The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

culpepper

I love that picture of your wedding MrsLurcherWalker.
Ours was similarly inexpensive . We had some elderly friends who had described their own wedding day as ...got married in our ordinary clothes ,hopped on the bus,went camping ,so we were inspired and did the same although we didnt use the bus(we had a little car).
So many do seem to want to roll out the red carpet to get married and then go on an expensive holiday and after all that...struggle to find enough money towards somewhere to live afterwards.

silverwhistle

DigForVictory wrote: »

My single weathervane for tough times has been how busy the second hand market is. Also the hunting shooting & fishing supplier as BB guns, airsofts & full on shooting tackle all need maintenance & ammo. When things are looking iffy, that shop is discreetly crowded & everyone's paying cash. .

I was wandering back from the village a couple of months ago when I saw my neighbour's son taking delivery of a shrink wrapped pallet. My interest is normally in the pallets themselves as I take them off their hands and turn them in to kindling and stove fodder. This time I took a second look at the load: dozens of boxes of shotgun cartridges! Think it was for the water-fowling/shooting club, but remind me not to get into an argument!


I think they came from Spain, judging on the markings on the pallet I subsequently scrounged and burned!

Jazee

On weddings, ours was a small affair as it suited us both. My DDs wedding last year was a grand affair which was fantastic and paid for. Horses for courses really. DD is really debt averse- she knows the mess we got into and it certainly wasn't on luxuries.

Prepping - now rotating stocks making sure we use old stuff first. Did a freezer inventory yesterday.

My current prepping is more around finding out what skills I can trade with friends, and getting my proper books about other things, foraging for example.

I realised this week I may not be able to just google information when the grubbiement turned off the WiFi to the London protesters.

Karmacat

Jazee wrote: »

My current prepping is more around finding out what skills I can trade with friends, and getting my proper books about other things, foraging for example.

I realised this week I may not be able to just google information when the grubbiement turned off the WiFi to the London protesters.

These are two things that I'm doing. The skills thing, I have a neighbour who's very into ham radio. I've trailed the idea of prepping, and he seems quite resistant, actually. But he *is* a ham radio operator, so I'm working on finding a good hand held for me that will work (though he'd be quite surprised, of course, if I ever used the thing!).


Books: yes! I have a lot of books, pdfs and kindles, downloaded onto my computer, as I'm pretty sure my little solar panel could power my laptop, and I'm absolutely sure it could power my kindle and my phone. But a good paper book about subjects I think are important is really essential to me.

[Deleted User]

A neighbour gave us about a cubic meter of mostly seasoned conifer trunks this morning, he wheelbarrowed them across to the front of the house and HWK has just processed most of them and I've stacked them under the car port to finish seasoning for the winter to come. We have 5 large circumference trunks that are recently felled so they are at the side behind the greenhouse to dry for the summer and we'll process them in the autumn. It's saved us a load of wood which would have cost £100ish so fabulous gift. The log store under the car port is now almost full which at this time of the year is a very nice feeling indeed.

thriftwizard

The log store under the car port is now almost full which at this time of the year is a very nice feeling indeed.

Ours is just about full too, but that's because we ran out whilst I was still on the chemo & freezing cold all the time! So we had to order another load; then of course it warmed up just as they were delivered. Never mind, they're stashed away ready for next winter.

Just debating putting the gazebo up in the garden & serving lunch outdoors tomorrow! My brother's bringing our mother up for lunch; the garden's looking spectacular with the lilacs & the Japanese crab apple all blossoming; the pittosporum as well, which you can't see as the flowers are tiny and black, but it does have the most fabulous scent, and the two jasmines are about to come out too. The pond is heaving with tadpoles too & the solar fountains are going full blast; provided no-one minds having a curious bantam on their lap, it'd be an Easter lunch to remember! And not something that could be done at any of my brothers' houses. Mind you, there'd be some extra work involved - can't put the gazebo up without taking the washing lines down!

It's DS1's birthday and we've had a bit of a laugh remembered that, about 12 years ago, he & his mates spent it "snowboarding" down the local ancient monument - the bodyboards have never been the same since. Not that it had snowed here, all of 4 miles away... the vagaries of the British weather will never cease to amaze me.

Karmacat

thriftwizard, that sounds like you're going to have a wonderful Easter!

I'm back from catsitting, and spending today moving the last few bits out of the kitchen, ready for the RSJ to be installed tomorrow, Easter Monday - very weird Easter round here!

It's made me want to rejig storage when I get my house back - no point having a year's cleaning supplies when you "only" have six months food! Not exact, but that's the principle.

jk0

Karmacat wrote: »

I think it's much more likely that it's due to the centralisation of the country's capital in the hands of the top 3% - 5%.

This vid might strike a few chords KC.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NKHdLqaRQY

DigForVictory

thriftwizard wrote: »

My cousin regularly goes Over The Pond, hires an RV for a few months and joins them, but beats a hasty retreat back to Blighty every time a Texan widow latches onto him...

As a definition of an emergency situation, that has all sorts of potential...

I have a bad feeling "Texas Widow" is going to appear in family language as a euphemism. Mostly as the original idea has charm, but the possibilities run like greyhounds.

Eyeing the (frankly brought it on himself) Twitter fuss about period preparedness, let alone the rest of the issues assocaited with life on finite & small income, I regret to see noone appears to have said Make Your Own reusables but then it's the sort of subject that gets a lot of 'shock, horror!' almost whatever you say from the blokes and the more delicately & affluently nurtured females.

Back in my world (stepping briskly away from twitter!) we have been given several bags of beeswax largely in comb format, and godfather was wondering if we knew what facial & skincare products you could make from it. Having only a hazy view of what B.P, means, we firmly denied all knowledge but I'll be on Google later. Meanwhile (avoiding the 'hive mind' pun), has anyone any idea how to make your own Bens Bees Lip balm or whatever? (We've made leather dressing with beeswax & tallow but that ingredient list really wouldn't grace the shelves of Harvey Nichols although is does a superb job on leather.) Open to suggestions!

jk0

Who doesn't like Texan Widows?