The following article has been generously contributed by Tyler of Debt Reckoning – Get out of debt, build wealth, and get on with life.
Every good survivalist has a stockpile of things he or she recognizes their family may need to survive a natural or man-made disaster. However, many people forget the value of maintaining a barter store as well.
If things hit the fan, particularly in an economic collapse where the dollar is nearly worthless, a number of non-monetary goods will be more valuable than a fistful of dollar bills.
It’s also important to recognize that we can’t possibly store enough of every item to account for every scenario for an indefinite period of time. However, what we can do is have some items on hand to barter with neighbors to plug gaps in our preparations.
Imagine a neighbor with a large garden and some chickens trading a half dozen eggs and some squash for a box of ammo, or a small bottle of Vodka.
Consider stocking up on the following items, even if you have no plans to use them yourself, for their potential barter value.
16 Things to Stockpile with High Barter Value
Cigarettes. I hate smoking, and can’t stand being around anyone that smokes. Having said that, I recognize that in a SHTF situation many others will be cut off from their access to cigarettes, so there is plenty of barter potential.
Soap. Bars of soap, and even those little cleaning napkins/wipes that you get at the BBQ restaurants could be very valuable in a SHTF scenario. Ever see “The Book of Eli?”
Bullets. Obviously, it’s a good idea to have a decent store of ammo representing all calibers of the weapons you own. However, it is also a good idea to store extra ammo in common calibers (9mm, .22, .38, 12-guage shells, etc.) as a potential barter. After all, a gun without ammo is just an inacurate throwing object.
Alcohol. Alcohol could serve a variety of purposes in a SHTF situation. It is valuable as a potential bartering commodity, and it also has medicinal uses. Did you know Vodka is a great home remedy to counteract the reaction to poison ivy?
MREs. More portable and easier to barter than larger 5-gallon buckets, or even #10 cans of dried foods, MREs are great to have on hand for bartering. Keep a variety of flavors and different kinds of foods because you could be holding something that could complete a meal for a hungry person.
Silver Coins. Keep in mind this doesn’t necessarily mean only silver dollars with a full ounce of silver, but even older, less expensive coins with a high silver component (the 1964 Kennedy half-dollar, for example).
Detergent. Don’t think people are interested in bartering detergent? Check out the story about the recent rash of detergent thefts across the country. Apparently, Tide detergent on the black market is now referred to as “liquid gold.” Interesting.
Water bottles. To someone in bad need of water, a water bottle could be worth its weight in gold. Remember the rule of threes: you can live three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food. Store accordingly.
Matches and lighters. A box of matches is relatively inexpensive, but for someone needing to build a fire a pack of matches or a lighter could be very valuable. Be sure these are stored safely, and if they are not waterproof make them so by storing in a watertight container.
Sugar. My grandfather used to tell stories of things that were in limited supply in the Great Depression. Sugar was something he often mentioned. Imagine how easily you could win over a sweet-tooth with the promise of a bag of sugar in exchange for something you are short on.
Toilet paper. This one is rather self-explanatory, isn’t it? Sure, there are substitutes for Charmin, but who wants to keep using leaves when paper feels so much better.
Water Filters/Purifiers. Water purification drops and filters could mean the difference in offering family members treated water or potentially harmful, bacteria-infested water. Who’d be willing to trade for that?
Bleach. May be used to disinfect water, or keep living quarters and soiled clothing sanitized.
Batteries. Can be used to power up flashlights, radios, and other electronic devices.
Candles. Emergency candles would be a great barter item for those in need of providing some light to their living quarters without electricity.
What other items would you add to your barter store?
Contributed by Debt Reckoning. Hat tip The Daily Crux.
first……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61rI53YxCS0
Test
Test2
Test3
Test4test 5
Pathetic!
Coffee, sugar, and chocolate.
And salt. Buy these items in bulk. Store in baggies for trade.
I am going to go the other way; bolts, screws, washers, brads, nails, oil, grease and here’s an interesting one, an assortment of springs. Do you have any idea how difficult making a simple coil spring is? Fabricating metal, steel aluminum, corrugated tin, sheet steel, channel, square/round tubing, angle, flat, mig welding wire, rod. Retain “any” usable metal remnants, all of them no matter how small. You can always get rid of them later, just imagine when you need one and there is no place to get one, now! You will make due if there is no other alternative, just have a place to start and have something to start with other than a want and an idea. For the more advanced, get a vertical mill (glorified drill press) and the tools that goes with it. I have a feeling in a post-apocalyptic atmosphere, when you can’t buy a new one you will want to repair the old one. If you have nothing else, a mill will always do. Tire repairing materials, patches, plugs, valve stems. Tools to break down tires. Just a bead breaker and a set of spoons. I didn’t say it would be easy but it’s better than nothing. Another one, alternatives to power tools. Just the simple drilling of a hole will be a task without that cordless DeWalt. I can’t stress tools enough; they can make your tasks easier and will in all likelihood make you a small living. Oils are another thing I am big on. Machines don’t run well with no oil. “Any” oil will due. It might not be the fancy multi-grade, high viscosity, wizbang stuff we are use to but there again, it’s better than nothing. Try to make a can of it!
@Hammerun,
I like how you think. Those who can fix things or make stuff will never have to shovel shit or work themselves to death toiling in a field. Better to leave that kind of labor to those best suited for it. I just purchased an old jackshaft-driven metal shaper from the 1890s. The knowledge to use it is priceless. I just need to find a method to separate oxygen from air and compress it so I will still be able to use my acetylene torch. Equipment to make castings will be another thing that will ensure you will never have to shovel shit. Just imagine how much someone would be willing to trade in return for making serviceable an old steam tractor or converting an existing tractor to woodgas? After someone spends a season at hard manual backbreaking labor to grow crops, how much would they would be willing to give for something which would eliminate that labor?
I agree.
One way to extract O2 , acquire mercury oxide, aka Cinnabar, and heat it. It releases Oxygen gas. Its not hard to do, per se–Joseph Priestly did it in 1774–but be careful. Oxygen and heat isn’t the most stable combo, and mercury will be produced. Dispose of safely.
Salt for sure. A few select spices: i.e., cinnamon, chili
Also dental floss…can be used for more than cleaning teeth, and takes up little space. Fish hooks & leader -multiple uses. Eye dropper/droppers. Six drops of non scented bleach to purify a gallon of water. Clothes pins and sewing needles. A good simple hand axe may come in handy.
Machinery and manufacturing is quite a complicated endevor. It is my business for 40 years. I Forge, cast, weld, machine, so on and so forth. I would be hard pressed when SHTF to continue even with all my experience. I even have quite an assortment of antique machinery along with the modern CNC equipnent.
However I will find something to do.
But if you are buying the equipment and dont have the knowledge and experience to use it then I sugest that you dont. Spend your money on something else.
@ Moon. Look into oxygen generators. You can find the medical version quite cheap sometimes from people whos relitives have past away from illness. You will also need a O2 compressor to presureize your tanks.
Oh, heck no, DK!!!!
No chocolate will be bartered from my house. Bartering away my chocolate stash would be akin to sacrilege!!!
Daisy – my son checks my coffee stash every so often. He KNOWS so long as Mama gets her morning cuppa she can deal with almost anything. (yes I’ve experimented with dandelion root and chicory just in case lol!). Coffee won’t be bartered.
Skoal!
~HSL~
DITTO…Brother!!!!!
the workplace that I retired from was an interesting place to watch human nature at work. I worked there for 34+ years, and knew many of these guys as good as any family member. I would say that 75% of the men used tobacco products of some sort. maybe a lesser percentage now, as more of the younger ones are a little more health conscious. The most habitual tobacco product that I saw all these years was snuff, mostly Coopenhagen. They must be putting something other than just tobacco products in this stuff, as these men went crazy when they ran out.
My point to this analogy, is that I think tobacco products are probably one of the top, if not the top barter item in hard times. if people run out of liquor, they can, and will learn to make it. But you just can’t “make” a tobacco product.
To all of you folks who have never tried snuff, if you think cigarettes are hard to quit, you haven’t seen anything as hard to quit as snuff products. good luck all, and happy prepping.
As a smoker, I’m not so sure that stockpiling ciggies would be all that worth it.
Yes, you read that right.
The reason why? Tobacco is a *plant*. You can *grow* the stuff in an amazing number of areas. My father-in-law grew quite a bit in Southern Oregon for his own use. Stuff wasn’t bad.
I strongly suspect that during SHTF, the last thing I’m going to think about is lighting up. There will be far too much else on my mind: minding the stocks, keeping the defense, seeking food sources, waiting for a safe time to grow more, keeping an eye out, looking for news and updates, insuring the prepared neighbors are doing okay (and keeping a sharp eye on those who aren’t, in case they get any ideas)…
Trust me – smoking a ciggie will be extremely low on the list.
babby food!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree, but that’s like 12 too many exclamation marks. Not everyone has a baby, and most mothers could breast feed a baby until they’re old enough to eat mashed up people-food.
“Babby?” Really?….maybe what we really need to stockpile are books :-/
Oh, yes, Odd Questioner, in a SHTF situation you are just magically going to be able to kick a lifelong addiction in a few hours and not go crazy as your body physiology craters due to lack of a certain substance it was used to getting.
Imagine taking the welfare checks away from a life-long public slave and you get the idea.
@Chumba:
I’ve done it before numerous times without any undue stress, especially during those periods times in my life when I was too broke to buy the things.
I even went without the things in all of 2004 just to prove on a personal bet I could do it – no crippling stress, and the only indication of any addiction was the occasional dream of smoking a cigarette (lasted the first three months, then stopped). I’d wake up, realize that I had quit, and either went back to sleep or got up for the day without another thought. On Jan 1 2005, I picked up the $500 winnings from my bet, then bought a pack of Camels on the way home.
There’s no magic or rocket science to it – just willpower. Keep your mind and hands occupied, and it never gets to you. Too many people are all-too-eager to play victim, and will run for the patches, the gum, the whatever… none of which solves the problem (only waiting for the nicotine to leave your system solves the problem). I’ve always done it cold-turkey.
It probably would help you to know that I consume less than 1/2-pack a day, and some days even less.
I suspect that in the first few weeks post-SHTF, I will be way the hell too busy to stop and think about ’em, let alone let the cravings get up. By the time I have spare time, the stuff will have been out of my system for weeks, if not months.
Those who prep tend to have stronger minds – you’ll have to in order to survive, period. If you simply cannot go without a smoke, then what’s coming will likely kill you in short order. In the meanwhile, I’ll enjoy ’em until the day when I have no easy means to do so.
Meanwhile, a few packets of tobacco seeds in the stores will do just fine. Very few people west of the Mississippi know what a tobacco plant looks like, and I can do without until the harvest.
@Odd Questioner
Willpower is a funny thing.
A man can have the will power to stay awake for days…if he gets his snuff, it is easier.
A man can have the willpower to survive a bad wound…if he gets…
A man can have the willpower to resist giving up…if…
A man can do many things if he can focus on the task, and his life is otherwise normal.
But to turn off a big normal part of his experience… A drug habit (yes I chew), that throws him.
Now, that is most of us. You are one of the few that can summon mind over matter. My dad is that way too. You must be a Marine too. (Semper Fi to you guys).
And yes, any of us can quit (a pain in the ass), but the point of the article is to have tobacco stocked so you can barter with the 95% of us who will want it.
Now, whoever wants may hop up on their soap box, but I am right.
Oh yes…chocolate!! SHTF and I will be in a better place..If I have chocolate! =)
Where can I buy #10 cans of M&Ms with oxygen absorbers?
I’ve packed a few 64 oz. glass Mason jars with chocolate mini candy bars and vacuum sealed the lid with my Food Saver wide jar attachment.
DH thinks I should put a note on the side that reads,
“Break in case of SHTF”. LOL 😉
I think the best barter item and SHTF item period is Baking Soda. From cooking, cleaning, hygene and everything in between (damn heartburn). I dare anyone to think of a better item to have for the price to stock per pound and the varities of uses, over 100. Now I know it only lasts a few years, but man those first two years will be softer with some baking soda. And no, I’m not an arm in hammer rep. What else for the price is just as good?
I love this site and all who dwell here, many opinions would be appreciated.
“Get busy living or get busy dying”
Mix it with Cream of Tartar to make “Baking Powder”.
Can you vacuum seal baking soda? If so, there’s how you can make it last longer than a few years.
Zero Hedge,
I agree baking soda is a good barter item. It has many uses. According to the LSD Preparedness Manual baking soda will keep for a very long time.
“If baking soda is kept well sealed in an air- and moisture-proof container, its storage life is indefinite. If kept in the cardboard box it usually comes in, it will keep for about eighteen months.” (p65)
When I come home from the grocery store, I put the baking soda into a glass jar and seal. When stored properly, it will keep for a very long time.
As a barter item, you could repackage into ziploc baggs and then put them all into a large glass jar to store until needed.
The LSD Preparedness Manual can be downloaded here:
(www.survivalcache.com/book-review-lds-preparedness-manual/)
or
(www.abysmal.com/LDS/Preparedness/Preparedness.pdf)
you can get baking soda in a big sealed plastic bag with a ziploc top at sam’s for about 6.00.
Damn,i’m honestly not trying
to be a smartass, but
LSD Preparedness Manual
cracked me the hell up:)
No disrespect KYmom.
Blame it on St. Patrick.
“Storming Heaven” is an awesome
LSD preparedness manual,however
I have canned at the cannery and I wish I have not given my real name. They ak for name and address. Hope that list does not get out to government or those who did not prep.
Who runs Bartertown? -MasterBlaster, Beyond Thunderdome
Bust a deal, face the wheel.
Another quote that makes me NOT visit this sites Advertisers. Moderator take note please. How many on this story do we have to wade though.
Facebook Page –
Suck it up!
You are getting free information and he has to pay his expenses somehow. Would you rather be charged for what you get to read here?
Come home.
No I would like the moderator to do his job and keep the thread on topic. Mostly the only way to make changes for the better to hit them in the wallet. Isn’t that what we preach here.
When it comes to information We receive none when it is you and other talking about hooking up.
She comes out of “knowhere” like a bolt of lightning on a clear blue day! A real bell-ringer.
why don’t you visit the veterinarian and have your miserable ass euthanized…..!
Whiners like you are the reason this country is in the toilet and that we have a jug-eared, purple-lipped communist as a president…..
GROW UP BOYYY!!!!
You have to be kidding me. That what you got out of that post and the replies. If that is the best reply you can mustard it is you that we should hope didn’t reproduce.
NEVER BARTER AMMO!!!
WHAT IS SO HARD TO FIGURE OUT HERE?
DO WE WANT OUR AMMO BACK WITH THE LEAD FIRST???
NEVER BARTER AMMO OR GUNS!!
Agree…Last thing you want to do is arm somebody who knows you have stuff to barter…Keep the ammo or you just might be looking at the wrong end of it come desperate times…
i agree, i always try to get one extra item when shopping to add to the barter store
come on.. really? most if not ALL these items can be easily made after SHTF. batteries- just how many cars are going to be stranded on a hwy? and every one has a 12 volt battery that can be wired to just about any voltage. soap- a campfire and roadkill takes that into reality. sugar- plant sugar beets and no problem. alcohol- ever hear of the new invention from pre-history called a still? are people too silly not to be able to make a good living without WalMart?
Unless you’re already living on a homestead there’s going to be a transition period while things start up. I can see where bartering would definitely have a place. I know how to make soap and it’s a hot, nasty, dirty and somewhat dangerous process if you have to start from wood ash and roadkill. While I might get by with access to honey, I’ll be seeing pearly gates before I see anyone in my family make refined sugar from sugar beets.
