In a post-apocalyptic world, value will not be defined by money but by things that are in short supply or simply don’t exist. So what defines the value of something?
- Is the item necessary for survival and is the item something that will help with long term survival, or does it just meet immediate needs?
- Is the item a luxury item? These are items that make life easier or may come in handy but are not necessary for surviving. However, these types of items will still have value.
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Trading or barter will become the new standard for commerce. But it does bring some danger, which is why you should never trade alone. In this video, Serious Survivor discusses the ten categories of things that will remain valuable even after the end of the world as we know it.
Here’s his list:
- Feed and seed
- Seeds and farming experience
- Animal husbandry, hunting and fishing skills.
- Beans, rice, flour and sugar
- MRE’s or Meals-Ready-to-Eat.
- Canned foods and foods with similar long shelf life.
- Water & Purification
- Water purifying bottles and Lifestraws.
- Water purification tablets and chemicals.
- Water pump/filter combos.
- Large water filtration devices.
- Water storage devices.
- Medical, First Aid and hygiene.
- Survival Tools and Gear. Consists of items that allow you to survive on a fundamental level in any environment.
- Clothing and accessories.
- Boots and shoes.
- Cold or harsh weather clothing.
- Undergarments and socks.
- Tactical clothing and body armor.
- Normal wear shirts and pants.
- Electricity
- Power itself. Generate the power with the devices and use it in trade to recharge batteries.
- Solar power.
- Hand cranked and pedal/physical power generation.
- Batteries and storage
- Wind turbine.
- Alcohol
- Having both the knowledge and equipment to produce alcohol.
- Stockpiling
- Tobacco
- Growing tobacco is ideal because it is a sustainable resource.
- Storing or stockpiling tobacco products.
- Fuel
- A gasifier is a device that can be built to produce both LP gas and liquid fuels.
- You could construct an agitator that keeps gas pressurized and moving in a container for long-term storage.
- Storing fuels is an option but extended storage of 3 years or more can be an issue.
- Weapons and Ammo
- Firearms will be one of the most valuable items.
- The Repair and building of firearms and the knowledge and tools will be of high value.
- Ammunition and production.
- Bladed weapons such as knives, swords, machetes, axe or hatchet.
- It’s not just about firearms. Bats, clubs, steel poles, anything on hand that can be used for self-defense.
Watch the video below for more details on what and how to barter after the end of the world as we know it.
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There is a certain amount of skill and training require to safely us hatchets and short handled weapons/tools, but the have been used effectively for hundreds of years.
Hatchets are extremely dangerous to you, as a tool and as a weapon. Slip or “miss” when you swing it and your arm plus a hatchet means your knee / leg is seriously wounded. If you need a hatchet, you really need an axe with some wedges. If you need wood, you need a double-razor toothed pruning saw, preferably a long one or a folding buck saw.
Heating with wood means splitting trees, not burning branches. Prepare with wedges, a splitting axe and a good saw and felling axe. If you burn pine, prepare for a creosote fire in your chimney or figure out how to prevent it.
The number one thing to remember about disease is that the dead smell bad but they don’t spread most disease, disease is spread by the living when sanitation has a catastrophic breakdown.
When bartering comes up as a discussion – the question needs to be asked >>> What would a fully prepped & prepared prepper be bartering for in exchange of his priceless gear & goods??
One thing for sure is skills and/or knowledge he doesn’t currently have and needs >>> and that makes knowledge another highly barterable commodity that almost everyone will be needing – a Survivor Library for anyone?
Your best bet in a downturn of any sort is avoidance. Don’t engage and put yourself and possibility others in situations. Stockpiling of any sort is a good idea. You should be able to get into where ever you are but at the same time others should not know about where your at, aka invisible. Food, shelter, water, clothing aka the basic’s are in order with access to sources. Educate yourself for now and in the future of keep on keeping on. You will have to do a lot of things that previously you took for granted. Stay aware and informed. Note to isolation and how to psychologically handled it yourself. Our society tends to be to much of a collective with to much we’ness.
I don’t use any social media, my space etc. email is all I have. There was no place for comments on your list of necessary items after the implication of martial law.
The number one issue is disease. In pre-industrialized American wars disease killed roughly thirty percent of our army, actual combat was closer to one percent. We will be in a non-industrialized scenario and can expect similar numbers because of the population size and contagious diseases. As people die off flies will carry disease if the bodies are not taken care of.
A major concern you did not address is hygiene. People need to potty. The homeless in California display this. There needs to be places to take care of this and the number one item not on your list is potty paper. Water, food, shelter are all necessary but body function responds regardless of those needs.
Another item I have for trade is coffee. I have alcohol to trade but not tobacco. Weapons and ammo can be taken from the dead, resupply will not be an issue.
You have a good list. Tillable land is required with adequate tools to farm with. Bugging in in urban and most suburban settings is just not doable. People with that mentality will be out of the food chain.
Entertaiment. You forgot entertaiment.
Books& magazines, board games, stash of SUDOKU or crossword puzzles, songbooks..
Those will be valuable, as they definitely fall into the cathegory of things needed for survival.
Because they alleviate boredom. They make you temproarily forget the deppresing state of things. Because they allow to teambuild & share (except monopoly, of course).