Feeling Down.

[Paul]

.
Last night me and the wife was discussing our fortnightly shop.
Initially it was looking like a shop worth £70. That's been cut as things are getting really bad.
Now it's £50.
That might not sound a lot to the average person and even worse that's going to last us a fortnight. Two adults and our dawg.

But you reach the point, everyone MUST reach the point where you look at what is happening and wonder "What's next?"

As preppers, we had a good supply of basics squirreled away for "the rainy day".
Then, as supermarkets piled on the prices, we were forced to nibble into them.
Penalty of being on a fixed income. Daft but this is becoming our "event".

It's not even luxury items either. Flour. Originally brought for 20p a bag, now 52p a bag.
That's not even the posh stuff. This was the potential weevil heaven stuff. All gone.

Our canned store has taken a bashing.
We like spam, corned beef, rice, and pasta. Nearly all gone.
A years worth of supplies gone in just over 24 months.

Fuel has always been our main worry though.
With a 20 mile round trip to the shops, it's serious money time.
The media not long ago heralded a price war. Must have been on the two weeks we didn't go out.
£1.42 for diesel now. That's not funny.

We don't smoke, drink, and never eat out (unless you call a once a month treat of a Mac Donald's eating out). For fun? Basically the internet, CB, scrabble, and our dawg!

So we're now eating into our hard stores, buying less fuel, paying more for everything, can't move to a cheaper area (even if we could find one cheaper) because no one is buying, and winter is just round the corner.

What? you're probably thinking, "Just round the corner?"
Yep to us it is.
This is because we plan at least 6 months in advance.
Fuel oil, coal, kindling, even an assessment of our winter clothing and car maintenance.

Yet the edge, the urge to do what we've always done, has been hampered by current events and the buying power we had which is 30% down on what we could do last year.

Luckily we spent out when we were flush so we've got everything we "need" for a crisis.
What we've got is old but that's the beauty of my trades. If it's electrical, wet i.e. plumbing, or mechanical, I keep it going. For the wife, if it's mend-able she does.

Still if a burglar broke in here, he'd probably leave stuff for us.
No TV, music centre (reclaimed from a skip), this third hand laptop (£45 from a car boot sale), CB, and our PAYG £12 mobile phone. Probably nett him £60 tops down the pub.
Anything of value, OF PREPPER VALUE, is in hardened areas or cached out.
Short of bringing a cutting torch with them , they'll not find or get a lot!

We've just renewed our insurances. What a joke.
The minimum contents cover most brokers are doing now is £100,000.
Why? To replace all of the contents of our home for NEW would cost under £5000. That's everything.
No carpets, just rugs, 2 beds, mattresses, cutlery, plates, toothbrushes, etc, etc. EVERYTHING!
It was priced out last month prior to the yearly crunch of buildings and contents insurance.
We spent the best part of a week trying to get £10000 or less cover for our belongings to save money.

We looked at our vehicle insurance and we've got £4000 of cover for contents in transit.
All we have to do is park the van into the sitting room and pile everything into it at night and we're OK.

Gawd I'm feeling sorry for us. If I'd heard about a couple like us I'd probably cry.
Fixed income, unable to work, eating bunny and pigeon, and bartering skills for food so we can stretch what dosh we have to meet the bills.
An example. I repaired a PC for a guy. 4 hours, 20kg of new spuds. Yippee, what a result!
The wife? Looked after some chickens whilst the owners went on holiday.
Pay, all the eggs laid that week. 107 eggs. Sold most of them at £1 for 6.

Perversely I'm actually hoping for Armageddon. I'm actually beginning to agree with the radicals that we need to bring down the old order, the people who got us in this mess, and the financial establishments.
Pretty radical radical thinking that from a ex serviceman.
I'd help with that willingly at this moment providing someone paid for the ammo.

Would it actually cure anything? I'm not really sure but this gentle spiral into oblivion is pushing me to the edge and without turning feral, I'm thinking that we'll surely sink.

[TOF]

Paul, I feel your pain. I was in a very similar situation a few months ago. I was lucky and managed to move to a property nearly a third cheaper than the one I was in. For the time being, that has made a whopping difference.
There's not a lot I can add to help your situation, it sounds like you're doing everything I would do. Are you eligible to any help from Services Associations?

[Prepaday]

can you get your shopping delivered online? I stated online shopping at Asda...3 quid delivery

[NorthernRaider]

We are in the same boat as you, Wife is doing two jobs to keep our heads above water but the combined wages now push her earnings past £35 k so now they take 40% income tax off her and they have just hit her with a tax bill for £1300. We give thanks that we have supplies set aside of we would prolly be close to destitute now. We are talking about scrapping either her 4x4 or my van cos its just constant demands for tax, maintenence and fuel.

After the fire last September in our living room ( we are STILL fighting the claim) we decided after many months of wrangling not to bother with contents insurance as its worthless and only keep the essential bricks and morter insurance. Vehicle wise all ours are now TPF&T only

Food shopping wish we now only basic basics IE Spuds etc no more precut chips, fish fingers, TV dinners etc, its Milk, eggs, Spuds, assorted veg, fresh fruit, fresh fish if on offer. Most our shopping is done at the famers market now IE 13 KG of spuds for £6.50

I two hope for TEOTWAWKI because the three main political parties in the UK have *ucked us blind. Last nights news was a good idea, to give the British elederly the safe care they need will cost the tax payers £1.5 Billion pounds, money the govt says it cannot afford. BUT in the same news program the same government annouced that it was increasing foreign aid money by XXX amount to more than £9 billion pounds a year.

My wife and I talked till about midnight on this subject of how all the main parties are shafting us and i came to the conclusions if you are a labourite, trade unionists, tory or city worker then it looks like you are going to become my enemy,.

You Sir are like many of us ex forces types, and equally like many NHS and civvy uniformed services, you have been ass *ucked by both types of government. Labours Agenda for change saw my wifes pay cut by £300 a month, the Tories have not given her a wage rise for 2 years, but they have cut her tax allowances.

Then of course under traitor Blair they stole our Mortgage Tax relief, then the Married persons tax relief, then they raided our pension funds, doubled council tax, let houses become unaffordable, let millions of immigrants take our jobs and turn our cities into battle fields.

I feel sorry for anyone in our mess but not those who voted tory , liberal or labour because you have got the exact government you wanted.

Some southern veterans and others living darn sarf are taking advantage of the huge variation in house prices tween the regions, IE selling up in the south east and moving north east to areas like mine where you can still buy family houses in villages for under £60K

---

Paul I'm ex services as well, I joined as a boy soldier in 72, finished as a serjeant in the LI, but the way this country treats its ordionary citizens and servicemen means I am now an ardent republican , anti european and would love to see our government collapse into chaos.

[Tigs]

awww buddy i hope things improve for you some how ,its like you living the shtf already

[Skean Dhude]

On the plus side you had stores to dip into. Many don't have and arre in a worse situation.

I was pretty much the same until I was lucky enough to get a job. I was dipping into my stores as well. Things are not good.

[Barneyboy]

cheer up mate you could have a back like NR

[Paul]

Thanks for all your kind words folks.
I know I'm not the only one who's been here. I'm just happy for all you who recovered.
Good to know you're out there.
Cheers,
Paul

[00111001]

Dude, I had the same thing.

Missus quit her job on the Wednesday as she didn't need to work. The gubernment screwed up my opportunity to get my contract extended, so on the Friday I was out of work. £1000 a month rent, then the bills etc. Had to move out of the house, back to the parents. Had been there 2 days when we found out that the wife was up the duff. Huge arguments with my family ('orrible f*ckers) and basically homeless. Had to sell my vehicle to use the money to 1) the my old man off my case 2) deposit for a shitty little flat in the worst area of Peterborough (Lincoln Road!)

Both signed on, wife got hers but I never got a penny - I refused to go and see them when they hadn't paid me, so they stopped paying! So we lived on £62 a fortnight with a pregnant missus who was eating everything in site (then chucking it back up - wasteful!).
If I didn't have the stored food I don't know how we would have coped. I was out of work for 5 months in total. Not good times, but we stuck together and still managed to have a giggle. Now I've got a good job half of my thinks I should be saving 50% of my wages, but I'm spending like crazy. Not on useless shit, but on tins etc. Rather buy it now (cause it's cheaper) and be skint than waste the money anyway and end up half way down shit creek just having dropped my paddle.

But I've got a family to look after now, so should I ever find myself in the same position I'll have to look into other methods of making money apart from work. Cause when this job is gone I don't see another one on the horizon

[Hrusai]

im sorry to hear about your situation paul, i truly hope it gets better for you, if i can do anything for ya just give us a shout

i know the feeling as well, i think alot of us on the forum are in similar positions, im looking for a job at the moment, my mum is earning nowhere near enough, my dads moved out and his business is doing terribly, so we have nowhere near enough money, we have 9 cats! they eat alot o.O (luckily they're all avid hunters and can find themselves food most of the time, or go next door and eat the neighbours cat food ) fingers crossed things will pick up soon, bloody has to, for all of us!

i also wish for teotwawki, the world is broken and it's only gonna get worse, i just wish i was further along in my preps, i've probably got less equipment and food stocked away than any of you its starting to get to the point where i may have to go back to my old ways to get money again ...im even willing to join a revolution lol or at least support its cause xD