Monday, June 26, 2017

countdown


COUNTDOWN

You know, I know, and Ross Perot knows that the Titanic is just about to go over the waterfall.  The intensity of the collapse has picked up speed.  Crap be getting real, yo.  No need to panic just yet, most of us have been born into this.  The collapse has been ongoing our whole lives and the only thing that is changing is that we are approaching exponential speed.  The fact this has been new normal for us our whole lives can be used against us to confuse and distract us, of course, but we should also view that just as business as usual.  I was born into a dysfunctional society of dog-eat-dog, no illusions like some vomit inducing extra intense propaganda  “Camelot” I have no idea why anyone fell for, some pretty boy schtuping Marilyn getting a free pass on being a sleazy politician, a proto-Clinton, and was never fooled ( I was for a second but the best thing you can do to learn your government hates you and wants to hump you is to join the military ), but I suppose some people still want to cling madly to their illusions. 

*

Even if we see through the BS hype meant to sooth us, we STILL fall for the hype.  Like all good propaganda, even if we see we don’t feel.  We still ACT like the government isn’t our enemy ( oh boy, he’s got treats for me!  Where do I sign up for Social Security? ) even as we SEE plainly that it is.  The lie is repeated so often it is accepted even when the evidence is to the contrary.  Propaganda is not about believing, but about acting even without believing.  I go on my tirades about the federal government, Washington holding volunteers like conscripts or Lincoln hating both Blacks and Southerners, FDR stealing our gold days after his inauguration,  and still you cling to your grade school conditioning and either ignore me altogether or discount what I say with some excuse, having little desire to even think about how all your sacred cows would be slaughtered if you let my little nuggets of hate and discontent nest and fester.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I hate the federals and would love it if you did too, but far more importantly I’d prefer if you just feared and loathed them.  Do you need to hate someone to fear them?

*

Evidently.  You know, statistically, that more often than not your wife will come to loath you and leave you.  And you do nothing about it.  You put nothing into savings, nor do you keep some assets to yourself.  You don’t plan for a separation, nor do you believe it can actually really happen.  Survivalists are like sullen husbands unconvinced their wives, the government, will actually leave them.  They think, like a husband, hey, I’ve been good.  I’ve provided/been a good citizen.  It wouldn’t be fair for her/it to leave me.  And subconsciously, you almost can’t believe it because than your good judgment comes under question.  I won’t say you are in the denial stage, because I hate that metric used by sad sack mentally deficient dependents ( no, douche, it isn’t a disease, it is a weakness.  I was an alcoholic and I pulled myself out of that morass and kept out of it on my own.  No need for a support group or to blame my mental deficiency on a contrived medical condition ).  I’ll just say you can’t face reality because it is too painful.  So, yes, I guess if you could hate rather than deny you would see the coming danger far more clearly.  If you hate, you see what they can and will do.  If you just don’t want to believe, you wont.

*

I hate every swinging cheese dingus out there both intent on screwing me out of any and all treasure and pretending that all is well even as we careen wildly towards the apocalypse.  Those were the greedy whores that set us up for failure by ensuring a systematic collapse was inevitable by putting the central bank in charge, and by wasting a once in a species energy surplus on frivolous trinkets ( tailfin v-8’s and rocketships ).  They are still lying through their teeth.  They would be the pricks who would look you in the eye and lie that an asteroid was going to hit, so as to “avoid panic”.  Do you think a systematic collapse is much different than an asteroid?  For me, hating them works to remind me that things are actually far worse than I can envision, handicapped by incomplete and hidden information.  For you, if you are not going to hate, all I can do in between sermons trying to get you to do so is to try to sway you logically.  You know, “overpopulation meets resource depletion meets Malthus”.  I don’t even see many of you really believing me over the propaganda, but I’ll valiantly keep up the fight.  What else can I do to occupy my time? 

