Posted on 03/13/2012 7:58:29 AM PDT by Kartographer
Looking at survival survey results it seems a lot of people have to see where they put their money. Into preps or have to spend it on things for everyday living. I know how this feels and live like that the last decades.
After war I left city with two plastic bags full of random belongings. No documents and nothing else. I was refugee. But lucky that I was able to stay with family on countryside.
I never really thought, ok now I prepare or anything. I simply wanted to have all sorts of things I did not have during my SHTF year. So preparing came naturally to me. No surprise. First it was all about weapons. Whenever I had money I bought ammunition, rifles and guns.
(Excerpt) Read more at shtfschool.com ...
Preppers PING!
Any FR preppers willing to send me some seeds from their lead/mimosa/leucena tree?
I bought some a while back, but they rotted before I could get them to sprout. I want to try it one more time with some fresh seed.
What needs to be considered first and foremost is what are you preparing for? Then you need to prioritize your preparations and $$$$ towards that. It will do you very little good to prepare for an asteroid strike (low probability) if you live in a flood zone and are not ready for the higher likelyhood of having to bug out due to flooding (more likely disaster).
Worse than nothing. Those attached to their iPhones 24/7 will have complete emotional and mental breakdowns. They won't be able to function.
True enough - you gotta start somewhere and that somewhere should be a serious examination of your family’s lifestyle, what your ecology is like (where you presently reside), and what sort of disaster scenarios you want to respond to.
I’m not planning on a response to an asteroid strike - and since my proximity to a nuclear naval base virtually ensures my quick vaporization I won’t waste time buying anti-radiation umbrellas. But I am preparing for the potential breakdown in order, for interruptions in essential services, and for shortages of goods.
With each examined scenario comes the recognition that my present lifestyle will change - sometimes radically. Since I’m not rich there are things I presently enjoy that I may need to forgo.
And you’re right to consider the “fight or flight” calculus of staying in your present digs or abandon them in favor of higher ground.
It’s best to be thinking about this stuff now...
I'm on a very tight budget and have to get this done in small pieces. Each week I pickup $20-$30 in canned foods. I've been doing this for about six months and have acquired about 4 months of yummy canned foods that do not require cooking.
What really helps is being in a group. It's a resource multiplier. We hold monthly meetings and each member is assigned certain tasks which fit that member's skill set.
Some are picking up dry goods, bulk flour, sugar, etc. Others are getting medical supplies. Still others are in charge of weapons, ammo, and defensive measures.
As for WHAT we're prepping for....the mostly likely event would be a extended power grid failure or massive monetary collapse. Imagine what would happen if everyone’s credit cards stopped working.
When I started by trip down prepping, the best advice was to evaluate what to prep for. My list was basic -
Natural events:
Storms
Floods
Hurricanes
Earthquakes
Asteroids
Man Caused
Crime
Civil disturbances
Civil War
Open war (WW3)
Financal meltdown
I then evaluated what the chance of each occuring in my life time would be. Estimated what the extent of the impacts would be and what would be necessary to prepare for them.
Where I live (Washington state) we don’t have to concern ourselves with hurricanes, but many of us must take into consideration volcanic lahars.
And dhimmicrat zombies. Lots of dhimmicrat zombies!
Forgot to add volcanos - its on my list - but good catch. One MUST know what potential dangers exist. One other one gaining publicity is the potential for a mega-tsunami from a quake off the Oregon-B.C. coast. Last biggie was in the 1500's and generated a huge tsunami.
And dhimmicrat zombies. Lots of dhimmicrat zombies!
Monolithic dome water purifer from cheaper than dirt. sun global oven. nonhybrid seeds from mypatriot supply. canned eggs and instant milk from beprepared.com. rain barrel diversion kits from amazon. look up global buckets for gardening. also look up zero pots for refrigeration.
look up fire brick press for energy. go to lds cannery for wheat oats. Pick up 5 gallon food grade buckets from bakeries. Learn how to to dehydrate. This is my beginning.
Thanks for the idea on the water filter. I have most other things, but have been pondering the water issue w/o purchasing anything more than pool shock.
Gives about 1 gallon an hour. watch the pool shock . must be calcium hydro not sodium hydro and try to get 70 percent or more. pinch a penny was only 40 some percent.
How did your group get started?
I only know two other people prepping.
After mentioning prepping to a wider group, we invited the interested to a spaghetti dinner and held a serious conversion:
- Who's in and who's out;
- Anyone who agrees to join is expected to contribute resources: labor and/or money.
That weeded out the ones who were not serious; these folks were warned they cannot join later without their own supplies.
The original group was 12 people. As it is now, there are 8. Two other people is way better than none and you have to start somewhere. A year ago, folks were scoffing at my warnings. Now, they're prepping.
Thanks for your reply.
I would like to grow my group but in liberal NY it is hard to find like minded people.
Monolithic dome requires two 5 gallon buckets. takes out everything.
Some good advice in the article. Here’s the rest of it:
When I got my own place and job again I started to get other preps. Economic has ever been bad since war. Sometimes we get paid, sometimes not, sometimes late. So I never had much extra money but even when I got paid, I made plan what I need for next month and what not and then spend most of money on buying things in bulk. For example I drive every few weeks to tankstop half hour away to buy 200 liters of gas. They have it cheaper and give discount. Buying in bulk is not only cheaper I get rid of my money and have things instead. That matters for me.
