Early Retirement Extreme Forums

@Peanut - what rate of side effects are you talking about here (re. AZ). I am 65 and have had AZ once and will shortly have second dose. The proportion of clotting side effects at most ages its vanishingly small. This article records that lots (maybe your hundreds?) of people who have had the vaccin...

I don't come to ERE for political discussions so I can live with a ban. Or the boundaries that @Jacob suggests. Its possible that someone coming to this forum to learn about ERE could encounter the politics and back off. That would be a great shame. The posts in the ERE forums are overwhelmingly tho...

My food costs have risen significantly in term of total spent at checkout/visit because we are shopping less frequently and a) we unexpectedly have another adult living with us - because DS is now home from Uni and was here the whole of last term and still here now. If he gets a job which is home wo...

@Jollyscot Glad to hear that there is a solution in sight. Ours is a listed buiding and we are hopeful that a more pragmatic view is emerging of how to balance the conserving of heat and history in such buildings (i.e. one layer of brick/no cavity walls and sash windows that are old enough to be par...

Wrote my previous message before reading @ZAFcorrection's comments. I can definitely see the advantage of setting boundaries for the mental energy to expend on parenting older children, this is otherwise so much energy. But I've never been able to make boundaries work, I probably like solving proble...

This paragraph may be irrelevant to US readers but recalled today some years back when we acted as rent guarantor for my nephew when he was a student. (This is what happens when you are the only solvent person in the family who is not retired on low income). He had a joint tenancy (common in the UK ...

Can I just pitch in on a COVID-related question, in case it has not factored into discussions with your son? Would he want to/would you expect to have him at home if the teaching became suddenly online and/or infection spiked at the college. This is not just a helicotery issue but a financial consid...

Information especially for those with interests in woodworking... FREE online 'woodturners' apprentice' course offered by Bobbin Boy (husband and wife team of very skilled woodturner and his Fiber Artist and journeyman woodturner wife Millissa Ellison Dewey). This is best explained in parts of Milli...

Would it help to commission some art item? My husband was recently asked to create a framed lino cut print for someone who had an anniversary coming up. Unique, one-off and pushes some money towards a craftsperson so there are two people benefitting from the gift. Artists and craftspeople who may ha...

@dreamoffreedom Where to start? Well it really depends what you want to make (destination) and location (do you need portability, small size etc). If you have never used yarn before and like something easy to carry and fiddle with (perfect for journeys) I would suggest you might look at braiding. Th...

@Jacob - I know people who have made fleece seat pads and even a camping mattress to put on a camp bed using a Brinkley loom (another simple style loom with relatively widely spaced warps). They did this using washed fleece. It becomes felted over time. Very insulating and comfortable.

@Jacob, its not a loom that I have ever really used but I know the basic principles. Similar to the ideas for using woven narrow bands as more than just narrow bands the strength is that you can make any length of band on a peg/band loom and combine them using modular designs. So by sewing (with yar...

@reepicheep - following your suggestion I have set up a thread for those into fiber arts (or as I spell it 'fibre arts'). Its here https://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/viewtopic.php?p=222065 Interested in card weaving myself, but not yet tried it. DH made me a floor standing/foldable band weavin...

I have spotted a few fibre artists in here and recently answered a question about fleece washing in @Landerdros' thread on Homesteading. https://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/viewtopic.php?p=221799#p221799 @reepicheep suggested I set up a thread on fiber arts (which being from UK I spell as fibre...

2) If one person in the office has COVID, everyone will get it anyway, mask or no mask. So one infected person in office (presumably asymptomatic or else they would not be there) cannot avoid becoming a super-spreader, whether everyone (including the infected)n wear masks or not? I get that if its ...

@shemp and @chenda Thanks for the explanations. Yes I can see that going to bars to drink is probably impeded by mask wearing. :lol: (Explanation for my oversight here: I tend to be there for a chess match so not really into drinking much, I get my fun other ways). Mask + straw would be my favoured ...

@anesde asked how long does it take you to spin/dye/weave the wool? How do you wash it prior to working it? We tried it once but the effort and end result didn’t make any financial sense vs. purchasing spools, or for that matter even clothes. Both of those are very cheap here, though perhaps not the...

Wearing a face covering in shops and supermarkets in England is to become mandatory from 24 July. (But this does not apply to workplaces). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53397617 This brings us into line with Scotland and several other European countries. Also reporting today an enquiry into...

We looked into setting up a self-sufficient smallholding when we moved here and learned a lot - mainly not to go into livestock apart from sheep. I spin and weave and dye but would caution that sheep are flock animals so consider having more than one. Exception might be a hand raised sheep that thin...

From what you say you have the option of turning down work as and when it appears and don't have to decide until Feb 2021 when you need to re-validate. Perhaps you can use this time to think about things you might want to do in healthcare (where your experience is an advantage) rather than continue ...