*

So, for those who see through the charade and are willing to believe that the end is indeed nigh, let’s talk about the countdown to the collapse and what you should be doing.  I would think by this time all you fence sitters see the need to bite the bullet, stop planning and “start doing” ( just like your favorite Home Despot commercial telling you to come down and buy a $175 power tool that will save you twenty minutes, then you’ll never use again ).  This isn’t rocket science.  We’ve covered it all before.  But let’s go over the time line.  First, you gather bare bones supplies.  It doesn’t matter if you sell off assets, get into debt, go delinquent on some bills or whatever.  You need to spend $400 per family member on supplies ( for a family of four, that is $100 each chipping in for a firearm, $200 each for a years worth of wheat, and everyone chipping in for ammunition, a grinder, a couple of water filters ).  The reason it doesn’t matter if you get into debt here is because you aren’t buying an Idahoan retreat, a semi arsenal, a bug out vehicle, a FLIR scope or any of the other Yuppie Scum Survivalist toys.  Just a bare bones survival kit.

*

Without MRE’s, a second rural mortgage, a four wheel drive, laser sites, ninety round AR drums or freeze dried yak scrotal sacks, you don’t have so much debt that you need a third job to pay off the acquisition.  Going into debt for that is just retarded.  Sorry, guys, I’m going to have to side with your wife on this one.  You don’t need any of that crap.  But going into debt for $1,600?  Your mortgage is $160,000 and your car cost $16,000.  Why not pay another credit card for barely over what you pay in auto insurance every year, for a lifetime apocalypse insurance?   Buying gold, buying $120,000 Idaho retreats, or even getting out of debt ( if you can afford the Yuppie Scum Survivalist debt payments, you can afford to pay down your debt quickly ), all should wait for your bare bones stash of wheat and a simple firearm.  I know you want your $300 Berky stainless steel countertop water filtration system with particulate filter add-ons.  Be content with a $20 Sawyer filter.  And I understand you are under some delusion that heavily salted and heavily processed foods make up a good diet and if you can’t have those you’d rather not eat at all.  Shut up and just buy your wheat kernels.  You have extra time and money, then treat yourself with freeze dried extras.

*

Being in debt is a lifestyle killer.  If you ever want to be free and be able to follow your passion rather than grub for a paycheck, you can’t have any debt.  If you even want to properly prep in depth, debt is going to get in your way.  But just as not ALL lawyers are scumbags, and not ALL wives are lying cheating money hungry lazy whores, nor is ALL debt  completely evil.  Getting into debt for a VERY cheap piece of land is fine, as that lesser evil of three years payments is far better than the greater evil of paying rent the rest of your life, or until the apocalypse, whichever comes first.  And if you owe the next ten years gross wages in debt, another one months worth is better than not having any preps at all ( again, to be clear, ANY preps doesn’t mean an expensive toy.  It means an inexpensive total system ).  I’d hate for you to get into any debt but better that than complete unpreparedness.  If you don’t have a years supply of calories, your chances of any length of survival time shrinks exponentially ( and yes, you should have far more than a years, but we speak of bare bones here ). 

*

So, by hook or by crook, you need a bare bones survival stash.  That is priority because without that nothing else is possible or sensible.  So what comes next?  Getting out of debt?  Moving out to junk land?  In depth preps?  I tell you to do all three immediately, but understandably you sometimes won’t but mostly simply can’t.  You can’t do it all in a reasonable amount of time.  So you have to ask yourself what is the best course of action in the limited time we have left.  You have to prioritize according to danger, not to preference.  Since I’d say the probabilities are with you losing your job, you must make the best of your paycheck while you can.  You can eat and you can protect yourself in an emergency, so next becomes shelter one step above living in your car or under a bridge ( assuming you have a full cupboard for daily diet eating, but even that isn’t a priority because you’ll need a place to keep that during unemployment ).  Living in your car isn’t the worst strategy, except when you can’t afford gas or insurance.  So then what can you do?  You can’t park indefinitely at Wal-Mart because eventually you get kicked out. 

