Barter Currency

Barter currency could eventually mean the difference between being comfortable and healthy during an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it (TEOTWAWKI) scenario. The ability to barter could replace the dollar as a medium of exchange, as trade for goods and services become the norm.

With that in mind there are a few things about barter that you need to know. Like what is meant by “barter”? What is used in barter? We will answer to those and other questions about the world of barter and barter currency. Continue...

Old World Skills

If you were faced with a disaster survival situation, what old world skills do you have that would help you survive? Better yet, what skills do you have that would make you a valuable asset to a community of survivors?

Just because one is skilled in today’s world of high tech and high finance, doesn’t mean that they will be a desirable survival partner. In fact, in a true survival situation, the homeless person on the street will have a better chance of surviving than the silver-spooned, trust-fund baby who has lived his entire life enjoying the benefits of living in a modern high-tech world.

What kind of old world skills should one learn in order to survive in a TEOTWAWKI situation? Continue...

Build Your Survival Preparedness Library

Have you begun to build your survival preparedness library? If your answer is "No" or "what's that?" then you might want to read on. If you are like so many people, me included, anytime I want to know something I "google it".

I absolutely love the wealth of knowledge available instantaneously with just a few keystrokes. However, I do realize that there is one drawback to that "microwave" convenience...it relies on power...juice...electricity.

"So?" you ask. Have you considered how you will access all that wonderful information once the power goes out, which is highly likely in a real SHTF or TEOTWAWKI event. If not, then you still have time to do something about all that knowledge that could be lost.

You can visit your local bookstore, hoping they will have books on all the different types of information you want: sustainable living, gardening, animal husbandry, medicinal plants, edible wild plants, tanning hides, etc., etc. Of course, when the bookstore doesn't have what you're looking for, they can always order it for you.

You can visit Amazon.com and some of the other online bookstores and look for some useful books; trying to figure out which books will have the exact information you need. Of course, there is the wait involved waiting for snail mail to deliver your purchase.

In an effort to save gas, time, and confusion, you are invited to begin building your survival library in a matter of minutes. We have a growing selection of ebooks and eguides available for immediately download. With a few keystrokes you can download and print off some very useful information.

Here are just a few of the titles:
"What Will You do in the Coming Pandemic" free when you order a Survival Silver Generator
"Medicinal Plants, Wild & Cultivated"
"Real Wilderness Survival Tips from the Books of Louis L'Amour"
"How to Create Your Own Survival Meals-Food Dehydrating for Bug Out"
"How to Jerk Elk Naturally"
"Preparedness for Pets"
"How to Butcher a Deer"

We are also pleased to announce a new feature writer, Sunshine Brewer. Read about this woman who grew up living and learning all the skills of her Native American ancestors. Sunshine is currently working on a coast-to-coast guide to edible, medical and utilitarian wild plants, which will be available very shortly.

We presently have two of Sunshine's eguides available in our survival preparedness library.

Get a ream of paper, a little extra ink and a couple of binders and begin printing off all that information you may need in a survival situation.

Old Fashioned Skills for Barter

Recently a group of online workers were asked what skills they had that they could barter with in a post-TEOTWAWKI world. Most answers reveal a practical understanding of old fashioned skills that will be valued. Unfortunately, there were a couple answers that caused some concern.

Answer 1: “I am a licensed psychotherapist. I am trained in crisis intervention counseling, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, grief counseling and PTSD treatment. I believe I would be able to barter my services to help calm people down and reduce distress-related reactions which could otherwise be catastrophic.”

My Response: It is very unlikely that people who are scrambling to survive will have the time to sit down for counseling. Any type of therapy would have to wait until things settled into a semblance of normalcy…and that could take a long, long time.

Answer 2: I am able to get things I want by charming them with my charm. I would be able to get shelter and food by charming the locals, as well as using my intellect to convince them it is better to keep myself around than to not.

My Response: Male or female, this person is in for a rude awakening! Charm is NOT a skill; it is an excuse to avoid learning to be useful to society, which just makes such a person nothing but a leech. In a post-TEOTWAWKI world, such leeches will either find themselves on the back end of a shovel digging latrines or flat on their back being used in a less-than-charming way.

My advice would be to consider developing old fashioned skills that would be worth something and make you a valuable asset to any group.

Most Valuable Skills Post-TEOTWAWKI

In a post-TEOTWAWKI (aka: the end of the world as we know it) world, people may find that hobbies and interests that were just ways of passing the time or relaxing when the world was “normal” will suddenly be what helps then survive or contributes to the survival of others.

Here are just a few hobbies that you might want to learn something about:

Basketweaving
Soapmaking
Candlemaking
Gardening
Weaving
Knitting/Crochet
Moonshine/beer/winemaking
Hunting
Fishing
Hide tanning/leather working
Trapping
Welding
Blacksmithing
Gunsmithing
Pottery
Woodworking
Metalworking

With a little thought you will begin to look at your hobbies as something that could be a survival skill or something with which you can barter for food and other goods. If you have a hobby that currently is dependent upon electricity is there a way that it can be done without power? Is it a skill that in the past was actually a living skill, such as weaving and blacksmithing, that you might need to learn more about to be able to do it without modern conveniences. For instance, if you weave, do you know how to build a loom or a spinning wheel?

If you know how to shear sheep for their wool, do you have the tools to do it if the power goes out? Those that raise sheep, might want to consider how you are going to sheer those sheep to retrieve that valuable wool if you don’t have those electrical clippers.

Just a few things to consider.

Most Useless Profession Post-TEOTWAWKI

What current profession or occupation will be totally useless in a post-teotwawki world? If “the end of the world as we know it” should occur (“when” might be a better word to use) do you have a profession or occupation that would be absolutely without value?

Since the focus would be on survival, it is very unlikely that professions that currently deal with money, entertainment or law would be much use. Also jobs that are dependent upon electrical power would be “dead in the water”.

Here are just few that I came up with.

Mental health workers (psychiatrist/psychologist/psychotherapist) – some of the first people to die in a TEOTWAWKI event will be those without the internal, mental and emotional, stamina to adjust and survive. The ones that do survive will be too busy scrambling for survival, to seek professional help.

Politicians – I would advise all politicians to keep their previous profession a secret as there will be many people looking for a scapegoat.

Lawyer
Real estate broker
Mortgage broker/Banker
Actor/Actress
Car sales
Computer programmer/software designer
Stockbroker

Anyone with these professions would be advised to take up a hobby that would translate into a skill that would contribute to survival either directly or as a barter skill to obtain those things you might need to survive.

Most Valuable Profession Post-TEOTWAWKI

Have you ever stopped to think about whether or not you have a profession or job that would enable you to survive in the event of a TEOTWAWKI (aka: the end of the world as we know it)? Such an event would result in a complete loss of power, which means: no computer, no gas, no refrigeration, no communication…

Here are just a few that I came up with:

Doctor/Nurse/EMT – anyone with medical training will be extremely valuable
Veterinarian – both for animals and humans
Dentist
Teacher – children will still need to be educated
Farmer/Rancher – anyone with the ability to grow food
Hunter/Trapper
Cook
Seamstress
Barber
Herbalist
Mechanic
Plumber
Botanist

If you are in one of those professions or occupations you may want to consider what you can do now to get prepared for such an event. Are there additional skills you need to brush up on to allow you to continue to perform your job without the use of electricity? Are there some tools you should have on hand in case the power goes out?

Think about it…I am.

Ragnar Benson

Who or what is Ragnar Benson. Well, he’s the author of several survival and preparedness books, including, but by no means limited to: “Urban Survival: A Hard-Times Guide to Staying Alive in the City”.

When I first began learning about survival preparedness all I heard about was either running away to live in the woods, or better yet having a survival retreat all prepared where you could hermit away while the rest of the world fell into rack and ruin. I’d done my bit in the woods and am fairly certain I can do what it takes to survive. However, when I moved to the city I began to wonder how I could possibly survive in an urban setting in the event of a large-scale TEOTWAWKI event.

So when I found Ragnar Benson’s book on urban survival, I was thrilled. Finally, a book that addressed my concerns about trying to survive in a large metropolitan area. This book gives the city survivor instructions on how to get water, find food, including wild game, and how to prepare and store that food.

The book also addresses concerns about how to set up and secure an urban retreat as well as how to approach bartering with fellow survivors. Then based on the experience of others who’ve lived in foreign-troop occupied cities, he describes how to avoid the military.

If you live in the city and are concerned about survival and preparedness, this book is an absolute necessity. For a link to order the book, click here.