Retirement stockpile

I will give them a try. Thanks.

Soontobe. I think Nicky loo rolls are worth a try I buy them in Home Bargains

I don't think perfume has a very good shelf life. It'll probably take you at least a year to catch up with all the things you haven't had time to do up till now [it's taken me 18 months].

Well you have given me food for thought. I was only thinking of the boring stuff. I hadn't considered perfume (which I love) or make up ( necessity ). Then there's the sheets + towels you recommended. I suppose will have to factor in DH razors + aftershave. I think I will be making list all night better than counting sheep! To make room + help fund all this I think car boot sales are going be my new best friend as loft + garage are over spilling. A hobby is what I am looking forward to as other than reading + crosswords hav'nt had much spare time. So I can't stock up for them. Hobby advice would be gratefully received.

I think once I started stockpiling I would get in the habit and would end up constantly buying stuff I didn't ever use.

My mum stockpiled sugar and dried fruit, she had a cupboard full of both. She loved baking and making cakes and that must have figuered in her reasoning. When we cleared her house when she went into residential care aged 97 we had to just throw it all away. The sugar was damp and cloggy and the fruit dried out. It taught me a lesson.

vickymeldew - my daughter and son in law's fertility treatment was, thankfully, successful twice over and they have two lovely children. I do hope your family are successful too.

Stockpiling money might be a good idea too.

If they're the ones I'm thinking of he worked at the tech centre in Derby with us [didn't know him personally]. I think they'd converted the loft. My mum used to hoard tea.

I remember in the old days of hyper inflation a family was featured on the To-Night programme on TV interviewed by Frank Bough no less . They had set aside a room to stockpile food to save money. I just remember tins and tins of baked beans. I think there are so many offer around these days it is hardly worth it. I keep some tins in my garage in an old wardrobe and find they begin to get rusty.

I always think that stockpiling is false economy as prices don't always go up, due to special offers etc. By all means, buy a few when things are cheap, but filling the loft is just ridiculous. The things you buy may outlast you!

I have been wondering recently how little I could spend on food shopping without getting bored with my food and with eating healthily. I'm also curious #deadnoseyreally about how much people do spend on food weekly. I find it hard to keep track cause the S.O. stays at weekends and provides the food, letting me know how much I owe him every now and again. I'm not much of an eater anyway and could probably live on cheese sandwiches if I had to, but I do try to avoid bread as much as possible. I did buy some soap powder a couple of years ago when it was massively reduced but it went clumpy even though it wasn't in a damp room. I am currently trying to work my way through various cosmetics that I've bought 3 for two and shampoo/conditioner that I've bought thinking it would improve my hair.

My problem is, kitty that all my freezer stores were intended for an emergency like being snowed in for days or visitors descending without warning when all the shops were shut. I have now accepted that living on the south coast we will never be snowed in for days and the shops only shut on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday so we will cope anyway!

Another problem is that I forget what I have stashed away and by the time I get an indeterminate packet out and defrosted, it is either past its use-by date or is not what I thought/hoped it was! Also, I hate going into the garage which FULL of Mr Gaga's crap important things which will prove useful one day. (hmm!)

So I am going to manage with the 3-drawer one in the kitchen and my days of bulk cooking and freezing are now in the past Helene! As a retiree I have time to cook as and when I feel like it, and that urge is getting less and less as time goes by!

Hi Apricot - you say you helped out with 'fertility treatment'. So have I. I hope it was successful. My DS and DIL are still trying ... I'm happy to help. ��

@ Stansgran:

My DH has just retired and entertains himself by going out for petrol or a newspaper and returning with bags of shopping we don't need or want.
Ideas please for keeping a new retiree out of my hair!!

In retirement I try to shop only once a week. I have a fairly standard shopping list which includes topping up my store cupboard reserves, from one shop Aldi. However I keep a list of local shops and items not available in Aldi such as Sherry, or sourdough bread etc which DH or I pick up when we are out an about. DH likes Waitrose bargains!!! I have to check what he has brought back and cook and freeze if necessary. If I am giving a family party I check on the internet, prices at all the larger supermarkets, say for desserts at £2 for six slices. Then I shop accordingly. I have many ways of dealing with left overs.