*

You need to have a place to go where they won’t kick you out.  That can be junk land you pay off as quickly as possible or that can be spending the $400 per family member for bare bones preps for a family member you’ll go stay at ( of course, that assumes the family member won’t lose their home ).  It can be caching supplies in a public park ( assuming you can stay without detection or that cutting funds don’t see a forest fire bake your food underground ).  While I’m in love with the junk land concept, I also understand it is only viable for one phase of the collapse.  You won’t necessarily stay there indefinitely so it does have limited utility.  But it also isn’t much easier to hide on public land anymore, either.  You could buy REALLY crappy junk land and work in a really crappy city nearby ( like west Texas and El Paso-although not recommended by any stretch of the imagination ), or you could stash silver for paying off the car insurance and gas.  Or you could go WAY off the beaten path to retreat to the wild on public land.  Or just bribe friends or family that aren’t in debt to stay there ( in your trailer, so you combine strategies of car living and crashing with friends ).  Each plan has good and bad points-I just think junk land has fewer issues.  For instance, how long during the economic collapse will you be welcome to stay at a friends?  When it gets to be three years into unemployment I’d think anyone’s welcome would be worn out.  Car living presupposes no travel restrictions and no oil embargoes.  And public land squatting is a really primitive existence.  They are all doable, but not preferable.

*

So say you decided on junk land and bought it with a credit card cash advance.  Very poor move, by the way, with a 25% interest rate.  Or, you bought gold on the credit card, then sold it at a coin shop and paid off the land.  Much better.  Or, just pay off the land to the original seller as quick as possible.  Just protect it against bankruptcy by hiding it as an asset.  Now you have a bare bones emergency supply and a place to go to in that emergency.  Either end-o-da-world or the unemployment an economic collapse is going to bring sooner or later.  Should you now concentrate on paying off debt or moving to the junk land?  No, not yet.  Keep working your crappy job.  Unless you are living in a terrible area.  If your city is too big and too packed with angry Black persons, you need to move regardless.  But if you don’t have that issue, just carry on.  As long as you are not too far removed from your junk land.  I can’t give a set amount of distance as you face multiple issues.  TSA goon roadblocks, gasoline shortages or rationing and the like.  Whatever is comfortable to you.  I can walk to mine in under two hours, in stealth mode if necessary ( plenty of foothills past roads or the river corridor ).  I wasn’t comfortable with it when it was 300 miles away.  But you decide. 

*

If you pay off debt, you sacrifice getting more prep items.  Paying off debt makes sense for the economic collapse, but not for systematic collapse.  I’m not advocating getting into debt to prep, aside from the junk land and bare bones stash.  Far from it.  That kind of debt is not good because you are assuming an overnight collapse.  Which COULD happen.  But that is a very low probability.  Sure, a solar flare, an asteroid, a Yellowstone eruption or a nuclear was COULD happen tomorrow.  Which is why you have your bare bones supplies.  You just can’t count on it, which is what folks do when they owe a quarter million on retreats, bug out vehicles and the semi arsenals.  The most likely collapse is the current one continuing until suddenly a tripwire is triggered and the whole thing implodes once and for all.  Between now and then is the issue with staying at friends retreats, camping on public land or the like will kick you in the ass.  So you get into a little more debt for the junk land and have a safe stash and squat spot. 

*

So what else do you need?  Why worry about the debt?  If you want to move out to the junk land now, and live on a casual income, bypassing a lot of issues with the economic collapse, then, yes, you must be completely out of debt for it to be viable ( although, you could stay in debt for driving if you stay on the junk land and commute to work, letting them repo it when you become unemployed.  Just be sure you can live there without the car later ).  But if you don’t believe the system will hold all that much longer, why are you even concerned about being in debt as long as it doesn’t leave you destitute?  I’ll continue tomorrow, on that note.

