On the other side were people who think gold and silver are the one and only things to "hoard" as people can't live trade with bullets and band aids, easily. These people believe its better for them economically to have gold and silver. Never mind the food. You can always buy food with an ounce of gold. And yet Wendy Dewitt states that would be the most expensive meal ever to have been bought. An ounce of gold for a can of soup! A subgroup thinks silver is better than gold because it is cheaper. It's still the same issue. If you don't have food you won't survive.
Another group thinks that food and only food should be "hoarded". In this manner they will live a lot longer and can trade for goods needed in the future.
One group proposes stockpiling needed goods for future use to trade after the collapse of civilization. I've seen men state they plan to stock alcohol, marijuana and/or tobacco to trade/sell. Those men have been warned that addicts will NOT offer to trade, simply steal or worse kill and take what they think is rightfully theirs. I see other people, both men and women, state they will stockpile less conspicuous items such as hygienic supplies, clothes, shoes, sandals, etc... for trade. These items fall under the legal radar. Everyone has shoes. Everyone has clothes. Everyone has household items such as; dental kit, combs, brushes, can openers, utensils, etc...
One last group says, "once you trade everything you have stockpiled what are you going to do next? How will you trade? You need a skill that everyone needs but few know. Sewing, knitting, bullet making, shoemaking, gardening, smithing, candle making, soap making, etc... Entrepreneurship.
In my opinion. The best one is all around. However, I don't think people saw complete evacuation from everything we know and love as plausible---except Mr. Bullets-Bandaids he knew.
•But he wasn't allowed to bring his weapons with him.
•Mr. and Mrs. Mercantile may have had stashes here and there but I doubt they were able to bring it over to the site. If they're lucky; maybe they bought a lot of combs from the store. 20 combs for one unit of payment.
•Ms. Crocker never had a chance to bring her dry goods on this trip. Only what they gave us. Maybe she can teach everyone recipes.
• Mr. and Mrs. Engineer-Entrepreneur seem to be handling the situation the best. They have their life skills knowledge. They can use it or teach it. All they need are a few tools. They can trade it for food, merchandise or skill. They still need food to survive.
So....
• Where do I fall? What's my preference? How prepared was I? Well, I had been storing canned food for a while at my place. I had a GO BAG made which I wore wherever I went. The day they picked me up I was wearing it. I learned how to knit and sew. I learned to bake and cook from scratch, not frozen. I learned to play a few songs on a recorder.
I did stockpile a few things to barter with. Most of it was at the house when I was picked up. Fortunately my backpack had a few things in it for trade as well. I kept my items VERY LIGHT knowing the bag would be carried on my back.
• A 75 ct. bag of floss paks
• 20 ct. bag of family combs
• 18 ct. bag hair elastics.
• A recorder to entertain people for trade
• Stories to read and tell people for entertainment. (See journal)
• Lots of seeds to garden with and then trade the produce for items. I had them wrapped tightly in zip locked bags.
• A thin homemade, water proof, reference journal to fall back on. I'll talk about this more in another entry.
• My tools. Sewing kit and knitting needles. Small kit. I got another kit at the store the day of evacuation.
• Self defense. Martial arts, knitting needles, and now defunct house keys. I have a multitool kit I keep in my pocket.
My skills?
• Knitting hats and scarves
• Sewing scrubs and feminine towels
• Playing simple music on my recorder
• Storytelling
Only time will tell if its enough. At this point EVERYONE is subsisting.
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