- No electricity, no food, no running water, no law. In a now legendary forum thread, a user named Selco tells preppers about his experiences and what he and his family did to stay alive.
- "we traded things, black market worked, few examples: for 1 corned beef can you could have woman for couple of hours(sounds bad, but it was reality) i remember, most of that womans were just desperate mothers, candles, lighters,antibiotics,fuel,batteries, rifle ammo and of course food, we fight like animals for that."
And items you can barter. Or maybe “means” to barter, whether items or skills.
Forgot about this series of posts... haven't read/thought about them in probably a decade? I was in the Balkans just after the wars he endured, and during the active war in Kosovo. But never in a really hot zone, or unable to get out of anywhere. I'm comfortable with the idea that I would not survive an SHTF situation for long. I have also had enough of a peep into that world to know I'm ok being an early casualty.
At the start of the pandemic I took the time to think about where the closest fresh water is. There are some drainage impoundments that are probably horribly polluted, but about a mile away is a spring that has flowing water. It’s probably also polluted but not as bad, and I have a hiking water filter that work take out a lot of the worst bacteria. I need to learn how to use my liquid fuel hiking stove.
My early pandemic risk assessments included: - buying a water filter big enough to purify my family's needs from the named creek 25 yards away that empties into a lake 300 yards away - checking on the two-month dehydrated food supply under the house - verifying the location of my gold horde My wife, bless her heart, determined fifteen years ago that "delivering babies outside of the hospital" was a primo barter skill. She was cash-pay only for the first five years of her career. That gave me time to not worry about crazy stocking up on guns'n'ammo until things got soooper dumb but yeah - that water filter was pretty much the last thing I bought while retail was still open.
Haha not really just thought this was a fascinating read psychologically. Particularly fascinating is just how dismissive he is of the causes of, and factions in the war that did that to them. They seem to melt away in importance compared to the outcomes they produced. You might need to add booze and smokes to your stockpile tho lol ;)
Who says I haven’t? Why do you think I seek so much knowledge about growing marijuana? That shit's gold in a post apocalyptic landscape. Joking aside, when my dad travelled to China a ton in the 80s, he used to take CARTONS of marlboros with him to trade for favors, information, etc. Life’s all about the real value you bring to the table You might need to add booze and smokes to your stockpile tho lol ;)