Keep in mind all the people who won’t have either knowledge or tools to do for themselves; they’ll have a long learning curve and home made goods are generally not large batches. And those who do have the knowledge might be pretty busy coping with the urgencies of whatever happened. I’ve done enough stuff “by hand” to appreciate the benefits of mass-produced goods in an emergency.
that’s more realistic. I have 100 bars of plain soap – old fashioned kind…
I would add Bic lighters to the list… I like them better than matches and if they get wet they will still work after you dry the flint out…
Also you can stockpile shampoo, little army type can openers, and silver DIMES…if the value of silver goes up, which many suggest it will, change will be needed…
Unlike yourself, not everybody is a know-it-all, do-it-all MacGyver clone. Don’t be so dismissive of the ordinary people.
And…. the topic of the article is about stocking up on items for barter.
No matter what you have or can do, having the ability to trade for what you might need or want can be invaluable when/if WalMart closes down.
In the meantime, enjoy your roadkill soap bathing.
Why complain? If you don’t have anything good to add why say anything? I guess you’re counting on a lot of things to happen. How are you going to charge your scavenged battery? I can’t imagine all those stranded cars will be creating much roadkill for your soap. Ever make soap, I have? Then you must be stocking up on lye. Sugar beets, I guess you already have a sugar refinery. I also assume you know how to ferment your home made sugar to run through your home made still. Or are you growing corn to make some of that good ole sour mash. Follow the 6 P’s and be quiet! Proper planning prevents piss poor performance.
I agree…somewhat.
Like, toilet paper…for hundreds of years people used cloth. If the SHTF, having a dozen cloth wipes (per person) would be a MUCH better use of money than PAPER. How are you going to flush it, when the sewer system isn’t working?
Same thing with diapers…if someone asked me for diapers, I’d be handing them a pile of FABRIC and pins!!! That’s what I used for my sweeties (less than 5 years ago)…it still works, after hundreds of years!!!
I don’t have an entire room to stockpile toilet paper and diapers in…but I have the room for a couple totes with flannel squares and a handful of pins!
Soap, while easy enough to make, should be “cured” before use. But, if you don’t have enough soap/detergent in your home, on a normal basis, to make it through a couple weeks of curing time…you deserve to live in your filth!
If more people lived with less “convenience” items, the entire world would be doing better.
Rely less on Walmart and more on your garden (and don’t get me wrong…I love Walmart!).
I do not store anything specifically for barter do to spoilage. Even the freeze-dried food I bought thirty years ago would be bad now if I had not rotated it out. If I will not use something, then I do not spend money on it. That is not to say that I will be unable to barter because I have enough of many of the things listed in this article to last generations and they could certainly be used for barter.
That being said, I do not consider Silver coins to be a barter item, but a medium of exchange and store of value.
What do you think bartering is?. Its trading one medium of exchange for another. Everything you trade is a medium of exchange not just silver.
A lot of things would be difficult to sell. I’m not trading anything for scrap iron, for instance, or any kind of food that we don’t eat in our house. Junk silver coins are one of the best barter items because almost everybody understands that they’re valuable.
I use to think that to but if you ever ask someone to see their change then ask them if you can have or trade them for it most people have no idea there is any silver in it!
PP: Imagine there’s a farmer nearby who has enough food to trade and is just waiting for someone to come by with something of value. The clueless masses quickly run out of anything of value. While the farmer might be interested in trading for interesting little trinkets, he probably needs fuel and maybe a few other special things. Silver coins may have no intrinsic value but the farmer will understand if there is someone with fuel out there, maybe they will accept silver coins in trade. Sure it’s better to have the stuff money buys if TSHTF, but a supply of pre-1965 silver coins seems like a wise idea.
Please don’t flame me for this, but there is also a possibility TS WON’T HTF and in that case, silver coins are are great investment regardless. So you can’t lose either way.
FWIW, a “medium of exchange” is exactly the same thing as “a barter item”. You remind me of my son who insists he is not dating a girl, but he readily admits he spends a lot of time hanging out with this chick.
Websters and Wikipedia disagree with you:
Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money.
Wikipedia? Haha I hope no one actually takes any of the site for fact… That’s like saying something is true because you saw it on YouTube…..
So if I was trading gold nuggets or bulk silver or gold or silver jewelry instead of coins it would be barter? I think you are nitpicking.
Would really think a $10 water bottle/filter and a case of tablets for treatment would be worth a lot more than a bunch of bottles of water?
Also can’t imagine bulk well stored food items like Rice, Beans would be worth their weight in gold.
Be careful who you barter ammo too; I’m not saying its wrong I’d actually do it myself but you gotta be careful with it.
Yeah, wouldn’t it be great to trade your ammo to someone to have them turn around and be willing to trade that ammo back to you for the rest of your stockpile?
If someone doesn’t have ammo and didn’t prepare, don’t be the fool who turns that ignorant fool into a THREAT to everyone else. If they are unarmed and unprepared, keep them that way – we will all be safer. Some lessons are harsh, but necessary. Remember, desperate people do desperate things. Whatever you do, do NOT barter or even speak to people looking for ammo, ciggs, and booze – nothing good can come from it.
I would NEVER trade ammo to anyone but a family member that I trust. I hear people mention trading ammo and think they are just totally insane to imagine that a bullet won’t be coming back their way!!
Eventually the water will run out. If no power, no water, meaning have to use streams, puddles, ponds, you name it to get water. Being able to access these sources through the use of filters would be invaluable. One thing forgotten in the article, Heirloom Seeds. The seeds from the seed store ( wherever you purchase your seeds) are good for one season. Whatever stored will run out, even freeze dried, meaning having grow your own food eventually. Even if a person lives in an apartment, this would be an invaluable barter item.
~Old Soldier~
Damn straight! Shout it from the rooftops!!!
non-heirloom seeds will not breed true, but you can still use second/third/whatever generation seeds. You just don’t know what characteristics might pop up…but if you use hybrid tomato seeds, you can plant seeds from tomatoes off of it and still get tomato plants next year…
Book of Eli…. I wish I hadn’t seen it.
Yes but Denzel did make that cat look pretty damn tasty!
Same goes for “The Road”.
I think “The Road” just about underscores it all in re: Total Collapse and entering the fray unprepared….
When we saw it, my wife was so depressing, that she entered a phase of denial regarding prepping.
I had a hard time to explain to her, that we must be prepared for the worst.
be safe
Think of what YOUR family would need- store extras. Cheap liquor, cigs, lighters and survival energy bars would all last a very long time. Bleach, wipes, bar soap, the list goes on. Bet on the big three- Water treatment, food, ammo.
One thing I check on certain items is shelf life. Toilet paper obviously is indefinite, but bleach does not last very long on the shelf from what I read.
Neither do cigarettes, though granted someone needing a fix probably won’t care if it’s stale. Batteries too are limited, but will keep for a while.
Store calcium hypochlorite (pool shock) and make your own bleach solution as you need it, but keep it away from metal as it is a corrosive.
How much pool shock would you add to a gallon of water or say a 55 gal drum of water ?
You would have to google it but I do know it takes very little. If my memory serve’s you don’t use it to purify water you make bleach with it then use the bleach. I think it is like 2 tbs to make 10 gal of bleach
Keep the cigarettes in the freezer until the power goes out and then barter away
calcium hypochlorite(pool shock); put a few tsp. in little snack ziploks..great barter item.
$4.00 a box at pool supply store.
I have heard that cigarettes, as well as many things, can be stored in the freezer, and stay fresh for a long time. I just don’t like using valuable freezer space to store cigarettes.
I got 2 cases of condoms ! Any takers ?
@Oldcrow
Ok; I’ll bite. I am not going to just click the thumbs up and forget it.
Question 1. What was the compunction to motivate you to but 2 cases of condoms?
Question 2. How the hell many condoms are in a case?
Are you trying to detour world famine or what?
You could donate a box or two the Sandra Fluke.
Condoms are a great way to carry water in a SHTF scenario.
While all those well endowed black guys are out there frittering those Magnums away everyone else can do something useful with them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeTgQRKCGpA
Jello filled condoms are a
really fun prank, and when SHTF,
who knows?
To all the single men folk: If you have insurance that covers it,or you have the spare funds- Vasectomy. Good way to CYA (cover your ass) if some good looking woman is passing by and needs water and food and wanting to barter poontang. It will happen somewhere. Hate to see her drop back by four months later starting to swell and skinny as a rail; “It’s yours big boy”. Two more mouths to feed. Or better yet you could just stay on the receiving end of bjs.
CoSTCO BRO !
@don’t-tread: I laughed so hard when I read the last of the words: bjs I can only surmise you’re referring to Big John Slade! Ha! Thanks for the laugh…
Yes, I am surprised to get so far down the comments before someone uses their head. Contrary to the bleatings of Santorum the Prolific, not every woman wants to be perpetually knocked-up. In a post SHTF world, pregnancy may very well be a death sentence. I would add birth control of all types, morning-after pills (think their will be fewer rapes post SHTF?), abortifacent herbs, and good antibiotics.
I have said it before that rather than a stockpile of ammunition, a more useful storage strategy might be thousands or tens of thousands of primers of all types, several different types of powder for small and large pistol, magnum rifle, and shotguns, and hundreds of pounds of scrap lead. A set of various reloading dies will allow you to load any empty cartridges which you come across or are brought to you for loading. A metal lathe and drill press will allow you to make dies for any weapon you do not have dies for.
I would prefer to fix things and solve problems for those who are good at growing food but lack the knowledge or skills to do much else. Blacksmithing, machining, and gunsmithing skills are definately barterable, and are already rare among the population. They will be even more so once most of us have died off.
This is where it does help to have the female view point MIAHM. Real life isn’t playing at Rambo, it’s keeping the group safe and alive.
Unsuitable childbirth conditions is still a leading cause of death in the 3rd world. A pregnant/nursing Mum slows a group on the run right down.
The morning after pill will be REALLY valuable post shtf. Think you wouldn’t do/give almost anything to get it for your distraught 14 year old daughter/grand daughter post gang rape?
Whether people want to accept it or not nasty things can and will happen to good people. Pray, and then pary harder it won’t be needed but get a supply in if you have ANY females in your group,even if you don’t tell them it’s in the stash just now for fear of upsetting them.
Baby formula – good for poorly adults as well as babies
Cloth nappies and wraps – these can last 5 or 6 babies if cared for right.
Duct tape is an item left off the list. Useful in an emergency for so many things. Same with superglue, which can be used instead of stitches to small wounds if you have to.
A couple of old rubber tyres and some superglue will enable patch repairs to shoes. Few old style cobblers to make /repair shoes out there anymore. The depression photos show so many barefoot in all weathers. Socks might be good too.
Nails, handsaws, hammers and hand drills will be useful too.
Lipstick – in the second world war lipstick was a really valuable barter item across all nations in Europe & Russia due to the morale boost it gave women. I never wear make up, but have a few sticks of lippy ready to barter.
If you can produce simple barter items it should put you ahead long term. Don’t forget people will trade goods for useful skills.
Soap isn’t hard to make – until this century it was common for housewives to make their own. If you have ash from your woodfire and a source of fat/oil it’s very easy to produce. I’ve made home made soaps every Xmas for the last 15 years for gifts. Can also be used for laundry detergent.
Alcohol – if the can is kicked down the road another couple of years we’ll have the ability to make our own via a bee hive. Mead tastes good ; ) This will give us 3 barterable items – mead = alcohol, honey = sugar, wax = candlemaking.
Herbal medicines – everything from pain relief to birth control will be needed by someone in your community at some point. If you are able to grow them a herb garden could be good. At some point the pharma- drugs will run out.
Greece is already running out of pharmacy stuff.
Whats she gonna do? slap a condom on the rapist? LMAO
Bullet molds and sizing dies, too! Some sort of scale or set of Lee Powder Measures, and manuals…
Large?
Iodine, antibiotics, and pain killers will be of premium value. Iodine can be used to purify water (3 drops per pint) as well as its medicinal value. Ignore expiration dates on the other meds I’ve mentioned. Big pharma underestimates expiration dates by about 9 years. (DoD study) One other item I recommend is large amounts of salt. Salt is essential for canning, preserving meat, and as a saline solution for cleaning wounds.
in addition to what you have here swift i also add to you list peroxide,tampons and female pads for packing and dressing wounds. especially the tampons because they are steril and can absorb a lot
Menstation attracks bears. When SHTF I do not want to have to worry about bears. It would put the whole camp at risk.
Menstration also attracts dogs. (That could be fema dogs in the wrong circumstance)
Just rent her out once a month for game attractant. Now she might have something to say about this so you’ll have to sweeten’ the pot for her.
Hang the used tampon in a tree. Fresh bear steaks to a hungry family. Think about it moron!
Our Doc’s in Nam used pads when they couldn’t get field dressings
Right there with you on the salt. You can buy it in 25lb bags at Costco or sam’s for 4-5 dollars.
come on– really? most if not all these can be made easily after SHTF. alcohol- ever hear of a pre-historic invention called a still? batteries- how many cars will be stranded on a hwy? every one has a battery that can be wired to about any voltage. sugar- plant sugar beets. matches- ever hear of flint and steel? soap- a campfire and roadkill equals instant soap. cigarettes- plant tobacco seeds. bees make excellent wax for candles. are we this silly not to be able to survive very well without WalMart? not me. looks like I’ll be selling a lot of stuff!
Have you actually practced these skills?
Soap making took me a while to master. In a shtf scenario you won’t have the spare resources to make/spoil a few batches before you get it right.
I’ve tried growing tobacco here in the UK – the results weren’t great : (
We are learning bee-keeping as this years skill (I try and learn a new prep skill every year). Again it’ll be a couple of years before I’m confident relying on my own hive for shtf.
The stakes when pursuing an activity for survival is not the same as hobby.
I just get the feeling (esp when firearms are discussed) that people don’t always realise there’s a yawning gap between theory and reality. Doing and talking/reading about it aren’t the same thing at all.
There are only 24 hours in a day and everyone needs to sleep. Lots of the old time ways of doing things are incredibly time consuming. Barter can be timesaving for the most self-sufficient types.
If you have a farm.. live stock and their meat, eggs, lard from pig fat..etc
want sugar? / grow some sugar cane.. you can juice it,make rum, and molasis.
want starch? GROW POTATOES..casava, sweet potato
want to mellow out.. grow some tobacco or some good weed..
farm living is the only way..
Has anyone ever paid attention to how many squirrels are in their backyard trees? Especially if they have some bird feeders around?? I have counted 8 or 9 at one time in my own yard. a sling shot could be used in a pinch to bring these critters to the supper table. Most of the squirrels around my house are fat, and well fed. Sounds like a good source of fresh meat if times get hard.
Launch them squirrels! Remember Zombie Land rule #33
Enjoy the little things.
Check out squirrel launching on youtube
Greaseman, I have a lot of property behind me full of wildlife. I have know doubt that in a shtf situation, my property would be over run with those looking for food wiping out what is there. I think that it is unrealistic to expect those who have little to no property to go quietly into the night. Discouraging unwanted varmints should be on your prep list too! Good thoughts though, Be careful.
bin feeding them for along time ,,have them trined and a cage to catch them in!!! and the k9 like to chase them
Squirrels can be trapped with a rat trap and peanut butter as well.
you need about a dozen squirrels for one person to eat. They are all fur and no meat.
Uh, we feed our family of 4 with 3 squirrels. 2 big squirrels = one med chicken meat wise. Now knowing HOW to cook a squirrel so you would actually want to eat them is another thing altogether.
Rat Traps could be set into bird feeders to capture squirrels or dove-sized birds.
I would suggest a Baygen radio which is hand cranked and also runs off sun light (solar panel). Very pricy but well worth it. I have found two at yard sales for under $5.00.., but my new one cost me about $80.00 many years ago.
I have approx. 300 of the small soaps you get from the hotels.., they will be good for trading. 🙂
Open pollinated seeds and rooted fruit tree cuttings. Why have useless crape myrtles when you can have fig trees.
