Around the Homestead

Posts Tagged ‘depression’

As things are still barley chugging along, what can we expect in the months to come?

The way I see it the American realestate market was first to go down and some realitors may have found ways of continuing through the bad times.   I believe in being proactive not waiting for it to crash in the event of a Canadian downturn want to be prepared.

10,000 jobs cut at Sam’s club could this be a sign of green shoots????

Sam’s Club cuts 10,000 jobs

While January has been fairly mild weather for us, many places around the world have been hard hit.  The southern USA has been hit with weather far below normal.  Europe and China have also been hit with freezing weather and snow.  I’ve been reading about damage to orange crops, also corn and other grains in some areas.  Homeless shelters are having trouble keeping up with the need.  Some areas have had power outages due to the high demand of electricity for heating.

It’s a real reminder why we need to take time to prepare for hard times.  You never know when unusual weather, job loss or illness will strike.

I would love to hear from you!  Are you having unusual weather in your area?  How are you coping with it?

More Cold Heading for Florida as Northern Hemisphere Shivers

Deaths, damaged crops, strapped shelters: Effects of cold lingers as South Florida thaws from record

Cold weather ends, but has damage to Florida oranges been done?

Weather is stunning for Florida turtles sent into coma by the chill

Winter of 2009–2010 in Europe

Some people are shouting recovery, some are saying the sky will fall, could they both be right???

Unemployment claims jump unexpectedly
http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/10/news/…

A little while ago our dd7 brought hubby a graph she made.  She explained to him it was “the economic collapse”.   This short video clip shares some of the kids thoughts on the current economy.  We’ve been studying the depression on and off for a while and it’s interesting how they see similarity’s.

Wow what a year!  Lots of changes, things we thought a year ago never happened and things we never thought would happen did.  Also a little bit about Arrow trucking.

A video dh made during the week of his coarse , talking about the realestate market in Canada wondering where it will go.

I have always been inclined to have a pantry, perhaps it comes from being around my Grandma.  Who’s generation lived through the depression and was very skilled at stretching things.  It seems that more and more people have fallen into the practice of shopping weekly for all their grocery’s.  Keeping just enough food on hand for a few days.   Through out my live I’ve seen many times why this is not a good idea.  You really never know when having some staples stored up will be a huge help.

Storms

We live in a snow belt.  Just last week the schools were closed for 3 days and the roads also.  Yes they did open for short spells, but do you really want to drive on bad roads and then get stuck at town when they close again?  It’s a wonderful feeling to see the snow falling and not have to worry that your short on food, water and other supplies.  In the summer like wise storms can knock power out for hours or days.

Job loss

Another good reason for stocking a pantry is income loss.  I can’t count the times hubby has been laid off work with little notice, or weather has reduced his work hours.  Even a tax mix up can happen leading to your refunds being cut off.  Yes that happened to us a few years ago.   We went to town to shop and found a bill in the mail.  We knew we didn’t owe it but it took months to sort out.  Our income was greatly reduced during that time and we were able to live almost entirely off our pantry stores.

Price increases

Prices are always going up.  In the past few years we have seen more frequent price jumps as inflation affects all sectors.  Do you remember the grain crises a few years ago?  Almost over night a 8 kg bag of rice went from $6.00 to nearly $20.00!  Like wise wheat berries, as well as processed flour more then doubled.   With the price of grains rising it drove the prices of all grocery’s up.   Having a good stock of goods at home can help protect you from sudden increases.  It allows you time to save up to restock your goods, and to watch for sales.

Savings

Keeping a pantry saves a lot of money!  I don’t buy the same things every week.  Instead I have a master list of what our family uses.  I keep a base amount on hand at all times.  I mark off a list how many we have used and when I see a good sale I can replace them.   It’s even better if you can use coupons on sale items.  This helps since I normally don’t get caught having to replace all items that go up in price at the same time.

Check back soon to learn how to keep track of your pantry.