What Preps are you doing this week? Part 10

[Arzosah]

I'm having a posh Edinburgh hair cut. And buying some posh (ahem - DIOR!!) makeup. One must face Armageddon in Dior darling, absolutely!
Gawd I am such a waste of space lol

Ooh Lil! Get you! That's wonderful

Seriously! We're not prepping because we aspire to be peasants or whatever - we aspire to keep as positive a standard of living as we can, for as long as we can. My driving lessons being a case in point. Facing Armageddon in Dior is very cool

[ForgeCorvus]

I'm watching, today' in dismay as my holding in shares is getting slashed in £££ value while my money in the bank is getting slashed in buying power. A double whammy. Nowhere is an obvious safe store of value. Maybe spend now on home insulation?

Oh hum. Mustn't grumble.

Gold stores wealth.... A gram of gold bought today is still going to be worth a gram of gold in 30 years

[jansman]

I'm watching, today' in dismay as my holding in shares is getting slashed in £££ value while my money in the bank is getting slashed in buying power. A double whammy. Nowhere is an obvious safe store of value. Maybe spend now on home insulation?

Oh hum. Mustn't grumble.

Gold stores wealth.... A gram of gold bought today is still going to be worth a gram of gold in 30 years

And ours here is worth more than we paid too.

[jennyjj01]

I'm watching, today' in dismay as my holding in shares is getting slashed in £££ value while my money in the bank is getting slashed in buying power. A double whammy. Nowhere is an obvious safe store of value. Maybe spend now on home insulation?

Oh hum. Mustn't grumble.

Gold stores wealth.... A gram of gold bought today is still going to be worth a gram of gold in 30 years

To pay one's grocery bill or council tax bill with a gold ingot demands exchanging that gold for sterling. That exchange will charge a fee and will pay only he spot price. Spot price can go down as well as up.

https://www.gold.co.uk/gold-price/6-month-gold-price/

[jansman]

I'm watching, today' in dismay as my holding in shares is getting slashed in £££ value while my money in the bank is getting slashed in buying power. A double whammy. Nowhere is an obvious safe store of value. Maybe spend now on home insulation?

Oh hum. Mustn't grumble.

Gold stores wealth.... A gram of gold bought today is still going to be worth a gram of gold in 30 years

To pay one's grocery bill or council tax bill with a gold ingot demands exchanging that gold for sterling. That exchange will charge a fee and will pay only he spot price. Spot price can go down as well as up.

https://www.gold.co.uk/gold-price/6-month-gold-price/

My precious metals are not particularly bought for the day the world ends. Way back,a lot of work I did was cash. I used to buy scrap gold and silver. I shifted it all when it came to the mortgage being paid off ,and added to our savings it did the job!
Since then I have acquired gold sovereigns and silver Britannias too. All at the right money as well looking at current prices. These won’t be for trading for tins of beans. When I move on ,which I am hoping is longer than the doctor says , those pm coins can be cashed in tax free as necessary by my wife , when or if she needs them. It’s a pile of savings the HMRC don’t have to know about.

[ForgeCorvus]

My post above was a bit rushed.

In 1986 my weekly take-home pay was £50, at the time gold was on average under a tenner a gram so a weeks wage could of bought me 5 grams of the yellow stuff at spot price.

Now my take-home is around £250 a week and at roughly current prices I could buy 5 grams at spot

So if I had just stuck £50 in the sock-under-the-mattress I'd only have one fifth of my weekly wage, but If I'd bought gold my 1986 wage would still be a weekly wage today.

I wouldn't use PM's as a speculation as there are loads of other ways to do that that have greater rewards (and risks). But as I want to store spare wealth today for when I retire (or at least have a major life-change), gold is for me as good a vehicle as any.

[jansman]

This week I have woodworking to do. Replacing yard decking. It’s been down for a dozen years and is in pretty good condition. However,I am going ‘large’ in effort so when it goes down it stays down.One less job my wife will have to deal with in the future. That’s only two days at most.
We have a lot of runner beans to process for the freezer . That will be done today. The random jarful of French beans I simply slung on a bed are going well now too.
When the above is sorted ,we have new garden furniture to assemble. Won’t take long. What’s this got to do with prepping I hear? It keeps our backyard holiday home and mini vacation town up to date. Although I am terminally ill ,I am fighting like **** to stay alive longer than told. Having nice areas ,chilled out areas, to sit and relax is good. In fact ,I would recommend members here to take a look at basic meditation and stress reduction. It makes one heck of a difference to life and attitudes! Those positive attitudes have a big tick from both Oncologists and MacMillan palliative care nurses.But I digress.
Holidays are not something we have gone mad on down the years,but happy work- free time - is nonetheless important. One reason our Summerhouse was our 25th anniversary present to ourselves was in order to give us a place to chill out,even sleep.When up there ,beyond the mini orchard ,we could be a thousand miles away. At its worst ( or best) it is a bug out location that is very organised,powered,watered and heated if absolutely necessary. Ready to go.

Now the pantry (s) are organised and up to date we shall also start building up stock past what we have. For my wife . We have different tastes,so we will make sure the shelves are filled with storable items she likes. As my income will drop by a good couple of hundred quid per month by the end of the year,now is the time to do this.

Chuck in some paperwork, and fishing of course, that’s the next five days!

[Yorkshire Andy]

Got down the allotment yesterday and did one half with field beans that'll shut the council up after all it's cultivated and planted with a food crop

Other 1/4 has a big netted row of broccoli plants and some lettuce / chard with space left for the cauliflowers that's sprouting on the windowsill

Took some black currant bush cuttings too so they are sat in water hopefully will root then they will get planted expanding the fruit bush area and reduce work .. but provide lots of currants for grandma to make into jam

Soft fruit costs a fortune so I'm off for less labour most valuable crops.. raspberries/ currants / strawberry/ gooseberry

Last year we worked out my dad based on Tesco's price per kg he picked £45ish of gooseberrys..

The raspberry canes are starting to do what they do and from 8 rooted twigs the other year I've probably got about 20 plants that have spread now again at £13 a kilo in Tesco the more the merrier

The plums are coming on well too this rain is fetching the apples and pears on too

Need some strimmer line for the petrol bush cutter and I'll strim round the bushes later this week

[Frnc]

Water is off. It's SHTF time! Preps in action. I was due a water rotation, so I'll boil stored water to be on the safe side. My last rotations were 7 to 10 months ago (I don't do them all in one go). I have it all listed, so I can use the most recent one. My lodger noticed a leak yesterday, by the canal, under a bridge, so it's gonna be awkward for United Utilities to get to. They have got a low pressure incident logged. We have zero water here. I have 40 litres. I just put a box of wet wipes out and 10 litres. Lodger 1 was lucky as it went off after he had his shower and sent to work. Lodger 2 is at home but in the office tomorrow, where he can have a shower. I could do with one, but it's not desparate. I will use wet wipes.

[Nurseandy]

Good test. You can go a long time without showering, just make sure you wash your hands, face, pits, groin & feet to maintain hygiene. The rest is pretty superfluous.