I had a friend who went to a motorcycle gathering out in the desert somewhere, and no one had rolling papers. He and a buddy went into the nearest town, 40 miles away I want to say not sure but a similar distance, and bought a bunch of rolling papers. Back at the gathering, those rolling papers got them steaks, beer, amazing stuff for packages of little cheapo rolling papers.
tl:dr: people are idiots.
Rolling papers ?
Every dead smoker means more (resources) for the rest of us…as is on my t-shirt.
MRE ? Isn’t that MRP ?…anyway…
Another good idea is a stack of cheap solar panels & batteries to sell so people can have power.
I have 4 additional sets of solar panels. Harbor frieght. I will charge their battery for a price, but I will never get rid or trade the panels, batteries,inverters or power regulators. You want the battery charged no problem but it will cost you some eggs or such. I will have my own happy power company.
How well do they work looked at some today wasn’t sure?
excellent idea and HF has them on sale at a discounted price right now, thanks for the tip
Yes- you can skip up and down your road charging batteries for eggs till someone decides to just take your panels…la de da da….. dope.
Where in the heck do you find CHEAP solar panels? I was hoping Obamas Solendra might come out with an Econo line of panels. But that kind of went kaaput didnt it?
Solar panels are not that hard to make. You can buy the cells for around 50 cents a watt on ebay. they have the flux and buss wire or they sell prestrung cells.Soldering isn’t really that hard either. Sandwich the cells between two storm windows and you have a cheap panel.If you have a few extra dollars you could buy a bunch of cells and if there is an extended power outage you have yourself a ready made business.
JRS – thanks for this tip!
I’m gonna try this out with my son next school holiday. (he loves practical science projects).
ZombieDawg,
No one wastes good rolling papers on tobaccoo…
with the high price on cigarettes today, the hand operated cigarette rolling gizmos have become very popular. They are sold at all the tobbaco stores around me. a cigarette smoker on a budget can make a whole carton for much cheaper than a store bought one.
I think I might buy a rolling machine, and some sealed cans of cigarette tobbaco, and some papers for a prep item. I’m sure these cigarettes would be a great trade item after a SHTF event.
Don’t waste money on the machine. Just roll it by hand, it’s about as hard as using the machine, but free (and more fun.)
i think everyone is missing the point. we’re all preppers/potential preppers so we have a different mindset from the masses that will be flat on their backsides when the SHTF.
if i have a case of cigs and a smoker suddenly can’t get them then i practically own his behind. that addiction will put me in good stead if i had evil intentions.
hopefully no one has those types of intentions but you get the point. a pack of cigarettes in exchange for some good that i don’t have will probably be cheap…and no i don’t smoke but i will get a carton because of this article. oh and another thing is that bartering will probably be the new economy so it makes sense to put stuff aside just for that purpose.
I cannot remember how many times I have heard “I’d kill for a cigarette right now” from smokers…
Think about it.
Do you want to do business with someone who has an addiction that controls their life? Who do they hang out with? Can they keep a secret or will they barter their knowledge of YOU and YOUR STUFF for something else?
Avoid the addicts and you’ll live longer. Word travels fast and the word “on the street” will be that you have “stuff” and someone will want it ALL.
I don’t know if you have ever been around a chain smoking nicotine addict or not, but they are as bad as an alcoholic. If you start bartering with them you will probably eventually have to kill them. When the smokes run out and they can’t find any; Your face and delusional thoughts start setting in their head: He’s holding out, I’m starting to have attacks, He will show me where he’s hiding them. I won’t be sharing my smokes or my alcohol with anyone. Those are my occasional, and special occasion, “luxury” items. I can live without them, but, sometimes it is necessary to “indulge” a little. It keeps peace on the homefront too. “NO” bartering of items that will keep addicts coming around. Tread’s policy.
dude, somehow i think you are confusing a Smoker with a Crack addict, the two are not the same. I’m a smoker, and the delusion induced scenario you described has about as much chance of happening as getting obama to quit lying to the American people every time he opens his yap trap. that being said, having tobacco products is a good idea for having a barter storage. I am a prolific Reloader of ammunition, and learned from grandpa on how to make Dies molds, etc. and As a Smoker (or a forced ex smoker in a SHTF scenario) if youve got a couple of ciggs to add to the barter mix, it would probably drive the price of My services down for You. the scenario of bartering is one based on being able to “do business” with a varied range of people on the Basis of “ive got something you want, you have something i want” . while youd never find me bartering ammunition or related products / services to a Crackhead.. im not one that would bat an eye about doing “business” with someone id seen smokin a roll yer own. .. just food for thought
You own his ass huh? You playin a dangerous game. You think you might reconsider when one of these guys offers you about three dozen headshots for some of your cigarettes.
Dope number two.
Garden Size Large Heavy Gauge GARBAGE BAGS… Stock Em!
They’ll keep you dry , warm , carry water , hold water , used as shelters , sleeping bags , ground cloth , game bag , toilet waste bag , keep your feet warm dry , tons of survival uses etc etc
‘Old hippies never die, they just become rednecks’ -Conway Twitty 1984
I started stockpiling stuff in the 70s. Then the crash was late, so here I am still stuck with:
40 tie-dyed t-shirts( I was thinking they’d be sorta camoflauged for blending in with the Monterey Jazz Festival crowds)
6 hand crank powered lava lamps (puts out a decent amount of light and sets a nice mood in the pup tent),
8000 sticks of sandalwood incense(who knows what I was thinkin with this one?)
4 unopened cases of computer floppy discs
Dozens of spark plugs and points sets for AMC Gremlins (will also work in the Javelin or Matador if anybody needs ’em)
6 boxes of slightly rained-on 16 gauge shotgun shells (probably still good, can’t say for sure, haven’t seen a 16g gun in decades)
20 new bottles of Coppertone Instant Tan (extra orange shade)
And finally(drumroll please..) 4, count ’em, 4 new in the sleeve, never played copies of The Osmond Brothers Greatest Hits at 33 1/3 rpm.(Featuring the smash hit- Puppy Love.) How could any self respecting prepper resist the chance to barter for one of these?
I may have a garage sale and unload all of these treasures. Might even get enough cash to add an extra 4pak of Charmin to the stash.
What you talk’n about Willis?
HILARIOUS, Okie – LMFAO!
The Osmond LP albums can also double for clay pigeons, you just have to launch them manually. Spray painting them International Orange helps for sight control, especially after drinking some of the “medicinal” vodka you’ve stored.
Speaking of vodka, noticed the original list stated, “Vodka is a great home remedy to counteract the reaction to poison ivy”. I assume the vodka needs to be consumed so as to attack the poison ivy irritants from within, rather than placing the vodka on the affected epidermis.
Other “vinyl” to turn into clay pigeons:
– Any album from Helen Reddy;
– Any album from The Carpenters;
– Anything from Gilbert O’Sullivan, especially that song, “Alone again, naturally” (I just threw up on my keyboard typing that title);
– Any Ronco or K-tel album that had the word “disco” anywhere on the album cover or in any of the songs;
– Any album that uses an accordion as its primary musical instrument.
Can’t think of any others for right now. The medicinal vodka is clouding the synapses…
Slim Whitman? Definitely clay pigeon material!
Paper Lace- The Night Chicago Died
1910 Fruitgum Company- 1,2,3 Redlight
Edward Bear- Last Song
Steam- Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
Lobo- Me And You And A Dog Named Boo
No wonder my Dad used to yell “that stuff is gonna rot your brain” every time we turned on the stereo. The man was a prophet!
I am sorry but I liked “Alone Again Naturally”. Can we still be prepper friends?
@ Chef Nunzio:
Absolutely, my friend. You’re allowed in my compound anytime. However, if you try to sneak in a 45 version of “Alone again naturally” into the fort, I’m afraid I’ll have to confiscate it and paint it International Orange.
I’ll take the Coppertone Instant Tan off your hands. It’ll help me blend in with the carpet when I need to hide.
Thanks for the 😀
I’ve got a half dozen of the tablet form. Tan in a bottle. If your over 70 lbs. soaking wet you’ll need to double the dose. Oh, and your palms will be the first thing to start tuning dirty orange, so don’t be alarmed that it’s the massage oil causing it it. Willing to trade for old 33-1/3 vinyl of E Tubb’s, “Walking The Floor”. No deep scratches though!
Any Peter, Paul & Mary?
Remember the Red Food dye they outlawed 40 years ago. Well I have 3 full bottles, maybe the last ones in the world. If I can only figure out how should make me rich
Parnoid: See something say something, that Red dye is a DHS Hazmat Security Operation waiting to happen.
Gotta tell Nappy. Where are you located?
nappy!!!!! LOL
Uh-oh! Call Janet Dung Beetle Napolitano, quick!
Lisa say:Aren’t you
Worried about being
placed on a ‘Terror List”?
Okie you need
The Willis Brothers Give Me 40 Acres
Bleach only has a shelf life of about 18 months before it begins loosing its strength.
I store Power Powder Plus pool shock. It can be diluted into regular bleach, used to purify water, and has a long shelf life if stored correctly.
(Make sure your pool shock does NOT have additives like fragrances!)
I don’t as of right now stock anything for trade. However I grew up very poor and my whole family are jack of all trades. Theres nothing I can’t fix. I do have a very large collection of repair books on just about everything. I have thought about stocking up on winter hats ,gloves ,ect its cold here 6months out of the yr. We had a recent natural disaster here and I knew people that were driving 20 miles for batteries and a way to charge there iPod/ cells/laptops. I’ve been thinking about a large portable solar charger with hook ups for everything. Addictions are all the same and there’s alot more people addicted to electronics right now than smokes.
I almost feel sorry for sheeple who like to smoke—while they use their Ipod. What will these poor folks do when their batteries run out, and they smoke their last cig?
Stuff that lasts a loooooong time. motor oil, booze, hard white rice, sugar. .22LR ammo, good steel tools, lots of nails and screws. Well points and galvanized pipe. Rat and mouse traps. Ropes, string, chains, locks. Shotgun shells of every kind. The Paster mentioned silver dimes. Small gold 1/10oz coins. Buttons, needles, sewing thread. Wire. Candles, oil lamp wicks.
Flat paint, both spray and gallon cans. OD,Black,Brown, for painting camo on houses, trucks, guns. Brushes too. Milled lumber, plywood, 2×4 ect.
Yeah larry! GREAT idea! If I paint my house camo none of the roving gangs will see it!
DOPE DOPE DOPE number THREE!
Jake…your an ass.
@jake
No you paint you house to look like it’s been looted already. Flat black paint can be used to make a home appear to have had a fire. The throw a bunch of trash in you yard, maybe set fire to a tree, and break a bunch of glass bottles around your place. I’m sorry I didn’t explain better.
Ok that explains it better. To be honest I was with Jake. I’m thinking TSHTF I have a million things to do and I’m worrying about painting my house camo? lol
Anything that helps with pest control will be popular!
Body/head/bed lice increase in poverty conditions – in the last depression all 3 helped make people truly miserable. A bottles of anti-lice solution will be very barterable.
Mouse and rat traps will also have value. At the moment rodents are living the high life due to all the waste of the consumer culture. That goes and those critters will be coming to a home pantry near you.
Salt
Paper products,books(when your family can’t go outside the house for what ever the reason,thing can get less tense of you can lose yourself for a time in a great book!)and what been said all apply.I watched a few videos by “patriot nurse”
that are well worth the viewing.
There’s a XLNT book about life in current Argentina(been posted here in the past that looks prescient to the condition of America coming soon to you.
I hope things might get better,our leaders in 2013 fwd make better choices for ALL of us,not just favoring the UBER-RICH 1%.(I pray they do,I really,really DO)I sincerely hope people(sheeple included)make wiser choices
soon.
One can only hope AND “keep our powder dry”,just in case.
Best to All
GFG
P.S.
Which “gas extenders” work the best and for how long?
GFG
Here are some additional items I think will have high barter value when the SHTF.
Ziplock bags of pool shock (calcium hypochlorite) with directions for amount needed to purify water.
Also, Coffee,, tea and feminine hygiene products.
Item #17 – Loose LEDs of all voltage types, wire and solder. Imagine how easy it would be to trade LED light rigs for just about anything. Especially if electronics or electrical is a skill you possess. Nothing better than a little light when the electric goes out.
Item #18 – Stacks of cheap PV Cells to build any size solar panel with. They are cheap, easily configured and are a great companion to the LEDs above.
I just mention these two things because I think in most cases, we’ll end up in a situation where the electrically will be sporadic at best. Also, there are many ways to generate an electrical charge and even make your own batteries from scratch. It’s all in the manuals and with that,…
Item #19 – A critical skill that others will desperately need and/or books on how to. Ya think this internet thing is going to be around in the SHTF,….download the internet, or as much of it as you can.
Just some additional thoughts on what is a high demand barter item. After water, food, ammo and asswipes, a little light would be real nice.
Joe, that is a fantastic idea! I have a background in electronics and could easily do this. Is there a booklet like “100 easy-to-build circuits for the Prepper” I wonder?
Write the book and you will sell a bunch of them.
That my friend is a great idea!
Always good to have a bunch of components on-hand, diodes, caps, etc. Just might be able to fix things along with building. You can pick up voltage from the air with an antenna, rectify it and you can charge batts. I did build a Geiger counter last year from kit. Glad I have tube amps in my fighter jet. 🙂
You can publish it and sell it on Amazon using CreateSpace.com.
Thanks for the ideas. This is a book I will be writing. I’ve built some pretty cool light rigs that I use for camping as well as some pretty creative power supplies that include a leech and Bedini Monopole motor/generator. I’ll include methods on building batteries from scratch as well. I’ve already drawn the schematics, just need some explicit photographs and the accompanying explanations. I’ll include a parts list and where to buy as well.
An example of one project is the 120v to 12v supply I use for my greenhouse. I run 8 10w 12v 690 lumen lights for running 3 day cycles at night. The cost per month on my electric bill is about 0.15 cents. After looking at alternatives that draw high energy and would’ve cost me about $20.00 per month, I said, “SCREW THIS!” and came up with a much cheaper solution. I built this set-up for under $50.00 including LEDs, power supply, timer and enclosure.
Updates on the progress coming soon.
Picked up a solar garden light at a Dollar Tree the other day for an experiment. If you hold one close to the page, you can read a book by the soft glow–and, I suspect, could use them to navigate a darkened house without giving off so much light as to draw unwanted attention.Could be especially useful in winter, when days are short.
These small solar lights are at wal mart for .99 right now.
and the list that started in all
http://www.thepowerhour.com/news/items_disappearfirst.htm
Satori,
Awesome, Thank you!
I think this is all good. You can trade just about anything. By why people are still talking about gold and silver, is beyond me. Money will be worthless! I feel I will be much better off to trade a handful of shotgun shells or bottled water for a can of beans or something else I needed. Keep it up Mac 🙂
There may be a short time during which gold and silver will be worthless, but people will not be bartering for long before they need a medium of exchange because not everyone who has a chicken to trade will want your bottle of water. They may have plenty of water and since they may be traveling far on foot so unwilling to drag your gallon of water home and back the following week to trade for what they do need. As soon as some people start experiencing surplus, they will need a store of value.
One could argue that 22LR ammo could act as money, and I have plenty stored, but there is precedent on which to base this. The only medium of exchange consistent throughout history is silver and gold. Silver, BTW is valuable for water purification, solar and other electronics, disease treatment.
Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.
I disagree with you a little bit. after a SHTF event, even in a monetary crisis type event, greenbacks will still be used for a short while. It’s all folks will have for a while, till another currency is established. But I don’t look for people to accept it for long. The black market will reign supreme for a long time. That’s why trade items are so important. Trade items WILL be the new money. I aslo think that junk silver coins, especially smaller denominations will be very sought after as a means of exchange.