I have a mobile hairdresser who only charges me £10 every 6 weeks. When I go out, I wash and set my own hair under a Pifco home hair dryer with a hood, which I have had for more than 50 years!!!

Since 1994 I have purchased items for my wardrobe according to my 'colours' - summer. This means that all new pieces fit in with existing outfits. I do not go for short selves any more so my friend from Zimbabwe has shipped them out to her aunt.

I am planning next year to learn how to sell on ebay as this seems to be the way to get rid of spare items and make a bit of cash.

When I retired I spent my lump sum on a new bathroom and fitted wardrobes. DH is decorating one room each winter. He is vry proud that we will 'never' need a new kitchen because he made it though we have had to replace cooker, fridge etc.

We live in the country side and still have a car each so I feel most fortunate. In another 10 years this is unlikely to be the case. I belong to the University of the third age which is not expensive. I feel that as we both have a pension we are very fortunate.

rubysong
I nearly spilled my drink!

I dont stockpile as I am not at all loyal to brands, so buy the item that is on special offer the week I want to buy whatever. Dishwasher tablets is the only thing I make sure I buy when on special offer as one brand works better than the others in my machine when I have a full dirty load.

I wouldnt mind recommendations for goodish quality toilet paper though that I could slightly stockpile.

I stockpile, its gotten so bad that neighbors often pop in to see if I have what they need, It must be something to do with where we live, one of our bedrooms has been called "the indoor shed" by friends.
I have boxes, tins, jars, packets, bulbs just in case. As I am on a diet I keep nagging OH to eat more, so I can get this years venison in one of the freezers, what doesn't help either is I buy food, toiletries and cleaning stuff in bulk from amazon.
If I go to the mainland I stock up on clothes and shoes, 3, 7ft built in wardrobes are full of "I might need someday" things. I think I must be concerned about running out!!. The trouble is I am starting to forget what I have

I noticed when I retired that the best special offers were during the week. When I was working full time I only had time to shop on Saturday + I didn't have time to look for offers or calculate if they were really offers. Now I have time and yes I stock pile.

Who remembers the great shortages in the seventies? The shops ran out of toilet rolls and sugar because my late MiL had them all stockpiled in her pantry.

Gaga, I hate using stuff out of the freezer as I feel we might need it in an emergency!

not quite stockpiling but last year Christmas my elder dd put toegther a hamper..not food hamper but household hamper containg...Shampoo, conditioner, soap, toilet rolls, washing up liquid, wash liquid and softerner, hand cream, bathroom kitchen sprays, just about everything you could think of, and I have not bougt any of these items this year as still got lots left, (apart from toilet rolls)!! having to watch my pennies very carefull now they were all very welcome.
The year before when dh was here, my other dd made us up a big food hamper with lost of treats in,dhs eyes lit up it, they were such good and practical presents.

Gagagran I would suggest you don't rush to sell your garage freezer! My husband and I ( very royal don't you think) have a fridge freezer which sounds about the same size as yours. However we have also bought a second fridge freezer which we stock up with slow cooker cooked food and bulk purchased meat, chicken and fish when a good offer.
Yes, we do both still work (ages me 65 next month and he 64 just turned) and no plans to stop because we do enjoy our jobs, but it helps to do batch cooking - he, not me, then you don't have to think too much about food if you plan your meals for the week. I appreciate that if you aren't working you may feel that you have the time and inclination to do the cooking daily, but so many people I know who have retired are so busy doing other things that they wonder how they found time to work!

I'm on a mission to use up the stockpile of frozen food in the garage freezer. I also have a built in 3-drawer freezer in the kitchen and have vowed to use only that once I have emptied (and defrosted) the large garage freezer. I shall then sell the garage freezer or I know that I will fall into the temptation to fill it again. Surely two of us can manage with the small freezer and tall fridge? We are going to try.

I hate shopping and DH is much better at it than me. We go together and I'm the one asking 'why do we want that?'. Couldn't let him go on his own - we'd end up with a trolley full of packet/convenience food.