Prepping for Brexit thread

Tori.....what a great analogy, global capitalism is indeed a form of cancer.

Whilst global capitalism has brought us huge advantages, helping to lift billions out of poverty it does have its more sinister and negative connotations,....exploitation of workers, depletion of resources, destruction of wildlife and natural habitats - these we already know and understand.

However I think there is another face to global capitalism, one perhaps we haven't given much thought to......until now. I think by its very success in bringing ease and comfort to billions it has also made us over reliant on others to supply our needs and wants.

Why grow food when it is easier to nip to the supermarket or even have it delivered, why make your own clothes when it is cheaper and easier to buy them......the list goes on.

When goods and services are cheap then people are obviously going to take the easy way out. There is nothing wrong with this but it does mean that many of us may have lost the practical skills and the mindset needed to stand on our two feet, especially our younger folk who have never known anything but ease and plenty.

The other thing to remember about capitalism, is that by its very nature, it is subject to boom and bust cycles. Whether we like it or not we are heading for recession. When, how long and how deep the next one will be is anyone's guess it, but with or without Brexit, another recession is waiting in the wings.

As some of us "oldies" on here can testify.......nothing teaches so well as experience. Life does indeed throw curved balls and those of us who have experienced challenging times will know that being prepared, with a well stocked food cupboard, alternative fuel supplies, and some cash in the house can ensure that we can ride out the bad times in some measure of comfort and security.

Many animals do exactly this.....squirrels stock pile nuts for example..... whilst bears feast through summer, laying down fat so they can hibernate through winter. Humans are no different. As many of us have already admitted, we tend to stock up a bit for winter anyway, so prepping for Brexit is really no different.

To those like Melanzana who have never had to plan ahead before well then you have been very fortunate. My children are in their 30s, they have known nothing but comfort and ease. One is nervous about Brexit the other is sanguine. Neither had given a thought about making any preparations until we had a bit of a chat recently.

On a personal level I don't think it will be all doom and gloom.....the world will still want to trade with us and the EU will still want to trade with us. There might be some logistical difficulties and no doubt there will be increased beaurocracy but I don't think these difficulties will be insurmountable.

Yes I shall stock up on some things, I do every winter. But this time I shall just buy a bit more not necessarily because of short supplies but in my case I know that, because I'm moving house and will be having to pay for a lot of renovations then money is going to be a bit tight for a while. So for me I shall be stocking up as a financial investment.

At a time when savings rates are low then I'm going to put some of my money into goods to protect myself against raising prices for a while until my finances are less strained. Call it Hedge Fund Management.....:rotfl:

I run my personal finances the way I ran my businesses. i think and plan ahead, I try to prepare for lean times, bad weather, recessions and now Brexit.

Using two well worn cliches here.......I make hay while the sun shines whilst keeping a weather eye out for storms on the horizon.

I dont think this is panic, sensationalism or doom mongering, to me it's just simple common sense and being pragmatic. Or in business terms, contingency planning.

As any good Girl Guide will tell you......."be prepared".

Some very rational, well-reasoned posts here. It makes a change from some of the hysterical rantings that have been posted previously. I agree with Melanzana that it is ridiculous the amount of panic that is going on, as if we were about to be wiped off the face of the Earth because of political events. Prepping for adverse circumstances makes good sense, remember the bad winters we have had in recent years, where people could not get out to the shops in some places, and there were empty shelves in supermarkets? That is why we have storecupboards which can be raided to feed our families without having to go near a shop for days or even weeks, depending on what we store. Thinking ahead to March 2019, I am thinking of also stocking up on pet foods so Albert, Patsy and Molly don't suffer. Even if the food is made in the U.K. you bet your life that the barstewards will still increase their prices and find a way to blame it on Brexit!

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

Don't know whether this will help relieve the anxiety, but have you tried to find out where the medication is manufactured as there's a fair chance that it'll be in the UK ...

The government themselves don't seem to anticipate much of a problem, however it does look like there'll be a forward-build of contingency stocks for the NHS to cover issues at changeover.

Maybe this would be of interest, it probably won't help at an individual level, but it does provide a view of what the industry itself believes the general position to be ... https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmbeis/382/38205.htm ... (2/16)
HTH
Z

Thanks for that. I have tried to find out where it is from but can't pin it down. Our pharmacist is lovely so I will ask her when she gets back, she is on holiday in her home country. She is from the EU so I'm hoping she will stay in the UK after Brexit. I often go to her instead of the GP and get my flu jab from her.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

There's been the warning from the government to start to stock up on food hasn't there? just because life has been wine and roses and pink sunsets for all of an existence doesn't mean it can't and won't change whether you want it to or not. The wartime references are ONLY because people had to be extremely innovative with their thinking to make a better life for themselves on limited availability while it was happening and some of the things they found as solutions work, if they worked then they'll work now IF and only if we need them. No we're not at war, no we haven't got air raid sirens ringing out why would they? it's not a TV programme and it's not an historical re-enactment happening it's real life and whether it's fair or not, whether it should be happening in a first world country or not it IS happening and we all have to deal with it. Don't accuse us of liking to 'play' at prepping because it amuses us, we each of us prep for different reasons, we've all had very different lives and we all see a pertinent reason to take responsibility for our own lives, it harms no one, it's not for 'fun' and if you'd ever got up into an ice cold room in the middle of winter and had to put back on wet shoes when you've got chilblains and walk 5 miles to work and back you'd realise that's not fun either but if I'd had the foresight to have been able to have a second pair of shoes that were dry it would have a darned sight comfier.

That is what I don't understand, the govt are advising us to stock up and yet people continue to say it isn't necessary. I don't know if they don't want to consider it or they think the govt is making it up but it just seems sensible to have some stuff in the cupboard. If nothing goes wrong we will eat it anyway so nothing lost. I'm not buying masses but I am buying a couple of items every week, just stuff like baked beans, kidney beans, tuna and most important tea bags because I can't bear the thought of no tea.