Wednesday, January 20, 2016

frantic preps 3 of 3


FRANTIC PREPS 3
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Selling your processions isn’t the worst way to come up with prep money.  Odds are they can’t survive the end of the grid ( computers, stereo, cars, etc. ) anyway, so why crush them in a desperate man hug and refuse to let them go?  A tiny amount of debt, as long as it doesn’t get added to an already existing huge amount, is a better bet than not prepping at all.  But by far the best way to truly prep is to not spend what you earn on other expenses.  Not spending is far easier than earning more, for the simple fact that every swinging cheese dingus out there is trying to earn extra money and there is too much competition out there ( a glut of pawn items, a glut of used overpriced consumer crap nobody wants to buy, a glut of credit extension requests, a glut of workers trying to achieve a raise when the company won’t even be in business in a year ).  On the other hand, only the former middle class fools caught in violent downsizing are trying to live cheaper.  When the car is being repo’ed and the house payment is six months late is NOT the time to be cutting expenses.  The time is before you have to, when you have the luxury of making mistakes and have a bit of financial leeway.  I will almost bet my left testicle that every single one of you reading this are going to be poor, very soon.  Do the smart thing and plan for that now.

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A week ago Wal-Mart announced a few hundred of its stores were closing ( this didn’t surprise me as they have been floundering forever, even closing some mega stores a shift overnight ).  Granted, most were the failed concept stores, the mini versions at about 10% of the size of the Super Center.  But some WERE Super Centers.  That is all you should need to know about this coming economic contraction.  The pinnacle of the global trading economy was Wal-Mart ( Wal-Mart didn’t start the made-in-China trend.  The Arabs and Peak Oil did that.  Wal-Mart was just the first to perfect the computer network needed to run at a profit while lowering prices overseas manufacturing promised ).  Wal-Mart went from a nice bargain rural chain to shop in to THE provider of Cheap Crap Consumerism, then to a failed corporation eating off its muscle and fat once growth halted in ‘08 ( really, 2005, but there was enough momentum and credit expansion to delay that until the Wall Street crash ) to a desperate pathetic whore unable to attract any customers, a streetwalker whose teeth are all gone and her nether regions attracting vermin, the cut rate prices for a toxic product insufficient to keep her pimp from selling her to a snuff film crew.

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Wal-Mart has been selling worthless crap for years, with close to zero quality, but they still are the last refuge of the poor ( either dollar poor but Food Stamp rich or credit card poor trying to stretch their last buck because their expenses are 110% of their paychecks ).  When Wal-Mart is losing too much business, you know the economy is in the toilet.  In the crapper already being flushed.  I can’t imagine what other economic indicator you think you need to convince yourself to hurry and prep, YESTERDAY ( news flash, this is not a one off company pandering to stupid.  They ALL are run by morons.  Wally at least has lower prices going for it even if the zero quality is false economics )!  You can cut expenses.  The only thing stopping you is a lack of conviction you need to.  The incessant yammering of the trophy wife who has a PhD in Cashing In Da Cooch but is a blond geriatric when it comes to economics should NOT deter you from what needs to be done.  Once your job is gone, so is she.  But if you prep now, despite her objections, you just might keep her once you turn out to be the only one willing to feed her ( 99% of gals think this current cultural abnormality empowering them actually means they are All That And A Bag Of Chips when actually all they are is sad pathetic little tramps, net worth approaching near zero in a true collapse.  Don’t take their nonsense ). 

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Your own incessant yammering trying to buy a bill of goods that we still have plenty of time should also be ignored.  We might.  But what if we don’t?  Normality Bias is still being practiced if you think a slow but steady collapse can last forever.  Before, normal was steady growth.  Now, normal is steady shallow decline.  Either way you are blinding yourself to abnormal crashes, collapses and calamities.  Assume the worst, assume it happened now, prepare yesterday.  The pain will abate soon enough and you will be the proud owner of lessened fear.  That sounds like a deal to me.

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18 comments:

  1. Yes, Walmart described as only the Lord Bison could/would!

    SNAP cards are probably the only thing keeping Wally from going tits-up. Which is exactly how the Saviour State wants it. They are now in a position to threaten stores with ineligible SNAP status unless they comply with some kind of 'state-approved only' products criteria. That will be the not-too-distant-future of retail in Amerika.

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    1. If it is the future, I doubt Wally will be there to see it. The MSM financial idiots are dusting off the old, tired and pathetic excuses on winter weather and online competition to explain Wally's store closing.

