What are your thoughts?

[diamond lil]

I think being poor or at the bottom of the pile is grand training for a prepper. It's what gets some of us into it really. Itsy that year you worked in Tesco would've made you so much tougher and more savvy than you were before you went there. And generally I think there's more threats & danger around now - more reason to prep.

[GillyBee]

I think one of the triggers for prepping for many people is a brush with lack of the necessities. You don't have to be very bright to think "I'm not going there again. What could I do to avoid that?" And then you realise you are a prepper....

[jansman]

I think one of the triggers for prepping for many people is a brush with lack of the necessities. You don't have to be very bright to think "I'm not going there again. What could I do to avoid that?" And then you realise you are a prepper....

When the children were very young,I had a bad accident at work.My wife did the best job then,a stay home mum,but sadly,that earned no money .I did get a compensation payment,but that was a long time up the line. In between,we had only statutory sick pay and child allowance. We had no stored food,and nearly lost our house. Parents helped. One reason we are helping our kids now I guess,but that’s being a parent.

After that,I vowed I would never be there again. Further along ,I worked two and a half years with no holidays and only Sunday off and built a stash and paid off the house.

[grenfell]

No offense meant to anybody, but may it be that preppers, here, tend to not be in the poorest quartile of society,

Whoa ! We have members here who sail close to the wind in the financial sense.

Without wanting to stoke a fire I tend to feel there's merit in both sides of this. As a society we do tend to view wealth as being almost sorley based on money and I will be the first to admit having a cash reserve is probably a better prep than a pantry full of tins. There are those in society who in finacial terms are certainly rich. The guy with the Bentley I mentioned earlier is wealthy.. He has his big house , half a dozen other cars , horses , peacocks and though I missed it my daughter noticed he was wearing designer clothes just round the house. By most standards he's wealthy but in the past I've worked for far wealthier people , people who would think nothing of talking of spending 2 ,3 , 4 million just like we talk of small change.
At the other end of the scale there are those in a tiny little flat , no job surviving on benefits and food banks. The majority of people fall somewhere between.
Now taking a more holistic view and I feel things get a bit more mudded. Like jansman I don't view myself as wealthy in the financial sense. I don't have a huge income but I can class myself wealthy by other metrics. We've managed what we had and have carefully so have no debts. The house is paid for , no loans or the like which frees us of interest payments meaning what we have goes further. Like jansman I have assets in the form of a garden that can provide food which again augments our income. Having some free cash allows us to bulk buy which again can free up a bit of money and provide a small hedge against inflation. A short walk away and I'm in the countryside and while I never took to fishing that too is only a few minutes away. Forage or the ability to forage could be classed as an assetas could having skills and a job. One could even say having the right mindset is an asset. I'll always remember my mother having a full pantry and she was inspired by her mother who did just the opposite and never kept anything in saying that she never wanted to be in that position.

[diamond lil]

I think great wealth brings great worry, I wouldn't want it. The minute you get rich then you start worrying if people will take it off you, kidnap your kids, break into your house, mug you in the street, etc etc. Not for me. Seriously. The more "stuff" you have, the more weight you carry.

[jennyjj01]

No offense meant to anybody, but may it be that preppers, here, tend to not be in the poorest quartile of society,

Whoa ! We have members here who sail close to the wind in the financial sense.

Without wanting to stoke a fire I tend to feel there's merit in both sides of this.

Giving this a bit more thought, I reckon my own show of ignorance proved how ignorance itself can pose a problem:- How those of us who are CURRENTLY either comfortable or well prepared need to be aware of the situation of our neighbours who might be less so. How easy it is to not notice the rising tide till it reaches our toes.

[jansman]

Grenfell is right about wealth. It isn’t JUST about money. We don’t consider ourselves hard up,but there is not a lot of wiggle room right now.Our combined incomes are below the so-called ‘average’. Saying that though,my belief down the years ( as a prepper) has been that the situation we are in right now,was always on the cards. I suppose you could call me a ‘Peak- Oil- believer’.As a result of that,as Grenfell pointed out, our house ( paid for) has a productive garden.We have solid fuel heating too,which gives enormous independence.We also have a tough,’country’ attitude to life. We have done all we can to be resilient,but if we ( me particularly) get ill, or injured, we could easily be vulnerable. Our modest savings would not last long. We have built in resilience though - at the moment.We take nothing for granted.

