THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

maryb

ancientofdays wrote: »

Hello, some comments have made me think about my skills and skills that are lacking.

My mum, bless her, didn't teach me to cook. I taught myself and am quite good at it. My dad did teach me about gardening, That's useful but I have never been an ornamental gardener, I like growing food.

I am a knitter, always have something on the go, usually for friends. I can and do sew but don't really enjoy it. Technically I can crochet but I don't think anyone would ever want to wear something that I've crocheted.

I can make wine and beer.

We've got some savings, those will be depleted as we are hoping to move, I have a little gold in the form of jewellery. We keep basic food stores and my OH reckons we could hold out in a siege for a fair while.

I suppose my main thing is that I tend to make do and mend as far as possible. And if it ain't broke, I don't fix it.

I can do DIY, but not plumbing, electrics or gas, though am not great up ladders, as I feel wobblesome off the ground.

I can and do earn a decent though not lavish salary to keep my family. But this will come to an end as I am past retirement age and would like some time to do things.

I am not sure that this is enough prepping though. Perhaps I should learn some new skills.

Blast! was posting on a tablet and didn't realise my reply wafted out into cyberspace and never stopped wafting.

I think what I was saying is that the first thing to do is to work out what you need to prep for. A lot of people prep to ensure they can ride out job insecurity.

Others live in a rural location and get regularly snowed in/get unpredictable power cuts and are last in the queue for the engineers to get them up and running again.

some people are concerned about how to get home or, conversely how to get away from home in the event of trouble and work on getting together a bugout bag

Perhaps it's energy supplies that worry you if you are all electric. One reason behind our getting a woodstove years ago was that I was concerned about Putin turning off the taps. And there was this in the papers yesterday
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/06/08/national-grid-emergency-blackout-costs-spiral-a-further-113m/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/07/08/uk-relies-on-emergency-measures-to-avert-winter-blackouts/

and then again, you could just be prepping for the zombie apocalypse:rotfl:

the point is, if you have a think first about what is likely to impact on you, then you can work out how you need to prepare to meet it. Different people are in different places on the probability/impact scale

maryb

Grey Queen I don't have a larder but I do have cellars because our house used to be the servants part of an old house. I store stuff down there in plastic or glass containers partly because it is a bit damp, not terribly though, but also because I had a mouse get in and the damage one mouse can do is UNbelievable:eek: I don't keep fresh food there atm (other than storing a few apples and potatoes in a sack) but I could if I got net food covers - which I have seen very cheaply in the kitchenware section of land of pound

Spendless

Hi everyone

I was one of those that voted for one thread, so think I'd best join in.

My own catastrophe happened earlier this year. I lost my job from Dec 31st, my workplace had a restructure which resulted in me losing my job, but they did it concealing from me the effect it would have on me and I ended up finding out from 2 people who didn't work there. :mad: Weeks later my DH had to work abroad and he took most (all?) of our spare cash, I did think at the time he was taking more than required, but didn't want to leave him short of cash and the day he was on his way home 3 flights away the energy company took £450 all in one go :eek: and the bill is in his name.

So that's been our story for half of the year. However I have recently found work :j it's of a temporary nature, so can't be complacent. Eldest has left school and hopefully going to college in September and youngest is learning to be more independent as she has to let herself out in a morning (though eldest is on premises):j School finishes on Friday and I think I should be paying the last lot of 'childcare' ever these school holidays. DD is 13, so it's more summer camps for her to have something to do than she needs adult supervision and for the rest of time, for her first time she will be at home with just her brother. As both lots of grandparents live in the village though she can visit and has got a 'summer job' taking one of their dogs for a walk.

We have some credit card debt, I want putting on a 0% card and generally try to sort everything we have, just in case my income dries up in a few months.

cheel

Ok, so in trying to think what applies to me in a prepping perspective, I'm close to the sea, well under a mile away, but up one hell of a hill so think I'm ok from any disaster from that direction, even a tsunami would have to be gigantic.

Heavy rain poses more of a flooding risk but not major, more of a flooded garden than anything else.

Fire \ carbon monoxide its a housing association him so all alarms hard wired with battery backups and gas serviced regularly even tho boiler broken at the mo. a kitchen fire extinguisher might be a good idea though.

Crime is pretty bad round here, we have had one almost murder, one car set on fire, one break in to a pub, one car stolen, and I see the drug deals at the end of the close for the young man two houses down. We hav e been here five years. And apart from the drug deals a policeman has come door to door for all these incidents which is why I know about the less dramatic ones. No one can miss a car exploding next door for example!!

So maybe looking at security might be a good idea? I'm a pretty trusting person but I should maybe go further than a bolt on the back gate and making sure the doors are locked.

The two most likely are power cuts and illness catching us unprepared though.

Mmm food for thought! But will think more on it later.

Xx

Living_proof

The heavy showers are not localised to West Wales, Money. Even on the east of England we have been caught out all morning, which is a nuisance as I had planned on the 'better' day of the weekend being on the allotment and other outdoor activities. I went to a car boot at the crack of dawn but the heavens absolutely opened and nobody managed to cover all their goods up quickly enough. The plot will be a quagmire but I will go down later to pick the rasps before the birds get them. What happened to the plume from Spain? Another weather hoax presumably. I almost got to the bottom of my ironing pile yesterday which has caused me to note that I have more than enough clothes so I will be minimising in the near future. I too missed the ballot, although I am easy-osy about the content and we do have to respect others' opinions even if they might be complete plonkers. Otherwise we will end up, God help us, like the current bunch of politicians!

mardatha

Found you all! HI suzybloo, fancy meeting you here

pineapple

Doveling wrote: »

Wow! Threads moving fast

Can anyone advise on the best place to get sleepers for raised beds?
I know you're not supposed to use the old treated ones.
Garden centre or builders merchants? Or does it not matter as long as the price is right?

You could also use pallets. There is lots on the net about it.
The son at the farm opposite deals in scrap (I got my belfast sinks off him) and always seems to have a ton of pallets. Was thinking of approaching him (I need his 'muscle' as well)

westlothianlass

Hi all, posted for the first time in many months yesterday on the other thread just before it closed so thought i better say hi again

All ok in WLL towers, prepping is part of life now, so got a rhythm going. Waiting on some mylar bags arriving so i can split some bigger bags of rice into more manageable sizes.
Garden is looking like a jungle, but its edible chaos really:rotfl:.

ancientofdays

I was really thinking of when I stop working Maryb though a zombie apocalypse might be exciting. However, I am less fleet of foot than I was wont to be so I might not last long - at least that would give others a larger share of the food. Hopefully this will mean nobody needs to eat up cheel's little rabbit. Poor thing.

We live in a big city and sometimes it can feel a bit post-apocalyptic minus the zombies.

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

Already, I know some people who have realised that they aren't going to be in a position to afford a pet much longer, so will be seeing their current furry owner to the end of their natural span, but not replacing them.

I'm seriously considering, not getting another pet after Buggalugs, but not for financial reasons.

It's because you have to plan your holidays around Cattery availability, so you have to book the holiday well in advance.

You can't just book and go.