I think you are partially right. They will keep the dollar a-float for a while to keep down the panic attacks and riots. Eventually, they, TPTB, will remove the border with Mexico and Canada and will implement the Amero or equivalant. To eliminate the middle class, the exchange rate will be pennies on the dollar. There will be two classes of people, the Elitiest, wealthy about 5% of the population; and the remainder of worker bees about 75%. The remaining 20% will wind up in one of these categories: the useless which will be slowly eradicated, the rioters and anti-gov protesters, locked away, and the prepared ones that can have some type of normal life away from the masses. I plan on being part of the latter with our own network of communicating and bartering.
seriously? I can make everything you guys have listed after SHTF. chlorine for water purification included… seawater or saltwater makes chlorine. don’t expect me to barter for old, stale cigs either. maybe I’m a little ahead of the curve here, but y’all gotta stop and think that not everyone needs WalMart to survive. or a “friend” to “loan” them something. also, if y’all think getting water out of a well is easy, think again– I am a pump technician that knows how many horses it takes. or how much fuel. just because you have a well, don’t mean you can get water. the only “easy” water is from a shallow well and then it’s not safe to drink right away… groundwater runoff IS a pollutant. if your well is not too deep a flo-jack or windmill is a good choice. prep and hope for the best.
I think it goes without saying that those of us here, reading Mac’s blog, will be in a superior position to not be taken advantage of in barter situations. Lots of good suggestions here!!
Sewing supplies, shoe goo, to fix clothes when things get hard to replace. Bicycle repair supplies.
pair annoyed. I have heard that almost all water is safe to drink after it has seeped/filtered thru fifteen feet of soil. Do you know if there is any truth to this? The old wives tale about water being ok after it has run across a dozen rocks is bunk. In 1988 I drank from a clear mountain stream that I could see nothing was dead in the water for twenty yards above me, and no one had cattle all the up to the feeder springs. However I developed a bad case of “Giardia”. Good Dr. with meds. had me back to normal after a few weeks, but don’t want anything like that again. In western states it is referred to as “backpackers disease” and; in Canada is called “Beaver Fever”.
Long ago worked for Ohio EPA. Yes water flowing through a good sand filter will clean up an amazing amount. But don’t count on it. UN says that just filtering your water through a thick towel will cut risk of Cholera 25%. Putting water in a clear glass container, in the sun will also kill most germs. Just heating it to 150 even if it won’t boil will get rid of lot of things. So what? a 49 Cent bottle of iodine will do a lot more and will keep for years.
SHTF Water
A properly drilled well will be one that : #1 has steel casing at least 20 feet from the surface… depending on surface conditions, to seal groundwater effects. #2 has PVC casing to the bottom with slotted casing at 20 or so feet above pump level. and most importantly, #3 will have a good method of water retrieval. IE. : electric pump, fuel powered pump, wind powered pump, solar pump, etc. In theory, it takes 107 years for water to reach a level of 100 feet… in theory. My opinion here and ONLY MY OPINION, I would not depend on a sand filter AT ALL. I have seen wells with water that would make your toes curl! Black, oily bacteria build-up that smells HORRIBLE!! Once, I removed a pump from a well that at 20 feet down had a bad odor– 200 feet later, I found a rattlesnake on top of the check valve, decomposed. You want to drink that? Sand does nothing to removed bacteria, which is smaller in size than sand can be packed in a container, allowing bacteria and virus (smaller than bacteria) to enter your water supply. A 2 micron or smaller filter is necessary to remove harmful critters. Chemicals work, such as bleach, but, bleach will ALSO kill beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract… CERAMIC filters are necessary! Either a Berkey style or a “silver-lined clay pot filter” will suffice. Period! Good luck with the clay pot filter, they’re not “allowed” to be made in the US — FDA ignorance. This is why I make them ( I have many talents) for “certain” people who understand these filters are for emergency purposes and a Lawyer won’t get them rich just because they are poor. I for one DO NOT intend to have my family suffer with diarrhea or worse when SHTF. Water is CRUCIAL my friends, and chemical laced stored water isn’t in my future. Should it be in yours? Just a question.
Pair annoyed-
Is a flow-jack the same as a hand pump? if so, where in this world can you buy one? I have been shopping for one for months now! My well is deep and I deffinately feel SOL without having one! Any suggestions?
For someone that thinks they know everything, obviously you need to stop talking so much smack and learn from others that which you DONT know.This was copied from a very smart man.
An Inexpensive Do-It-Yourself Deep Well Pump
In 1991, I drove a 67 foot deep, 1 1/4 inch diameter well in my backyard. To my utter dismay, they no longer made a pump that would fit this type of well. I could either salvage a manual pump from an old well (a complicated assembly with a push rod and leathers) or come up with my own design. Thus, the inertia pump was born of necessity. Although it will pump any size of well, it works exceptionally well with 1 1/4 inch diameter deep wells and off-center or slanted wells.
Since inertia pumps contain only one moving part and are constructed from durable materials, they are extremely reliable. They work in situations where more sophisticated pumps fail and do not lose their prime. Inertia pumps are ideal for supplying campgrounds and cabins, bringing in new wells (nothing will cause a powered pump to seize up faster than pumping dirty water), or for emergency water in case there is a power outage. Unfortunately, inertia pumps do not produce a sufficient rate of flow or enough water pressure to supply sprinkler systems and indoor plumbing.
You will need the following to build an inertia pump: a 1/2 inch diameter solid brass or stainless steel ball salvaged from a ball bearing, a brass 1/2 inch male pipe threads by 1/2 inch inside diameter barb, a brass 1/2 inch female pipe threads by 1/2 inch brass tube fitting (discard insert, nut, and sleeve), and two 1/4L neoprene washers (all three fittings can be purchased at a nearby plumbing supplies retailer—total cost, approximately $5). You will also need a 100 foot roll of 1/2 inch inside diameter, UV resistant tubing (available from the plumbing department at a warehouse building supplies
Just because YOU can make everything here doesn’t mean everyone can. I can make a lot of it also but tobacco as an example is not MADE it is GROWN and that takes time my friend. I think in the short term a lot of the stuff mentioned will have major value. In the long term the people that can make,build or repair what they need will thrive but that is probably about 25 percent of the population.
Nail’s lot’s of them all size’s.Hand tools easy to find at yard sale’s.10×10 tarp’s .old jar’s glass or plastic.lighter’s the small bic one’s are great.small mouth wash great and many uses.Skill’s in life safety. Small first aid kit’s.Many small item’s are easy to carry.Candy is my best,.I would love to see this site start a barter site.That would be sweet.
STIHL chain saw 2 cycle little bottles of oil mix, dehydrated water, fertilizer, fishing hook/line kits, Oklahoma stink bait & sponges, 12 volt egg incubator, and a box of sealed greasy Montecristo #9 Cuban cigars.
Is the incubator only good for 12 volt eggs? My chickens are all 6 volt.
Cigars? Did you say cigars? I see a swap on the horizon. How many lave lamps do you want for ’em?
What is dehydrated water?
Now that’s funny. Does it come in waterproof packages?
@KY Mom, it’s a guy thing, we don’t talk about, except at the “Manly Man’s Club House”. Sorry, if anybody told you, we would have to kill Him.
~KY Mom~
Madam…in reality, dehydrated water is akin to honest Amerikan government!!!
They’re both fallacies…
*******************************(sarcasm mode “ON”)***********************
…however, the opposing fed-government definition & answer to your question…according to ZOG-government weasel-speak & Lame-stream-media hype is:….
—****(lights…camera…action)****—
—-(cough)…”ahem”…..(talking-head looking stern & serious at camera/audience)—-
—(deep/authoritative male voice)—“…the blatant & evil racist oppression by the HYDROGEN(2) atom majority…against the poor/deprived & downtrodden OXYGEN(1) minority….is socially/economically reprehensible….indeed it is supremacist in nature & its anti-Amerikan as well. Therefore…………….
“…H2O must accept its new status as being identified as di-hydrogen monoxide or face federal affirmative action legal penalties & punitive federal financial sodomy($$$$$—fines—$$$$$)”……….!!!
…”The discrimination endemic to & espoused by the evil majority element has resulted in the “DE-HYDRATION” process of extorting/sharing/redistributing the wealth/efforts/product…of the productive…to the worthless….by the clueless”!!!!
“…& the Atomic Czar & his Ministry of Silly-shit, today announced, that a fed-govt task force has been assigned to rectify & address the disparity of affluence amongst atoms & their associated elements……”
…..the threat of an all out attack of “SHOCK & AWE” proportions, against the wicked periodic table regime is being openly discussed at the Pentagon!
——————film @ 11————(elsewhere, in the news)……………..
***********************************************************************************
You know, folks…this post is funny now(damn bourbon!!!)
In the morning, I’ll re-read it & probably kick my own ass…& then curse the “submit comment” thingy-spot @ this site!!!!!!!!
My apologies folks……its been a rough week!!!!
**********************************************************************************
…..”MAC”…if I’m ever able to write/devise a “dumb-ass attack software filter”…..I’ll offer you a partnership for free……….
…….Thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Two bottles of hydrogen, one bottle of oxygen and two 6 volt chickens for the country fair.
I hear you can order emergency kits online directly from a company in Poland that contain dehydrated water, fireproof matches, and solar powered flashlights.
I have lot of that. Small bottle’s that when you fill them with water they re hydrate lol
VODKA
Nostroviya!
Seriously, Librium…valium
all come to mind…
Not to mention Nystatin…
Most people don’t know how to barter because they never have yet, Why wait until you must barter to learn how to barter.
Tip #1 When you are bartering everything is negotiable, the more you can bring to the table the better but sometimes you wont have enough and your skills or labor might be worth the difference!
Perhaps you are trading 6 chickens for half a goat the person you are bartering with might not agree his half goat is worth only 6 chickens especially since his half goat is already cleaned and packed with salt and your chickens are still alive. He may feel that his extra effort is worth 7 chickens, but you don’t have 7 chickens, well does that mean the deal doesn’t go through? Not necessarily, throw in a hard hour of manual labor or a tip on where he might find other customers and that might be worth all the difference.
Tip #2 Get some experience, everybody should know how to barter, The first time you barter you probably will end up with an uneven deal, but with experience you will learn how to value things more accurately and you will fair much better in the free market. You don’t need to travel 2,000 miles away to get experience bartering, try your local craigslist or visit my website and barter your wares for my hand painted artwork silver, sugar and seeds accepted!
Tip #3 How to Barter: “Perhaps you are trading 6 chickens for half a goat the person you are bartering with might not agree his half goat is worth only 6 chickens especially since his half goat is already cleaned and packed with salt and your chickens are still alive. He may feel that his extra effort is worth 7 chickens, but you don’t have 7 chickens.” He wants 7 live chickens, for his half dead goat! LMFAO dude! If he wants 7 and I only have 6. Looks like the deal is going down either way cause in along with my 6 chickens I have a .45 loaded with Federal Jacketed Hollow Points and a Hair Trigger!!!
@ Shane———- and that right there is the part they don’t understand.
Thanks Jake!!!!
Vitamins or items that contain vitamins
brewer’s yeast is nearly 50 percent protein. Brewer’s yeast is often used as a source of B complex vitamins as it includes vitamins B-1, B-2, B-3, B-5, B-6, B-7 and B-9
Vitamin C Tea from Rose Hips
Vitamin A Paprika, Red Pepper, Cayenne, Chili Powder
iron the seeds of cumin, anise and celery are high in iron.spearmint is a spice known for its iron-rich content
you get the picture
If you have a garden, try growing Swiss Chard for iron.
I’m doing this for my own supplies. My lad has a spoonful of malt extract a day in winter just like his Grandma did in ww2. Kid seems immune to schoolyard bugs.
Not sure how useful vits will be for barter as most of the school yard Mums I know, seem to know nothing about basic nutrition – so wouldn’t appreciate the value of my home made rosehip syrup. I’d rather hang onto it for my immediate group, as keeping us fit is my key concern.
For bartering I’m looking at my herbal runny tummy and pain relivers.
Think you boys are forgetting the obvious! Once a month the only think I want is chocolate and tampons! And the other three weeks there’s need for, erm, ‘protection’. Am sure that without tv, Xbox, our ps3, iPads and the lights out we’ll go back to other more old fashioned forms of entertainment!
Kirsten, if you are single and have a strong back, with a good trigger finger, you’re welcome to come over and survive and thrive w/yours truly. No need for protection,key words: always ready and vasectomized. We can bungle in the jungle, or hunker in the bunker.
dont-tread
You seen the rate of increase of HIV in Greece?
be careful as you seem like a generally smart guy.
The only Greek woman I have any desire to ever be with is, Andrea Tantaros from Fox News. The odds of that happening are greater than me getting bonked on the head with space debris. She has brains and beauty. I was just kidding with Kirsten anyways. I did all my whoring around during the eighties, before HIV came to our little town. Never got any VD from anyone. Did pickup a minor infection from my first wife and was scared to death; not that it was that bad, just that I was faithful and if it was VD, I was gonna have to kill her! LOL.
TMI
During WWII lots of people said the most useful thing in the survival packs was the deck of cards, Boredom was a big problem. I also suggest a trunkful of paperback books. I do not think we will get TEOTW. A true Great Depression is more likely. If alive your grandmothers (You kideses Great grandmothers) Would have told you it was the little tings you no longer afford or justify that they missed. Little toys or gifts for children. warm socks. pens, paper, lamp mantles. There are lists posted from an Argentine Economist that has what they ran out of. I’d suggest,50# of hard rock candy,the CHEAP STUFF. Packets of flower seeds, a few bars of perfumed soap etc. (Always remember: If Mama and the rug apes aren’t happy you won’t be)
I cannot believe I got down to here before someone mentioned SOCKS! And shoes. (Michelle knows this, doncha know.) Up here in my neck of the woods, I have garnered beaucoup goodwill by providing a pair of wool socks to someone. Cotton for the summer, but “cotton kills” in the winter. Gloves and hats too. Keep enough for yourself until you can get the sheep sheared and the loom built, but have enough to send someone walking happily.
I agree with vodka, big time. It is the best preservative for herbal tinctures. It is a disinfectant, and can be used to clear the kidneys of certain poisons. Everclear can actually save a life for someone who has ingested propylene glycol or bathtub gin. I don’t think I’d barter those though. Instead of walking off happily, they’ll want to stick around.
I agree. You will spend a lot of time on your feet. Peotect them like they were gold!!
For boredom–crossword puzzle books, reading material, picture puzzle books, board games.
Since crossword books are getting very expensive..a cheap copier and you get lots of pages to pass around.
There’s a reason E.Europeans love their chess. A decent chess game can occupy the mind for DAYS.
Cheap plastic chinese chess sets still can be bought now at the dollar store. (It’s for barter – our handcarved wooden set is for our groups use only!).
Yea, Chess is fun. But, it’s a lot like sex. If you don’t have a good partner, it can become just plain boring. Oh wait, my bad, I think that is playing Bridge. Yea, playing Bridge is like having sex, if you don’t have a good partner, you better have a good hand.
To Hammerun: I have been picking up all kind of nails, wood screws and tools at yard sales.
Also I pick up new boxes of bike tubes at yard sales for 50 cents to a dollar a box. New tubes are around; maybe $3.50 a box.
Tubes also can be cut up in small pieces for a vacuum seal for canning jars, using a vacuum pump to get all the air out of the jar. The rubber tube acts as a seal that covers the pin hole.
Has anybody seen this before and elaborate more on this ? 🙂
Eagledove,
Yes, I once went to a prparedness expo, a guy was selling plans on how to make a hand-cranked vacum pump from an old car engine air-compressor, and hand pump parts, to vacum the air from jars.
The jar had a hole in it, which he inserted a neeedle valve (kind used to inflate footballs). A few turns of the crank evacuated the air from the jar, the small piece of rubber sealing the hole.
