Jobs and careers

[Simplestuff]

Do you think your job or career helps you prepare for the worst? Does it mean you’re away from your family? Are you in a busy place?

I’m a self employed gardener and I try to work within a 15 mile radius of my home which is quite easy in tightly packed England ha. But the tools I use for work are excellent for farming and processing wood. I have a van which would be handy for transporting stuff if I ever had to move. My plant ident is better than the average joe and I am used to working outside whatever the weather. My job also keeps me physically fit.

What do you all do?

 

[lonewolf]

i'm retired but my last job was the same as yours-self employed gardener- in the Plymouth and East Cornwall areas.

 

[Ystranc]

I have a background in engineering, everything from prototyping through to building cranes. I also built architectural models for a living before moving to a small holding. All my adult life I have also done property restorations and dealt in antiques. As part of running the smallholding I do a small amount of livery, agri- contracting and a great deal of tree work to pay the bills. The smallholding comprises of woodland, orchards, paddocks for grazing sheep and a veg gardens.

 

[Simplestuff]

I have a background in engineering, everything from prototyping through to building cranes. I also built architectural models for a living before moving to a small holding. All my adult life I have also done property restorations and dealt in antiques. As part of running the smallholding I do a small amount of livery, agri- contracting and a great deal of tree work to pay the bills. The smallholding comprises of woodland, orchards, paddocks for grazing sheep and a veg gardens.

Very interesting!

 

[Barbara]

Over the years l've been a shop assistant, worked in a conference centre (cooking, cleaning, organising who goes where and when), been a dinner lady, worked for the post office in one of their sorting offices, worked on childrens' summer camps among others. l'm also a qualified nurse but not currently working as one. As OH is now retired l tend to just do casual jobs - whatever is available, when we need an influx of funds.
Do any of these help prepare me for the worst - probably not but my other interests help. ( l love gardening and grow a lot of fruit and veg)

 

[Ystranc]

Well as a qualified nurse I'm sure that you'd absolutely be an asset Barbara,

Over the years l've been a shop assistant, worked in a conference centre (cooking, cleaning, organising who goes where and when), been a dinner lady, worked for the post office in one of their sorting offices, worked on childrens' summer camps among others. l'm also a qualified nurse but not currently working as one. As OH is now retired l tend to just do casual jobs - whatever is available, when we need an influx of funds.
Do any of these help prepare me for the worst - probably not but my other interests help. ( l love gardening and grow a lot of fruit and veg)

As for the other jobs, they would all demand a calm, patient yet accurate work ethic....(working in a summer camp might even qualify you for a sainthood. I think I'd prefer a zombie apocalypse to working with other people's kids)

 

[Keith]

I don't think one's job needs to be associated in any way with prepping. What is important is that you have a job, an income. If you get time off for practicing skills, that is good, but you need money to purchase the basic items you will need, & if you can make enough money you can purchase some land out of town somewhere.

I started work at 14 years of age, & spent a lot of what I earned on cars. I did however always go home on the Friday & drop my pay packet on the kitchen table for my Mother to take whatever she needed.
When I came to Australia I was prepared to take any job that was offered, regardless of the pay or work conditions. Mostly I worked 7 days a week, & in the desert working on a railroad I worked 7 days a week & 14 to 16 hours a day for a $1.42 an hour. I purchased my first property on vender finance, sold that & bought the place I have now for cash. Now I have all I need I am retired.

Does my previous jobs help me survive? Absolutely, but it is more about the experiences I have had rather than the job skills I learnt.
Keith.

 

[Matt]

Im a mechanic ...Also commercial tyre fitter (trucks ,tractors,coach,s ) .....also worked as a contact lens manufacturer ...i was the shift line engineer/sample teck ... ...also worked as a sale,s man many moons ago ....but i always go back to mechanics

 

[Simplestuff]

I don't think one's job needs to be associated in any way with prepping. What is important is that you have a job, an income. If you get time off for practicing skills, that is good, but you need money to purchase the basic items you will need, & if you can make enough money you can purchase some land out of town somewhere.

I started work at 14 years of age, & spent a lot of what I earned on cars. I did however always go home on the Friday & drop my pay packet on the kitchen table for my Mother to take whatever she needed.
When I came to Australia I was prepared to take any job that was offered, regardless of the pay or work conditions. Mostly I worked 7 days a week, & in the desert working on a railroad I worked 7 days a week & 14 to 16 hours a day for a $1.42 an hour. I purchased my first property on vender finance, sold that & bought the place I have now for cash. Now I have all I need I am retired.

Does my previous jobs help me survive? Absolutely, but it is more about the experiences I have had rather than the job skills I learnt.
Keith.

It makes sense, money can be extremely useful for securing your future. I’m still trying to find land in the UK near my home so that I can use it as a base for work and in the future set up as a homestead. But in my area and acre of agricultural land with no building permits can be between 15-30 thousand.

 

[Simplestuff]

Im a mechanic ...Also commercial tyre fitter (trucks ,tractors,coach,s ) .....also worked as a contact lens manufacturer ...i was the shift line engineer/sample teck ... ...also worked as a sale,s man many moons ago ....but i always go back to mechanics

I’ve always wanted to learn more about mechanics, I can give most of my tools a quick service but beyond the basic problems I have to get help which can be costly.

 

[Keith]

It makes sense, money can be extremely useful for securing your future. I’m still trying to find land in the UK near my home so that I can use it as a base for work and in the future set up as a homestead. But in my area and acre of agricultural land with no building permits can be between 15-30 thousand.

I can't say it will work in the old country, but over here I went looking for non arable land. What I wanted was rocks & trees, not good farming land. I found the land myself by checking out farm properties to see if there was any land the farmers were not farming because it was not suitable. I found a farmer/grazier who wanted money to improve his land, at the same time he had some uncleared land that was not much good for growing crops or grazing stock. It was just what I was looking for & the price was affordable. In the deal I agreed to do all the boundary fencing. He also saw me as a potential helping neighbour.
Keith.

 

[Simplestuff]

I can't say it will work in the old country, but over here I went looking for non arable land. What I wanted was rocks & trees, not good farming land. I found the land myself by checking out farm properties to see if there was any land the farmers were not farming because it was not suitable. I found a farmer/grazier who wanted money to improve his land, at the same time he had some uncleared land that was not much good for growing crops or grazing stock. It was just what I was looking for & the price was affordable. In the deal I agreed to do all the boundary fencing. He also saw me as a potential helping neighbour.
Keith.

That’s a good way to go about it but I fear that woodland over here is probably more expensive as it is far less common. Ideally I would love a few acres of woodland with an acre of clear land and possibly a stream of some sort but I think that’s probably unrealistic. Either way I’ll carry on looking and hopefully something will come up. Everything I’ve found so far that would be good the people aren’t willing to sell as a lot of people hold onto land hoping they can get planning permission which can increase the price 10x in some situations!

 

[Ystranc]

It makes sense, money can be extremely useful for securing your future. I’m still trying to find land in the UK near my home so that I can use it as a base for work and in the future set up as a homestead. But in my area and acre of agricultural land with no building permits can be between 15-30 thousand.

Basically land is cheaper in larger blocks. Small plots are always expensive.

 

[Keith]

That’s a good way to go about it but I fear that woodland over here is probably more expensive as it is far less common. Ideally I would love a few acres of woodland with an acre of clear land and possibly a stream of some sort but I think that’s probably unrealistic. Either way I’ll carry on looking and hopefully something will come up. Everything I’ve found so far that would be good the people aren’t willing to sell as a lot of people hold onto land hoping they can get planning permission which can increase the price 10x in some situations!

Yes, we applied for planning permission on our property in West Sussex. My home was an 18th century farm house with a large plot of land. My Father had already put in an extra entrance for my car, yet the neighbours complained & stopped our application because they said there was not enough parking room in the lane!!! After all we had done for these neighbours over the years, that is what they did. Made me bloody angry I can tell you. Some people are like that, something to bare in mind if one is thinking about help from the neighbours in a crisis!
Anyway, water under the bridge as they say.
Keith.

 

[Ystranc]

My neighbours are a complete waste of skin, I want nothing to do with them.

 

[greenbear]

Yes, we applied for planning permission on our property in West Sussex. My home was an 18th century farm house with a large plot of land. My Father had already put in an extra entrance for my car, yet the neighbours complained & stopped our application because they said there was not enough parking room in the lane!!! After all we had done for these neighbours over the years, that is what they did. Made me bloody angry I can tell you. Some people are like that, something to bare in mind if one is thinking about help from the neighbours in a crisis!
Anyway, water under the bridge as they say.
Keith.

I think this sort of thing happens a lot. Many years ago I worked with a lady who told me about a relative who lived in a semi-detached. The neighbour to whom she was joined applied for permission to extend over the garage. It was granted and the extension duly built. The lady's relative was so impressed that she applied for planning permission for the exact same design of extension but the neighbour that had just had it done objected and, hence her application got turned down

 

[Keith]

I think this sort of thing happens a lot. Many years ago I worked with a lady who told me about a relative who lived in a semi-detached. The neighbour to whom she was joined applied for permission to extend over the garage. It was granted and the extension duly built. The lady's relative was so impressed that she applied for planning permission for the exact same design of extension but the neighbour that had just had it done objected and, hence her application got turned down

One-upmanship, how petty!
Keith.

 

[Ystranc]

I think I can see grounds for appealing that decision strait away...

 

[lonewolf]

It makes sense, money can be extremely useful for securing your future. I’m still trying to find land in the UK near my home so that I can use it as a base for work and in the future set up as a homestead. But in my area and acre of agricultural land with no building permits can be between 15-30 thousand.

I've been looking for some land for years, but it's very expensive here and the smaller the bit of land the more expensive it seems to be, even scrub land.

 

[Ystranc]

It seems to me that if you want to buy land it may be better to buy it somewhere off the beaten track like Mid-Wales or Sutherland as a secondary site to bug out to or holiday on. There are some great deals if you avoid buying improved pasture and look for unimproved and unfenced land that has little value beyond silviculture. Buying a larger plot of land dramatically increases what you can get for your money. Avoid anything that has the shooting or fishing rights assigned to someone else unless you're happy to have strangers marching across your land acting like they own it and you're just an inconvenience.