Prepare for an Economic Collapse
Filed under
Preparedness
Experts are warning that the economy is going to get worse over the next couple years. If things get bad, and money starts to become scarce, or worse yet it becomes totally worthless, do you know what you will do? What if we suffered a total economic collapse? Are you prepared?
If you haven’t already, it’s time to put together a plan of action.
So what should you do?
- Start Prepping, put together an emergency kit that includes extra food, clothing and a portable shelter (tents, tarps, sleeping bags.)
- Knowledge – Knowledge is key, and now is the time to get some. During any kind of disaster including an economic collapse, knowledge will be your most powerful ally. Start reading books on survival and start collecting information on how to live off the land.
- Stock up on Supplies not money – Now is the time to buy the things you need! I’m not talking about T.V’s or Ipods, but instead buy things that you will need to live and survive in the future. Things like clothing, food, and survival gear will never lose their value, but money will. It’s better to buy the supplies you need now when they are cheap, than later when inflation drives prices through the roof. The price of everything is going up, stock up while you can.
Everyday living supplies will be worth their weight in gold. - Put together a Bug Out Bag
- Survival Laptops – Knowledge is power, but it can be hard to remember everything. Start Collecting as much information as you can on survival, prepping, food storage, and living off the land. Put together a Survival Laptop that stores all the valuable information you find. A small laptop can fit hundreds of thousands of books worth of information in a small portable device that can easily be carried with you anywhere you go. I also advice picking up a small Solar Laptop Charger
that can keep your laptop going indefinitely.
all very good advice. I’m 25 now and ever since i was a kid i have felt something major on the horizon causing the collapse of all comforts in North American society as we know it. once food can’t be shipped around to grocery stores on trucks from afar, what are you going to eat? we people in major cities will be forced to return to nature sooner than later so, yes, stock up on supplies and knowledge for change is inevitable and those supplies could very well save your life and the life of others.
PS. Don’t forget… money will mean nothing in the last days of civilization as we know it but don’t be afraid. Humanity will persevere. If we as a species are to survive we must (and i trust we will) work together.
Your advice is spot on. I just started a blog chronicling my family’s preparations for the coming collapse.
http://prepyourfamily.blogspot.com/
Anyone and everyone should prepare.
Nice article but with all due respect, forget the laptop idea. I say this with the following in mind:
1. Cost. Speaking from personal experience, nowadays it is possible to get a nice (basic) little netbook for around $300 and a 320GB external hard drive for around $100. In my opinion, your $450 would be better spent elsewhere. A collection of books– namely military training/field manuals, as well as medical, agriculture, etc.– can be had for less than $20. The rest of the money can be put toward silver, food, ammunition, or whatever else you like.
2. Reliability. A computer is a device that requires maintenance and delicate handling, and unless you have the foresight to stock up on extra fans, replacement keys, and an extra screen or two (more $$$)– as well as the tools and ability to make the repairs– then AT MOST you are looking at a source of information with a 10-15 year shelf life. This also leads me to…
3. Practicality. In all likelihood, an economic collapse would also result in a complete stoppage of something we all look at as just part of life, something that will always be: utilities. If SHTF, it is safe to assume that PG&E will be non-operational in short order and will not go back online quickly. Unless you are completely solar- and generator-dependent or have somewhere to go that already is, then you likely won’t have access to or be able to find a useful source of constant electrical output. You don’t just switch out computer batteries like you would a flashlight, and in order to charge a computer battery you need electricity.
4. Ease of use. Flat out, not everybody (seniors and young children) know how to use a computer and many are frankly incapable of grasping even the most basic computer skills, but reading is something that is easily taught, learned, and passed down from adults to as young as toddlers. If going electronic as a means of keeping volumes of literature small and compact is the goal, a better choice would be a Kindle or similar device– just make sure you know how to rewire the thing to standard batteries when the time comes.
More than having a library of survival manuals or a hard drive full of them, it is important to familiarize yourself with what is actually in them. It’s all fine and great to have a large amount of information at your disposal, but if you don’t know what’s in them or where to find a piece of info in a pinch, then the point is moot. Read up, educate yourself, practice the techniques, and have a plan for implementing the information when it is needed.
Computers (or netbooks/pdas/Iphones/etc) are one of those things that we can become over-reliant on.
You might be saying to yourself, “Self, I’m not over-reliant on technology. Am I?”
Well, If you can’t tell me what day it is or recite your mother’s phone number without looking at your phone, you’re over-reliant.
I think technology is great- having the world and all the answers right at our fingertips is awesome! But, if you use it as a crutch to real knowledge and skill, then you are preparing to fail.
Get a survival laptop. Sure. But don’t rely on it for survival. Use it to supplement your core strengths. You might use it to put on a digital encyclopedia or a number of things that would be impractical to store in hard copy. But, without it, you could survive.
especially now with the kindle, you could have a lot of info and the battery life is soooo much longer than a computer. i would definitely have a hard copy of a few really important things though, just in case.
The Dow Jones was down $198 today, looks like the disaster predictors of the past few months are correct. “Off Grid” reallly works for me, I suggest getting Solar Panels and live off the government-corporate grid.
