The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

Nargleblast

Well you know what they say, Serendipitious, no good turn goes unpunished!

I picked up a tip a while back for dealing with those cuts you sustain in the kitchen. You know, the ones that bleed like hell. Go over to the sink and pour cayenne pepper over the cut then hold your affected appendage in the air. Yes, it will sting initially, but the pain and the bleeding will soon stop. Cayenne pepper is an analgesic, an anti microbial and a haemostat (it stops bleeding).

I hasten to add, I haven't tried this myself yet, I'm too chicken to deliberately cut myself for an experiment, but I have the cayenne pepper ready. The tip came from someone who has worked as a herbalist for over 30 years.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Thank you for that tip Nargleblast 👏 Just added cayenne pepper to my shopping list 😉 

daz378

In work     about half hour away from my covid test ...not received last weeks results yet.....will buy a first aid kit on way home later

elaine241

Well first aid is one prep I can say I have plenty of. Living on a farm with horse riders and rugby players there is always a need for someone to have a bandage, support, wound dressing etc I have just cleaned out my truck as it is being sold and it had two first aid kits plus lots of extra headache pills, antiseptic creams, allergy pills. Plus the horses first aid!! I have three large drawers at home filled with bandages, dressings, medicines etc Heck I even bought potassium iodide tablets when that looney Trump was sabre rattling at the North Korean looney!!

3secondmemory

Grateful to my neighbour for offering to collect my prescription- I haven’t got an ounce of strength or energy to go and get it even though I’ve been planning to all day. 

I didn’t even make it to my beach walk on Tuesday. I was so tired after my Bloodtest, I got on the wrong bus and needed to get a taxi for the last bit of the journey. I knew I would need to conserve energy for my CAT scan at 7 o’clock in the evening. 

Yesterday I had an hour and 20 minutes on the phone with the Dwp about going back to work . I’m glad it’s been recorded because I had to say on a few  occasions that I was tired/confused and my memory problems don’t allow me to answer specific memory questions if you see what I mean. I refused to do the three word dementia test -  I Can actually remember the three words from last time (chair ball pen - it’s always chair ball pen!) remembering three words for a couple of minutes is not reflective of my memory problems at all and not relevant to the work place. 

I had the date through for my SPECT scan – two weeks away. I’ve got to try not to think about it and at the same time not forget! 

My anxiety about medical appointments and injections has never been worse 🙁

I miss Home Bargains for stocking up my medicine basket. I use their tea tree antiseptic cream and oil a lot. Also antihistamines, paracetamol, mouthwash, arnica cream, sodium peroxide and cold remedies. I’m well stocked for the time being so I will just concentrate on running down and consolidating what I’ve got before it runs out of date. 

@elaine241
I use liquid iodine because it is multipurpose - antiseptic, it can be used internally and externally. Many people aren’t getting their usual iodine because of the trend of using Himalayan rock salt rather the our usual iodised table salt. 

daz378

Managed to get a travel essentials first aid kit   11.99  from bootsy....need to add extra bandages etc   from  wilky s  on my next day off in 8 days time ouch

Thriftygifty

I've started looking into actually getting together a BOB for our family, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and can't get my head around what I need to put in it and the circumstances in which I would need some of it from the lists online, quite a few are American. In what circumstances would we not take our car and need to carry everything Inc the children? It advises putting waterproofs in for everyone and not have them separate from the bag, I can't afford 2 sets of full waterproofs for all of us to just sit there and be outgrown. In my simple little head if we had to grab and go ie fire or gas leak we would just put the stuff in the car and leave for relatives house or hotel or camp in the car. I need examples of why please.... 

GaleSF63

One thing I like to have in my medicine/first aid is the small cheap sanitary towels and panty liners that some of the supermarkets  sell. Whether they are any use for their stated purpose I wonder, but they have a multitude of other uses (not all medical). Good for wound dressings, particularly protection as they are little pads, and are much cheaper than the "designated" dressings. Not sterile of course, but clean. Tesco price is around 23p for 10 so I expect they can be found elsewhere at similar cost.