I have not seen plans online, but maybe they are out there somewhere.
Found this, there are others using old compressor motors:
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/aero/vacuum/
JUSTME; thanks for the info., I will check it out.
What you’re describing is very close to one of the old infomercial things, from around 1997. I think it was called “the pump and seal” it used little stickers with a rubber center to seal a tack hole in the lid after the air was pumped out. I had one that I used for several years and it worked great, although I never used it to store anything longer than about 3 years. There was another brand that had a weird lid adapter that let you vacuum on regular canning lids, but don’t remember the name.
Here’s the link….
http://www.pump-n-seal.com/
@ AZ Ready: I just looked at the link and it looks like the one I got.., THANK YOU !!! 🙂
@EAGLEDOVE
In my youth we would go and visit my Grandparents in western Missouri. Jake (my grandfather) had an interesting place. He was a carpenter and had all kinds of things for a young little dude to do there. Load shotgun shells, whack weeds with a weed whip, sharpen his tools, (I think that drove him nutts) till his garden and straighten nails. Yes I said straighten nails. That was back when production nails were expensive and he couldn’t see letting them lay on the ground after being pulled out of a board. He would pick up all of the bent ones he found and put them in a bucket in his pick-up, bring them home and I would show up and he had a block of steel with a series of holes drilled into it and I would just beat the bent nails back half way straight and then beat them into the appropriate hole. I have no idea how many hundreds of pounds I have straightened out.
Now here today 50 odd years later, we are faced with somewhat the same thing. A lot of bent ones laying around that needs to be straightened out and beat into a hole.
@ HAMMERRRUN—– I GOT SOMETHING THAT NEEDS STRAIGHTEN AND BEAT INTO A HOLE.
I never thought of using a block of steel with holes in it to straighten out nails. Good thinking!!
I used a vice years ago when I didn’t have much money for new nails.
“Beat in the hole”. ( last paragragh ) . Are you still talking about nails or people in our govt. 😉
@jake
You are a sick pup Jake. LOL
@EAGLEDOVE
You said; “Beat in the hole”. ( last paragragh ) . Are you still talking about nails or people in our govt.
Either or, whatever works at the time..
Tattler Inc, survival blog has their adds, or just Goggle “reusable canning jar lids”, sells reusable rubbers fairly cheap. Much rather use them, than possibly waste food.
Everyone, well maybe not SmokinOldie, have good ideas to add to a list that is likely very long. If you have most of these barter items PLUS, and are well stocked otherwise what would you trade for?? (MM)
Cheers Montana Mike! Hopefully most of the folks here at shtfplan see my comments as lighthearted amusement. Plus I laugh at myself more than anyone else. It’s what keeps me sane!
On the serious side, I do have the preps squared away and am adding daily. One thing to mention- I was in Quartzsite, AZ a couple years ago at their humongous swap meet/flea market. Biggest one I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen some TEXAS sized flea markets). I picked up over 40 lbs of nuts, bolts, screws, springs, hinges and odds&ends. Got ’em stored out in the barn in sealed cans for whenever.
Also, if you know anybody that sews, buy blue jeans cheap at garage sales and make denim quilts out of em. Very heavy and warm on winter nights. My wife makes these and they’re way better than regular blankets. She sells some, donates some to church bazzars and gives many away to family and friends. You can find tons of ideas for them on the net. (search ‘denim quilt’ or ‘bluejean scrap quilts’) I think if we ever get close to a real teotwawki, these will be excellent barter items.
SO: Is that 40 lbs of nuts, bolts, & screws or “shrapnel” waiting to happen?
I have made the jean blanket. Also, made satchels out of ones that the kness and legs were worn to bad.
Some people just don’t get it when it comes to stocking up for barter. That is what I do instead of buying silver now.
I get things that people can’t live without and may not be able to get if the SHTF.
Antibiotics, I believe, will be highly prized and generally unavailable unless you volunteer to go to a FEMA camp or otherwise sacrifice your life to the corp.
500 pill Acetaminophen bottles are about 8 bucks. There is no reason for anybody to have fewer than two or three on hand.
Cigs and alcohol? Bullets? Are you sure you want to deal with that type of crowd? They might decide to shoot you, steal your alcohol and smoke a cig after they do it.
I would rather the be the guy people find when they are looking for helpful things.
So much stuff you can never get it all. Instead, you need to get something you can trade for it all, and gold aint it.
Gods Creation
“I would rather the be the guy people find when they are looking for helpful things.”
If this goes down as many expect you will see the worse side of people that you never expected. If you have toilet paper in a pretty good amount and your ill prepared regarding security you will loose it and your life.
Trusting people in a post collapse will get you killed.
you make some good points. I would suggest making connections with trusted people now, for future trade situations. Dealing with total strangers after SHTF situation could be a death wish. Why would you want to announce to the world that you have any more than they do? Other than my immediate neighbors, who I have known for years, and my family, I don’t plan to seek out anyone for a barter situation.
I would encourage everyone to get prepared to think totally different than they do now. Soon enough, we will see the truly bad side of 98% of the population. You must understand that the people who frequent this blog are of a like mind set, and have for the most part, been prepping for a while, while the rest of the masses, the 98%, will remind you of why we call them sheeple.
Study history, study human nature, and you will be reminded of why you do what you do. There are many hard decisions that will have to be made. How much danger are you wiling to put your family in, just to help some poor slob who was too lazy, or just too stupid, to see what was going on around him?? I’m not willing at all, to help this poor excuse for a human.
I plan on helping my immediate neighbors, as we all need each other to make it through what is coming. Other than them, and my family, —-good luck, you’re on your on.
By the way—some great suggestions so far. Keep it up.
Information will be a barter item.
Word to the wise. I just went through an event where some of my very valuable information was compromised.
Specialised field info. For example. If you treat a person for a sickness, NEVER TELL THEM WHAT YOU ARE GIVING THEM FOR THE CURE!
Learned my lesson.
I am with you on the human nature stuff , Greaseman.
@ Greaseman—-best post here so far. You just want to fit in and look like shit. And be the one ASKING…..”hey, do you have any food you can spare”
Not be……… Oh, I have 5 lbs of meat I’ll trade you for one 45 cal round to my head..
people are not real smart.
If you are dumb enough to walk down the street with everything you have to trade, then you will see the worst.
If you have something required to save a life, safely hidden away yet easily retrievable, you will see the best from those needing it.
If you are looking for the worst in people, you will definitely find it. If you are looking for the good, you will probably find it.
Sheep do not turn into lions over night. It is those who are slightly prepared that will be the biggest threat, those who could not afford to properly prepare.
Those who are not prepared at all will mostly be seeking help and with the right materials you can make them YOUR sheep.
GC,
I understand your desire be an upstanding individual, and do the right thing. The people who have squandered these days not preparing at all will be the most dangerous.
There are many people who live on the edge, right now. People who thrive on crime and making thier living at the expense of others. Those people will see a SHTF senario as “party-time”, and all the excuse they need to become less than savages. They will not become your sheep…
GC: I will admit, I am one of those who do not expect to “barter” much or at all. If it is worth storing for a rainy day to begin with, it is worth keeping.
Most people can only prep so much and will probably need anything of value that has more than one use, themselves.
Even sugar, salt, coffee, and chocolate are as basic as you can get. I cannot imagine trading anything.
Especially not ammo. They won’t be making anymore of it after the Changes.
DK,
I can’t imagine having nothing to trade…
You can prep to help the People win the war against the Banksters, or you can prep to survive alone. If you choose the latter, the banksters criminal enterprise will certainly outlive you and your preps.
What are you prepping for?
GC: Right now I am prepping for me. Once I am liquid I will be prepping for civilization. It has LONG been my purpose to fund small survival groups, as I have been acutely aware of the tremendous changes that await US for many decades.
In that Day, GB’s will be the least of OUR problems, as will Big Brother.
GC: BTW, I didn’t say I would not have anything to trade; I am just not prepping with the intent to trade.
Jeweler’s files, Jewelers screwdrivers, sharpening stones, Good pair of vise grips. Magnifying glasses.
Small. Easy to store. Not expensive. May become high end products for repair.
good suggestions. I would add tools in general to your list. Some people have almost no tools whatsoever, and will be at the mercy of someone else.
Self reliance, preparation, and common sense will be the traits that will get us all through this mess that is coming. good luck.
Thinking about the rash of ” Tide Detergent” thefts. Are they ditching the liquid and using the container for gas?
No. They are not.
I love Cigarettes and Cigars, but I quit 19 months ago. I’m not sure they are a good prep. item because of there short shelf life. Not only that, but I really need the preps. that I’m going to use.
While I wouldn’t add cigarette and cigars to my prep. I would add some good quality Tabacco seed. Crops will be cash post collapse. Think of it as your very own printing press.
If you are forced to bug out you can carry ten pounds of seed easily; which could feed you the rest of your life.
Prep. smart and don’t get side tracked with items you will not use. If I still smoked I would have Cigarettes in my prep.
Don’t forget a glass cutter. I see vandals throwing rocks through windows or getting shot.
I see afterwards people cutting the broken shards into squares to make smaller multi-paned windows.
Motor oil…5w for colder climates, 10w for warmer. And dont negelct a small stash of roetta t for diesel and straight 30w for small engines.
I haven’t read yet, but did anyone remember brooms??
It’s a bitch without one.
I have 4 for me; and will probably buy more.
Brooms? Are you kidding! All the things that one needs for bartering and you think of brooms? What about towels/rags? Multiple, multiple needs and uses for towels. Cleaning(including scrubbing floors) to personal hygeine(what pioneer women used to use!) and health. Machinery needs to livestock/animal needs. Can be used as diapers and wipes if need be. Or turned into pillow cases/blankey if sown together. Stock up for cheap at garage sales & thrift stores.
Ivory soap to store and learn to make your own soap. Easy if given a bit of lye, charcoal and fat. Ivory soap can be dried and used as flakes for laundry or dish saop. I agree on matches and lighters as a barter item. MRE’s not so much. I was in the Army and I won’t store them. For what it costs for 12 MRE’s you can buy at least 25 pounds of rice and beans goood for over 200 meals instead of 12.
MREs..Meals Rejected by Ethiopia!!!
And AZ Ready–yes, we will barter with other preppers.
Someone already mentioned it’s impossible to store every item.
Thus, we will barter from those with more than they need–6 and 1/2 years of TP is a little extreme in this house.
Sooo, I have a barter item.
coffee..everyone is addicted and needs to start the day
tobacco..relieves the distress during the day
alcohol”relieves the stress at the end of the day
i’m done..
possee
You are a stupid jerk. Cigs, but no laundry detergent. NEXT. You lost all street cred. You’re A JOKE BRO.
I think ANY type of medical supply will be worth a million. think about somebody with a sick family member. Somebody get sick from that rusty nail they stepped on and meeds medication. It might get ya that farm that ya wanted after all. ANY medical services that can be given. I worked in a hospital several years ago as a secretary on the floor in a city hospital. Nurses always needed extra hands and sometimes I would assist in care. I watched very carefully on wund dressing. packing woumds (morbid curiosity I guess) actually not morbid but amazing what medical people do. I seen how to put an IV in, could give a shot of meds, know what meds for what condition. very faniliar with a fib tacy cardio etc. Worked in trauma ICU CCU…not a doctor but could do some good. I thank God for the experience I had ans who would have tought I may have a need for what I saw and learned in there…..get some sort of medical knowledge, get any medical supplies you can. If it was your kid dying and only needed some Doxy what would you give up, probably almost everything. That is just MHO but that is the route I am going..med know how and supplies.
Just purchased a medic bag for $360 +. Split it with another prepper buddy. Best one I could find.
I have never felt so grateful yet stupid when that medic bag arrived. Grateful I had it and stupid that I waited this long. Could you imagine prepping like we do here and then not having something to clean a simple cut or potential fatal wound for that matter.
http://www.amazon.com/Fully-Stocked-Medical-First-Aid/dp/B004Q5UASW/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Baby items: formula, diapers, children’s tylenol, etc. Lasts forever and VERY valuable if you need and don’t have – also crucial stuff to share amongst friends to help the survival group.
Yes, tools. Some companies, such as Craftsman, offer a lifetime guarantee on their hand tools. Things like sockets, screwdrivers, socket wrench handles. I’ve been picking them up for next to nothing and going into Sears and turning them in for new tools. I believe the new tools will be good barter. I probably won’t run out of tools if the system doesn’t collapse.
Hate to be a downer here, but who are we going to barter with? Ourselves? Let’s face it, we all have, that the vast majority of the useless idiots will be gone. Everyday we discuss the same things here, how most of the population will suffer a die off and there will be only those of us that have taken the time to prepare that will get through to the other side. Then of course we talk about those unwelcome souls coming onto our property or into our “space” that we will smoke! Once the dust settles, it will be you and me, “us” that are left and I don’t need your toilet paper and you don’t need my cigs cause we both have them. We, you guys/gals are the reason I have hope for the future, not the worthless oxyegen breathing waste of perfectly good skin people that have no clue how to screw in a light bulb if 100 Polacks showed them how.
Good points. I contend that other than a few trusted neighbors around you, and family members, who will you barter with?? When “it” all goes down, I plan on hunkering down, and using what I already have, and being a fly speck on societies’ wall. I want to be as insignificant as a mushroom, hidden away from the general public, and appear as baffled as the rest of the population.
One other thing I haven’t seen anyone comment on. When we have the SHTF situation, I plan on more hiding of what I do have. I don’t want some government hack seizing what I have worked hard for, and giving it away to some useless breather who has done nothing, and expects me to save his ass. I know that sounds heartless, but are any of us planning on running a charity???
5 Deg down bubble…
Level the bow planes…
Maintain depth at 150 meters…
Under the radar.
You are cavitating. What is your TPK?
I believe the main problem for most people is going to be, nowhere to hide stuff. Most apartment dwellers don’t even have a secluded place in the woods to hide stuff. When they; the ones that have put back a small supply of water and dried goods, see they are about to run out; they will then turn into gypsies,tramps,and thieves. (I use to really like Cher). They will find survivalists to barter with or try to take from. My plan is to have enough extra wheat beries to grind and bake them a couple loaves of bread and enough ammo to make sure their on their way, with a reminder it was a one time thing. Just sayin’.
While I don’t plan on running a charity helping some people is a christian thing to do. Also I don’t know about a lot of people here but I am getting up in years and having help cutting wood,building fences ect could be a good thing and that means that I need some way to pay that help whether it be neighbor or friend.Being able to take in someone that has a skill that you or your group doesn’t can be one thing barter items are good for.Paying a doctor or dentist in food clothing or some other item will be needed also. I would not be looking forward to pulling my own teeth.
AZ Ready, we can barter amoung ourselves. I might have chickens, you might be able to shoe my horse. Or you might be able to patch my roof and I might be able to sew your hole in your pants. Or I might have an extra pair if nail clippers and you might have an extra bag of jerkey. I might be able to bake you some bread and you might have some milk from your goat to share. I think as much AZ you say you are Ready, there is bound to be something you forgot to stock up on. Or I might have a cow and you aren’t wanting to milk one once or twice a day. So I barter some of my milk for something that I am not able to do or fix or forgot. Maybe you will want to barter a quarter of your freshly butchered hog for some of my steer jerkey. Or you have some seasonings to trade for some of my sausage haning in the smoke house..
AZReady: Does this mean the store will not have any Twinkies?
There will ALWAYS be Twinkies. 🙂
Mal
Twinks, maybe.
if the Bankers let it get so bad there are no Twinkies and Chocolate, That’s the end; I will raise an army myself and put an end to them
Twinkies have a thousand year shelf-life!
Medical supplies / antiseptics will be great bartering items.
I think you’ll be surprised how many things will be bartered for when things go south. Why? Because so few people will be prepared at all.
