THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

GreyQueen hi how lovely reading that and you are clever too, as you have taught many things on here which are handy and important, and I love your style of writing and sense of humour.:)

A credit union! Membership of a credit union would be a really good prep ...

Yes, really blustery down Sarf as well but no chill in the wind. Everyone's obviously out making the most of the good weather as it is so quiet on here.

Apparently temperatures will be a good bit cooler for a few days but then a real heatwave.

So glad I no longer have to commute.

I've been reading the Archdruid Report since Grey Queen posted a link it a couple of weeks ago and I explored some of the blogs he links to. Boy, does he hang out with some pessimists:eek:

It seems inconceivable in this lovely weather that anything could go seriously awry with the world. But of course, both the wars started at the end of lovely summers. And we are only recently back from France where the country is still reeling from the attacks. I only had access to wifi intermittently but it got to the stage where I dreaded what I would see when I looked at the news headlines. We were in La Rochelle for the Red Bull cliff diving competition ( talk about INSANE!!) and security was obviously very tight. A few days later we were in Sables d'Olonne where the Vendee Globe round the world race starts from. They have glorious beaches so it's a very popular tourist spot. They had army patrols in the streets.

Actually I think I was more alarmed by the sight of what looked like teenage cadets wandering round with machine guns than anything:eek:

The French holiday season peaks between 14 July and 15 August ( Assumption Day) and most towns have firework displays both days. We saw so many posters and newspaper reports saying that fireworks were cancelled.

I like sticking my nose into the little churches in the ports we visit, they all have the most intricate model ships strung from the ceiling. Every church was ablaze with light from the candles that people lit for that poor priest who was slaughtered at the altar and there seemed to be a big turnout for Mass on the following Sunday. Everywhere seemed to have a very sombre undertone. We were glad to get home

Karmacat wrote: »

Mary, thanks for posting about France - it's good to get some first hand knowledge.

Yes, it is. Thank you maryb. Not much news here atm is there, the Olympics has been allowed to push everything else out!

If you use Microsoft Money and download your statements into that, you can add a category to each item and also an explanatory note (useful if your categories are fairly broad). There's a sunset version of Microsoft Money available for free on the Microsoft website and I have no problems running it with Windows 10.

Lots of people swear by You Need A Budget (YNAB). I haven't tried that - it seems to be more forward looking than Money which is more of a record which you can analyse in lots of ways. (Money does have a budgeting feature but even if you tell it something is an annual expense, the month the payment goes out it still tells you you've overspent so I don't use it) But presumably in order to check how you are doing in comparison to your budget you would need to have actual spends so I am assuming YNAB must let you download online bank statements?