learn about prepping. As previously mentioned I am living with a makeshift 'kitchen' in the LR while renovation works go on. Currently have no heating or hot water, but at least a working toilet.

I have found all the extra fleece throws we've needed to keep warm along with all the teabags to keep having hot drinks. However, when one of the workmen injured himself yesterday, I discovered I'd packed away the first aid box. Silly woman.

Have a great day everyone.

Cappella

That's a really useful tip about wire ties Greyqueen Thank you. MrC is a devil for losing glasses screws, and usually it's whilst we're on the allotment so it's a needle in the grass job. I've just popped a few in my bag to take down this morning to add to the prep box down there. I'd never have thought of using them for glasses repair.

Digforvictory To get out of Manchester centre quickly and safely I'd head for the canals. They got us home in 1996 when the Arndale bomb exploded. Do you live locally? I'm seven miles away if you fancy a Northern Meet? (Sorry, I know this is the wrong thread).

We've just spent three months sharing with family and friends (redundancies and little work available, fortunately now resolved I'm happy to say)and eating most of our stored tinned and dried goods and I am now ready to restock. I'm starting today with visits to Lidlie and Aldie. I've got 2014 prices to compare today's with, will be interesting to see if they're rising already? I wasn't going to restock to be truthful, it will be expensive, but I'm finding myself very concerned about the possible futures so have have decided to compromise and make sure we've got four weeks worth of food in instead of the current weeks, which together with our honey and allotment produce will make me a much happier woman. Think I'm the product of my upbringing. My parents had BEEN hungry as children in the 1930s and kept good store cupboards themsellves. It's definitely better to be prepared, as my lovely daughters good friends have now realised. They've gone from having bare cupboards to emailing asking for pantry advice since their difficult experience when their work suddenly dried up. Glad they're working again, and have advised them to follow the oldstyle threads.
Apologies for such a long post, I've been lurking but have been hesitating to join in.