Heads Up Ya’ll… Finish Prepping.
The USS Enterprise Air Craft Carrier will Arrive in the Middle East War Theater in 4 Days… Expect something to happen from March 19th, 2012 on… this is it WW3!!!
Fascist Amerika and the Zionist Israeli’s are going to “NUKE” IRAN with disguised DEEP Ground PENETRATION Nuclear BOMBS!
Turn the Country into a BIG GLOWING PARKING LOT!
ISRAEL IS NUCLEAR! We Gave them The NUKES! They have their OWN MANUFACTURING FACILITY! They have 100’s of Nukes from Brief Case Nuke Bomb size , Nuclear Warhead Missiles to 500 Pound Nuke Bomb sizes! PLUS the Zionist Israeli Jews have All of EUROPE Targeted with Land Based Nuclear ICBM’s! Which “You All AmeriKans Paid” for It ALL!
“Talk about having a Gun Pointed to Your Head!”
and you good folks call me crazy! ;0P pssszzt
Make it a Good One Folks WW3… cause the next one will be fought with Sticks and Stones!
Zionist Israeli Jew Children Quote:
“Sticks and Stones may hurt me , but Bad Defamation Anti-Jew Names WILL get YOUR ASS NUKED!”
;0p pssszzt
Expect your GAS prices to DOUBLE over night! Europe is now paying $10. bucks a GALLON! Right this very minute!
“Duck and Cover” might be a good Idea if your Iranian!
Remember Iranians, as AmeriKan and Israeli Nuclear Bombs and Missiles Rain Down upon Your Children’s Bedroom’s and Schools!
We’re here to FREE the Sheeeiit OUT of YOU! ;0) Honest!!!
FREEDOM = ENSLAVEMENT
DEMOCRACY = FASCISM
FIAT DOLLAR CURRENCY = LIFETIME DEBT SLAVERY
~NinaO
GOOD: I’m tired of waiting.
@PARANOID ;0) I mirror your frustration… but …
I’m thinkin the moms and dads in Iran are thinkin they can wait a few more years! Before their children are blown into blood mist by AmeriKan and Israeli NUCLEAR bombs in the name of IMF WORLD BANK – Global CARBON CREDIT TAX Debt Enslavement!
Wouldn’t it be better too take aim with our frustrations at our own IMF NWO CFR UN AGENDA 21 corrupted bribed local , state , federal governments and the crooks who are drawn to PUBLIC OFFICE POWER , like the thieves they are to a child’s open piggy banks!
IT’S TIME TO RECALL YOUR STATES CONGRESS CRITTERS! IMPEACH WASHINGTON D.C.! RE AFFIRM YOUR STATES SOVEREIGN RIGHTS!
FIGHT THE POWER!
coffee, sugar, tp, pain relievers, lamp oil, 22Lr ammo, honey have been my favorites of late. coffee has been getting pricy though. been picking up a lot of hand tools, nails, screws and rope at garage sales and flea markets.
hadn’t considered pool shock. gonna look into that.
been thinking about fishing gear also, hooks, line, sinkers and such.
Consider trotlines for fishing–commercially made ones have 25 hooks–with detachable lines, can be had for about $15.00 at Walmart and Sportsman’s warehouse. For bait (in warm months) I use SMALL crayfish, torn in half, half on each hook. If you have it, I also (where legal today) Take a can of meat-based dogfood. punch holes in both ends of the can and toss it about 50 yards upstream as an attractant for catfish.
healthcare may be a great area
if what has happened in Greece due to their financial collapse
is any indication
http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/when-the-money-runs-out-cases-of-hiv-tb-and-malaria-explode-in-greece-health-system-near-collapse/
Look, many will die within a couple of days, even more within a few weeks, diabetics, those dependent on medication, those who think they are going to come steal mine, the old, the weak the feeble, then think of all those out there strung out on prescription anti-psychotics! WOW! It’s going to be crazy out there, bottom line, I look at it this way.
2 guys out in the woods, they come across a bear, one guy bends down and starts lacing up his tennis shoes, his friend looks at him and says you idiot, you can’t outrun a bear, the guy lacing up his shoes screams back at his friend as he takes off, I don’t have to outrun the bear!
While you were bent down to tighten your shoes I got a 20 second head start on you because I didn’t let my laces get loose…
Don’t stop prepping!
Sanitation is the key. The civil war is proof.Lack of sanitation killed more men than any weapon.That is why I am stocking up on instant hand sanitiser.If nothing else ,the lack of water at the time,or hunting ,cleaning wild game.Baby whipes is another.Disposable rubber gloves,And Prilosec.
I wonder how Blago is getting along with Bubba and Tyrone ?
with or without the rug?
What about stocking up on Hookers and Blow? They always seem to be in high demand according to my umm friends.
I must give credit where credit is do.Illinois Governor Quinn Has passed legislation to benefit wildlife of coastal resources .Great Lakes shoreline is a High priority in my book.I have caught salmon and trout on Lake Michigan..
At the very least this Governor has the hunter/fisherman on his mind .That’s what i’m talking about.I want future generetions to enjoy the Great Lakes.
Hit us back when you wake up…Anonymous
If the power goes off just bend over and kiss your ass good bye, or if your fat kiss someone’s close to you. With all the nuke plants popping off can’t see mch of a survival. Iodine doesn’t account for the really nasty stuff. Just say’in.
Know Your Enemy:
THE DHS TSA: ATK Awarded Contract to Supply 450 MILLION Rounds of .40 Caliber Ammunition to the Department of Homeland Security…
As 2012 continues to move forward and the awakening of the sleeping PATRIOTIC FREEMEN CONSTITUTIONALISTS giant that is the FREE American people kicks into high gear, federal agencies seem hell bent to continue to gear up for a possible confrontation with the FREE people of this once great country.
GOT AMMO??? NO??? WELL THE DHS TSA does… you might wanna buy a few more 1000 rounds! There ain’t nothing worse than running out of Ammo in the middle of a FIRE FIGHT with NWO ILLEGAL FED Thug Gestapo DHS TSA!
ARM UP STOCK UP PREPARE! IMF NWO CFR U.N. MARTIAL LAW is COMING!
It’s for ICE NOT TSA. Now there aren’t a lot of fans of DHS per se but ICE does have to deal with narco terrists, smugglers, human traffickers who seem to be well armed courtesy of your eric holder.
Here are more specifics:
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=PR&date=20120312&id=14879195
They make CCI, Speer, Lawman, and Blazer ammunition.
So if you dislike it you can boycott them.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303863404577281483630937016.html The laws are for the poor sheep. Pay an extre $100, bypass tsa. This was expected. PROGGRESSIVE TAXES, PROGGRESSIVE LAWS, NO RULE OF LAW!!! WAKE UP SHEOPLE!!!! *KEVIN YELLS* oh no, obama bin baden has an extra $100 bill, is going to hijack plane, and fly it into the constitution
Politicians are good at postponing collapse. Don’t think that this will all come down at once, cuz it wont. Truth is, no one knows. The biggest problems that I see is high crime and a place to stay out of the way. Having a property that is paid for in a low tax jurisdiction are top on my list.
and correct you are..sir..
450 miilion rounds of 40 cal hollow point to boot..
“better penetration..less collateral damage”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/atk-secures-40-caliber-ammunition-contract-with-department-of-homeland-security-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-dhs-ice-2012-03-12?reflink=MW_news_stmp
Something strange about this, 450 million rds is an incredable amount of ammo. Enough to shoot every adult in US, Mexico, and Canada. It’s more than I keep in the basement!!!!
Attention all if you passed up the link you had better read it. It is a multi year contract. The DHS covers many different agencies. This is for ICE. They are in the SECURITY business not armed aggression…or are they?? This is a firm contract not a request for bidders like the MRE’s and body bags from last year. This is not good period. (MM)
The overall mindset in this post alone shows that the vast majority here are either in the suburbs or in an urban area and don’t have a clue on true self-reliance. What makes people think that they’ll be safe and in a hunker-down, bug-in mode very long if they believe a few trinkets will help them for the long haul? If supplies get to a point where people are bartering (or if addictions own the person), there are many who are without and some who will resort to criminal acts to get what they want/need.
Those who are already in the country or at a retreat are either party engaged or fully engaged in self-reliance by either farming or homesteading. Their skill set, equipment, knowledge, and abundance will better determine “barter” than some short-list of purchased items set aside.
Better to think security and safety than a box of “stuff” to barter with. It’ll get bad-and-mad before community barter can even begin to develop.
Z- I agree . I am one of those that used to just think stuff. I do not live on a farm. I have been thinking about what you just said REAL HARD for the last year. By the time barter gets going, the withouts will be violent. You won’t see me bartering for ANYTHING, unless a life depends on it.
Kevin if you’re in a crowded area and can’t actually move now, find a group where you can join in. If you have a skill and you have supplies, you may be in demand but it’s time to find a community for yourself. Once you have a community and location, then develop your pull-out plan and create the parameters for an exit strategy.
No I’m afraid it’s you who are not thinking clearly, Think Yugoslavia, The people in the large towns mostly made it but for the unprepared it was miserable. Argentina also, lots of places. The world will end only once, Some of us are old enough we have no reason to try to survive 20 years of “MAD MAX”. We do know bad depressions and lawlessness come around far more often and have reason to believe that with care and ammo we can avoid a lot of pain. If not then, well I’ll take a few of your problems with me.
So what then is your suggestion to the people that can’t afford to move to a rural habitat and start growing their own food and raising their own meat? I guess we should just sit here and wait for the troops to come? I store preps because I just can’t do that. My home is in the mountains but is not in a very good defensible spot. I do have a plan to move myself and family to a better location if everything hits at once but I don’t think it will go down that way. It will just get gradually worse and I am not going to abandon my home for that. I am glad you are in a better position but don’t try lording it over the rest of us. We do what we can and will do what we can in the future.
If someone needs to barter for these most basic essentials then they probably don’t have anything of value to trade.
The barter market will eventually happen, but certainly not in the initial stages of shtf. I would be too paranoid to tell anyone that I even had items worth bartering for. They might blab to 20 people that I have alcohol, food or bullets.
Not worth the risk to me.
P.S. The bullets you barter might be turned around and use on you. Watch your backs.
Hey Mr. B, Been awhile since we talked. I hope all is going well for you and yours. I agree that a barter market would take awhile to evolve. Last year after my grandfather passed, my mom and dad let me and my bro take what we wanted from his home, less for them to deal with. I found a box full if pocket knives and old straight razors. I also took a lot of his tools and camping equipment. Most of this stuff I already own, but I could not stop thinking “barter” as I was going through stuff. I hope that does not make me sound like a ghoul, Grandpa told me more then once that when he was gone he didn’t care what we did with his stuff. My family looked at me funny seeing me take things that for them were worthless.
As far as bullets go, I have picked up some .22 with the pellets for varmints. As a kid I got shot with one of these at about 30 yards. It stung like heck, but did not penetrate my old army canvas coat. So I thought these would make good barter, what do you think?
Good to have the barter stuff, just wait until most of the violence calms down before you trade your wares. Just my opinion! You are lucky to have inherited all those items claymation. They will certainly be great to have – even if you don’t barter them!
This sure is a great site for information and I wish many of you were my neighbors because I cant seem to get anybody here interested in discussing prepping at all.
Im not offering any NEW info here but wanted to contribute anyway and also ask some questions. One thing is that some prepping is free. I watched a woman on the news at one of those homeless camps. They use those free plastic bags from the grocery store for portable toilets i.e. go in the bag and bury. Also, next time your in a fast food place, grab some of those salt,pepper, plastic utensils and maybe if your lucky some of single pack hand wipes(usually at a BBQ or chicken place)and store them in a empty food container. People are also saving the lint from your dryer as a good item to use to start a fire.
Questions:
1) how do you get neighbors to prep when their answer is ” the lord will protect me or whatever happens ..happens”?
2) is a slingshot really worth anything vs a bow and arrow? if so, which one is recommended?
3)a cross bow?—anybody have one, use one, advice?
1. forgetabout the neighbors..if they are prepping they are probably like me and wouldnt tell you anyways..(opsec)
wait til they come to you..and still be guarded what you say.
2. I have killed many rabbits with a sling shot as a kid…gotta be good with em, but a nice ball bearing and a wrist rocket type slingshot is food on the table if you run out of ammo or dont have a weapon
Sling shot will shoot stones or other small objects that a bow cant..you need arrows
I’d still own both.
3. Cross bow is nice , but they rely on ammo that is fit and designed for that equipment much like the bow , or compound bow…I’d still get one and learn to use it
if you do buy one, stock pile arrows just like you would ammo for a gun
I like my cross bows, quiet fast deadly and did i say quiet? silent stalker for game ,, or predators either 2 legged or 4
a good one can be very acurate.
There is an Indian guy who uses a slingshot he designed to shoot arrows with a higher velocity than possible with a bow. He set up a demo with a radar gun to prove. There is also a video of a guy up a tree in Hawaii shooting a wild boar using a slingshot and arrow. Go to http://www.chiefaj.com/hfx_hunting__fishing_slingshot.htm and check it out.
Just keep prepping and hope that some day you will find other neighbors doing the same. As to taking the stuff from fast food places if it is not something you are going to use you are in fact stealing. Some will not agree but that is the way I see it. You can buy 25 lb bags of salt at Costco for 5.00 plastic forks and spoons at the dollar store for like 50 in a box for 1.00 so why would you take these things from somewhere else,again JMHO.
I won’t be trading bullets or alcohol. Bullets can be used against you and alcohol facilitates risky decision making, possibly against you later on.
After it hits the fan I don’t know if I’d trust anybody enough to engage in trade. There’s always a chance that they’d try to kill you and steal your supplies later.
Anyone who has lived thru a hurricane knows that first it’s plywood, then water and gas, maybe flashlight batteries.
Afterward, ice, water, charcoal, food, gas if there is any left.
If the grid is out for more than a week, or a Katrina type event, hell get grandpa’s shotgun Mable, cause there’s trouble acome’n.
You also have to watch out for the Con Men who come afterward. Guy’s that will fix your place for a “low-low price”. Or file an insurance claim on your place and take the money for themselves. Last of all, you’ll see folks who don’t even live in the state file for FEMA money and get it!
The problems as I see them are that way too many people are trying desperately to accumulate a few things by PURCHASING before something happens, for the intent to become “wealthy” after the fact. In true fact, those who accumulate KNOWLEDGE and SKILLS are the ones who will survive a situation beyond the desperation phase. I realize, just as my comments above, that I’ll receive a huge amount of thumbs down, out of blind trust for the “consumerism” mindset instilled in the vast majority of Americans since birth. This will have a negative outcome for most. I plead with you to adjust yourselves to gain knowledge and at least ONE skill to increase your chances. I understand that most people live within 50 miles of the coastlines in cities, but a skill is crucial. Possessions will NOT allow you to survive beyond a few months or possibly a year. What do you suppose will happen to you if in the event that your computer cannot access the Web? Will you be able to THEN gain a skill or knowledge to use? NO- Unless someone who has those skills or knowledge will train you to become self reliant. What do you truly believe will happen at that point in time? All I can ask of you is to re-think your consumeristic lifestyle so you will have a chance. Most of what I see and hear on this site is: bullets, guns, threats, products that will last a few months, silver and gold, ( wealth ) and whom to blame for their ills ( ie. Jews, Zionists, NWO, Obama, et al ). Make a real difference and start PLANNING for your future with a renewable resource— KNOWLEDGE or SKILLS !!! Not THINGS!
There’s no reason People can’t get things *and* skills, is there?
Also, it takes resources to do most things. A Person can have all the skills in the world but they’re often not going to get much done without resources.
