Do you let yourselves be influenced....

... by the news of the past few months?
Actually, I’m usually pretty laid-back—my motto is “it’ll all work out somehow”—and that’s served me well for a very long time.
But I’m getting older too (not that my brain says so, but a glance in the mirror does...), and then COVID-19 hit. So since then, we’ve actually been keeping more supplies at home—drinking water, canned goods, and the like—just in case a 14-day quarantine loomed.
Then people started hoarding flour and toilet paper (what a funny combination), then pasta, then oil.... I don’t even know what else became scarce.
And now we’re facing a winter without heat, and we actually gave in to the craze and bought three space heaters, which are now taking up space in the basement. And a solar charger for our cell phones, in case the power goes out—plus flashlights and plenty of batteries, of course; we always have plenty of candles in the house anyway.
I think we’re getting close to becoming preppers..... waaaaaah, is that even what I want?
How about you guys? Totally calm? Somewhat organized?

I have neither the space nor the money to stockpile.
Plus, you’re more limited in a rental apartment than in a house anyway.

So we’re saving where we still can—
like with electricity and water usage.

That’s how it is, Marlene—you save wherever you can in everyday life, but you also want to actually live, not just survive. Then there’s another thing: those space heaters are real power guzzlers, and if the power really does get cut off for hours at a time, they’re not much use at all. For example, I myself rarely run my dryer, because 4 kW is a lot of power and that just drives the bill up unnecessarily—so I’m hanging the laundry out to dry again; that worked just fine for generations. I also have small supplies of staple foods on hand, but those are really just the usual household amounts, because even I don’t have the space to stockpile large quantities. It should be clear to everyone that what’s happening right now is just the beginning—it’s going to get even tougher and worse, and we have to accept that things will never be the way they used to be.

Best regards, Inge

Luckily, we don’t have gas. We have district heating that runs efficiently in the winter.
We’ve been stockpiling.  We can’t run out of toilet paper because I have a chronic intestinal disorder. (I still remember the days when we used newspaper—that was back in my childhood.)

I’m from East Germany; hoarding is in my blood. Because of COVID, we’ve stocked up—cat food and cat litter have to be on hand.

Love, Gabi 

Around here, the dryer only runs when there’s no other choice, Inge.
I bought a heat-pump dryer back then because all the others use even more electricity.

Electric heating—it reminds me of the old days when my parents used it.
There was a separate meter for off-peak electricity.
Oil heating wasn’t an option due to space constraints, and eventually a gas heating system was installed.

I’m staying calm too, but I’ve already given it some thought. Since our heating system failed last spring during a major cold snap, we ordered a heating picture as an infrared heater. It works well during the transition season and currently costs less than oil. So it was a good purchase, and we’re already grateful for it.

We always keep a few supplies in the house. Right now, I’ve started canning my own fruits and vegetables. That way, I won’t have to buy them at high prices in the winter. Because prices for everything are going to go up—let’s not kid ourselves.

I was born in 1954, so I grew up in a time when there weren’t the same luxuries we have today. So I’m fine with that.

The fact that all sorts of things are being advertised right now—for example, space heaters and generators—is, in my view, a business model I don’t want to get caught up in. What I am doing as a precaution, however, is setting aside money for the heating bill adjustment, which is sure to be higher than before. Putting something aside each month is better than possibly not being able to pay it later.

Sure, you have your worries, but we’re still taking it in stride—or at least not stressing about it yet.
We save water wherever we can. For example, with those “quick” trips to the bathroom—we don’t always flush right away. The water meter’s still running, after all. In Norway, electricity and water were very, very cheap—there are plenty of waterfalls to power the system, after all. They don’t have water meters there.

As for regular groceries, you always have something in the house. But toilet paper and cappuccino/coffee—you’ve got to have a stockpile of those.
Exactly—I also remember using newspaper from my grandma’s days, and the outhouse.

In the GDR, we were raised to be frugal anyway, and we learned to improvise when the going got tough.
But flashlights, batteries, and candles—it’s really important to stock up on those.