END

Please support Bison by buying through the Amazon ad graphics at the top of the page. ***You can support me through Patreon ( go to www.patreon.com/bison )***You can make donations or book purchases through PayPal ( www.paypal.me/jimd303 )

*** Unless you are in extreme poverty, spend a buck a month here, by the above donation methods or buy a book. If you don't do Kindle, send me a buck and I'll e-mail it to you.  Or, send an extra buck and I'll send you a CD ( the file is in PDF.  I’ll waive this fee if you order three or more books at one time ).  My e-mail is: jimd303@reagan.com  My address is: James M Dakin, 181 W Bullion Rd #12, Elko NV 89801-4184

*** Pay your author-no one works for free.  I’m nice enough to publish for barely above Mere Book Money, so do your part.***   Land In Elko*  Lord Bison* my bio & biblio*   my web site is www.bisonprepper.com *** Wal-Mart wheat***Amazon Author Page
* By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there

 

 

24 comments:

  1. We all know things are deteriorating still we're living in the same way we lived before. In an article about “the economics of looting” I remember having read that a protest turns into a looting rampage if a signal is heard. Generally, the sound of broken glass is such a signal. Until there is no sound of broken glass in the news or in your general worldview, things will go on with the masses (and the media will go to EXTREME lengths to avoid transmitting that breaking glass sound).

    Now on an individual basis, millions of households are already post-apocalyptic. These last ten years were devastating. On an individual basis, we go on with our routine even though the walls get closer and we feel more and more cramped. However there is always a moment when the catastrophe unfolds.

    I guess it's different for everybody, but whatever happens you're in a completely different mindset after that exact moment.

    My theory is that a lot of survivalists have had such experiences of various magnitude, and everything they do is geared towards this happening ever again. What is “this” ? Not the dramatic moment, but their reaction to it. Maybe they overreacted, maybe they understood how futile their life had been so far, or maybe they realised how programmed they had been.

    De-programming oneself takes time and humility, generally people RE-programm themselves... I've been watching survival videos on Youtube recently, and it comical how every channel insists on how competent he sounds and appears. Generally they have beards or cowboy hats or southern accents or what have you. This is all a show.

    The thing about junk land and wheat and a gun is that it is end of a long journey. Before people come down to that they will carry on in their consumerist ways and buy Freeze-Dried German Shepherd Sphincters and .223 WSSM and Bug-out vehicles and a Molon Labe sticker and arrrrrghhhh...

    There is market for this, you know ?

    Every Youtube Survival Expert will have five videos on “Barebones” stuff, so I will not use this word.

    The word that might best fit what you're advocating is Renouncing. No more suburbia house + bugout place. You renounced that and now live on JUNK LAND. No more spiffy weapons but some crummy gun that you could indeed afford in your new reality.

    Just as its spiritual equivalent, by renouncing things become easier and clearer. Your mind gets rid of a lot of friction, and it can develop further. The side effects of “friction” (“heat”, to keep that mechanical analogy) also dissipates, and you're less dependent on happy pills, happy meals , happy smokesticks or any other equivalent, and then you don't have these habits invading your life like they used to.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very good. I love how you put things-it is a pleasure to have a different cultural outlook. And I'm still grinning over the German Shepard sphincter! Why can't I come up with these gems? :)

      Delete
  2. I'm sitting here contemplating the landless issue, wonder ing if the Mormon push carts could work, and I ask my self just how much does 400 pounds of wheat weigh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ask yourself how many pounds you'd have to eat transporting it.

      Delete
    2. On a related note, my son just got back from "Trek".

      We send our Mormon teenagers out for 4 days in Pioneer clothes, to eat Pioneer grub, and push Handcarts in order to give them a hint of what their Mormon ancestors went though.

      In our area, this happens about every 4 years so each teenager has a chance to go at least once before they head off to college.

      He had a great time by the way :)

      Idaho Homesteader

      Delete
    3. "I ask my self just how much does 400 pounds of wheat weigh?"

      400 pounds of wheat weighs............wait for it........400 pounds :)

      For how much room this takes up, it's approximately one 55 gallon drum -or- 12 five gallon buckets -or- 67 #10 cans.

      Here's some useful information from Self Reliant Sisters's website.

      http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-would-400-lbs-of-wheat-make.html


      400 lbs. wheat = 67 #10 cans

      1 #10 can of wheat = 6 lbs. or 14 cups of wheat
      1 #10 can wheat = 21 cups of flour
      1 #10 can wheat = 7 large loaves of raised bread
      1 #10 can wheat = 10-12 loaves of "quick" bread
      1 #10 can wheat = 10 batches of pancakes (15-4" size pancakes per batch)
      1 #10 can wheat = 10 batches of biscuits
      1 #10 can wheat = 10 batches of chocolate chip cookies

      Just multiply 67 by the number of loaves of bread, pancakes, cookies, etc. and that is what can be produced with 400 pounds of wheat.

      Idaho Homesteader

      Delete
    4. I was assuming that weight question was a typo/brain fart. If you want an idea of volume, just look at a 25 lb sack of flour in the store.

      Delete
    5. So who is buried in Grants tomb?

      Delete
    6. How long did the Hundred Years War last? Where was French Toast or English Muffins invented? What is the definition of "is"?

      Delete
  3. “Or you could go WAY off the beaten path to retreat to the wild on public land.”


    I was kind of thinking of a compromise myself. Stashing supplies at my junk land, but right before the bottom falls out, heading out to the nearby mountains and go way out in order to wait out the worst part of the initial die off. Once population equilibrium is achieved, head on back. Heck, I’ve even thought about just using my land as a storage facility, and just living out on public land full time as a nomad, though I’d probably winter over at the junk land.

    My biggest challenge is wheat storage. I think that you’re totally right to advocate a large wheat storage, so I’m not faulting you there. But the challenge is being able to stash enough to last for many years. I agree that you do not want to put all your eggs in one basket, so this really only leaves caching as the most practical option. But when I think about the logistical nightmare of the multitude of holes dug, and containers needed that will actually hold up for this purpose, I get a huge headache.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I mostly cheated on that as I had already dug the holes for all my underground projects, abandoned them and used them for wheat caches only. And I probably didn't use the optimal storage containers. If you think your ground won't be walked on, shallow burial isn't hard at all. That being the soft surface. Below that, rock-like. But that assumes buckets, which might be less that perfect.

      Delete
    2. There's a guy on Youtube, DIY Camper, that lives in rural New York and when he goes camping he goes for the deepest, most remote primitive camping spots. States he ALWAYS finds others camping in the area. This has been my experience also, even desert camping, but especially in the forest (but less frequently in the desert). I'd anticipate that others have the same idea about your chosen location and will beat you to it. Just as bad, they may show up after you do and make you wish you weren't there. There are plenty of remote or isolated areas around my area, but I've traveled through them enough to believe you couldn't be safe or let your guard down thinking others won't show up. One military guy, on the topic of Escape & Evasion, states, "If you got there, know others can and will." Also, when things get that bad that you're hiding in the mountains, the firefighters probably won't be going to work and your chosen location will either have been burned out already or be on fire.
      Peace out

      Delete
    3. Damn good info to have-thank you. That was WAY off my radar.

      Delete
    4. 10:23 here. I’m in the west, so population densities aren’t as bad as in the east. I didn’t detail my entire plan above, but there was a little more to it than what I posted above. I should mention that I already have the junk land, I just wonder how safe that it would be to stay there when things get really bad. Jim knows approximately where it is, so he might be in a better position to make that determination (I haven’t been to it yet).