Get a good usenet newsgroup reader software, such as Newsrover, subscribe to Giganews, and go to the newsgroup:
alt.binaries.e-book.technical
Thousands upon thousands of books on everything you can think of. Military manuals, electronics manuals, how to do anything books, science books, agriculture books. I am downloading it all, some for personal use, some for bartering, and some to help recreate civilization if things get that bad. One tip: if you see a bunch of files posted by one user that have identical or near-identical sizes, they are probably viruses and don’t need to be downloaded. There are buttheads everywhere.
Tide Detergent
I always remember the NASA guy in Lucifer’s Hammer who keep a full set How Things Work books hidden away for emergencies. It is amazing how useful those are in everyday life.
Some of you act like these things are easy to make or they won’t be sought after. I guess you guys are the know-it-alls? You think smokers won’t be shaking and highly irritable when they run out? Do you really have time to plant (and watch grow) tobacco and sugar beets? And the water source for it? And just wait until a medicated nation runs out of their anti-depressants, blood pressure and diabetic supplies. Too many of you are still living in Lalaland. See if your iPhone will save the day.
Look how badly people behave now while for the most part they still can get their fixes or their medications.
Some people can not even turn their TV’s off for just one whole day or stop updating their facebook/ twitter/ texting/ surfing.
Ah, dang. My comment got sent to the round file.
Must have been the URL?
Only thing I can think of to add is, common parts for washers and dryers.
People will be less likely to buy new ones as time goes by.
At least that was the case in Argentina, or so I’ve read.
A gun without ammo is a club.
an unloaded gun is more dangerous to you than a loaded one
I’ve played poker with none in the chamber and 5 in the tube but my finger was on the release to rack one. I won!
Rice! It is cheap, if it is packed correctly it can be stored longer then you and your children will be alive. It is food!! You can’t eat silver and gold. I can seal up 30+ lbs of rice in a mylar bag with O2 absorbers inside a 5 gal bucket with a sealing lid for about $20 apiece. There are 2 1/2 cups of rice in a pound. A half cup of rice once steamed and ready to eat is a little more then a full cup of rice to eat. So in one 5 gal bucket you have 150 meals. Comfort food that can be supplemented from foraging or other stored food. Rice goes with anything, add soup, gravy, meat, beans, fish, crawfish, greens from the lawn or woods, anything and you have a meal. Which brings me to my second storage choice: beans. They don’t keep as long as rice will but considering the economic clouds on the horizon I think if you pack away some beans today they will still be good when you really need them.
Bury these buckets in your yard or bugout location. 10 buckets will cost you $200 more or less. 100 buckets will cost $2000. That’s a lot of food for survival and bartering. If you bury each bucket separately you would have 100 little caches of food that could not easily be found or looted. My theory is if I never need them they will simply stay where they are for someone else to stumble onto long after I’m gone. I don’t have to ever dig one up if I don’t need it. Also if you bury them so the top is one foot below ground they are quite easy to dig up. You shovel the dirt off the top and pull up by the handle and the tapered shape of the bucket releases from the ground easily. Cheap insurance.
I add spice packets and salt to the buckets before I seal them. Plain rice all the time would be boring. Add smaller Mylar bags of bullion and freeze dried vegetables and or meat and you will have a feast if you ever need to use them.
drywall screws and something to drive them with. #2 phillips bits are cheap at harbor freight, but they don’t last long. bit sets with multiple kinds of bits may come in handy. and don’t forget something to drive those bits with, not just a screwdriver-like handle. something like a speedhandle maybe. this stuff is kept in every vehicle i own. and maybe most important would be a thread file to save those damaged threads.if you don’t know what a thread file is , google it. also books about how to do/make things and how to survive in the climate YOU live in. i live in the mojave desert and looking for good book on foraging for food in a desert environment….anyone got suggestions?. great topic here.
I am not sure if someone else has mentioned this or not, lots of comments, but birth control and prevention of sexual transmitted diseases. Many diseases that will not be able to be treated, lack of antibiotics, will be the result of people having unsafe sex. Also during a terrible nightmare scenario, most people are not going to watch to reproduce.
Without proper hospital treatment a women is at much higher risk of infection and death from having children. Just look at how many women died in childbirth at pre-19th. century levels of medicine. This is what you can expect after a mega disaster, pre-19th. century level of medicine. Birth control, pills and other devices are always going to be their weight in gold to people after true mega SHFT and then some.
Kind of a taboo subject to talk about, but people are still going to engage in sex after something awful happens. Without proper protection, people are going to get ill. Much of not getting sick and having to be treated is prevention. Might be some good items to stock up on to those people that are sexually active.
Be informed wrote, “Without proper hospital treatment a women is at much higher risk of infection and death from having children.”
I think there are a lot of People who would disagree.
A book on homebirths might be a better thing to have than rubbers?
Homebirths with a backup of modern medical treatments is cheaper than hospital stays while the world is still functioning. Homebirths after SHTF is frightening, just look at the death rates of women prior to modern medicine. Just look at the mortality rate of women in third world coutries attempting to give birth.
Also just look at the spread of STD’s in poor countries that do not have protection because they cannot afford it. Sexual protection will be necessary to prevent disease, as there are some horrible STD’s.
The last thing, until things stablize after a nightmare worldwide disaster, is another mouth to feed in a world where food will become a scarcity. This is just logic, even if it sounds cold, people will need to practice birth control until they can properly feed their families. Birth control will be worth much after everything falls apart.
HIV rates have shot up in Greece already, along with TB and malaria.
Malaria was not an endemic illness in Greece until the financial crash – worth looking at the history books/climate in your locale to see if it could make a come back near you. Prep appropriately.
The modern TB vaccination is only 30-70% effective. It’s an optional vac here in the UK, no longer one of the standard childhood shots. Still some protection while your doc still has the shot available is better than none. While there check your tetanus is still up to date as a shot only lasts 10 years.
Vit A is used throughout the 3rd world to prevent measles complications. Might be worth having a bottle on hand for barter. Along with simple remedies such as calamine and baking soda & paracetomol for the common childhood bugs. Trading in simple items that can save a young child’s life will earn you the eternal gratitude of the parents and lifelong friends.
This is the kind of quiet barter I will do – I’ll leave the risky rum & ammo trades to more military types. I’ve also made lots of washable sanitary protection for other women who didn’t think to get a mooncup.
ever smoked a stale cig?
ewwww.
I used to smoke, until I awakened about all the shit in them to get you hooked, and dont think thats not by design to kill you..
Stck pile of smokes to barter ? all stale as shit within a year or less..no thanks
Quit now so you have more space for food and water, and other important shit
I wish i had a stockpile of ANYTHING, I live in a 2 bedroom apt. have 3 kids, live paycheck to paycheck, every time i think im starting up a good stockpile of food and emergency supplies i wind up having to use it. if SHTF im screwed, we’ll be livin on salt,sugar packets and some water. my husband can hunt, i guess thats something.
Is there a church near to you which might help?
Hello Tracy,
If your husband is a good hunter than that is a real plus. Living from paycheck to paycheck is a bummer with three children to boot. You might want to check out a good dehydrator and with deer meat make some jerky. Also you can do fruit and package seal it. I don’t know if you can find a small used freezer at a thrift store or dent and bang sale. To store water I would use new containers made for water. DO NOT use plastic milk containers as the milk film will leach into the water if it gets warm no matter how many times you clean it and cause contamination. You can get really sick. Storing clothes, I use those plastic vaccum bags and draw the air out of them to collaspe the clothes into manageable bulk.
Flea markets, yard sales or swap meets are good bargains for equipment. Maybe bulk buying at Sam’s or BJ’s might help.
Think multi purpose stuff to buy. You can do it.
Thank you,slingshot! very helpful, i have those bags,guess i should use them. i buy gallons of water,but then my kids drink it,ive started filling them back up w tap water, is that a bad idea?
I am on city water and sometimes you can smell the floridation they use to disinfect the water. I’ve intalled a water purifier and my coffee tastes better.
If you are on a well system it would be good to have the water tested for contaminants every year or so. Most city water is good but let your taste be the judge. Watch for clarity of the water or any stains/debris in your sink or toilet. Older parts of a city may have water lines with some breakage/cracks due age but I do not know of any major problems. You could always ask you neighbors if the water is good to them. You can even have the city come out and test your water.
Tracy: Quality tap water is a growing problem that will only get worse. You can use it but need to filter it, then a few drops of chlorine. Parasites have been found in tap water.
Use plastic soda bottles. You can buy $1 3 ltr soda at the dollar store. Over time you can save some bottles without giving your kids diabetes. Do some research.
Try SHTF Water.
Tracy… there ya go- a skill! hunting is a very honorable skill to have.
Tracy, take it from someone that has researched and had a water bottling company. The best thing you can do for your children is get them off city water. The chemicals they add and not to mention the possibility of pre- treatment contaminants are slowly killing them. If I had to borrow the money, I would order a counter top water distiller immediately. We just ordered a second one from Nutriteam. $150.00 plus 20 bucks S&H. Best I’ve found. Seriously, Besides making sure your kids know Jesus, the best thing you can do is make them drink pure water that you have distilled. Keep plenty of bottles in the fridge and mass store in Glass jugs if at all possible.
Tracy, you are all ready a survivor! look at it in a different way, people who are knew to having nothing will look towards you for inspiration and ideas! what a great role reversal, you would be at the other end of the food chain!! 🙂 no doubt you know “always look on the bright side of life .. …… you will be a survival educator
good luck to you and your family
Hey I have an off topic question/concern. I went to wally world today( that is an outing for us) and I went to pick up a bottle of otc med and there were little notes ALL over the shelves that there was a shortage on meds (several different things by same manufactorer) This happened a few months agao but I thought nothing of it but two times in a few months! Anyone else seeing this in there area? I am in North carolina. A little concerning to me. A lil ironic after posting what I did last night. I think we are really seeing the signs of the REAL begining of shtf. I hope it was a co inky dink but i AM AFRAID it is not. Stocked almost 100.00 worth of what I could get. Probably still not enough but I did what I can do. I am feeling soooo unprepared. I am not even half way where I need to be. I am better off than most but begining to feel panicky. NEED to get my hands on sooo much more but limited funds, as usual.
saw absolutly no dam pears in my fruit market yesterday..NONE!
VRF hmmm what state ya in we have them here, odd is this not that things are getting scarce. I know they are not in season here yet but should be soon, i will keep my eye on that one. You know what bananas are hit or miss here now that I think about it….odd
They have stopped stockin the shelves with anything that has pseudofedrin in it because of all the meth labs. Could be what you are noticing.
Response to don’t tread:
it was not anything like that it was diareeeah meds, aspirin, tylenol stuff like tath not cold meds that is why it struck me as odd….nothing that could be used for recreation use, we have ALOT of meds here behind the counter, this was posted “Due to lack of supply we are expreincing a shortage from the manufacteror.” Just warning everybody that it may be coming soon
I see. Don’t have any answer for that, except, “just signs of the times”.
Insult me all you want, give me lots of tumbs down, I DON’T CARE. We stockpile extra Bibles and Hynm Books. We figure that a down time will be a great time to witness to The Lost. (O.K., let the insults begin)
A little toooooooo sensitive to be posting on-line.
Sorry you feel that way….golly gosh, I think that I’m going to tear up! (Just goofing off)
Larry, Watch you back side, Really, San Fran,, Most definately, watch your backside!!!!!!!
Anonymous:a little tooooooo
sensitive to create a handle,eh?
Even if you are right; there is only one God, So why would you need more than one Bible? Even then I heard a preacher say once: This is a good book, but if you think reading it will get you into heaven you have big problems.
I have a theology degree and both myself and my spouse are medical people. I’ve worked in the Hospial at both. We look at a SHTF situation sort of as a mission field.
I like your thinking, Larry. I have been in the word heavily, while prepping, for the past ten years. I have said and will say it again, “The most important thing and the number one priority is having a “positive” mindset for whatever is coming.” That for me is having faith in my Father in Heaven. He knows my heart. He knows I’m a “cut up” and I joke around a lot. It helps keep me sane, and laughter is the best medicine. But I’m serious about my salvation. Having said that, you could help a lot of desperate people with getting their heads and hearts straight. It can and will calm the fear. During chaotic times, fear can become a person’s worst enemy. I can say with all honesty, I fear no man nor beast. God gave me a Ruger 44 magnum w/8’barrel and HOT handloads of 300 grains of lead. That is my second backup. PEACE!
We live adjacent to a green belt and creek in the city. Squirrels and coons are about all we see in the green belt. Our 8 ft wood fencing in the back provides privacy and is where we plan to garden. Preppin for about a year. Have most of the 16 essentials listed above in good quantity.
Our problem is we like steak. Our substitute it appears, will be rabbit. Whenever they overpopulate the pen, we plan to eat, or release into the greenbelt, where hopefully they will propagate further providing us & neighbors a continuing source of fresh meat.
Just wondering. How much stuff can the non-preppers have,that we preppers need anyhow. I like the thinking of those that say, “lay low until the dust settles,protect what you have stored and then only barter with people you know or ones that someone will vouch for”.
LOL after watching “book of Eli” i went out and bought 2 Bibles. thought it would be a good thing to have…and i would have time to read it.
my first reply was in response to Larry from San Fran, and so is this.. Thanks for the advice, yes there are churches near me but i dont see how they could help,there are also lots of people worse off then me around here, i live paycheck-paycheck but im not “below poverty level” so i dont qualify for any kind of assistance.
I won’t bother with lots of details as they are lots of places. But if you can come up with 25-50 Cents a day you can do an amazing amount of preps in a short time. And believe me you can find that much in pop cans. Get $1 find a pizza place that gets buckets of mushrooms, buy two buckets. Fill with water, add a bit of bleach or iodine, cover. For $1 you know have 10 gallons of water. Most people have none. Get another dollar, buy two more buckets, Get $3 buy a bag of rice or sugar, place in bucket, At 50 cents a day you can buy rice, sugar , beans, some vitamins, hot sauce or dry bullion. and in a month or two have far more supplies than average. Just keep going. You don’t realize a Billion people in this world live on less than $1 a day for food. So can you.
Barter and for many uses: Vinegar! It kills most bacteria, ideal for cleaning food preparation surfaces. It neutralizes most bug bites from jelly fish to scorpion. Dip beef in vinegar then air-dry and the beef will remain edible for months without freezing. Vinegar as deodorant a few drops under very smelly armpits and the smell will be literally killed. Athlete or very smelly feet can be cured with vinegar; twice a day for three days, clean socks every day and shoes/boots dampened with vinegar and your smelly partner within a few days will be welcome again.
Barter and many uses: Natural honey! Energy food! the best medication for burn wounds. I treated a kid with some third degree more second degree and the remainder first degree over one leg with pure African bush honey. Just poured it over heavier over the badly burnt parts used 100% cotton to cover repeated this twice a day and the kid recovered without scars. Honey is also good on abrasions and most other damage. It sterilizes and soothes any wound. No need to clean the wounds first.
Barter and many uses: fishing nets! Catch many fish, forget the hooks. Hang between trees and chase small game and birds into it.
Have things and tools from and with which you can make more things. Can you squat for hours on your haunches? then have the manual tools to cut a tree and make a chair etc. Think outside the box!Success and strength
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Chester:good advise
About the athlets foot,
you also need to treat your
shoes:place a few Mothballs
in said shoes,place in a
garbage bag,tie it off and
leave it for a week 🙂
Chester,
If possible, please elaborate on dipping beef in vinegar as a preservative, never heard that one.
Is this done with meat raw, or cooked?
Thanks
Sounds like a good idea, but then again maybe not. The people with nothing to barter (there will be millions) will not pass you by if they know you have anything they need. They may well just take what they want. Bartering can get you killed in a SHTF situation. Be careful.
