FREE STUFF, TRICKS AND DISCUSSION TO HELP US IN THESE HARD TIMES!

Learn a foreign language:

How is that going to help you in tough times?

Most areas have a small minority community that needs translating as well as English language instruction.

They may or may not be able to pay you for the service, but it can be an opportunity to barter!

Plus, depending on where you are a lot of such communities already have tricks and techniques applicable to your area which they may be willing to teach/share with a person that's willing to help them and can speak the lingo.

If nothing else you end up with a skill!

The best bet is to find a small community, rather than a large one. (So Vietnamese or Korean over Spanish, though that's a good one to learn too, if for other reasons.)

Small groups are more likely to be open if you show effort. Big ones don't have a real reason to be.

Take up all year camping and hiking:

For the giggles? No there are several good reasons for it, if you have the means.

1. It puts you out in nature, where you can practice your survival skills unnoticed. It's even expected.

2. It allows you to scout survival areas on public lands and learn how to go into and out of them at will. Just running to the forest won't help you, if you don't know how to survive there. Far enough out there are places no one will ever look for you. But you have to learn where they are.

3. The police, forest service and so on keep logs of who regularly camps and hikes. Not complete ones, but it may be enough to make it seem "OK" when you decide to run for the hills.

"Oh, that's just Dan and his wife Barb, they always go camping this time of year..."

why hike?

[link to www.hikecampfish.com]

Winter camping?

[link to www.rei.com]

I think the plan for most is buy guns and steal the gold from the goldtards because they were dumb and bought guns. You can't eat guns but you can steal gold with guns. Then the guntards will turn the gold into bling.

The problem with theft as an economic survival strategy is that, historically speaking, the hard times end and a legal system is always left in place.

The police will cling to their jobs in a depression, like anyone else, and prisons always do booming business in hard economic times.

I can understand desperation pushing a person to do something they shouldn't, but making it your plan is less than optimal.

It's a bit like people that tell others to "just sell drugs" when they need fast money.

The potential loss, of freedom or even life, outweighs the small monetary gain of the moment.

IF YOUR ENGINE WON'T TURN OVER WHEN YOU TURN YOUR KEY IN THE IGNITION, ONE OF THE THINGS IT COULD BE IS A WIRE THAT MAY HAVE COME LOSE ON THE STARTER.

THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME TWICE IN 2 YEARS AND THE LAST TIME WAS TONIGHT WHEN I WAS OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.

IF IT HADN'T HAPPEN TO ME BEFORE, I WOULD HAVE BEEN PRETTY MUCH STRANDED BECAUSE IT WAS DARK AND I DIDN'T HAVE A GOOD FLASHLIGHT.

I JUST JACKED THE CAR UP A BIT AND PLUGGED THE WIRE BACK IN THE STARTER AND WAS ON MY WAY IN LESS THAN 10 MINUTES.

Any advice for someone with dentures? I worry about dad. Once those expire, you can't eat anything expect for something like apple sauce - and those kind of soft foods don't offer much sustinance.

you are a very smart girl. I am just waiting till my ancestors come to get me and take me to a safe place.

This is a harder question. Back up teeth? I know that you can carve your own, which won't look as good most likely, but will let you eat some.

I'd try to work out a back up pair of teeth for him if that;s possible now.

I'll look around if I get a chance and try to find out if anyone has a good idea about this.

Anyone else have anything?

You can make replacement teeth outa gold




.

Making dentures at home:

Don't you love the internet? This is a good site. It looks like it will still cost a little to make the dentures, but not even a tiny fraction of what it cost to have a dentist do it for you.

[link to makeyourowndentures.wordpress.com]

Ask for help:

Not begging for a hand out, but remembering that simply asking for something makes getting it a lot more likely.

If you can frame your request as a potential exchange, then people are going to help so much more often that it will seem like you've gained a mystical power over their minds!

"I'd like you to hire me, if you do I guarantee I'll work harder and better than anyone else you can get. So please, give me the job."

It sounds like an unlikely or even pushy thing, but a Canadian study a few years ago found that simply asking for the job, just saying, "please hire me." at the end caused 80% of the interviewers to do just that.

It's a part of human psychology.

People, being social animals, want to help others if they can, but only if they know that help is needed.

So ASK.

Yes, some won't be able to and some people will shoot you down for their own reasons, but it can make a lot of difference in the end.

Standing on pride is tempting, but if you can make your pride about repaying those that help you when you needed it, survival becomes easier and just by saying a few words.

Death and spiritual advancement are worthy.

I just can't help wondering sometimes if the lesson of life is to try to keep living and doing the best we can? Love and help others and figure out how to manage our lives with peace?

I don't have any secret answer though and can't pretend to. But the idea pops into my head every now and then.

Yeah the wife and I started out poor in a bigger metro area. I became fully doomer in my thinking in 03. We moved to applachia in 04 and she finally got her head around the whole collapse thing. It was easier for me because as an occultist/magician Ive been around alot of harsher reality than her background.

