I am investing in food, ammunition, water and water purification, firewood and other burnables, LED flashlights and batteries, clothing and especially work/outdoor clothes, and sanitation - soap/shampoo/toothpaste/detergent. As for cash and precious metals, I do have more cash than average, but I’m expecting barter to matter more, not to mention that boxes of 12 gauge will hold their value a whole lot better than bundles of dollars, whether civilization collapses or simply deteriorates. Who knows who I am or where I live and that I have more of each than the average person? Not even my wife. I rotate a little of the stored food into our pantry weekly and she assumes I’ve been grocery shopping; I have but it was to replace what I rotated out of storage.
We are on the edge. Everyday there is a new story about the ‘Yutes’ who grow more restless everyday and when you add the fact that because of the economy people are already on edge it won’t take much to set things off.
Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Siege of AR-558 (#7.8)” (1998)
Quark: Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They’re a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don’t believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes.
Today we have ‘yutes’ who roam our streets who are with out morals, without respect for law or life itself. They will look are you with the same ‘doll eyes’ a shark does before he eats you and they will feel no more compassion than the shark does.
That will be the test of many. Most preppers I know are Christian people and they will hesitate to do what they might have to do to stop the ‘yutes’. On the other hand the ‘yutes’ won’t think twice nor lose a minute of sleep, in fact they will smile and laugh about it.
For those who are just starting or are old hands at prepping you may find my Preparedness Manual helpfull. You can download it at:
http://www.tomeaker.com/kart/preparedness1i.pdf
For those of you who haven’t started already it’s time to prepare almost past time maybe. You needed to be stocking up on food guns, ammo, basic household supplies like soap, papergoods, cleaning supplies, good sturdy clothes including extra socks, underwear and extra shoes and boots, a extra couple changes of oil and filters for your car, tools, things you buy everyday start buying two and put one up.
Thank about barter items: Liquor, disposable lighters, tobacco, sweets, being able to recharge batteries could be something you can bater.
As the LDS say “When the emergency is upon us the time for preparedness has past.”
Or as the bible says: A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
NIV Proverbs 22:3
Lastly this for the doubters and the scoffers.
“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger.
Underestimation can be fatal.”
Right on about ammo.
Think about how long a brick of 22 LR can keep you in small game.
Not sure I understand the logic of not even trusting your wife.
In case of an EMP, those LED flashlights might not work. Keep a couple incandescents in your storage. They might not be as efficient or long lasting, but not much can go wrong with a circuit of a battery, switch, a couple wires and a bulb.
Where do you store batteries? Someone said to freeze them. We of course, buy a few new ones every hurricane season but I was wondering how to store them for longer periods of time.