I see that a lot of you plan to trade in ammo. Stupid. Once word gets around that you have extra ammo to trade in, and you trade ammo to someone who you do not know, or trust, chances are that your own ammo will be used to shoot you in the back. Then the shooter has all your stock and property, and never broke a sweat to get ahold of it. Very stupid, and very fatal move.
Our Group would never trade ammo to anyone, but we would accept ammo in trade for what we could spare. Just as in the “one eyed king is master of the land of the blind”, if we have ammo, and nobody else has it, we are the “king” of our area. Think about this. Think hard.
I would think one of of the highest value for barter would be fuel. This could be of course gasoline, but propane, butane, charcoal, even dry clean wood to burn. You would be surprised how desperate people will be for fuel, all types, and willing to barter much for it. If you could store diesel fuel this could be of extreme value, especially after an EMP event because many diesel engines could continue to operate.
Been reading through all the suggestions; here’s a couple of my own.
Toothpaste. Someone suggested dental floss, and baking powder (both excellent for many uses,) but toothpaste lasts quite a while as well. One tube goes a long way, and one tube is a good barter unit.
Shoes. I know exactly what you damn men are thinking; girls can’t get along without shoes. Well, hell, hon, neither can you. It’s real fun to talk about the guns and what not, but I’d hate have to run barefoot outside while trying to take aim at or get away from some looter/rapist at the same time.
My folks lived thru the Great Depression and WWII and they both talked about how HARD it was to get shoes, as they were broke during the Depression and shoes were rationed during WWII. Imagine what’ll be like when SHTF.
If I had the room, I’d be hitting the Goodwill/Savers/Salvation Army 3 X a week, looking for gently used sturdy boots and oxfords made of leather for men, women and children. Plus, everyone in your prepper group should have enough pairs of boots/sneakers/snowboots/tac boots/hikers stashed away to get them through at least 10 years. You also should have shoe goo, barge cement and rubber replacement soles stashed as well. The same goes for SOCKS, and not those cotton tube crap ones. Get good wool socks, and they will last for years as long as you gents (and some of you gals) keep your toenails trimmed, and darn them as soon as they start to get thin.
You can arm your army, and you can feed your army, but you’d do well to remember Winter at Valley Forge with the Revolutionary Army and their frozen bloody feet wrapped in rags, and get your army some shoes.
Kid’s shoes worry me. Getting a store of those for my son’s growth is hard enough now. Keeping growing teens shod will be a real challenge.
An old fashioned cobbler will never starve when shtf. However those skills have died out totally at least in my locale : (
Learning to make and properly repair footwear from scratch (eg taking a raw hide, tanning it etc, etc) would be an awesome post shtf skill to have for barter.
The only other skill I can think of that is as useful long term is midwifery. A man will trade anything he has of value to keep his beloved alive at such a dangerous time. My experience of Africa has taught me that.
My father mentioned as a kid he used to walk to town with his shoes under his arm with bottle of water. wash his feet outside of town, put his shoes on and go into town. Shoes aren’t all that necessary for kids. Also car tires and a little canvas have made millions of pairs of shoes
i am fixing to give growing tobacco a try…but as far as bartering i think just cigarette papers for bartering with will do. vinegar and salt are really good bartering items as we need these for a great many things in cooking as well as cleaning. i might also consider trading food and board with someone for work on my homestead that i do not have the strength to do. and i would be quite happy to trade firewood for work in the garden like plowing/tilling/weeding.
There are a ton of great comments here…and some not so great! I’ve been really trying to get together a site that encompasses most of the survival info people may need. at http://www.survivalhelpcenter.com we have collected a ton of great videos that not only educate, but also entertain people! You can buy just about anything you might need to survive a disaster. Check us out at http://www.survivalhelpcenter.com and let us know what yo think! Thanks for creating this great site!!
Just watched ferfals video & he had some stuff that never occured to me for barter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DicFARysseI&list=UUrSf5GLpvQSpIpS5-zHc7Lg&index=3&feature=plcp
Toys?
Thought it would be handy as this guy lived thru the Argentinian collapse.
it seems like this same thing is posted every month with a different number of things to stock for barter, weather it be 16 or 21, no one in their right mind should ever trade ammo to anyone unless maybe emediate family, anyone else is liable to use it on you.if they need ammo, then they did not prepare and also need food, a good reason to want ammo is to take food.
I have to agree, survivor. No one will be getting any ammo from me unless it’s in front of a powder charge. Hope it never comes to that…. I can visualize “two” major events of chaos. Neither is less bad. In an all out collapse of the monetary system, whereby the dollar bill won’t be accepted for payment for goods or services; the PTB may keep your water and electric going for a while but there will be many suicides and then murders. Woe be unto those living in cities and areas of high populations. An exodus plan that can get you into an area with water and trees will be worth more than a ton of gold………The other event would be a complete loss of the electrical grid. I can envision hysteria and chaos when the reality sets in that it is not coming back up; say maybe three or four days when all supplies are gone and the lack of clean water becomes a problem, the masses will be on the move. Where to? The next closest location where they can find refuge with fresh water and forests. The next movement would be to higher ground with opportunity for wild game. All we can do is hope and pray we are not in positions of having to make the life or death decisions. Bartering will be, just an afterthought at that point.
On the medical list add unnaboot (casting material you can use at home) crutches, a walker, wheelchair, syringes, iv fluids, hemmoroid cream (people will be eating a lot of fiber) poison ivy medicine, toothache medicine including temp dental filling material, advil and tylenol.
A few things no one seems to have had the smarts to think of…
Cocktail ice
extra copies of TV guide
decorations for the xmas tree
a large dictionary
bus tokens
bottles of windex
Extra tennis balls
Hello,
Personally, I tend to think some of the most important barter items to have around will be tools. I recently wrote an article about this on my site. Without the “Big Government” machine and huge corporate bullies to keep everything well maintained and running smoothly, shit will start breaking down! And when that happens, you have to have tools to fix things. Just my two cents worth, and its probably worth only half of that! Cheers JJ
DISPOSABLE DIAPERS!!!!
I once paid $5 for ONE DIAPER at an airport from a fellow parent (that was before they had stores with diapers in them). I guarantee you that people will barter for disposable diapers especially when they must wash poopy diapers by hand!
My Dad washed all our nappies by hand when we were little. As the eldest I often helped – it’s not hard. I then used cloth for my own son – passed em on when done to my niece. A decent quality set of cloth nappies should last 5-6 babies.
You can make your own cloth nappies and wraps, they sell em online, they are terribly easy to obtain. A dozen or so terry squares should be part of everyone’s preps.
Disposable diapers are a total money pit when the ecomonomy is good + many brands contain some really dodgy chemicals (esp for boys.)
Bartering for disposable diapers? Anyone that silly after shtf then frankly they have no business breeding in the first place.
Dmitry Orlov (Reinventing Collapse) suggests the best items to stock up on are cheap and require a high degree of technology to produce – razor blades, condoms, etc. There really are no substitutes unless you want to try water baloons and sharpened knives.
In addition to razor blades, have an old safety razor or two, and shaving soap and brushes. You can sharpen a razor on the inside of a ceramic cup if you don’t have a strop, a strop being another good item to pick up if you can. The old straight razors, however, are not safe to use in most hands.
Water Balloons ? is that a Freudian slip?
but razor blades is a definite, a knife, ironically, will not cut it
A few Interesting ideas. I hope it is all unnecessary. However, where do you get antibiotics to stockpile? You need a prescription and they don’t have much of a shelf life. Aspirin, ibuprofen, Tylenol, no problem.
If you live in a house in a suburban area, how do you protect it from break-ins when the havenots come looking. Two people can’t protect property for long no matter how many guns they have.
Get a metal 55gal barrel food grade with the top that come off.
It has a seal on it. Put the items to save in it for a emp. Put it in the groung with 6 8 inches of dirt over it.Can put mre, etc in it. if you live where very cold do the math. Water also. The ground stays about the same temp all year. Just think about it. This barrel is only $50.00 here. Maybe a lot more where you are.
Do I need a back hoe to bury them bug out people at 100 yards? Should I buy more flea market tables to barter their stuff? Should I save their bleached skulls?
I can smell your MRE cooking from a mile away
8 million cross the collapsed border, if you are not 100 strong, who has your back? I’m sure China would be here to protect their investments. The golf coarse will be the safest place to be.
t’s important to focus on basics, if you don’t have a lot of money, like most people don’t, to prepare. What does everyone need? 1) Water, 2) Food, 3) Clothing, 4) Shelter. If you start there, and focus on those – you’ll be able to begin this process more effectively.
In addition to the above list, I’d like to add several items for your consideration: 1) SALT. 2) Aspirin and/or vital multivitamins/any prescribed medicines (60-day supply). 3) SEEDS (Heirloom, Organic, Non-GMO). 4) Small, portable sewing kit, military-style. 5) NEEM OIL (insect repellant). 6) EXTRA TOILETRIES – toothpaste, toothbrushes, shavers, shave cream/soap, deoderant, shampoo, haircut scissors, skin lotion, lip balm, sunscreen, etc. 7) Hearing protection. 8) Safety/sun-glasses. 9) N-95 or similar respiratory mask(s). 10) A good book on edible plants. 11) Durable, long-lasting clothing/shoes/boots. 12) For cold weather, use silk base-layer (long-johns), fleece, or wool – avoid cotton. 13) Headlamp(s) and hand-crank LED lantern, flashlight. 14) Waterproof, storm-proof lighter. 15) Solar-powered battery chargers and rechargeable batteries. 16) Atomic clock. 17) Magnesium firestarter, and small magnifying glass. 18) Hand-crank NOAA weather radio. 19) Multi-tool. 20) 2-way radio with rechargeable batteries and 2-mile range. 21) Durable, quality watch such as the Timex Expedition series. 22) Sven saw, or folding saw. 23) Folding shovel. 24) Trauma-Pak with QuickClot (just in case you ever need it). 25) Work gloves. 26) “Boony-hat” or similar to shield head from long exposure to sunlight. 27) Waterproof “otter” boxes or hermetically-resealable plastic containers for cell phones, other electronic gadgets, thumb-drives, important documents, etc. 28) Extra garbage bags. 29) Duct tape (Duluth Trading Co. has excellent duct tape!) 30) First Aid book. 31) Extra olive oil. 32) Extra baking soda. 33) Solar calculator. 34) “Bug-out bag”. 35) Sleeping bag, tent. 36) Don’t forget about extra pet food, for your pet. 37) Extra large zip-lock (slider lock) “freezer” bags.
Don’t waste your space with toilet paper. Use a wet rag then wash it out. Don’t be such a candy ass.
No mention of SALT whatsoever!?!?! Without salt the human body dies. Not only that, food, such as meat, can be stored for long term usage.
For bartering, A bunch of army knives, certainly salt, antibiotics if you can keep them fresh, small gold coins, powdered tea, Jolly Rancher candies, some small candles, if you have the room then water resistant hats, duck tape, sewing kits, bandaid and wound wraps, can openers, socks, gloves, small shovels, toothpaste, toothbrushes, canned chili, babby powder, magnifing glass, wire cutters, spare backpacks, ponchos.
multi-vitamins…
I second what Shane says, multi-vitamins is a good thing to add to this list.
The rest are a fantastic reminder of what to stock up on.
Heres one.. Literature, actual real Books, mainly Educational / trade based Books, Manuals, etc. even on topics that you yourself may not be inclined or capable of mastering to any successfull degree. maybe your neighbor, or best friend, or family member Would be able to, and having quick reference to specs, refresher information, etc, can be the difference between wasting time and resources on a failed fix done from old foggy memory, and getting it done right the first time with minimal to no waste of resources. the human mind is a Wonderful thing, capable of massive storage of info, but its not infallible, and having a source to quick reference / refresh memory with, Could be something of GREAT bartering value, as well as what the information contained could do to make You a more valuable member of the group. such a reference stash wouldn’t necessarily take up a massive amount of space. Mil-spec field manuals are a great resource. covering just about every applicable “survival” task imaginable.
ya didnt here did ya
hostass filed chapter 11 a couple of months ago
A low-budget item to consider is the US Nickel. Current melt value is $1.08 per $1.00 face value (April 5, 2012). These are available to anyone now and will at least retain their face value regardless of future developments. This is an affordable low-budget & low-risk item you can accumulate from your daily change. Congress is considering ending production as some news reports say it costs $.11 each to mint them.
SILVER… haven’t seen Colloidal Silver on here yet…Good for everything …
Also, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE … is good for everything …
… health, water purification… so much. We make our own silver with our silver generator…so inexpensive and easy. Wouldn’t be without them, especially colloidal silver… drink it everyday.
Like all the suggestions… will try many of them.
There are a lot of people out there who do not believe the S will HTF I just hope they dont come by my compound begging. Im almost 60 yrs. old but I can give as good as I get I am prepped and ready. Im new to this site but am happy to see there are so many of us out there ready to keep society on an even keel! Our govt is not telling us everything, at least we are smart enough to read between the lines!
Bleach doesn’t have a long shelf life believe or not, but pool shock does!
Yes… By all means, Let everyone know you have enough stckpile to barter, and then barter to them Alcohol and Bullets. What a great combination for disaster.
I don’t have enough room to stockpile stuff, I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, and the stuff I have hoarded, well, my family think I’m nuts! But I have served with my countries military and I am an expert in survival and leadership, not to mention a weapons and explosives expert, lol. I have realised that we are heading for something major! Seriously people, you don’t need to buy lots of expensive items that are offered to you, these items are a waste of money that will break as soon as you use them. here’s a tip, buy military grade and surplus equipment, and buy a decent survival handbook which you will need to study, stock up on Ration packs, dried pasta and rice, powdered egg, powdered milk, condoms, freeze dried noodles and anything else you like. Your life is in your own hands. Hope you guys survive, live well my comrades!
Machetes are a good thing to have for preparing meat,cook-prep chopping tree limbs, home defense. Thousands of uses and make great bartering item. You can buy them (good ones) at Harbor Freight Stores for a mere $4.50 each. Imagine if you had just 6 of these to trade!
You can make a homemade one by using a old lawnmower blade.
Just duck-tape cardboard to handle on one end and file sharpen. Boil any water you find for 10 minutes min. Add 7-drops of bleach per gallon run thru cheap coffee filter and pour back and forth to get rid of chlorine taste.
Good Luck to all……
Don’t forget to buy seeds or grow organic and save seeds from those plants. Also essential oils, herbs, in case you are unable to get to a doctor.
First aid kits stocked with everything from tweezers to quick clot, simple bandaids, basically everything from A to Z. also don’t forget a very good book on first aid,lifesaving techniques . Parrafin, tarps, Scotchguard,things to keep little hands busy..coloring books, crayons, small toys,card games etc..
Please, do “NOT” recommend “ANY” type of “ALCOHOL” for poison ivy. Hope you did not get that tip, from a hiking book guide. It will only make it spread. Perhaps not, if you are barely allergic. But if it is a problem for you, what a way to spread it and suffer. Use Fels-Napha soap. Fels-Nappa. Not sure the spelling, but get it in the laundry detergent isle. Old fashioned remedy. Stops spreading overnight. Dries blisters pronto. Lather, rinse, lather and leave on. Do not rinse off. That is the trick. Use a thick lather to leave on. Stops itch immediately. Three times daily, or when needed.
Anyone thinking of hoarding cigarettes had better smoke. 🙂 The shelf life is only a year. The chemicals they use to make them burn degrade the paper. They make nice sparklers. They also have worms in them. Not all. After a year or two you could have an empty pack of filters.
DIAPERS, Baby Wipes(which can serve under the soap function)… and Formula..
Here are my ABC’s
A Ammo
B Bottled water
C Canned food
D Drugs/meds
E Electricity
F Fuel
G Gas/Diesel
H Hideout
Everyone needs food, water and security… you had better make sure you have yours. Eventually the breakdown of law and order and poor sanitation will be a problem for the most prepared.