I take the collapse seriously, only God can prevent it from happening now. My thoughts have gradually shifted from, can I survive? to, do I really want to survive? Everybody wants to survive, right? Well, almost none of my family or friends are preparing, so when the time comes I know I will have to live with the knowledge that even the young will be overcome with starvation, stealing, murdererers, rapest ect. Okey, I put back everything I need, I manage to survive, but for what? You cant trust anyone, you cant grow a garden or even collect water fron a stream without the threat of constant life threatening danger. The simple pleasures of driving a car, eating at a restaurant, taking in a movie, going to the supermarket, are gone. Every fire you build to warm yourself, cook, make tools, bathe, ect is sending a beacon to others that says, I’m here, come here and take what I have. alright, lets say I plan for all eventualities, I dont particularly want to have to kill men, [possibly women and even worse, young people] on a simi regular basis in order to exist. Survive, possibly, really live, not a chance.
If you can make it thru one year in a worst case senario then you might make it if you have a vast knowledge of food production and preservation. Almost no one knows how to do that today. Farmers buy their food from grocery stores and have no more idea how to make it than city folk. Older people had grandmothers that knew exactly how much to grow and put up for survival, but we don’t. I’m a farmer and haven’t a clue, but do know how to grow things. I buy at walmart…
Sam
instead of an laptop i suggest an Ereader like the kobo – it uses far less energy so will be easier to maintain – it only uses power when the page is changed – and with a free program called calibre – E-book management you can bypass the web and put any epub file on it – it also converts pdf’s – would be easier to charge – and is not affected as much as a laptop to heat and grime. it can hold 32000 ebooks and they’re cheap and practically indestructable.
Ok so I’ve looked at so many different “Websites” about S.H.T.F. & Economic collapse. But I run into a huge problem, I’m only 16 & I strongly believe something of that sort of problem I listed above is going to happen, & I can’t prepare because my parents think I’m crazy for thinking so. I understand the characteristics of survival I’ve had experience in such things I know a little over basic weapon skills but that’s the other issue I can’t utilize my knowledge in such matters!!! WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Thank you.
Very similar situation here. I’ll give you a list of what I’m doing (I’m 17, btw)
I have an e-ink Kindle, chainmail, a horde of medieval arms, a few bows and many arrows, a tent, a lawn-chair, a first-aid kit, empty-bottles, survival books, empty backpacks, harmonicas, glasses, notebooks, clothes, and one or two other things that would be useful. I believe such a collapse, if it occurs, would do so after I enter-into college (this fall). If I go to college in Indiana, I’ll only be a couple hours away from a large portion of my family, who live predominantly on farms (and with whom I will leave my horde of arms before attending college). If I go-to college in Florida, I’ll have to make due with starting out sans weapons and without a guarantee of basic needs, which would be a problem.
My main advice to you is:
1. Invest in silver. Even if the economy doesn’t crash (99% chance that it will, just a matter of when), you’ll still make large sums of cash from it.
2. Start / continue working-out.
3. Prepare a survival kit
4. Learn to make a weapon out of anything, as well as how to fight.
5. Learn a very compact instrument (I learnt the recorder and harmonica); this will keep you busy when you have nothing to do.
6. Be very nice
7. Aprenda una otra idioma que ingles (learn another language). This will not only help you to communicate with people and trade / negotiate, but it will also give you a spoken code to use with your allies. Din dit majt Spraga Madjin Mej (I’m making my own language). O, lernu Esperanton; if you’re looking for a secret language that is easy to learn, Esperanto is only spoken by 2 million people, but is considered one of the easiest languages to learn in the world. Also, languages can keep you from getting bored (like when you are performing nightime watches with your allies).
8. Humans naturally have a biphasic sleep-cycle (really, I would argue triphasic), so don’t freak-out if when you go to sleep at sundown you wake-up around midnight before going-back to sleep. Also, in the English language, the first sleep is called “beauty sleep” (although the term’s meaning has been perverted since the invention of electricity).
9. Make friends. Amigos. Amici. People who will back you up in a fight. Hell, even start a micronation. Have a civilization formed before the collapse. I started my own micronation two years ago.
10. If you live near water, for God’s sake: learn to fish! Make fishing poles from scratch, make a boat from scratch, etc.
11. Get-over the notion of showering daily. The Norse did it once weekly; the British did it once or twice yearly. There used to be a joke about losing children in dirty bathwater…
12. In tandem with #11, get used to dirt. Also, get some leather gloves. Oh, and a few pocket knives.
These are a few things you should be able to do. At the very least, following these steps, you should be able to be at least a well-prepared forager, as well as more in shape than your competition.
Natural selection, bitch.
me and my dad just started to prepare for an economic collapse. if you are here are the things you will need medicine,water,caned food,an electrical box,a gun,flashlite,batteries,matches,and a radio. good luck :]
this is exactly why me and my husband became consultants to sell freeze dried food and emergency supplies with shelf reliance. not only are we getting our family prepared, were helping others. it never hurts to have extra food around and if something does happen, you cant eat gold and silver! if you dont know how to get started, check out my website. you can get what you need, or find out how you can help others prepare and make some extra money too! thanks!
Hi awake people, I’m in the UK and there seems to be a monopoly on freeze dried food here. There is only one company (listed at the top of google results) who takes it seriously and I ask WHY? is it not bloody obvious what is happening. We are being led up the garden path of debt,government handouts & supermarket/food dependence. When this comes crashing down the scale of mayhem is unimaginable.
Food is going to be of life/death importance if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail