Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: taff on 05/12/2008 13:02:56
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I have been thinking of ways to survive without any money. My only idea so far is to attend local funerals of popular people and pretend you know them to obtain free nosh at the wake. I realise this is an extreme idea but does anyone else have any good ideas for survival during the credit crunch. Anything free please.
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A lot of towns have exchange schemes where someone good at carpentry, say, puts up a shelf for someone else in the scheme and earns some credits. These can then be 'spent' on another person coming to do something for them that they are less good at. On the whole, credits earned and spent even out over time.
All sorts of skills can be exchanged from curtain making, gardening, cooking...right through to accounting and even dentistry (though this is unusual).
It doesn't eliminate money entirely because materials have to be bought but it certainly eliminates labour costs, which is often the greater part.
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There are some people who get their food from supermarket bins. The food is perfectly OK, it's just past it's sell by date...... a little like me!
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There are some people who get their food from supermarket bins. The food is perfectly OK, it's just past it's sell by date...... a little like me!
Bin-raiding is illegal, and I'm not really sure why - the supermarkets can only dispose of this food, and if someone is rummaging in bins it should be taken as read that they are not going to sue you if they get ill. I think it should be encouraged - it would make the supermarkets waste less food.
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The easiest way to survive without money is to stop watching the news, reading news papers and opening you mail. Not only will I be hit by tax rises for people earning more than £x per year, but the child support agency now want £400 per month!
Don, what supermarkets are best for scraps?
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I don't know which supermarkets have the best pickings, but I would guess Waitrose. I don't have to do this as 'er indoors buys all the food. I wonder if I could get out of date gas and electricity from those bins, and telephone, TV, council services (come to think of it he services from these two are out of date!), petrol, diesel, road tax........... and so on and so forth blah blah blah
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I do not know about in the Uk, but here in the California we have churches and local charitable organizations, like food for people and a few government programs that feed those in need of meals..ect.. Also many local fast foods places hire.. and provide a meal to their employees..ie McDonalds etc....but like don said taxes ect take money and bartwring is usually not accepted here for those things either....some local farmers echange harvesting work for harvest foods etc.. apples corn..vegetables etc...grow your own is a great way.... dry or preserve your food....can etc..
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This is not free but it is cheap and good for lazy people. If you want your clothes ironed, take them into a charity shop, wait for a day or two and then go and buy them back when they have been pressed and put out for sale. It is cheaper than most ironing services.
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How will paying Oxfam to do his ironing help taff to survive without money? [?]
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OK you would need money but I did say this is a money saving idea, if you don't want to do your own ironing.
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There you go Taff, take MIL's clothes and wear them for a week, give them a wash and sell them back to her. Not only does it save you having to buy new clothes yourself, but you get paid for it! Of course you will have to choose which of her clothes you wear very carefully (no skirts unless you can pass them off as a kilt). Then just slop them around in the public fountain for a while, tie them to the back of the bus on your way home (don't forget your free pass) shove 'em under the bed overnight to press them and viola, "That'll be a fiver please lady".
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I have been thinking of ways to survive without any money. My only idea so far is to attend local funerals of popular people and pretend you know them to obtain free nosh at the wake. I realise this is an extreme idea but does anyone else have any good ideas for survival during the credit crunch. Anything free please.
I guess you could do the same at weddings. If you play your cards right you might even aquire a whole family and inheritance.
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I think that this is one of the most profound questions ever asked on this site.
The only practical suggestion, so far, can only work for a minority of people; if everyone got their food from the rubbish bins there would be no one left to create the rubbish.
Unless you have the requisite expertise to hunt and/or farm, and somewhere to do it, you can't survive independently; you need money to obtain food because without food you die. Money, thus in the current world, controls your degree of independence, or in other words, your degree of freedom. With no money you have no freedom because your only choices are to do whatever is demanded of you to obtain money, or starve and die. If you have more money you get more freedom, in terms of choices; Instead of having to comply with an order to do something in order to obtain money for food, or die, you can refuse the order and still live.
The significance of this is that the notion that we, as individuals, are free is largely illusory. Whoever controls money controls us all, to varying degrees. Now if you are of the opinion that we, as individuals, should serve society, which is an abstract super-organism in which we are the equivalent of individual cells, this won't bother you very much but if you think that society should serve the individuals that comprise it then it's very disturbing because it is the mechanisms such as government, within society, that control the money, thus resulting in the dog being wagged by the tail.
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I'd steal from drive-through takeaways, just bolt up and grab the bag as they're handing it over! and target cars that have loads of people in it
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... and target cars that have loads of people in it
Is that so they can all chase you and give you pasting? [::)]
Surely it would be less painless to nick the dinners from single occupants.
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I'd steal from drive-through takeaways, just bolt up and grab the bag as they're handing it over! and target cars that have loads of people in it
Not exactly the accomplished crook are we???
JUST A MIN...... YOU WREAKER!!! (oops, sorry. I mean...) EUREKA!!! I'VE GOT IT, I'VE GOT THE ANSWER!!!
Ok Taff, here's what you do, go along to the nearest building site and borrow a brick (they won't mind, not much need for them at present). Take the brick (wrapped in plain brown paper) to your local high street jeweller and heave it through the window. Now grab a handful of the fine jewels on display there and casually walk off to the bus stop waving them in the air for all to see. By the time you get to the bus stop, the rozzers (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fcops%2F7.gif&hash=a2288e2cb9db6570796a1d142e732170) will hot on your trail. When you are accosted by them, say "Does your head go to the top of that helmet?" and knock it off as you chant "All coppers are b*%"_>)~'s".
This will get you arrested and slung in the choky (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fjail%2F1.gif&hash=2d52cbc5ac15038551d1ec861c4b3b02) 'at Her Majesties’ Pleasure' where they will have to feed you and generally look after you. AND IT WON'T COST YOU A PENNY.
There, problem solved.
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This will get you arrested and slung in the choky (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fjail%2F1.gif&hash=2d52cbc5ac15038551d1ec861c4b3b02) 'at Her Majesties’ Pleasure' where they will have to feed you and generally look after you. AND IT WON'T COST YOU A PENNY.
AND...you'll make some interesting new friends. [;D]
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Just heard that some car show rooms are now allowing people 48hour test drives as they can't sell new cars at the moment. This solves all your transport problems.
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... and target cars that have loads of people in it
Is that so they can all chase you and give you pasting? [::)]
Surely it would be less painless to nick the dinners from single occupants.
The more people the more food, and unless Usain Bolt is in the car with them I think you've got a pretty good head start by the time they realise wtf happened and get out of the car. The fastfood chain would likely just give them some more anyway.
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... and target cars that have loads of people in it
Is that so they can all chase you and give you pasting? [::)]
Surely it would be less painless to nick the dinners from single occupants.
The more people the more food, and unless Usain Bolt is in the car with them I think you've got a pretty good head start by the time they realise wtf happened and get out of the car. The fastfood chain would likely just give them some more anyway.
you'd have to make sure they had ordered something without pickles though.
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Maybe you could hide near the speaker box and shout NO PICKLES as they finish their order :P
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The alcy/druggies in my old town used to raid the bins behind the local baker's shop and a supermarket called Roy's. Most of what they got was out of date on that day so it was still fine. They used to get some really nice stuff - sarnies, pies, pasties, yogurts, drinks, ready-made salads, etc. No booze though [:D]
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When I was knee high to a something-or-other we used to buy 'stales' from the local baker. These were cakes baked that morning but which hadn't sold by midday. Just 1d. would buy 2 or 3 cakes.
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Just 1d. would buy 2 or 3 cakes.
Showing your pre-decimalisation age there, foggy!
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OK, if you want free parking but you need to have your car serviced, choose a garage in town. Drop your car off, go shopping and then pick it back up at the end of the day. Saved me £5.50 for a days parking and as parking is hard to find close to Christmas it is a good idea to service the car the week before Christmas.
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This will get you arrested and slung in the choky (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fjail%2F1.gif&hash=2d52cbc5ac15038551d1ec861c4b3b02) 'at Her Majesties’ Pleasure' where they will have to feed you and generally look after you. AND IT WON'T COST YOU A PENNY.
AND...you'll make some interesting new friends. [;D]
Good Idea! Lol [;)] [;)]
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A friend of mine who exists on about £5 a week collects stamps from passers buy who donate them. He has discovered that a large number have not been franked and sells them cheap after removing stamp from envelope Surely this is illegal but he is making a nice living! Comments please?
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One subject that often crops up at Hellmail is the practice of re-using stamps. It would be almost impossible to estimate just how many pre-used stamps actually go through Royal Mail sorting equipment undetected but in principle, if a stamp is unfranked it is likely to be accepted a second or even third time.
This all sounds like a schoolboy crime and barely worth reporting were it not for the fact that Royal Mail must lose thousands of pounds annually through people re-using stamps. Not only that, the trade in recycled stamps on Ebay seems to be fairly lucrative with as much as 100 pre-used 1st class stamps up for offers - at a knock-down price.
Sorting equipment is supposed to cancel stamps as items of mail go through the system but as capacity and speeds increase, the failure rate on stamp franking is probably growing with it. There simply aren't enough eyes at Royal Mail to catch every one. The Royal Mail sees all kinds of tricks used to recycle stamps too, including covering them with tape so that the recipient can remove the tape and the franking mark (not always successful I might add), but stamps do surface that haven't been cancelled at all and it is estimated that many stamps get a second chance by both individuals and companies.
If Royal Mail suspect that the stamp has been used then the item will be held and the person to whom you are sending it will have to pay the price of the stamp, plus a £1 handling charge. It is illegal to re-use a stamp in the UK because stamped mail is protected by the crown.
Stamp re-use has always been a problem though, and various ideas have been tried to outwit the unscrupulous. The French Government in 1849 made a law making it illegal to wash or clean used French postage stamps. Almost 15,000 individuals were charged under this law within six years from its implementation so this isn't a new problem by any means.
Some U.S. stamps from 1867-1871 were impressed with a small square waffle iron type pattern of parallel rows. This broke the fibers of the stamp enough to allow the ink to penetrate thoroughly through the paper, creating a blotched, more blackened cancel. Flourescent dyes and other inks have all been tried but clearly if processing equipment misses a stamp, it misses it.
Royal Mail introduced the option of online postage which does rule out re-use but the concept isn't likely to take over for the next ten years or more and the trade in second-hand stamps continues unabated, costing Royal Mail a small fortune. Combatting it remains a real problem but perhaps as technology improves, sorting equipment may, finally, put paid to those currently abusing the system.
Personally, if I was looking to save money on postage, I'd opt for second class. The thought of steaming stamps from envelopes just to save a few pence and effectively cheat not only Royal Mail but all those employed by it would depress me enormously.
The biggest question is just where are these Ebay traders getting their hands on so many uncancelled stamps?
© Hellmail.co.uk - Postal Industry News
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This is a far reaching question.
LeeE seems to have thought it through.
I'm impressed.
I know that in California you would get food stamps for veggies when buying other stuff, like ten fifteen years ago.
A lady I knew told me that it was almost the same amount of money that she laid out for buying that other stuff?
But the question, as LeeE so rightly understood it, seems to be more of an existential one:)
And yes, all ideas is of interest..
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If things carry on the way they are, we will ALL have to try to live without money!!!
Except the filthy rich bankers, of course.(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-angry019.gif&hash=ba4a4dbad6dcf95d4676412ab39eddbf) (http://www.freesmileys.org)(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-angry039.gif&hash=1d539635f48bfa4bca1962dccefb77f3) (http://www.freesmileys.org)
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I think that this is one of the most profound questions ever asked on this site.
The only practical suggestion, so far, can only work for a minority of people; if everyone got their food from the rubbish bins there would be no one left to create the rubbish.
Unless you have the requisite expertise to hunt and/or farm, and somewhere to do it, you can't survive independently; you need money to obtain food because without food you die. Money, thus in the current world, controls your degree of independence, or in other words, your degree of freedom. With no money you have no freedom because your only choices are to do whatever is demanded of you to obtain money, or starve and die. If you have more money you get more freedom, in terms of choices; Instead of having to comply with an order to do something in order to obtain money for food, or die, you can refuse the order and still live.
The significance of this is that the notion that we, as individuals, are free is largely illusory. Whoever controls money controls us all, to varying degrees. Now if you are of the opinion that we, as individuals, should serve society, which is an abstract super-organism in which we are the equivalent of individual cells, this won't bother you very much but if you think that society should serve the individuals that comprise it then it's very disturbing because it is the mechanisms such as government, within society, that control the money, thus resulting in the dog being wagged by the tail.
That's a very good point - if you are entirely self reliant, you have far more freedom that if you rely on others to provide essentials.
But in another way, you are less free - if you tend your own land, it is your responsibility, and no-one else's, to ensure there will be more than enough crop for you. This means you are tied to that land, and must devote a sizeable proportion of your time and energy to tending, maintaining and defending that land. If, however, you chose to spend a slightly larger portion of your time working for someone else, you will have the freedom to change certain aspects of your life that you would not be able to otherwise.
I suppose these are different kinds of freedoms.
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People don't feel "free" like they used to. A lot of this has been caused by apathy and the lack of understanding and interest in the political system. Children just aren't brought up to be political animals. They don't think they can change things or have any impact in the world. So Sad!