Floss

Thrifty, why not combine storage with easy to grab, and keep your family waterproofs each in its own bag hanging near your front door? Then they can be easy accessed.

mothernerd

Thriftygifty said:

I've started looking into actually getting together a BOB for our family, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and can't get my head around what I need to put in it and the circumstances in which I would need some of it from the lists online, quite a few are American. In what circumstances would we not take our car and need to carry everything Inc the children? It advises putting waterproofs in for everyone and not have them separate from the bag, I can't afford 2 sets of full waterproofs for all of us to just sit there and be outgrown. In my simple little head if we had to grab and go ie fire or gas leak we would just put the stuff in the car and leave for relatives house or hotel or camp in the car. I need examples of why please.... 

When my children were young (all at school but infants/ juniors) the men mending a water pipe accidentally hit the gas pipe (in our street but next short block in front of the public toilets, visible from my front door). Police and fire engine arrived (just one of each at first, more later), gas men came into each of our houses (small row of 5) and turned the gas off at the mains (presumably in case of explosion to limit damage inside our houses). The boys had continued to get dressed/ ready for school as usual. 

Police taped off the street, with my house inside the tape. I phoned my mother. People who had passed taking their children to school (boys' school was nearest, another next to it and a third (infant only) on the nearer side of the road but further along), started to return, saying school was closed for the day. School was roughly five minutes away. Layout (to give some idea of distance) was doctor's surgery facing our little row of 5 houses, street road, gable end of row of houses running E to W (we're S to N), backs to the houses, public toilets block, vicarage, small public garden (site of former vicarage) on the corner. Infant school was around the corner but much further round (since expanded with extra buildings and enlarged playground) and the other two schools back gate on the other side of the road.

When the police cars and fire engines were moved back behind the tape I sent the boys off to my mother's with a bag containing paperwork (my will, deeds to my house, info on all utilities suppliers and bank accounts, insurance - stuff they would need if I were dead). At no point were we asked to evacuate our houses (but they made sure the police cars and fire engines were further away than we were - however in an explosion the engines would have been a secondary source of explosion) but I wanted my boys safe and that meant I could continue to monitor the situation calmly until given the all clear about lunch time. Original incident happened between 8 am and 8.30 am in the morning.

All the paperwork was in my normal file box, the things I gave the boys fit easily into a normal (boy sized) rucksack. I've never had a car, my furniture has nearly always been other people's cast -offs (or stuff from dead relatives which no-one else wanted), my clothes are from charity shops. I was 50 yo when I actually went into a shop and picked a brand new sofa and about the same for a kitchen table (actually got a kitchen table when I bought my second kitchen but the farmhouse table and chairs I had always dreamed of was when I was 50). I actually used to dream about my house burning down and being able to choose things I wanted. I have always been insured to cover the cost of rebuilding. When we have had to stay with friends/ relatives (I had a proper damp-proof course/ solid floor installed and we weren't allowed in for over a week until the floor set) I had to parcel the boys out in different places (and the cats).

I think American society is based around the car (road systems/ mall culture/ out of town shopping/ learning to drive at earliest possible opportunity) and we now have that to some extent. I don't think I'll ever have to go and camp out in the woods (not sure our 'woods' are dense enough to hide anyone). I could say more but I have to go and pick up my new glasses and although I have time, I don't want to end up rushing. Most of the people on here are far more experienced than I am, but I think basic systems (having important documents in order), some simple preparations and keeping calm are best.

I do occasionally run a thread and as winter approaches I've included mini preparations - 
home - insulating layers, any outside lights need to be repaired eg over the front door
car - spade for digging out, extra layers for if you are stranded, torch, breakdown service or the phone number of a friend who will come out and help or rescue you
children - lights/ hi-vis stripes or clothing for any walking/ cycling to school - I always include info about the first week after the clocks change having more traffic accidents than any other time of the year (drivers don't adapt to the changed conditions and pedestrians/ cyclists and tiny babies in their prams pay for it - another long story).

Last year I included a mini challenge about having a hospital bag (even a nightie, toothbrush and a week's medication). Not necessarily for if you were hospitalised but in my case now, if mum was and in the past I've spent nights camping (on fold out WW1 canvas beds) by the side of a sick child - usually as a result of tree climbing or more accurately, falling out of them.