Stay healthy, everyone, and don’t drive yourselves crazy.

We live in a rental apartment—no yard, a shared laundry room in the basement for three households—so there really isn’t much space to hang a big load of laundry, which means sheets and towels go in the dryer.
No, we’re not letting it drive us crazy, but I’ve noticed that we’re thinking differently about some things now. For me, “supplies” used to mean enough for 3 or 4 days; now I always have enough in the house for 2 or 3 weeks.
We have gas heating here, and my husband needs care—he’s not very mobile anymore—so I do worry a little that he might get too cold.

I’ve really been thinking about this over the last week.... We’ve been heating our house exclusively with wood and briquettes for 20 years. We have two night-storage heaters (which run on off-peak electricity—one in the bathroom and one in my room)... wood prices have practically skyrocketed, and briquettes are out of my price range. With a bit of luck, I managed to get some firewood yesterday at a reasonable price.
  I only go shopping every 14 days, so I plan to stock up a little anyway. But we don’t really hoard anything.
The clothes dryer only runs when it has to; I even have a covered clothesline, so if it happens to drizzle a bit, I can hang the laundry there.  But I’ll admit that it’s “easier”—and very tempting—to just stuff the laundry straight into the dryer....
Otherwise, I save money on groceries wherever I can; sometimes that means skipping my favorite “Skagen salad” because it costs €3.50... 

Hi everyone,

I’m trying not to let myself get worked up and am deliberately reading much less news because it’s not good for me :/. I still catch the most important things anyway.

Well, we’re also trying to save, especially energy and water. We’ve been with a green energy provider for years now and are very happy with it. Right now, we’re seriously considering getting solar panels, like those balcony power plants. They could help a bit.

We heat with oil and have just refilled the tank. It was twice as expensive as usual, but what can you do? We’ve wanted to switch to renewable energy for a long time, but scrapping a perfectly good oil-fired heating system doesn’t make much ecological sense either. But that will probably be the next step.

Otherwise, we have the advantage of owning a fireplace that heats really well. Our fireplace is in the hallway, from where the heat spreads nicely throughout the whole apartment—so in that respect, I’m not worried about winter. We’ll get through the next one.
I always give my kids a hot water bottle to take to bed at night anyway—my daughter even needs one in the middle of summer!

We’ll manage somehow.

Well, I always have plenty of supplies on hand, if only because of COVID. This year we have two raised beds; next year I want to have a small potato patch and a tomato greenhouse in the garden. We’re also members of a community-supported agriculture program that supplies us with regional and seasonal vegetables and organic eggs. So we’re pretty well prepared in that regard.

We’re lucky to have the space, too. My husband bought 10 five-liter water canisters back during COVID, so we always have a supply of drinking water. Our camping gear is also quite extensive—we have a good gas grill that can do everything (even bake!). Today I bought some spare gas cartridges just in case—in case the power ever goes out. You’re supposed to prepare for that, too.

Hmm, well, I’m not panicking or anything. But I make sure that all of it stays within reach and ready to use. I’m actually optimistic that things will still be fine this winter. But nobody knows how the war and the effects of climate change will escalate in the coming years.

That’s giving me more and more to think about.

Best regards,
Sonja

Sure, you worry. We’re just starting to build a house (a complete new build). We bought the lot last year. If we’d been able to look into a crystal ball, I don’t know if we would’ve bought it. On the other hand, we’ve been saving up for our dream for a very long time and are seeing it through now. It’ll all work out 😉

I’m not really letting it drive me crazy. We’ve been saving for years anyway, so this isn’t hard right now. 

It just breaks my heart when I’m with my patients (I work in home health care). Many of them have already lived through a war and helped rebuild this country. Many are afraid of winter, and even heated shelters won’t help, because these people would never make it there. 

I’m keeping up with the situation to stay informed. Food and other essentials are definitely going to get even more expensive, which I don’t really understand at all. 

Don’t let it drive you crazy, think positively and ALWAYS try to make the best of it. Otherwise, it’ll wear you down.