      I had planned on avoiding areas that are accessible by ATV or 4 wheel drive. Usually areas that I like to refer to as having the “3 D’s” (Deep, Dense, Dark, woods). This eliminates 80% of your typical American, leaving mostly your fit, weekend, Sierra Club, “reducing my green footprint,” backpacking types, but I don’t see these people as serious woodsman that could hack it for real for very long out there. Supplies would probably be hauled in with a Chinese wheelbarrow, that another minion was cool enough to post about one time. And go way out, say 30 miles or more from any pavement. Even if you could hold out for 3 months, that would see most of the population gone by the time you re-emerged for more supplies.

      I’m also not opposed to staying on the junk land if I thought that I would fare better in a collapse there.

      Good point about the fire hazards though, I hadn’t thought of that. And thanks for the input, it helps.


      Delete
    5. Oh, and I thought that I might add as some inspiration, the story of Christopher Knight, the Maine hermit, that lived in close proximity to others for 27 years without being discovered. He employed my 3 D’s method above, and it worked out well for him. I’m not saying that anyone can pull this off, but the potential exists.

      Good book by the way, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. $15 for the kindle edition was kind of a rip off IMO, but I did like the book. I can understand why someone could hate the modern world, and most in it bad enough to say the hell with it and leave it all behind, so I can sympathize with him.

      Delete
    6. Your general location is the locale that inspired my novel. The gangbangers visiting was completely contrived-in reality I see few people heading up those dirt roads. Sure, possible, but probable? The river is south and east, and the county maintained road should funnel away from you.

      Delete
  4. Yep. Land + ammo&gun + min beans/grain. Then the water filter (you need water to live). Then you improve the land enough to live on, get more ammo, and things like medical/ hygeine/ stocked up. Then you work on the other preps as you can. Debt repayment probably comes in the middle of the list as a prep. You should do it. But like getting a bug out bag ready there is a chance you will never need it dealt with. And it can take away from your other preps. Get those first essentials Land, Security, Food, Water, squared away. Then work on the shelter, and other nice to have things and while doing so figure out and implement your debt plan.
    If you have a years calories, and a debt free piece of land, you are 100% more prepared than most families. If you have preps beyond that your are doing well and should be working on the debt issue (as long as any bank is around they will be coming after you for your debt).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely agree, JJ Grey, in fact the quest for the "perfect bug out bag" may divert time, focus (and money !) from the harder, more complex tasks.

      Bugout is certainly something sudden and often far from home or work. I'm sure if they called it for the circumstance that it prepares against, "Boat People Bag", it would be much less appealing.

      Delete
    2. Eh, I dont want to have to provide physical power to get the filters to work, and I want to keep getting enough filters that I dont have to worry about running out. SO
      https://smile.amazon.com/Katadyn-20720-Gravidyn-Replacement-Element/dp/B0007U011Q/ref=pd_sim_468_4?tag=bisonpress-20&linkCode=_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0007U011Q&pd_rd_r=ZRSQFRFYZMJMK5HCHFF5&pd_rd_w=onDBq&pd_rd_wg=yz5wA&psc=1&refRID=ZRSQFRFYZMJMK5HCHFF5
      Is what I use, using the subscribe and save feature from amazon (some buckets of wheat and beans are also available with subscribe and save).
      There is no reason one couldn't budget $100 / month of amazon subscribe and save to stock up their preps without having to jump through any hoops or worry about forgetting to do it. Admittedly you have to have about $100/mo available to do that, so a job or welfare might be necessary.
      Wheat 5lbs subscribe and save
      https://smile.amazon.com/Non-GMO-Project-Verified-Non-Irradiated-Certified/dp/B001PEZLCM/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?tag=bisonpress-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=998b283dcb957f2d5238999f5e41a267&creativeASINie=UTF8&qid=1498505409&sr=8-3&keywords=subscribe%2Band%2Bsave%2Bwheat&th=1

      https://smile.amazon.com/Verified-Non-Irradiated-Certified-Identity-Preserved/dp/B001PF1846/ref=pd_sim_325_1?tag=bisonpress-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=998b283dcb957f2d5238999f5e41a267&_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B001PF1846&pd_rd_r=PGN7CB3938222HDEBARJ&pd_rd_w=IehTZ&pd_rd_wg=Xz3pm&refRID=PGN7CB3938222HDEBARJ&th=1

