THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

moneyistooshorttomention

maryb wrote: »

A lot of that is car finance, they are just throwing it at people. We needed to replace my car two years ago and as Toyota give a five year warranty and there is no road tax on an Aygo we decided to go for a new one which will see me out. We asked if there was any discount for paying cash and the salesman said no but he could do us a deal if we bought it on contract hire. It was over two years interest free so we were in the absurd position that we were better off taking on debt.

The balloon payment is due in a months time and it's sitting ready in an account which pays a pathetic amount of interest but it does pay some. But for the last two months they have been bombarding me with 'invitations' to come in and discuss my options. At the same time they have been issuing very long lists of the things they charge extra money for if you hand the car back. So not too hard to guess they will try and talk me into taking on a new car. However I told them they were not to phone me unless it was about servicing so I just get a letter every week which goes straight in the bin

But something tells me not many people use personal contract purchasing like I do. There must be dozens who sign up to another contract because it's only a little bit more each month and they get a new car, ooh shiny!!

But when the next downturn comes people will just hand back the keys at the end of the lease period (always assuming they can keep up the monthly payments in the first place) And the market will be (even more) flooded with second hand cars and prices will collapse. We were on the motorway recently and saw several transporters moving second hand cars around so auctions must be inundated with these ex-lease cars where people have upgraded.

The car finance firms are all underwritten by banks and I'm sure that is where the next 'sub-prime' type shock will come from - and in the not too far distant future either

I was reading quite a credible financial article recently that was written very much along those lines - and finished reading it thinking "Sounds quite possible".

I've added that onto watching recent "Rich House, Poor House" tv programmes and it certainly struck me that the poor families they've featured to date both are running cars. This when their income after bills, etc, is in the region of what I have right now (after I've paid my bills and a loan for my new kitchen the house needed and a sofa bought on interest-free credit). Now I can well afford those two debts on my income and said income is State and Civil Service pension (so secure) - and I can't afford to even think about getting a car if I wanted one.

I don't know how necessary they feel those cars are? - ie whether they could hold down their jobs if using public transport or a pushbike? That wasnt clear from the programme. But I was certainly thinking "It's obvious there is no way there is money to spare for those cars" and I wouldnt be surprised if they were bought with credit (despite insecure incomes and one household paying rent and the other paying mortgage - ie they have the risk that those payments might increase).

NewShadow

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I was reading quite a credible financial article recently that was written very much along those lines - and finished reading it thinking "Sounds quite possible".

I've added that onto watching recent "Rich House, Poor House" tv programmes and it certainly struck me that the poor families they've featured to date both are running cars. This when their income after bills, etc, is in the region of what I have right now (after I've paid my bills and a loan for my new kitchen the house needed and a sofa bought on interest-free credit). Now I can well afford those two debts on my income and said income is State and Civil Service pension (so secure) - and I can't afford to even think about getting a car if I wanted one.

I don't know how necessary they feel those cars are? - ie whether they could hold down their jobs if using public transport or a pushbike? That wasnt clear from the programme. But I was certainly thinking "It's obvious there is no way there is money to spare for those cars" and I wouldnt be surprised if they were bought with credit (despite insecure incomes and one household paying rent and the other paying mortgage - ie they have the risk that those payments might increase).

I might suggest it's a question of prioritisation - given I understand you pay a fair premium for organic produce, for example, which they may choose to spend on running a small efficient vehicle?

jk0

My gf is a worry with debt. She has had more cars in 9 years of driving than I've had in 35 years! She gets bored of them, and so trades them in (for buttons) and takes a loan on another.

Back in Feb she got rid of her Smart Car that only had another year's payments until she owned it, and borrowed £10k for a Prius to do Ubering in! (Against my advice, you may have guessed.)

It took to August to get the Uber license, and now it looks possible Uber will lose their license. She says she won't be keeping the Prius if that happens and will be getting something sportier!

I love her dearly, but this is getting annoying.

maryb

It's the low paid who often need cars to get to jobs with early and late hours. Office workers are usually able to commute by public transport or at least car share if there are no buses going past the business park etc.

Did you see the registration on the cars or was it blanked out for privacy? (I haven't seen the programme) Might well be older cars - though that brings its own problems with unexpected bills etc and hoping and praying it gets through the MOT

[Deleted User]

I think we're all in 'overload' when it comes to taking disasters seriously, we get them rammed down our throats every day in the newspapers, on the TV and radio, by the charities Like Oxfam and Save the Children, we get the constant pleading ad's with pathos music in the background for water for third world villages, NSPCC, PDSA, Sight Savers, Poorly treated donkeys, RSPCA, British Legion, Dogs Trust etc. etc. etc. all of which are worthy causes BUT all with the same message of 'give us your money' no wonder we're cynical about the whole thing and then there are the chuggers on the high street or knocking on your door so no escape even in your own home, we're getting unsolicited 'charity begging letters' at this time of year with 'blackmail' Christmas cards or raffle tickets in them and a pen etc. which are I guess to make you feel so guilty at getting charity objects' that you send in a donation. It's no wonder we turn off from the constant drip feed of misery and need that is dished up 24 hours a day!

