A few weeks ago the @ecotrain question of the week asked people to reflect on what me might do to prepare for indefinite lockdowns.
What a great question - not only because of the possibility of their being future lockdowns but also because it's a chance to rave about the importance of planning and self-reliance!
I missed the deadline for answering by a long way and there's already plenty of great response here, but here's a few belated thoughts on how I'm planning and prepping for future lockdowns...
Buying land and 'homesteading'
Fingers crossed my land purchase will go through next Friday and that will give me access to year round food, assuming I can get a decent water storage system in place.
I'll also have a couple of acres of woodland so I'll be able to meet a lot of my building and heating needs from the land too.
I won't be anywhere near self-sufficient at first as a lot of the fruit and nut trees I'm planning on establishing will take many years to get going, and I'm fairly sure growing carb-stables won't be worth it, easier to buy and store those.
With around 5-6 acres I'll also have plenty to keep me occupied and plenty of space between me and 'the man' imposing any future lockdowns, so what with my DIY aspirations and my living a bit in the sticks, I'll probably hardly notice any lockdown impositions.
Crypto-resilience
I'm very happy that I've got a decent chunk of my wealth in crypto, diversified. What with the FED printing money like there's no tomorrow (almost literally in fact) and devaluing the future value of currencies, and what with the stock market looking VERY overvalued,
Given the fact that the UK government has now got to find an additional 15% to pay back its borrowings from 2 lockdowns, there is no way I'm getting my pension at 60, possibly not even 67. Crypto seems like at least a partial solution to this!
Upping the blogging game (securing online income)
I've used lockdown to really up my blogging and resource development game for Sociology resources and my sales are doing OK especially since we've now had 2 years of cancelled exams.
I think maintaining a presence online for fiat income is especially useful going forwards - education is very likely to continue even with lockdowns.
I need to think about adapting even more the online market, having said that!
Large ticket items - thinking at least three months ahead, or more!
I'm now thinking at least three months ahead for any purchase I make - I've just received a new printer, it took it 7 weeks to arrive, OK it was the BEST PRICE, but I'd rather wait and save 30 EU, and it seems that this is more common in the age of the lockdown (or it might be BREXIT?!?)
I'm even thinking a year ahead for some items that are easier to get from the UK - if I ever get a window to return, hopefully in August 2021, I'll be buying whatever I need for the coming year, this will mainly be car spares which are just much easier to source in the UK.
Care of the self
And of course it's important to not get frusi-frustrated when locked down - keeping up the running, eating well, meditation, yoga, going for walks, all of that is probably more important than ever!
Final thoughts - this is probably stuff I'd be doing anyway!
I think I'm a lucky boy - my personal proclivity towards self-isolation and desire to buy land and DIY kind of mean I don't mind spending extended periods of time alone, and I've always been a bit obsessed with planning several months ahead away, so all in all I'm a lockdown natural, kind of pre-resilient to them already just by nature of the way I lead my life anyway!
If you can call that lucky?!?