So,have your preps been useful?

[grenfell]

Having full cupboards has certainly helped us reduce how often we needed to go out to the shops which if nothing else has reduced exposure. Like others our cash has largely been untouched. I've still been able to keep working on external jobs but getting materials has been a pain. I queued for nearly three quarters of an hour the other day to get two rolls of roofing felt. I suppose my preps could include much larger quanties of building materials , timber , sand , cement and so on but that's really not practical in terms of space and money tied up.

[Arwen Thebard]

I wouldn't ponder the "cash" question just yet as we haven't really seen any wide spread financial problems and I expect cash will return to favour, at least for a short time, once we do.

[jansman]

I wouldn't ponder the "cash" question just yet as we haven't really seen any wide spread financial problems and I expect cash will return to favour, at least for a short time, once we do.

My boss was saying to me the other day, just that: soon folks’ money will run out.

[grenfell]

A lot of my work is paid in cash but i've had a couple of customers pay with a cheque recently and the reason is that they have wanted to conserve what cash they have to hand. Seems to be at the back of a lot of people's minds.

[peejay]

I've been pretty damned lucky in that, so far, I've not lost a single days work - could change this week, we'll see. We haven't really had to hit the preps much at all, OH does online shopping anyway and when things started tightening up she managed to bag a good few weeks of delivery slots before they all got shut down so it's really only the last 2 weeks or so that shopping has been more of a pain.

As others have said though, I'm very much treating this as the beginning of a much bigger problem, I think we're only seeing the warm-up so far & I don't think things are going to go well as I see one of two options - people running out of money & kicking off significant social unrest, or people demanding to go back to work which then kicks off the dreaded worse second wave.

So, now the shops are settling a bit (for a short while) I'll make sure we've still got the important stuff, and if I end up without work next week I can keep myself entertained/busy for 2-3 months before I even begin to get bored.

[Arzosah]

Seems we're all of a mind, that this is the chance in the next few weeks to rebuild stocks, and take them further.
I'm happy with the cash and contactless facilities I've got, going to keep an eye on that.
Bleach - I managed to buy an ordinary bottle on Saturday, that felt good - and I have that box of Pool Shock I was wondering about getting, long term bleach - the ordinary bottles don't last that well in a long term stash. Of course, we're going through it, so we're using it well within date, just something to keep an eye on.
Also very glad I managed to be at a high point in my stock of toilet paper well before it all kicked off.

One thing I want more of is kitchen towel. Though toilet paper would do at a pinch, I've finally grasped why people are putting kitchen towel in home made masks - its not woven, so there's no microscopic virus-y size holes. I have about 20% of *one* roll left **scowls heavily** must get more.

[cbp125]

Seems we're all of a mind, that this is the chance in the next few weeks to rebuild stocks, and take them further.
I'm happy with the cash and contactless facilities I've got, going to keep an eye on that.
Bleach - I managed to buy an ordinary bottle on Saturday, that felt good - and I have that box of Pool Shock I was wondering about getting, long term bleach - the ordinary bottles don't last that well in a long term stash. Of course, we're going through it, so we're using it well within date, just something to keep an eye on.
Also very glad I managed to be at a high point in my stock of toilet paper well before it all kicked off.

One thing I want more of is kitchen towel. Though toilet paper would do at a pinch, I've finally grasped why people are putting kitchen towel in home made masks - its not woven, so there's no microscopic virus-y size holes. I have about 20% of *one* roll left **scowls heavily** must get more.

I do not stock bleach if possible as it can irritate airways causing asthma, at a time then people really need good airways! I try to use strong horticultural vineger to clean and disinfect. It does a great job, its cheap and lasts in stores. The only negative is it stinks to high heaven for a while after cleaning

[Arzosah]

cbp, thats interesting - to be honest, I've never even heard of horticultural vinegar See, as much as I love researching on t'internet, there's always something new! Thanks for that.

[jansman]

Seems we're all of a mind, that this is the chance in the next few weeks to rebuild stocks, and take them further.
I'm happy with the cash and contactless facilities I've got, going to keep an eye on that.
Bleach - I managed to buy an ordinary bottle on Saturday, that felt good - and I have that box of Pool Shock I was wondering about getting, long term bleach - the ordinary bottles don't last that well in a long term stash. Of course, we're going through it, so we're using it well within date, just something to keep an eye on.
Also very glad I managed to be at a high point in my stock of toilet paper well before it all kicked off.

One thing I want more of is kitchen towel. Though toilet paper would do at a pinch, I've finally grasped why people are putting kitchen towel in home made masks - its not woven, so there's no microscopic virus-y size holes. I have about 20% of *one* roll left **scowls heavily** must get more.

We like bleach here. It smells clean, and it works! I use thin, unscented bleach for cleaning my home brew equipment, amongst other things. Can’t get it for love nor money. So, top tip, do a search for bleach tablets. I have some in. 1 tablet equals 2.5 litres of bleach.

[cbp125]

cbp, thats interesting - to be honest, I've never even heard of horticultural vinegar See, as much as I love researching on t'internet, there's always something new! Thanks for that.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WHITE-VINEGA ... 1438.l2649

You can use strong viniger as a weed killer with salt or if you add it to vegitable glyserine you can make washing up liquid. watered down it will clean etc etc.

And it doesn't go off in storage