      Green Peas 5lbs subscribe and save
      https://smile.amazon.com/Verified-Non-Irradiated-Certified-Identity-Preserved/dp/B001PF1846/ref=pd_sim_325_1?tag=bisonpress-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=998b283dcb957f2d5238999f5e41a267&_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B001PF1846&pd_rd_r=PGN7CB3938222HDEBARJ&pd_rd_w=IehTZ&pd_rd_wg=Xz3pm&refRID=PGN7CB3938222HDEBARJ&th=1

      Obviously order multiples per month if you can.
      Lazier and more expensive than getting from a farmer or going shopping - but also something you can set and forget until you have hit the point you can no longer afford it.
      TP also can be done the same way.

      Delete
    3. Bug out bags, arsenals of guns and scopes, huge trauma kits, power tools, etc. All are useful in potential and occasion, but such expense and effort to do more than cover the basics is probably better spend on the basics - Land, Food, Security, Water. Get those four well squared away and be better off than even 80% of survivalist and preppers. Sure Bear Grills can feed himself in an arctic desert - but how long can he survive if he also breaks a leg or two or both hands or gets severe arthritis? And at what quality of life? Don't you think at that point while eating lichen and bugs off a rock he dragged his body to he might rather be in a tiny shack eating wheat gruel? I do. And when the mounties come and arrest him for tresspassing on the crowns land in order to eat the lichen I bet he will REALLY wish he had land ownership and stockpiles. (PS bear grills is just an example of the extreme skills over goods type survivalist. Skills good, but goods good too - as long as they are the goods that are actually worth something.

      Delete
    4. I prefer the drip filters myself and have some. Sawyer is good for back-ups but also, if you are starting out poor and might stay that way, you can get three Sawyers for one drip element and might be preferable financially. Since you need back-ups, better a few Sawyers than not enough elements.

      Delete
  5. I agree 100 percent with Jim to buy that junk land. I had my own "private unexpected collapse"when I went out of state to help my folks during a health crisis, only to stay for two years, then lost my job, my house,etc. But I had previously bought that junk land and it is the only thing that has saved me from a worse fate. I'm climbing out of the hole, but the crisis had taught me how precarious it all is, we think we'll manage much better than we actually do, and things could get messed up really quickly. Hard but good lesson. This dude is spot on, has been for decade's. Listen to him, will ya? The end of our normal reality is drawing near. If I was just learning about all of this, I'd do this: go on "landwatch" or some other cheap, low payment land site and buy a 3000 lot on time payments, research area by phone talking to local town officials, zoom in via Google Earth, then buy it if few to no neighbors. Average monthly payment is about $230 a month. Then head for it , hit a grocery store, feed store, etc, near your land. Buy your food supply for one year. Put that in a close by storage unit or bury in barrels or Rubbermaid containers underground. Spend a weekend strategizing how to set up tent/camper/shelter. Deal with water issue(water catchment) with tarp off tree, store 100 gallon underground, set up rudimentary toilet and garden, storage shelter for supplies. Cut some firewood and stack. Cut out a driveway that winds around a lot to block visuals. Then practice living out there. It'll be a challenge, esp winter's, but you'll work to bugs out B4 all goes south. Good luck to you. Never be afraid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you're not going to be afraid, be at least very paranoid. I'll check out LandWatch-never heard of it.

      Delete
    2. Damn good deals there-better than E-Bay, although I can't speak for reliability issues.

      Delete

COMMENTS HAVE BEEN CLOSED