Friday, November 8, 2019

trash for preps 2


TRASH FOR PREPS 2
Two is one and one is none and five is much better. If you aim too high up the price scale on prep items, you don't get to have two, much less five. That is even less cool than not spending enough. Again, there is Trash on one end of the scale, Premier on the other and there is a LOT of leeway in the middle there. You could spend $250 on a higher end grain grinder, or try for a set up costing half that or a bit more. You can add a stone grinder to a Victoria corn grinder ( HERE ). I just added an electric KitchenAid attachment to my Victoria, as I'm leery of stone, but I know it has a shelf life tied to batteries.
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Should I have just bought the better mill at first? Of course I should have. And yet. At the time my prep budget was far lower. It was all I could do to squeeze in extra Victoria mills. Because One Is None. And I wanted five. Look, I don't think many people can claim to live as low on the luxury scale as I do, to put as many funds towards prepping as possible. No car, to call my hovel a cabin is generous ( even if I don't live in it now ), 25% of calories from whole wheat.
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I have a butt ton of disposable income because I choose to make prepping priority one ( and I already got rid of the wives who didn't agree with that ). And I still choose to buy on the lower price section of prep supplies. Why? Because One Is None And Five Is Better. On expensive items such as land and guns, Three will do. I can afford a lot more ammo, going with middlin quality guns. I can have a lot more years worth of food going bare bares on that ( I have five years of cooking oil because I went with Storage Priority rather than Health. Is shortening disgusting? Yes. Is five winters of oil priceless? Yes ).
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( PS-I don't think I'm far off stocking one can of shortening for every two months. More in winter, less in summer. I kept buying on sale until I had thirty plus cans. I got mine prior to prices going up 50%. You're probably looking at $125 per person minimum, for five years supply. Yet, that is about what your vitamins-C and Multi- are going to cost you. Well worth it, considering the alternative of wild game without fat and scurvy. You can buy one of each at a time, just like bags of wheat. Which you buy a little extra of for daily sprouts, for the enzymes and micro-nutrients )
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Did I buy the cheapest cooking oil? Yes. But I didn't buy it because it was the cheapest, that was just a bonus. I bought it because the crap doesn't go bad, unlike all the lard I had to throw away. I don't mind rotating food, but I also am enchanted by thirty year food, just like those of you buying freeze dried. Five years goes by too quick anymore, and my income keeps going down ( if from nothing else than inflation ). Longer shelf life is better. There are a lot of happy accidents like that, the cheapest being the best.
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Sawyer water filter, anyone? Okay, NOT the best. If you want a filter that does it all like getting out chemicals. Me? I'm not that concerned about chemicals, not at the price point currently asked for. And you'll have to ask yourself, does your filter work on nuclear fallout? You think all 400 of the globes nuclear power plants are going to be safely shut down and the spent rods kept cool? Unless Russia goes Full Scale on her new plant that reuse waste, and buys up all the crap those 400 plants are warehousing, they are going to make the sky glow a pretty green color.
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Now, let us discuss the issue of living poor. Living frugal is not a simple lifestyle to learn. After all, you must reprogram your greedy brain to start to NOT want hedonistic consumption ( survival consumption with the saved income isn't exactly the best way of doing this, because it is still shopping, so you still must learn to go long periods without ). Like all skills, from typing fast with your thumbs on a Dumb Phone to learning how to clandestinely scratch your balls while in a corporate meeting, practice makes perfect. As you are charging freeze dried mystery meat on your credit card, making $30k a year and having trouble getting to the next payday, you can't expect to suddenly Go Frugal.
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I can live on ten percent of your income, buying more prepping supplies than you, AND get laid as often as I wish this week, but that is because I've had decades of practice. I was at the point I couldn't even use free two liter soda bottles, as I had no budget for anything to go inside of them. And it was the best thing that could have happened to me, thrown into the deep end of poverty after living middle class. That was also in the 90's, when you actually could buy enough calories every week on just $10 ( granted, with lots of out of date donuts at work that night ).
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If you suddenly get racked over the coals financially, things are going to be a bit harder, as inflation is about to pick up on food. Have any idea how much corn and soy you eat, unless you cook from scratch at home? Then, right after that we might see the fracking industry die. That's when commodity inflation really takes off. Right about, oh, I don't know, NOW, would be a great time starting to practice living frugal. Make the big money mistakes while you can afford it.
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Like, buying Too Much bicycle. I made that mistake, thinking American Made was superior. Well, not if that Seattle company hates Deplorables and everything from their insufficient paint job to their crap weld job on the kickstand screws you over on the $350 price tag. Better to buy the Wally frame and add on better parts ASAP ( immediately axle grease all bearings-the factory uses thin oil. The chain won't last but about 500 miles. The tubes should be Green Slimed first thing. And the wheels will fail relatively quick. About a $100 total replacement-still about half price of a Chinese frame with Made In America parts slapped on ).
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Or, as per a minions mistake, buying a non-standard tire sized bike. If it ain't BMX, go with 26”. You'll make these kinds of mistakes Going Frugal. Don't wait for a time without resources to fix them. Now, I learned by living frugal, THEN applying that to frugal prepping. You can go Frugal Prepping and that will carry over to daily life frugal living. It is a mental setting, a skill set, to go as cheap as possible while still getting Middlin Quality. You can still spend all the prepping funds, just buying MORE of the frugal preps. You've practiced living frugal, for when-not IF, but WHEN-the economy takes a big squishy. And have a lot more quantity. It isn't the only answer, but I find a better one ( which is subjective, of course-peace, Brother Zero ).
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click HERE )
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note: free for today books.  Not PA, historical fiction.  Looks like something different, Civil War HERE .  This was PA, a YA Road Trip HERE.  
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20 comments:

  1. Yep, making your mistakes now when you can recover easily enough is a good plan. I have heard of people that stock up, yet don't have a grinder or even a can opener. Granted, there are work arounds for both, but why put yourself at that disadvantage? This brings up another prepper saying, "Eat what you store, store what you eat". I don't store much peanut butter because I ate it everyday I went to school and can't stand it to this day.

    Another point you made was timely in the fact I was mulling over if I should get a fallback position property last night. Since you were kind enough to answer that today, I will start looking around. Keep up the good work Fair Haired One.

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    1. I was the same with peanut butter. Every, Damn. Day. Well, it wasn't that bad. Mom was pretty understanding and let us buy a burger, fries, shake one day a week. But the other four days-whole wheat homemade bread with PB. She did try to put a different fruit on it, no jam. Fruit slices did help with variety. So I can't totally blame mom. I ate so much of that crap while not married I hate it today. Never more than two cases in storage. It will eventually taste good. I can still eat that whole bread every day though :)

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  2. You only own that which you are able to control/protect. I don't understand the concept of multiple location prepping unless you are comfortable with abandoning one location/set of preps for another. My preps are all in at my well thought out primary location and when I am no longer able to own that, what remains will be irrelevant and of no further use to me.

    How you intend to get you and yours from town to junk land, and protect both locations during the transition period is beyond my understanding of real life experience. Unless you possess a unique "sixth sense" you have yet to demonstrate I think you'll be leaving behind some of your much needed preps. Make sure the pomade is in your first load!

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    1. I think caching goes a long way solving the issue.

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    2. Agree with ya both. I prep in depth in the country / place I intend staying in, until it's absolutely impossible to stay there. Then, we bought and have rented out a nondescript shed in a slightly rundown industrial area 3-4 days' walk from our family home. Some preps there, checked and some rotated yearly (when we do the 'landlord inspection').

      Since I spend ~2+ months a year in the US, I also prepared there - for ~ a 0.5% chance of being stranded - with bare land and a substantial designed-for-solo-camping buried cache near water. Cost to date (amortized over 4+ years) US$2846*, incl property taxes paid till 2020, food, water, shelter, clothes, hygiene, cooking and (some, 12V) power; *excluding $300 in small bills buried on site. Being a furriner, no guns/ammo which keeps the cost down. And no FLIR :-)

      I check the cache once a year. Once, there'd been a mini-slip with rain on topsoil (I'd dug the cache into a modest slope, too near a drain as it turned out) but nothing disturbed. Reburied elsewhere on the property, at dusk...

      I'm pretty sure that exactly what I have prepared for will not come to pass. But if something does, I have a basis for a response other than "hope the gubmin' will save me, massa!"

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    3. Well, without a FLIR, I don't like your odds. :)

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    4. No flir, o.k. he has all other angles covered well and has a pocket full of moxie. That's enough. Go forth and do the lord's work.

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  3. Bison,
    Thank you for mentioning sprouting seeds and grains for the availability of additional vitamins and minerals.

    We sprout a variety of seeds == including pumpkin and walnuts for our gentlemen and their postrates == then pulse them lightly in the food-possesser.

    We roll the mix on parchment paper to about a quarter inch thick, score in one-inch squares with a pizza cutter, then into the dehydrator or freeze-dryer for a couple days.

    For variety in our crackers, we add honey and cinnamon to one batch, Italian seasoning to another batch. Maple syrup. Berries. You get the picture.

    Why am I a stickler for fresh local seasonal organic?
    About ten years ago, a building collapsed on me.
    Eight days in hospital.
    I lost a lung to scar tissue.
    Most of my time is spent coughing or recuperating from coughing.
    The rest of my time is spent sitting on a nebulizer huffing meds to catch a few more hours of breathing.

    In a few weeks, I turn 68.
    I have zero delusions about thriving without meds.
    Heck, my Number One dog is coming up 17, and she thrives better than me.
    And, 'yes', I intend to thrive long enough to see the local socialists swinging from tree-limbs, crows pecking out their eyes.

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    What disappoints me?
    Irregardless of how much mentoring I do with the neighborhood kids, I can't teach association == watching weather to get extra clothes or fuel or go hunting, tasting cooking to determine which ingredients need balancing.
    That sort of thing only comes with experience.
    And I can't teach experience.
    I learned that from all the old folks trying to teach me everything they knew before they croaked.