From other blog posts you also might know I do not value money much and never have after my SHTF year. You can’t eat money and when I do not get paid, or not paid in time I simply live of my preps.
People help when preparing on a budget
Interesting thing might be that my area is at brink of collapse again and has been for some time. We have 40% unemployed people so black market and exchanging things is normal. People do not have money so they exchange whatever they have. I might need new jacket but have knife I don’t want anymore and call a few people and get what I want.
Most of my friends have same or similar life philosophy, actually it is the matter of choosing right people to hang with them, so I do not have friends who find meaning of life in buying big LCD TV or having fancy car. It is more about having friends with who you can go into the woods for few days with very few things to check how it is like, or to discuss with them how we can get from point A to point B fast and safe when SHTF for example.
We meet for coffee or a few beer and plan this. It is our hobby and has been ever since war. We laugh and have good time, we fear little because we know what to expect and are prepared.
People with who you hang out have influence on you, either you like it or not, so you just have to choose with who you are gonna spend your time. Most of my friends are also exchanging / trading stuff, so it is easier for me to live without money and more with preps.
My guess is if there is slow collapse your country who is now better will come down to this level of where my country is, first before complete economic collapse.
In this state of half collapse I live in I just take safe route and that is having things. So what I write might be future advice for when time has come for your country. I just share how I prepare with my limited budget.
I can trade things now and if total collapse happens I still have more valuable things than worthless money. During collapse those with 1000 $ but broken shoes will pay 1000 $ for a new pair. Just not sure if I would sell because I can not wear those paper notes.
Friends with grey market traders
Another thing that helps is to get right connections. It helps to know some people who work in darker grey areas. People who sell stuff that “fell from a truck” are those who exchange and hustle for living and will be first who become big traders once SHTF. Their job does not change much, just more customers.
Now you may or may not approve this what i say, but consider knowing people from this “grey” area of life as a perfect part of preparing for future SHTF event. Those people is not your local drug dealer who is also on drugs, but more business people who focus on “lost and found” things.
If your country is far away from having trading people like this, look out for them once things get rougher. They will emerge fast. When they are there it is more than time to exchange money and have things instead.
Even now in normal time when i want to buy something, i always look for the word on the street where i can buy something good and cheap. If you have little you have to make things happen, somehow.
If I want military type bag, I always ask few people that I know have good info about that kind of stuff. They can point me to the guy who has that stuff for me. I do not ask too much questions, I do not want to know where that comes from, it is cheap, it is good, I have far greater things to worry about. If I had money I have guy who can sell me tuna cans, in bigger amounts, I mean 400-500 cans, almost in half price. How? Don t know, I do not wanna know.
There is the people here for buying anything, and I think it is similar everywhere i mean for most of the things there is the folks who are selling that, cheaper.
Jay who lives in Thailand went to supermarket manager to make his own deal and saved a lot. How supermarket manager could give him good prices like that? Nobody wants to know. If you do not know grey guys your local supermarket manager might be the go to guy.
How far you wanna go with buying some things from some grey people is up to you. I do not suggest anything when it comes to that. Each and everyone of us have to decide about that.
You may like this way or you may not. If you are poor or have to make difficult choices when buying preps it is form of survival already. When SHTF there will be way more difficult choices and you will laugh about this.
Find those people who trade things now
Even in good times (which are still bad times here compared to most other countries) I can get what I want with exchanging stuff. Pay good attention to when things become more valuable or better investments than money.
If I buy 4 pairs of boots that I know I will use and get them cheaper now, I do this. I live like this for years now but your country might not be there yet, but know time will come.
Money is good, money is great actually, but do not get caught up in situation like in the middle of the night with 1000 $ in your wallet, and S. has just hit the fan, and your 1000 $ is worth 10 cans of food, yesterday it was worth 400 cans, but…
We all expect that we gonna recognize signs, have time.. but we actually can be suprised, all of us. Looking at some alternative media sites I’m not sure if they promote truth or themselves more.
In the end we prepare to be safer and that is something you have to do today, not tomorrow.
Don’t prepare, save money
I know from forums that some people have problem justifying spending money on preps because other family member believe collapse can not happen or the government will provide.
This was never problem for me because all family knows preparing is only smart thing to do. Still you do not have to prepare for collapse officially. I save money by buying in bulk and also save gas by not making that many trips. Also saves my time because we do not have to leave house that often for buying things.
We are slaves of money, modern way of life is doing that to us, and it is hard sometimes to prepare but all of life is full of hard choices and making right choices today might safe one of your family members life tomorrow.
Not being a sheep today
Another good advice I think is that you have to not be one of the herd. Having new iPod might be a must have, but I do not care. It might be easy to say for me because priorities have changed a lot but I do not need most things media of advertisement tries to tell me I need.
You can start having survival mindset today. Those who think they need big LCD TV or latest iPod will have even bigger challenge once times get tougher and they are left with little or nothing.
There are many ways to do this. In this article I explain mine (my 6 months supply list is in course area).
What are your ways of preparing and staying within budget?
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