But; for anyone on a low income,or on benefits, there is likely to be no,or very limited resilience to ride tough situations or life events. I am currently listening to You and Yours on BBC R4. It’s about how folks are dealing with fuel bills. One guy has worked for 46 years,had a work injury,and now struggling.One guy is working on in his 70’s to pay the bills. That can happen to anyone!

There but for the grace of god, go I.

[GeeGee]

Totally right the bills are the worry
When mr GG became ill with leukeamia he had to take time off work
4 months full pay 2 months half then nothing
Has to work a full year to be able to receive the sick pay again ..one day off in that year 2 weeks 6 months whatever then brings you back round to having to work a full 12 months
I couldn't work looking after him he couldn't work
Savings went and eventually he said ill have to go back part time we applied for benefits never done so before but they never came through and he got a statuary warning from work for having so much sick time off to top it all ( only been there 31 yr ! ) along with his manager who was having chemo !
He was a 18 stone builder now 10 stone thin ill pale and I hate it when he struggles out of bed in a morning for those few days hate myself for not being able to earn enough to pay for it all two yr left on mortgage and yet you know we are better off than some
If we were wealthy the only difference is he wouldn't have to work
The rest would still be the same
I'm certain we are going to hear stories of people dying from the cold..overworked ..illnesses .. respitory illness ...People are going to have to find the money to pay these bills or sit in the dark and cold

[jansman]

Totally right the bills are the worry
When mr GG became ill with leukeamia he had to take time off work
4 months full pay 2 months half then nothing
Has to work a full year to be able to receive the sick pay again ..one day off in that year 2 weeks 6 months whatever then brings you back round to having to work a full 12 months
I couldn't work looking after him he couldn't work
Savings went and eventually he said ill have to go back part time we applied for benefits never done so before but they never came through and he got a statuary warning from work for having so much sick time off to top it all ( only been there 31 yr ! ) along with his manager who was having chemo !
He was a 18 stone builder now 10 stone thin ill pale and I hate it when he struggles out of bed in a morning for those few days hate myself for not being able to earn enough to pay for it all two yr left on mortgage and yet you know we are better off than some
If we were wealthy the only difference is he wouldn't have to work
The rest would still be the same
I'm certain we are going to hear stories of people dying from the cold..overworked ..illnesses .. respitory illness ...People are going to have to find the money to pay these bills or sit in the dark and cold

Your situation is a common one .Illness. I feel for you and hubby. When my wife found she had cancer,we knew she had to have a mastectomy,but it was to be two weeks after to find out if she had to have radio or chemotherapy. In that time, we rejigged our budget ,as I would have to take serious time off.In fact, my boss would basically have ‘let me go’ ,he is that kind of …
So I understand your situation,even though we prepared for it,but fortunately didn’t have to action the plan.

* Enough* money is all that you need ,but sadly,for many families, the money is no longer enough to cover the basics of life. It can happen to anyone.

I wish you well.

[grenfell]

But; for anyone on a low income,or on benefits, there is likely to be no,or very limited resilience to ride tough situations or life events. I am currently listening to You and Yours on BBC R4. It’s about how folks are dealing with fuel bills. One guy has worked for 46 years,had a work injury,and now struggling.One guy is working on in his 70’s to pay the bills. That can happen to anyone!

There but for the grace of god, go I.

I listened to that myself and it does make you wonder. Taking in lodgers was mentioned although they never went into the legal aspects. We have a house that has been rented out a!though because of a situation I won't go into we haven't had any rent since november but that aside there are legal obligations to being a landlord so the financial viability might need closer scrutiny.
Interesting comment about turning off water heaters and needing to raise it to at least 60* centigrade to kill off legionella bacteria. No good saving a few quid if you end up ill.
There seems to be a lot of talk of windfall taxes , certainly on breakfast tv they go on about it a lot and I have mixed feelings about this. There seems to be some debate about how much it would raise but it would help out the poorest in society. I can't help thinking that what happens next year if prices stay high. Windfall taxes are by their nature one offs so where would the money come from next year. Unless I'm missing something that question hasn't been asked. Long term I don't see paying people's energy bills is sustainable. Perhaps using that windfall on an insulation campaign would prove more beneficial in the long run but of course that doesn't help those struggling now. It's not an easy fix if it's even fixable.