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    For frugality, I observe the feral bush-people thriving in their scrap hovels covered with tarps.
    Oregon mud doesn't bother them.
    Oregon fog doesn't bother them.
    Freezing temperatures don't bother them.
    A diet of MacDonalds and Dumpster© diving doesn't bother them.
    Never bathing, wearing their clothes for weeks doesn't bother them.
    Bicycling in sleet, soda-pops instead of clean water to drink.
    Thriving in constant fear of LawEnforcementOfficials or other ferals stealing every scrap of accumulated rubbish ... or whacking them for spare change.
    What am I missing?
    Am I too much 'Neanderthal' (family and community oriented) but too little Homo Sapien (Black™ Afrikan incapable of empathy or long-term planning, "bred for breeding and fighting")?
    Is everything I love destined to be consumed by the locusts? Destroyed in fits of locust jealousy.

    What if socialists are right?
    What if the worst 'f-bomb' is 'freedom'? Or 'free-will'. Or 'friends'.
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    [Rhetorical rant over.
    You may return to your regular programming.
    I'm heading to the range.
    To confirm my zeros.]

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    1. "Bred for breeding and fighting" and "community, planing" are equally valid survival strategies. Location and timing, however, determine their success at any one time. Even in Africa, sub-Saharan, there were times when higher organization thrived. Might make a good article.

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    1. Awesome skills, for a young man only. Due to living in the good old USA us older folk for the most never experienced tough times like the youth of today. I'm much better off spending my time working for the man and stockpiling.
      But there's no doubt your learning invaluable skills and moxie.

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    2. We haven't experienced tough times as in, "collapse-lite", but it has been a time of constant decline ( unless living part of the 9%, then it is only "first world problems" ). Middle age Whites are the highest suicide rate of anyone, surpassing Feather Indians. That should tell you something.

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  5. During the so called great recession, I seen many a household fold up and flee, departing behind a plethora of merchandise. It was enough for a third worlder to set up a whole another household. There is enough chock full houses and stuffed storage units to keep collapsers busy stripping things down. The smarty pants minions will know how to winnow to the bone the last of the empire's assets quickly and efficiently. Be swift with carting things off like an ant carrying a leaf nine times your size, and be most joyfull in your work the whole time.

    When your hungry, scavenging, and pissed with some vinegar by default, there is no looking down the nose on low people stuff, as you are now there as well. Better something than nuthin'.

    Good work Jim kepping folks grounded.

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    1. The only problem with our "disposable society" is that mostly all the crap filling a house is worthless for resale. What assets? But great for those of low standards.

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    2. Yeah, appliances aren't designed to be repaired any more, they are meant to be replaced. Fastenings which aren't made to be tightened back and all.

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  6. Your commercial water filter will filter fallout. Fallout is just dust that's now "hot." Dust is a large particle compared to the micron rating of commercial filters.

    How far of a walk is it to your closest pine tree or pinon pine forest area? For fresh vitamin C. I wonder if it would be legal to go to a pinon pine forest, dig up the smallest pine you could find, and transplant it at your lot? They grow very slowly though. Nevada used to have a lot more areas of pinon pine forest, but they did a lot of clear cutting for fuel, building materials, and timber shoring for the mines back in the 1800's.
    Romans 14:11

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    1. I think we are breathing that crap in. Perhaps not enough from Fuki to bother with ( although I have my doubts as they closed down monitoring stations right after the accident ), but certainly as they all go tits up. I think Pinions are as close as the nearest mountain, in any direction. Pretty sure that's what I'm seeing-look like giant sage brush.

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  7. You mentioned living on “ten percent of your income.” Could you possibly do a break down of your most basic expenses? I’m especially interested in your food costs.

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  8. I'm pretty sure I said "under half". I give NOL $100 a month for electric, hot water, Internet, Netflix. Most months I don't even get up to $100 in food. Breakfast is oatmeal-I splurge of flavored instant, $4.50 a month. Also, whole wheat, smidge of butter. So is brunch. I'm going to call the wheat about $2 a month. $3 in butter? $10 a month for breakfast. Lunch is usually leftovers. Dinner, $2 at most. Meat is bought only on sale, the freezer downstairs holds six months worth. 79cent chicken, 99cent pork ( I imagine those days are over now, with Chinese Barnyard Flu ) and $2 hamburger. Potatoes three times a week. Sometimes four. A bit of rice and noodles. Veggies or fruits are once a day, all I crave. Maybe $15 a month. Call it $15 misc. And that is without the Food Bank replaces any of the starches or whatever. I'm not putting the miles on the bike I used to, and haven't bought a part for that other than innertubes for some time. Call it $25 a year for the bike. $15 in shoes ( soccer slides ) and maybe another $20 in socks, underwear, used shirts from the thrift store. My $15 hair trimmers last 5-10 years. Soap is about $10 a year if that ( Zote bars, cut into quarters ). Another $10 in razors, toothpaste ( tiny amount of paste to hide taste of big glob of baking soda ) and etc. Most of my reading is free or at most $10 a month KU ( I have a good 2k waiting to be read, in stockpile ). That is about it. Everything else can go to preps.

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