I still have to take my scuba tanks for their annual inspection. I am planning on diving locally this summer a lot, but no trips, aside from maybe a weekend diving in WI. Aside from necessities, about the only things I buy are some books.
My stomach is in continual knots and I’m just hoarding cash.
Sounds like you're hoarding air as well.
Ditto. I have 14 days of actual work left. SS and Medicare are "supposed" to start effective April, meaning no SS payment until May. What is supposed to be a joyful step into a new life has become a terrifying wait-and-see. And this is me avoiding as much media as possible! I'm even avoiding more and more of this site, as the politics, etc are drifting out of Simple Politics and into other sectors. I just don't have the stomach for any it. I really am afraid for my future now.Originally Posted by Tradd
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown
I have specific threads I won’t go into. I have the stuff with the tariffs all day at work. Sigh.
Tradd, Happystuff - I am so sorry. I feel so badly for everyone who is struggling now, (including myself and my own family).I really am afraid for my future now.I just try to find peace where I can, and that's really difficult right now... I don't want to bury my head in the sand, but I don't want to drown in the current awfulness, either. Our income is mostly SS, and I get so angry at people who imply we just should have saved more. More of WHAT? You can't save what you don't have! We were frugal, careful, saved while still trying to live a somewhat "normal" life - and still, we end up here. I'm really starting to get pi$$ed off about it, you know?
Would you like to see my SS income reduced because I have other means of income? I mean here as a cost costing measure to keep the SS,system alive so that you may continue to receive payments?Tradd, Happystuff - I am so sorry. I feel so badly for everyone who is struggling now, (including myself and my own family).
+1Tradd, Happystuff - I am so sorry. I feel so badly for everyone who is struggling now, (including myself and my own family).
I am nervous too and trying to remain very practical and remember my resilience. It helps me to have concrete things to do and for me that means preparing for anything and everything (or maybe nothing after all). I've been going to the protests in Santa Fe and they are growing.
K. and I have been stocking up our pantry with non-perishable food. Since we don't have a decent source of drinking water I have to go into Santa Fe to buy it at a water-dispensing vending machine. It is $1.35 for 3 gallons or $2.25 for 5 gallons. I am working on stockpiling exta jugs. We are also thinking about if/when there would be no electricity - our well requires a pump to get the water out of the ground and into the 1500 gallon holding tank. We also catch rainwater (when it rains or snows, which is not very often these days) and direct that into the holding tank. There is a seperate pump to get the water from the holding tank and into the house so we can run the water and flush the toilet. There is an entire house water filtering system but we do not drink that water - it is used for everything else though. I keep meaning to get the water tested but haven't gotten around to it. It is full of calcium and lime deposits. Thinking ahead I am also looking into water puritfication tablets to have on hand. And we could always boil the water as well. This is the joy of rural living; you have to think of all possibilities but honestly I'd rather be out here in the country on our little compound if things went south.
We've decided to look into finally getting a generator as well. We use propane for our heat and stove/oven and use a woodstove as well. I still have the Coleman camp stove from my road trip/camping days and a nice Yeti cooler.
I'm working on stocking up on the batteries for various flashlights and lanterns. We have candles. We have two little generator things that stay in our cars that can charge an auto battery and a cell phone and they hold their charge for a surprisingly long time.
We both downloaded and printed out our lifetime Social Security statements and those are in our safe deposit box, along with copies of our birth certificates and the house deed and cash to have on hand. I am also working on "Go Bag" type stuff as well. This is all very prudent anyway because where I live has the risk for wildfires . Every so often we talk about what to do if there was a dire emergency and we had to leave the house quickly - what to grab first and foremost, etc etc.
I am not panicking but staying informed and just working on being very practical and prepared. It gives me something to do since I am still not working due to the ongoing shoulder stuff. I have to get on a plane next week and travel to St. Louis and my not-rational side of my brain is a little nervous about flying but I'm just going to soldier through it with a good book.
Thank you for this very practical list, SiouzQ. I think you have many good actions here that I can take to better prepare. It is good to focus on resiliency and not to panic. I struggle with finding a balance between staying informed and remaining terribly anxious about all the threatening things that are happening.
You're welcome, Tybee! It seemed so overwhelming at first but I've been breaking it down into manageable bits for a few weeks. We went to Costco three times in the last month and just started buying two of everything. Our clothes closet has three deep shelves which make a great pantry in which to stack things. I've been using a magic marker to put dates on things so we make sure to rotate the stock. This time I have more say in what K. is buying - he went a little crazy right before the pandemic started and bought stuff that we ended up not actually using. We also have a bunch of freeze-dried survival food from the pandemic years stashed. This time I'm much more prepared in saying only buy the things we actually use. Working on a great canned bean collection!
I should note that K. is a type 1 diabetic so having adequate sources of protein and things with sugar is imperative. Even though his A1C is pretty good over the course of a few months it's the day-to-day stuff that is hard to manage. We have a bunch of organic honey now, and he bought a huge bag of sugar but it is still worrisome. He use the Libra monitor that sticks onto his arm and an app on his phone to track his levels but if the internet went down that wouldn't be of much use. We need to start stockpiling the old-fashioned glucose test strips. He also tries to keep extra insulin on hand but because of the ways prescriptions are written and what the insurance companies allow, you can't stock up that far ahead on that kind of medicine (which seems crazy to me).
When it seemed that there was going to be a 25% tariff on Columbian products I bought extra coffee because you do NOT want to be around me during a coffee withdrawal.
The other thing I have been working on is photographing all of the stuff in our house and inventorying it. When I am done it will go on a flash drive and put into the safe deposit box.
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