THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Karmacat

Si Clist - I too love German words and sometimes they help me see the logic of our own vocabulary, realising that when I break a British word down into its component pieces, the components are still words. I love it.

Mrs Moneypenny - your health is a crucial prep, so those stitches are what you need to be paying attention to, spot on And maintenance of the place we live in, crucial! I think about that when I see the state of my brickwork. I had a lot of repointing done a few years ago - but the bricks themselves have a few deep holes in, even a few cracks here and there. I know they should be replaced, but they won't be, so I need to repair them before winter. What if there was a bad winter? What if rain got through the cracks, like it got through the busted mortaring and sent my plaster funny? Damp, mould, fungus, whatever, and the illnesses that result from them - if something bad happened, I'd have bigger problems than I need have, because I hadn't done my maintenance.

As it is, I can get things seen to comparatively easily, but between that, and stocking up (not so many carbs, I'm going to look at fermenting veg) and connecting to the local community (started chatting with a neighbour!) its quite busy prepping-wise.


ETA - ouch, that volcano!

Save

milasavesmoney

This one is for you Bob.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/harrowing-dashcam-footage-10-car-crash-shows-people/story?id=41741018

Importance of carrying a fire extinguisher in your car demonstrated yesterday.

Cheapskate

Morning all, been on holibobs and only back yesterday - lots of lovely prepping posts to read, slightly worrying ones from Germany and Iceland, so ready to return to prepping mode.

We were in Portugal this week, talking to a waiter about the state of their economy. He was probably around 60, still working as much as possible - working for car hire firms through the winter when there's less hotel work - and said that Portugal joining the euro was the worst thing they'd done. Overnight prices shot up, wages in hotels have been static for a decade and prospects all round look very bleak!

Re cash in hand, we recently sold our car, guy paid in cold, hard cash. I put about 3/4 into the bank but kept out a few hundred to replenish the emergency stash at home - DH has finally seen the importance of this! :rotfl: Have also just fixed DD's sunglasses - screw was loose and I found a tiny screwdriver (sort that comes with kids' mini finger skateboards) and hey presto. DH has been moaning about chucking out my pot of little bits....

A xo

mardatha

Don't like the sound of the smart meters and the thing about a new energy policy. Sorry not following it so dont know exactly who said what but I know it sounds very dodgy.

maryb

I don't like the sound of smart meters either and I don't think one would work in our house as I've tried those gadgets that show you how much you are using at any point in time, but they struggle to get a wifi connection because the meter is in the cellar. So you can only have the display at the top of the cellar steps which defeats the object of being able to keep an eye on your consumption.

I haven't seen anything recently about a new energy policy, though. Do you have a linky Mar?

Karmacat

I almost fell into the smart meter trap, but luckily I came on here

mardatha

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37220703

Bits that raised my wee antennae were-
Price signals to consumers will be key to the change
and
Prof Phil Taylor, professor of energy systems at Newcastle University, said: "People are used to the idea that they pay more for using the trains at peak time, or they queue more if they use the roads at rush hour.

maryb

I used to have economy 7 and would run things overnight to take advantage of cheap rate but they have changed the tariff so that it's simply uneconomic anymore unless you have storage heaters. That seems mad to me - night time uses base load, the electricity that has to be generated anyway whether it's used or not. Surely it would make more sense to encourage people with existing white meters to use them as much as possible

pineapple

mardatha wrote: »

Don't like the sound of the smart meters and the thing about a new energy policy. Sorry not following it so dont know exactly who said what but I know it sounds very dodgy.

It may sound a bit paranoid but I worry about the radiation they allegedly give off as well as other issues.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/10015679/British-families-at-risk-from-smart-meters-campaigners-tell-MPs.html
http://stopsmartmeters.org.uk/
For balance we have this
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-h-bailey/smart-meters-dumb-science_b_2768405.html
Still trying to dodge them though!

mardatha

I have visions of the current elect prices being relegated to 1-4am, and all the other hours increased in stages, that's what I can see coming.