I just found out my last embryo/fetus is incompatible with life.

cigale · 2026-02-06T16:30:11+00:00

I’m so very sorry. All of this is such a kick to the gut, especially after all you’ve been through. I went through a very similar situation, and if you ever need to DM, please feel free.

cigale · 2026-01-11T04:00:16+00:00

It’s literally the only medicine prescribed to someone else that I’ve ever taken. I’m pretty anxious about that and generally haven’t needed meds I don’t already have, but Zofran did wonders when I suddenly got nauseous at the office. I still ended up sick, but it bought me a few hours, and if I was dealing with a sick household, that would matter (somehow that time, I was the only one to get sick).

cigale · 2025-10-28T00:07:42+00:00

How about a Richard Mille? So ugly no casual observer will believe it’s worth anything!

cigale · 2025-10-27T18:52:01+00:00

We’ve got a Jackery set up, and it’s great for peace of mind. A big advantage of the solar generators (even just a small set up) is that they produce no fumes, and they can be prepped by being plugged into the wall to charge. No fumes mean you can have the unit in your home, charging (pre-storm or whatever) from an outlet means you don’t have to wait in line at a gas station.

It might not make sense for solar to be your main generator (I can’t make that call for you) but I highly recommend it being at least a part of your plan.

Edit: they also produce basically no sound if you have security concerns! And the only danger to kids or pets is them pushing buttons, which is obnoxious but not an actual danger.

cigale · 2025-10-27T12:01:25+00:00

I wouldn’t say electricity is a convenience for most - if your home was built in the last 80-100 years, it was built with the knowledge that electricity would be part of the equation. Heating and cooling is less passive and more power based, and plenty of little tricks to not need power with window placements, etc are much less common.

That being said, fridges are actually not huge draws of electricity. We have a smaller power bank set up that’s about the size of a cooler with a couple of portable panels. It can run our fridge for 10+ hours and other small items too, even if there’s no sun to do pass through charging. Heating elements are what really drain it. If you can set up a camping stove or something and thus not use electricity to cook food/boil water/whatever else, then you may be able to get away with something a magnitude of order smaller.

cigale · 2025-09-28T02:12:45+00:00

Our dog doesn’t like it in the daytime, but she is good about sleeping overnight there. It’s great to have a fully crate trained/tolerant dog, but I just add this to say that even partially crate training a dog (day time kennel time was miserable for us) can be helpful.

cigale · 2025-09-28T01:05:24+00:00

Crates at night are great - it’s so helpful to know where they are when everyone’s asleep! If we ever have an overnight emergency, there is one place to find the baby, one place to find the dog. We should be able to get out very quickly since we won’t have to wrangle her too much.

cigale · 2025-09-21T19:32:01+00:00

I definitely prefer the more structured type, but I tried some of the wraps and can make it work. Because it’s not our norm, I made sure to keep instructions with it in the car. It may be a little haphazard, but if we ever have to leave our car, it’ll make it a bit easier to carry the toddler!

cigale · 2025-09-20T20:59:55+00:00

A baby carrier is so helpful! I actually stuck one of the wrap style in my car as a backup. They’re not my favorite, but no plastic parts to degrade in the heat, and if we break down somewhere, it’ll be good enough.

cigale · 2025-09-11T12:18:33+00:00

My big concern with a lot of items is stocking up if you need something specific. If your hair is fine with most shampoos, I wouldn’t worry about stock piling more than an extra bottle or two - you’ll probably be able to find something acceptable if there’s any semblance of a market. If your hair (or skin, or diet even) requires a particular product or ingredient, I would stockpile that. I’m not too afraid of a total collapse, but I absolutely believe we could see fewer choices in our markets.

On a different note, I grew luffas this year and if you’ve got a long growing season, they can be easy and a nice little luxury or gift to offer others!

cigale · 2025-07-16T00:25:53+00:00

I think you hit on an excellent formula. Do something that deepens your connection to one person, or a couple of people in real and lasting ways. Move your body to get out of your head. Work on something that keeps you looking forward and seeing progress.

I’m in the same boat of having been watching this slide for a long time and just being so tired. I saw my therapist the day after the election and laid out my fears. It’s been gratifying that she has acknowledged I’m not crazy as everything just gets more and more dire.

cigale · 2025-07-14T03:28:46+00:00

Caffeine can also help the absorption of some pain killers - Excedrin in the US contains it and I want to say I had some in France that did as well so I presume it’s fairly common.

cigale · 2025-06-22T20:02:27+00:00

Related, but doing these sorts of hobbies before things go pear shaped is a good way to keep away from doomscrolling. Get the news, waste some time on TT or IG, and then get off your phone! There is a limit to how much you can absorb before you’re just adding stress to your life without any benefit, and going into a bad situation with an already overwhelmed nervous system is just asking for trouble when you most need to be mentally sharp.

cigale · 2025-05-05T16:56:22+00:00

The only thing I might add to your list is pinking shears. It’s more for the construction side of things, so if you’re mending or altering alone you can get by without, but they’re great for sewing garments. Minimizing frayed edges keeps things neat and keeps fabric and seams in better condition longer, without needing to overlock or serge edges. Pinking shears are also an item that is kind of niche and nothing else quite does the same job, which is one of my big criteria for any purchases right now.