However I think this world is becoming a much more unpredictable place of late, political divisions and 'ego's' in world leaders, squabbles between UK countries both internally and in Europe, Russia and China both wanting and pushing for dominance at least in their own territories, the US and NK at each others throats, terrorism, climate change, weather events, industrial accidents, natural disasters etc. all happen and seem to happen continually so surely it makes a certain amount of sense to have preparations in place to help you through the events that happen to have various plans in place for various possible scenarios and to have some ready to go equipment/sustenance/medicines in a place where they are easily to hand if not in BOB.

I think we get distracted and side tracked sometimes by irrelevancies and go 'off target' and forget why this thread IS actually here which is to ensure as much as we can that we have some chance of making it through any event we find ourselves caught up in and with enough preparations to not just survive the event but to survive the aftermath and make a viable life from that point on for ourselves and our dependents. That's why I am a prepper, I don't think anyone else is going to give a thought to our safety and survival in times of deep adversity, they'll all be too caught up in saving themselves!

GreyQueen

jk0, an old pal of mine, an IT professional in his fifties, once bought, in succession, in a single year, three brand-new small cars, all bought from and traded in at the same dealership. Fickleness like that makes me shudder......... mind you, he did give two other people a chance to by a used car in barely-used condition, but he lost thousands of pounds due to indecisiveness.

Back when I was at the CAB, we'd do statements of means for struggling families in debt, we'd often see a car taking up 25% of a household's expenditures. Now, regardless of how big your individual household's 100% is, that's not sustainable in the long term.

As we're in a city, there are a lot of employment opportunities within walking/ cycling and bus-riding distance, unlike those people (some of whom are my relations btw) who've stayed in villages and have to commute for work, shopping, school etc.

I've often wondered why some people who could live car-free without too much difficulty, and who say they struggle to pay for said car, its repairs, insurance etc, and are perpetually in debt and stressed about it, can't see the elephant in the room and get rid of that four-wheeled ball and chain.

It seems as if, having grown up with cars, and had them almost since they were old enough to drive, that they can't imagine life without their own personal motorised armchair at their beck and call.

I had my pushbike serviced yesterday. Cost me a tenner and it's running sweetly, silently and I never ever have to pay to park it anywhere at all. Winning!

mardatha

I think real preppers are the people who can happily drop all of the "stuff" and focus simply on living and eating and coping with less. Really. In the true prepping sites we see all these wannabee Rambos, just out of the Forces, who think they are the bees knees. But then you find they need a/b/c right down to x/y/z. Without that "stuff" they haven't a clue how to survive. That is not what prepping is about. Very few people really get it.

GreyQueen

Couldn't agree more, Mar.

I sometimes read American prepping websites and it's guns-guns-guns a lot of the time. I wonder if Americans realise how much of an outlier their culture is, by comparison with other developed western countries?

Even Rambo can be laid low by a microscopic bug. You aren't going to get out of a lot of situations which menace your life by using an AK or any handgun. Or even a pistol crossbow........

Self-care, such as understanding how to maintain hygiene in times of low, no or polluted water, is a key skill. Isn't glamourous and you can't buy a gadget for most of it, but then that's life in the raw (sewerage).

Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.

thriftwizard

Hear hear to MrsLW’s comment up above! I’ve spent the last two weeks hurtling up & down our local A road, as Mum is in hospital again after a very scary episode, and has come very close to the edge once or twice whilst she’s been in there. So I haven’t had much time for shopping/cooking/planning and I’m delighted to report that we have more or less survived on the contents of the store cupboard, the freezer, the allotment and the nest boxes in the chicken shed, apart from one day when I had to buy fish & chips for seven thanks to horrible traffic jams & guests leaving to go back upcountry.Thankfully Mum’s looking a bit better now, though it’s very early days, and there are only a couple of storecupboard things running low, both of which we have alternatives for. So a little bit of prepping has saved the day, both from the PoV that I didn’t have to worry about food supplies, and the budget, which I’d have aced if it hadn’t been for the fish & chips.

Also to GQ; I’m hurtling up & down in a 19 y.o. Japanese van, which has been & hopefully still is well-looked-after, a bit on the slow & steady side. One of my young rellies, though, is dashing around in a 2 y.o. fancy Italian motor which keeps dropping bits like hoses & exhausts at the roadside & cost him more than a couple of year’s wages, on tick. I know he has to “look the part” to the Right People to get himself Noticed & promoted to the point where he can afford a car like that - but supposing it doesn’t work out? Funny old world...

[Deleted User]

1) Know how to build a shelter

2) Know how to find/make drinking water.

3) Know what isn't safe to eat/forage and what is.

4) Know how to be and stay safe and in good health in different situations.

5) Have the knowledge of all this working order in your head and keep it updated and revised.

By whatever means you need to do them, all the above are all you really need to survive and thrive. Other than that learn as many old skills as you can to make a life without modern conveniences and aids as comfortable as it is possible to do and you might have a chance of making it through adversity