We live in a small city now with under 50,000 population. Ive been an herbalist for 11 years and we dont go to doctors. We rent and pay our bills but otherwise work as little as possible. Years of service industry jobs have left us more than capable of staying employed enough to pay the bills. The rest of our time beyond 20 -30 hrs a week is spent working in our household economy, making medicinal extracts, growing medicinal herbs, foraging for wild medicinals in the warm months, and making supplements to add to our diet. She used the internet to learn to knit, crochet, spin fiber (has the wheel), sew, make her own patterns, recover used wool from goodwill sweaters (we have 200) and generally how to keep us in clothes. We both cook, almost always from scratch and we run our food room.

The food room consists of a spare bedroom (when your doing the diy lifestyle, pay more for more space. you need it to do really anything but work as a wage slave). We put in 4 aerogardens to grow medicinal/culinary herbs. We have a 5 gallon continous brew kombucha tea fermentation. We grow between 4-12 quarts of sprouts a week. This way we eat out of mostly dry storage (year) without compromising on the nutrition ect.

Our transportation consists of bicycles. The bus here blows and we won't pay for a car. I refuse to be a slave in order to get fat. So we have 8 bicycles in what would be a front living room. We have two burley flatbead trailers that we use for groceries and laundry. We use a home setup for some laundry with a bucket, and a metal plunger on a pole. We use the laundrimat in the winter alot. But when times get tight we do it all here by hand and use a countertop energy efficient spin-dryer. We brew our own beer as well.

As far as defense. Id disagree girl. Get a firearm. Or three: rifle, pistol, .22lr rifle. Hunting is hard enough. I am a wilderness survival instructor and an Eagle Scout. I spent my youth stalking animals. Primitive weapons are really hard to master. Lots of time investment. Air guns are ok for really small game but that 60 yd shot isnt gonna nessissarily stop the animal and then your hiking an hr burning calories tracking a rabbit. Not a net gain. If you must go primitive bow is good. But its not concealable. Google sling-bow. slingshot mod to shoot arrows. 50$project. better at defense than an airgun. And if you must go non-firearm, go knives, swords, staffs. Bear mace at 40$ can spray 40 ft.

So its not perfect. These arnt closed systems and I must exist in the money economy enough to rent and pay bills and fund some of these projects. But 20 hrs a week in a kitchen for money isnt the rough life. The rest of the 60 hrs I put into our life has that rythem. Mabe its the Iron Maiden but that rythem isn't WORK.

The word to describe how I did this was momentum. Every new system in our household saves some money that would otherwise enter the consumer economy. The more money we keep from outflowing through diy, the more we save for more capital. The more capital we have, the more money we have that can go to projects and things that produce wealth. Not money wealth. When you get far enough ahead that you can save/reinvest half your monthly earnings, sock some away. Buy some silver coin. Buy a gun. These things hold value. Buy a few months more food. Start a project.
goeticneuromancer

It sounds like you're getting a lot ready though.

As to firearms, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have them, just giving alternatives. Not everyone can have them.

As to air rifles, you seem to be thinking the rather weak store bought ones. Those, the higher quality ones, do have some small game efficiency and are worth getting for that, without the hassle of fire arms ownership if things go south.

But the very high end and powerful ones are different than you might think. Much closer to fire arms in stopping power. (Expensive too, unless you can make your own, so that's a real point.)

I actually use a slingshot to drive off coyotes around my property. I'm on a hill, so I can hit them nearly a hundred meters away (Or near them, their not hugely accurate, not in my hands...) not damaging but a handful of pebbles can really set them running.

My point with that being that at close range a powerful slingshot can kill a man (Used in Ireland for years that way.) without closing on a larger, stronger opponent. Figure that you have about fifteen to twenty feet of effective range.

*Remember, most real gunfights take place between seven and eleven feet! (Battlefield distance is around 200 meters, but don't kid yourself, you aren't on a battle field, your in your yard or the local convenience store when things go down, most likely.)

**And most of the bullets still don't hit! Fear is a powerful force.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't have or use fire arms though. These just back up suggestions in case those get taken away or already aren't allowed. Or if you can't afford them when things come down to it.

Last Edited by Alex A Madison on 09/12/2011 02:14 AM

I see. I completly agree. I spent much time using slingshots and blowguns as a youth. I have 3 mksman units nib in the war room. To store extra bands, remove from packaging and ziplock with babypowder. Keeps em from cracking. I have much experience with primitive weapons, I spear fish, have made my own bows and greased em too. I know how to make and use bolos and a sling as well. I have also been learning about unarmed, katana, and knife combat for years. Not a ninja but I can hold my own. I just think that most people will flip their shit when dollar collapse happens. Its soon. They will react with anger and desperation. I would hate to be in a city of any size when the taps are dry or the food trucks arnt coming. Dont get me wrong I dont have huge firepower for zombies or anything but a 9mm handgun combo with a ruger 10/22 rifle beats my katana, bow, and dagger. (well mabe not the dagger).

