THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

maryb

Ooh what channel is that on Short Bird?

maryb

I'm not altogether sure the instinct to relax re the global financial system is entirely wise, though. Don't they say that the top of a bubble is reached when the last bear capitulates?

France looked into the crystal ball and didn't like it but attention will turn to Italy next

Still, that is the sort of thing one can't prep for. Having cash is always useful even if we don't find ourselves living in a dystopia

fuddle

If any of us gets to the point of relaxing re: the global financial system I think we should check in with a bit of a complacency reality check.

[Deleted User]

break time. Loads done, including heaving 6 heavy bags of compost and am now in midst of re-potting herbs, also drinking a tester bottle of komboucha, its nice

IMO the best prep by far is being completely debt free and living within your means ie having a few£ left at the end of the week. I am not the only one on this thread who went through massively tough times in the past, I thought 15% mortgage was bad until dh came home and said that everyone voted to cut their salary by half, so no-one lost their job and it started that day. I remember the immediate sense of panic but then sat down with a notebook and made every penny count and we lived off garden produce only, that plus some bought milk. Thank goodness that mortgages then were 2.5 x the main salary. If that was today, then many people would lose their homes. Borrowing is going up again and that is what is likely to cause individual disaster situations. Personal rather than global financial. It`s always best to be defensive, global financial could come about but within that there is personal financial and if that is secure then you would be surprised at what you can cope with

Karmacat

fuddle wrote: »

It's all volatile out there and I'm afraid i don't feel any safer now than when the recession hit in 2008. Infact, I feel like there's a force of issues ready to ram raid into our lives.

I agree - I just watched that film The Big Short, and nothing I've ever seen has captured the cynicism and abuse of those who have power. They view us as fodder, I think.

Personally, and this might be a little defeatist, I think we are mere mortals responsible for living in the here and now as best we can. Being prepared for little bumps in the road is extremely sensible but anything more than that is out of my control and out of my capacity to thrive healithy and happily in. I don't want to give oxygen to misery.

I'll prepare my castle for life as I know it and appreciate every damned thing because I don't know when I'm going to loose my castle, loose my life as I know it or loose my life.

I kind of agree. In fact, I've just decided to take a hint from a difficulty putting stuff up for sale on Amazon, and stop selling on there. I might sell very high value items singly in future, yes, but otherwise, it'll be a few goes with ziffit etc and then off to the charity shop. Its not exactly "eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die", just an acknowledgement of finiteness and a realisation that I don't have to do every single bitty thing, I can let some of it go to free up energy to live my life.

mardatha

I don't think the prospects look any brighter now than they have done, nothing has changed, but the longer things go on as normal the more we lose vigilance. The only reason I have less food stash is that we changed what we eat, went low carb and paleo, which involves less tins. I still have a good stock of dried foods and packets.
I still think there might be problems with strikes further on down the road; still think there might be shortages with Europe/Putin hyping food & gas prices to us; still think the cost of living for us will go higher and some banks might or will fail.

short_bird

maryb wrote: »

Ooh what channel is that on Short Bird?

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-05-08/the-handmaids-tale-will-get-a-uk-broadcast-producers-confirm

[Deleted User]

I certainly don't feel safe at any level and the world gets more precarious by the minute with the people at various helms of various countries just now. I think honing down the prepping things is part of lightening our lives all round to let us be less encumbered by materia in all areas of life. I'd like to reach the point of having enough for a comfortable but sustainable life on a day to day level but free enough that if I had to lift a bag and run in 10 seconds from now I'd be able to do that without looking back in regret at what I'd been forced to leave behind.

GreyQueen

As kittie remarked, there is a degree of overlap between kondo-ing (and other, non-branded forms of decluttering ) and prepping.

I have a vague recollection that a principle behind Buddhism is that attachment is the cause of all unhappiness. Perhaps some of us have reached an age in years, or an age in emotions, where we're starting to detatch ourself from some material things.

Yes, we are physical beings and need certain things for survival, and certain other things for comfort, and some other things for amusement and entertainment, but these are a lot fewer than a virulent consumer economy has led us to believe.

I think we are pretty much stuck in an era where present trends, such as the dwindling share of prosperity you can earn by your labour, will continue to decline as it has done for the past 40-odd years. The majority of people only have their labour to sell, whether its mental skills or the strength of their backs.

If you can't get much for selling your time, and don't have access to a rentier income (some of us regulars have a mixture of both) you're in a position of having more of your income devoted to the essentials and less for the frivolity. This effects the choices you make and thus the overall success of the economy and other people's livilhoods.

In my life, I feel that I have seen a dramatic increase in the share of money which can be spent on non-essentials, and that now I am starting to see this return whence it came. For those whose business is non-essentials, it might be a sobering time.

It may well be that we're witnessing beginning of the end of a consumer society, which would be no bad thing for the well-being of the planet as a whole and most of its (non-human) denizens, but which would be life-changing for individuals.

There is a Zen koan; Now that my storehouse has burned down, I can see the rising moon. I've treasured that since I first encountered it decades ago.

Ultimately, we are greater than the sum of our possessions and the best place for preps is inside your head, with knowledge and practical skills and the emotional resilience to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and being prepared to start all over again.

[Deleted User]

Like that little old ant' in the song we've got 'High hopes', long may it continue!