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  2. "Now, normal is steady shallow decline." Absolutely. No questions this is totally correct.
    NOLA as of the last time checked STILL wasn't rebuilt to the levels prior to Katrina, and STILL isn't ready for a follow up of a hurricane close to that size. And it has been what, more than a DECADE??? For a rainstorm!!!
    Local collapse everywhere is what I expect from the future. Sudden local catastrophes of the sort that used to be minor and fixed in short order will be make do patched over at best, and most likely never fixed even that well. Floods, tornadoes, fires, landslides, earthquakes, etc. We don't have the $$$ / energy to maintain what we have now, how the heck can we fix it when a little black swan lands on it?
    These and even more local (aka personal) disasters are the most likely face of the coming collapse for most of us.
    Prep with the likely hood of never returning to 'current normal' in mind. The preps you have now may have to last you the rest of your life, never to be replenished. Sure food shelter clothes etc may be there but not enough to prep with.

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    1. NO should be the only warning folks need for black swan events, but since they rebuilt the sports arena, all is considered good.

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  3. Wise words James. I've cut pretty much to the bone while maintaining what is needed for my full time job. At home I have electric, taxes, land note, insurance (I can drop it if needed, trailer is paid off) and yes internet, only so I can read your blog. Have vehicle expenses, groceries, and the big one....exes.

    I've been putting all my excess cash into debt, the mattress, and the occasional prep item. I've actually quit buying guns and started downsizing. Or no cost trades. I have really bought nothing in forever. My truck 2 1/2 years ago. An occasional tool for my side work which is also kind of a prep. I have a 26" friggin TV. I have a positive cash flow and have cut back on side work so I guess that is progress. I'm getting the Dave Ramsey snowball effect on debt pay off.

    QUIT BUYING SHIT and you can save money. Cut the cable, Dont buy a $40,000 vehicle, downsize. Cutting back on one FooFoo Starbucks coffee a week is a joke. I've been brown bagging my lunch for years. I might buy fast food once a month. Eat out every other month. I don't drink cokes at work. I refill a water jug so its free. I do buy 2 liter generic cola cause you cant be a pirate with out rum. Yes I have a smart phone. I need a phone anyway and pay a little extra to read and entertain myself during down time at work. I work security so there is down time. When I pay off my truck I am driving it into the ground. I'm hopeful a Toyota will still last.

    Yes if things get bad I can cut way back, insurance, cell, even internet. In 2 years I could live off my pension. I figure when I'm done paying for my daughter.. 9 years....I'll be able to live on about $700 a month and thats with taxes, a vehicle, electric, food, and insurance. It could be done cheaper if need be.

    Ok, enough rambling. Jim's right though. Downsize now.

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    1. You've done what most don't, planning for living on less. Most wait for the pink slip or etc.

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  4. "I will almost bet my left testicle that every single one of you reading this are going to be poor, very soon.  Do the smart thing and plan for that now."


    I know I am James after my layoff in June. Still unemployed, and at soon to be 52 years of age, have sort of lost hope. Oh, I could probably find some sort of degrading minimum wage job, where my kid coworkers can laugh at the old loser, but to hell with it. I'm going to find a way to work from home, by hook or by crook. Right now, Amazon's mechanical turk is looking like it's going to be it, but the pay will be low.


    The most challenging of all of the prep requirements is going to be land, since even a few thousand can be a challenge to come up with for some folks reading this. After the layoff, I knew that I was in deep trouble, and took a portion of my savings and invested in junk land as homeless insurance. But that's got to be the first step. You could always cache supplies on blm or other public land, and move about in temporary camps, but I do not recommend this after reading about the hippy squatter that was spotted via satellite and arrested for living in a national forest. One possible affordable alternative is a mining claim. The procedure always seemed like a hassle to me, so I never bothered with it. But the filing fee is low (I think around a $100?) and you can claim up to 20 acres I believe? But you have to show that you are producing around $300 a year in results I believe? I've read that you are able to include your own work as this $300 minimum? The drawback? It is not considered a homestead, and you are not supposed to live on it full time.

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    1. Not ideal, but there is always the possibility of a down and payments on your land. E-Bay sellers don't do credit checks, either.

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    2. Yes, I agree that it's not a bad way to go James. In my case, my employability is reduced, and I wouldn't want to risk such a finance, so I paid cash for my junk lot. But if you're a type that has no problems securing employment, even if it is low paying, then this option is fine as long as your payments are not extended over too long a time frame.

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    3. I'd be leery of financing even a $3k lot right now, employment being what it is. But far better that risk than of staying in town paying rent.

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  5. History has showed some degree of an economic collapse every 5 to 8 years. We are approaching the 8 year mark. The main difference this time was we didn't recover we adjusted to the lower economic level. The next one may be a larger crash than last. Chances are we will not recover but again adjust to that level. If everyone could live on 80% of income and invest the 20% in Tangible long term consumables and further reductions in expense's it would barley effect them. IMHO we have 1 more crash in society before it all unravels. I may be wrong. Jims BTN frantic preps gives you a chance. Its like betting red and black on roulette you cant win but you only the chance of losing.