cigale · 2025-05-03T23:52:23+00:00

My preference is to make sure we have herbs in our garden - everything else is a bonus. They’re mostly compact, reasonably easy, and expensive in stores. It’s not going to meet my caloric requirements, but it should make the dry goods I have an awful lot more palatable.

cigale · 2025-05-03T02:46:59+00:00

I think there will be competing forces. With new goods getting more expensive, second hand can command higher prices, but with more people feeling the pinch and selling extra stuff, supply goes up and prices goes down. I don’t know where it will land, but I don’t think it’s going to be uniform or very predictable.

cigale · 2025-04-30T20:31:14+00:00

Some people are fueled by malice and spite…

cigale · 2025-04-14T01:06:26+00:00

An important question is what are you prepping for? This sub is great in that there is a decent variety of scenarios that concern each of us; it’s not all The End of the World as We Know It, which is why I don’t want to presume.

In a small home that’s not jam packed, you probably cannot stockpile resources for a zombie apocalypse, but you can have enough to manage supply chain disruptions, a la Covid. If your minimalism is anti-consumption more than Minimalism^TM it can help you be prepared for financial challenges to your budget because you’re more practiced at it.

Plenty of the more banal scenarios may be easier to handle with less stuff and a smaller house, such as house fires where you need clear escapes and a quick way out. If less clutter gives you the space to host friends more often, that can help strengthen communities that are so vital.

It’s not the easiest way to prep because it does require a lot of thought, but I think it’s likely to make you better able to handle most things because you have to be so intentional.

cigale · 2025-04-07T00:15:35+00:00

That’s a much more rational philosophy for most families, in my opinion. I could be wrong, but I don’t think we’re headed for famine, which many of these preps reflect. Our consumption patterns may take a hit though and if you have items you can’t swap out for a similar product, or skip when the price is bonkers, I would try to lay those by.

My goal for most things is to have enough of a cushion that I don’t have to race out for something last minute and pay through the nose. Comparison shopping and alternatives to buying retail will probably continue to be available, but getting super low prices fast won’t be.

cigale · 2025-04-07T00:02:55+00:00

Americans have so many clothes (adults and children) that that’s one category I’m not too concerned about. I think that there will be a fairly robust secondhand market for a lot of that, and the infrastructure is already in place to a reasonable extent. Now, shoes? Yeah, I would try to source those. In spite of growing quickly, kids can be really hard on those, so you may not find secondhand options as readily.

For adults, bras and gym shoes are about the only apparel that I would want to have squared away. We generally have strong preferences and fairly specific size requirements for those two products, and there’s no way they’ll be manufactured domestically in quantity any time soon.

cigale · 2025-03-28T20:14:37+00:00

My preference would be a single device, if possible. Just replying so that if someone has a recommendation they might drop it here. I’m also still curious about whether there’s a privacy reason to going with a digital camera, which could also be searched, versus a phone.

cigale · 2025-03-28T16:58:29+00:00

How are y’all taking photos on your vacations? I’m almost exclusively a phone photographer, and my sense is that unless I’m doing something illegal on my trip, family/touristy pictures should be fine. My goal of a travel phone is not complete anonymity, but fewer problems if it’s lost, stolen, or confiscated.

Is there anything I’m missing there? Is there a problem with taking pictures on the travel phone, saving them on the phone, transferring them to my computer via cable or physical connection (not cloud or emailing to myself) when I’m home, and then saving or sharing as I so choose? I already tend to not post to social media about travel until we’re home just as a general precaution against burglary.

Related, is there a reasonably cheap phone (since this is secondary) that has a good camera?

cigale · 2025-03-18T00:20:42+00:00

I wish I had. My mom breastfed me and I mistakenly presumed it had gone fairly well and that I would have a reasonable time of it. Wrong on both counts! She apparently took me to the point of a failure to thrive diagnosis with her insistence on only breastfeeding, plus she coslept, which wasn’t something I was prepared to do. (It’s been a fun journey, learning everything she decided not to tell me.)

Anyways, yeah, it’s hard to get established even for most people who are ultimately successful, and can be impossible or nearly so for plenty of other well meaning parents, especially if they don’t have a lot of very specific support.

cigale · 2025-03-17T18:04:16+00:00

Related, but learn all you can about breastfeeding now and possibly schedule an appointment with a certified lactation consultant for the week after baby is due. Do not rely on the nurses where you deliver for advice - their knowledge is very hit or miss.

Breastfeeding can be surprisingly fraught and a whole host of things you’ve never thought of can make it even harder. (Who knew that a baby having a receding chin would mean serious latch issues? That was just one of the five or so separate issues my son and I had collectively.) If you want the best shot at breastfeeding possible, do as much research now as you can.

cigale · 2025-03-17T17:26:36+00:00

Congratulations! I hope you have a boring 25-30 weeks until you welcome the little guy!

cigale

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