If you want cheap anti-biotic and anti-viral compounds you can keep in your fridge:

Grapefruit seed extract
essential oil of oregano
thyme
lemon balm
chamomile
cinnamon
honey
capsaicin (tabasco in a pinch)
raw garlic prepared properly (tricky)
google em.

I make my own. If you can find an herbalist near you they like to trade and barter. But tinctures are online for money. If you lived near me id just hook you up.

and instant coffee is the best styptic ive ever seen (nobleed).

Plain sugar, turned into a syrup can also act as a topical dressing for wounds.

It's anti-bacterial. Not as good as honey however, if you have that to hand.

To make a syrup from sugar:

1/4 cup water

1 cup sugar (regular white stuff from a bag, or any other kind that comes dry.)

put in pot on heat and bring to boil for about twenty seconds the milky color with go away and the whole thing will clear when it's ready.

Then just seal up in an air tight container. It will last for a few weeks before trying to separate.

It's a useful trick to know with a lot of baked goods applications as well.

Those can be another post though.

A hand crank meat/sausage grinder is a must have, for al lot of things.

Perhaps a grain mill too? A hand powered one? I don't know enough about that right now to be useful. I'll see what I can find out later about both.

LOL

Look at everybody joining groups...think about that.

Distilling water:

During the aftermath of hurricane Katrina I remember sitting in front of my television (I still watched it then, I don't now.) in horror as people were struggling with desperate thirst, surrounded by water.

Obviously they couldn't drink the stuff. Flood water is always contaminated with just about every disease imaginable. It's a rule. Don't drink the flood water.

But a simple still or two would have made all the difference.

You don't have to be a genius or McGuyver to build one either, it just takes a heat source, two containers and a cooling coil of some kind. (You can even use a garden hose for that in a pinch!

It will give you pure, drinkable water.

Is it healthy to drink it? Long term the answer is probably no. It will strip too many minerals from your body, unless you add some to the distilled water side of your set up...

(Yeah, rocks. If their clean the water will do the rest.)

But you have to have water!

Here's one example.

Trusting the government:

If you come armed with knowledge and a willingness to work, odds are you'll find yourself better able to handle any given emergency than FEMA is.

Remember how during Katrina they didn't give people food or water, as they were trapped in the dome?

The argument was that they didn't want them to be too comfortable, so that people would leave when they could.

At the same time though, the people were forbidden from leaving at gun point.

Since then I haven't noticed an improvement in the governments ability to handle such events.

So at this time I recommend each person learn to take care of themselves in an emergency and go it alone, keeping a low profile so that the police don't have a reason to come to your chosen position.

*Do not trust the police in a disaster! The very best you'll get from them is a trip to a FEMA center against your will. They may just shoot you, or do worse things if the situation is bad enough.

Not all police are criminals, but people get funny when they think the world is ending.

Last Edited by Alex A Madison on 09/14/2011 12:08 AM

I voted for zombies.

Got to love Zombies! If you can survive a world wide zombie meltdown, then not much will take you out.

Zombie protocols:

1. You have to destroy the brain stem. This is crucial. If you mis that they can still see, hear and coordinate body movement.

2. Bites will infect you, if you live or not, but scratches can too, so be careful when disposing of the body. Decapitation doesn't kill them, it just makes it harder for them to attack you!

3. Bury face down and don't cremate, no matter how efficient it seems at the time. That just puts the infection into the air!

4. When fighting a zombie, don't close with them. It's a lot harder than you think to take off a persons head and if you miss with a sword, they might infect you. People back off when hurt, zombies don't get hurt. Just damaged. Shoot them from a safe distance, then carefully move in to take the head.

5. Zombies make horrible girlfriends. Or boyfriends. Oh, you may be lonely but don't fool yourself. Zombie infection can be sexually transmitted!

(Plus, they kind of smell.)

Escaping from handcuffs:

OK, so this goes into the "trick" portion of things (as in the title of this thread) as I just assume that the jack booted thugs won't ever be coming for good citizens like you and me.

Yeah...

That sounds right, doesn't it?

A few points before you check the link:

First, assume that all police officers and federal agents know these tricks. They're taught to look for them in the academy, I'm certain.

But anyone that's been through any extensive course of training knows that what a person is taught and "knows" is not always what they do in real life. This means that sometimes they may work for you with some officers.

So use these tricks as a possible way of doing things, don't count on them as being a sure thing.

Second, the best bet is always going to be avoiding incarceration. So when possible, follow the law. Or at least make sure you look like you are.

[link to www.ehow.com]

Aquaponics:

Brilliantly efficient. Lots of food for a small space.

Adobe Oven
[link to www.thefoodguys.com]

nice