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    1. Just keep in mind that the cyclical business trend is modern, not historical. I still think the English 700 year wheat price trend is more accurate.

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  6. Amen, James. You're singing to the choir.

    I have seen first-hand how folks try to cling to their middle class lifestyle when fired or laid-off. They keep driving to town everyday (20 miles one way), buying stuff at convenience stores, going on vacation to visit the relatives, taking the kids to the latest movie, have large birthday parties with a bunch of useless presents, etc. all while the mortgage and power bill goes unpaid.?.?

    I find it rather surreal, myself. It's like they can't face the fact that reality is breathing down their neck.

    They "hope" that they will quickly get a new job that pays the same and has benefits.

    ALL, and I mean every single one of my friends who has faced this situation, has been clinging to the American dream as they head over the cliff.

    Yeah after a while, they have gotten other jobs but at nowhere near the pay and benefits of their last job.

    As you preach, the secret is to live a poverty lifestyle NOW while you use all your extra money to position yourself for something even worse.

    The biggest help I have found in living this lifestyle -- STAY HOME!!!!

    Don't drive to town everyday and don't go shopping. It seems that as soon as you leave home, it cost you money.

    When you do need supplies, make a list. Only get what you really need and do all your shopping in one trip.

    I have to admit that this is one reason why I encourage everyone to live a homesteading lifestyle -- there is no such thing as unemployment. There is always something you can do. It might not bring in any money but it can save you a bunch. Cut firewood, go hunting, work in the garden, repair your tools and equipment, forage, etc. The better your homestead looks, pretty soon people will want you to work for them trying to get their "honey-do" list caught up.

    Idaho Homesteader

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    1. I found staying home really easy. Gas costs money ( I had the 5mpg truck when it was $4 gal ) and biking is too hard when you did it all week long. Of course, I'm a homebody anyway. I don't really go anywhere even now that I'm living in town. The reclining sings its siren call to me after work and on weekends ( I still need to do something on my days off, but the place always has things to attend to. THEN I stay in the recliner the rest of the day ). Plus, I would need to go up hills to get to any stores, then they wouldn't have what I want, then it would cost too much. Home is my bubble.

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  7. I've lived below my income level for the last 10-years, I have no debt and drive a 13-year old van for a work truck. It's not really all that hard to live on less then you make once you get out o debt.

    I agree that buying quality items is the way to go and that Wally-World is not likely to sell them. But I also know that with most people they shop for the lowest price as the first deciding factor in the buying decision. So I don't think Wally-World is going to go away any time soon.

    And I do shop there, a DVD is a DVD, buy it at Target or Wally-World and it's the same. Just as food is the same there as it is at Kroger.

    I can't really blame Wally-World for selling what 99% of the people want. And it's getting harder to find quality items as almost all stuff seems to be made in China regardless of the price.

    I buy a lot of used items from Craig's List, thrift stores, E-bay and garage sales as many times used items are better made then most China garbage, and it cost less and this helps me live below my income level. And this way I save a lot more money (that I keep in my safe, not the bank) I also have a growing pile of silver and LOT'S of preps.


    As far as when it all comes unglued, I don't really worry about it as I can't change it and I have my preps built up pretty well.

    What amazes me is how well the government is able to put off a collapse, the longer you ignore something the harder it hits you when does happen, I would have thought it would have happened years ago. when it does finally come I think it's going to be very bad. But what do I know???

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    1. Actually, there is a difference between say, Wally and K-Mart. Slacks, camping stove, shoes. They are junk, yet still last twice as long as Wally. And there is a diff between Wally of old and Wally now. Five year plus items now last five months. My latest, their $10 drip coffee maker. It lasts a whopping 3 months. The replacement I bought at K-Mart. And Kroger grocery prices are better.

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    2. If you have a choice between Kroger stores in the fancy-wealthy part of town or the poor part of town, shop for bargains with the rich folks! The discount bin will be full of nice things (organic!) at deep price cuts (ignored by busy wealthy), while at the poor store you are getting leftovers of low-end goods, picked over by full-time poor people.

      If I ride my bike 2 miles NW, I am in one of the most bubblicious property neighborhoods in the USA, while 2 miles SE is a near-ghetto under I-205. Yes, a freakin' death-trap.

      pdxr13

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    3. Down South there are Save A Lots. Always in the bad parts of town. Ours was in the deep ghetto. I wouldn't go if it was too close to dusk.

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