consuming to invest 8

CONSUMING TO INVEST 8

Wool Clothing

Most folks hate wool.  I can’t imagine why.  I mean, man-made materials are so much better at keeping you warm even if they are bulkier, rip easily and as a bonus burst into flame turning you into a screaming running matchhead if you get too close to any fire.  Okay, perhaps that last point is a bit exaggerated.  Perhaps today’s fabrics, blended, are less of a fire danger.  Less is still some, though, isn’t it?  I prefer to stick primarily with wool with an outer cotton shell as a windbreak.  Cotton doesn’t keep you warm, however.  That was the whole point in wearing it, why England took off financially.  In warm, warmer and warmist climates, cotton is king.  But away from the jungle, in cold climes-you know, mostly away from the rest of all those oxygen wasting asshats-you need wool.  It always cracks me up when you see all those helpless urban Yankees in a severe winter ( who could have seen it coming? Oh, and for the benefit of foreign readers, Yankees are NOT Americans, they are the inhabitants of the northeastern part of the country-kindly don’t insult the rest of us ), shivering in twelve layers of cotton clothing.  Try some wool, dumbass.  If wool makes you itch, or if you don’t want to clean it as often, you wear a layer of cotton, THEN wool.  Just like you wear a T-shirt under a dress shirt.  Not rocket science people.  Wool is warmer than you can imagine, it is still effective even with a hole or three in it ( which are easily mended ), or when damp, and it is renewable.  Sheep give you a new batch every year, and sheep don’t eat off of the same land as humans ( okay, they CAN, given a centralized mechanical operation, but they are designed to eat grass which humans can’t digest ), unlike cotton which competes with farmland. 

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If you can’t find wool in your local thrift store ( I have plenty, of the ugly Christmas variety-I don’t mind, after a certain point, looking silly if I’m warm.  I work outside most of my shift, and I’ll happily waddle around in a bulky stupid patterned sweater with a huge rabbit fur Commie Cap on my head, invigorated at ten degrees below zero [ that’s Fahrenheit, you metric using socialists ], unlike all the Yuppie Swine skittering about in clothing far less warm ), try Sportsman’s Guide.  You can usually get wool sweaters for about $15-$20, the same for thicker wool pants ( search under “military wool pants” as those are surplus items ) and their pea coats and great coats in wool, if those are your choice, vary in price but I’ve seem them as low as $30-$40.  So, wool not only saves you money because it lasts longer ( the keeping warmer part is non-financial, but priceless ), but if we all finally heed Carter’s advice-granted, thirty five years late- and wear a frigging sweater inside so we can turn down the thermostat, there is a nice savings for you also.

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CONSUMING TO INVEST 9

Wool Blankets

Some of my fonder memories when I lived in the mountains as a child, besides all the exploring in the wilderness, was sleeping.  We all had down comforters and there was no heat at night, with a window usually cracked.  When you are warm, sucking in cold air is invigorating.  It is also healthier.  Okay, not extremely frigid air, but merely cold.  Luckily, today, there is China ( they do come in handy for half our stuff, even if the other half makes us vulnerable ) and they churn out very decently priced synthetic down filled comforters.  Now, being a kid back then, I was a little snot nosed oven, generating much of my own needed heat.  Now that I’m a heck of a lot older, I tend to get a bit colder on my own.  So I have two or three wool blankets underneath the comforter ( as it warms up at Spring, I slowly shed each blanket until I just need the comforter-then in Summer I only need a sheet, and then we slowly build back up come Fall ).  Wool blankets are NOT cheap.  And don’t buy the cheap ones as they are too thin or they cover less space, or are not 100% wool.  You are going to have to invest heavily in them.  I’d suggest at least $100 worth which will get you four or five of them ( what?  You don’t believe in stockpiling extra?  By the way, I’ve heard wood ash makes a great moth repellant ).  That is twice as much as a comforter, but in the great scheme of things very affordable.  From Day One, you are saving money on your heating bill.  I’m not sure how you go about turning off the water so pipes don’t burst without heat overnight in your house( I had it a bit easier with RV living ), but even if all you do is go from 75 down to 55 ( have a timer on the bathroom space heater if you must shower in the morning ) overnight, your heating bill reflects that quite well.  You’ll have saved that investment the first winter, if not the first month, and it is money in your pocket thereafter.  Then, in a grid down situation, you are already set for no heat ( which is why you also have extras, not just because you need to buy now and beat inflation ) as a bonus.

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