55 Preparedness Items

[hawgrider]

There are countless survival preparedness supplies (preps) that you might consider, acquire and store ahead of time, before any potential short-term emergency, a longer-term disaster, or even a SHTF collapse.

This list of 55 preparedness supplies is intended to get you thinking about your own potential needs for preparedness. I’ve purposely listed a variety of supply categories – many not related to one another – with the intent of getting you to think beyond just food and water.
http://modernsurvivalblog.com/preps/55-preparedness-items/

[Montana Rancher]

A great post, when I read it I decided to put down my top 10 items and then compare them to the post. There are only 2 items we agree upon which is Salt and Sugar, we obviously didn't get into food and shelter but IMO a lot of the items in the list have high barter value SHTF.
1. sand bags
2. mouse traps
3. salt (the only 1 on his top 55)
4. sugar (it could be argued honey is sugar)
5. Seeds
6. Bleach
7. Gold and silver
8. Lye (similar to soap but you can make it yourself)
9. Green coffee beans (could probably be number 4-5)
10. Batteries
11. Solar power to recharge the batteries

Ok. I didn't count the things before I posted but you get the point.

A lot of the items listed in the "55" I have in spades on a working ranch, but I think my list is better

[Slippy]

Good addition Rancher. I went over the list of 55 and we've had them covered for a long time but a good reminder for the young'uns.

[hawgrider]

Question-
Why do people think gold and silver should be a priority?

I would never sell/barter a bag of beans for a piece of metal. Yes they call it precious metals but to me....... cant eat gold and silver nor would I trade any of my goods for some that is assuming there is a total collapse of the world as we now know it.

Convince me I should be stashing gold and silver.

[James m]

Trading a gold coin for a can of beans seems like a steep price. Literally thousands of dollars to trade for $1.88 can of bush's baked beans with the bacon and brown sugar flavoring.

[hawgrider]

Trading a gold coin for a can of beans seems like a steep price. Literally thousands of dollars to trade for $1.88 can of bush's baked beans with the bacon and brown sugar flavoring.Reading comprehension is everything.

Who said anything about a can of beans ?



You completely missed the point.

[OSFG]

Reading comprehension is everything.

Who said anything about a can of beans ?



You completely missed the point.
Not only missed your point but is applying today's costs to tomorrows need. If you are starving to death...that can of beans is vastly more valuable than any precious metals. And the only precious metals I stock pile are bullets.

[hawgrider]

Not only missed your point but is applying today's costs to tomorrows need. If you are starving to death...that can of beans is vastly more valuable than any precious metals. And the only precious metals I stock pile are bullets.Thank you.
I was beginning to think may be I wasn't clear enough. Anyway exactly my point. To me the metal is worthless. Goods and skills are King. Just where will you go to cash in your gold and cash it in for what?
Just where would you go to purchase any goods with precious metals. Who will value precious metals ? Who will set the price on what precious metals will be worth ....if they are worth anything. Of course this train of thought is still contingent on a total collapse of the world as we know it now.

[James m]

I was attempting to agree. But whatever.

[James m]

Question-
Why do people think gold and silver should be a priority?

I would never sell/barter a bag of beans for a piece of metal. Yes they call it precious metals but to me....... cant eat gold and silver nor would I trade any of my goods for some that is assuming there is a total collapse of the world as we now know it.

Convince me I should be stashing gold and silver.

You brought up beans. Right there.

[hawgrider]

You brought up beans. Right there.Your still havering trouble comprehending what your reading. I brought up a bag of beans not a little itty bitty tiny can of beans. But in hindsight I probably should have said a 50 lbs burlap bag of beans so the post wouldnt be left open to a puny interpretation of a bag of beans which you called a "can of beans for a $1.88 of bush's baked beans with bacon and brown sugar".

And if you weren't constantly trying to bust my chops I wouldn't be doing the same to you...... Life is a mirror you get what you reflect..... yeah something like that anyway.:biglaugh:

[James m]

Ok my point was why stock up on gold that is over $1,000 an ounce. Just to trade it later for a bag of food that wasn't worth nearly as much. It would make a lot more sense to just have purchased the beans before hand.

[hawgrider]

Ok my point was why stock up on gold that is over $1,000 an ounce. Just to trade it later for a bag of food that wasn't worth nearly as much. It would make a lot more sense to just have purchased the beans before hand.Absolutely.

[Montana Rancher]

Question-
Why do people think gold and silver should be a priority?

I would never sell/barter a bag of beans for a piece of metal. Yes they call it precious metals but to me....... cant eat gold and silver nor would I trade any of my goods for some that is assuming there is a total collapse of the world as we now know it.

Convince me I should be stashing gold and silver.

I don't ever like to say Never so here is the point of Precious Metals (PM's)

PM's are true money, they don't have any counter party risk and they have been money for several thousand years.

If you are prepping and have enough wealth that you can purchase everything that you need, then you should take your excess wealth and invest it in PM's as it is a lot better than holding stocks, or bonds, or money in a checking account.

When the economy collapses you not only have your well stock larder of beans, but you have historic wealth in the form of silver or gold. I agree that if you need a can of beans PM's will not be of use to you, but let us assume that the collapse happens and then there is a recovery. A new monetary system comes along and you need to invest in it, what will be worth more, your fiat dollars, or a real asset like gold or silver?

So the point is, if you don't have enough to get you through the current economic collapse and recovery, then buy beans. If you feel you have enough beans, then buy bullion to preserve your wealth for the times to come.

[Arklatex]

Yes. Gold and silver are a hedge against inflation. Great in a recovery. It has been used as currency forever. Not gonna change, ever. But you need the basics first imo. That is standard Rawlesian methodology.

[Pauls]

Another advantage of holding gold, silver or other precious metal is that it is not taxed as income. It is a commodity not income.

[Inor]

Another advantage of holding gold, silver or other precious metal is that it is not taxed as income. It is a commodity not income.

Unfortunately, that is not true anymore. A provision of Obamacare requires the buyer to issue you a 1099 at the end of the year for any amount over $400 that you sold. You can deduct what you paid for it. But you are still taxed on the capital gains - just like a stock. Yes, it is criminal since the gold does not change value; the dollar does. But such is our current looter government. (That was part of that B.S. that we had to pass the bill to find out what was in it.)

[Pauls]

Unlawful acts are not laws....

Just saying...

[Inor]

^^^ I agree. But unfortunately that does not seem to get us too far when being arrested or standing in front of a judge anymore.

See my post today in the Potty Mouth section on the food police for another great example.

[Montana Rancher]

Unfortunately, that is not true anymore. A provision of Obamacare requires the buyer to issue you a 1099 at the end of the year for any amount over $400 that you sold. You can deduct what you paid for it. But you are still taxed on the capital gains - just like a stock. Yes, it is criminal since the gold does not change value; the dollar does. But such is our current looter government. (That was part of that B.S. that we had to pass the bill to find out what was in it.)

IMO a toothless act as anyone seriously investing in PM's will hold them until the current system collapses, and avoid the dreaded 1099

[Montana Rancher]

Thank you.
I was beginning to think may be I wasn't clear enough. Anyway exactly my point. To me the metal is worthless. Goods and skills are King. Just where will you go to cash in your gold and cash it in for what?
Just where would you go to purchase any goods with precious metals. Who will value precious metals ? Who will set the price on what precious metals will be worth ....if they are worth anything. Of course this train of thought is still contingent on a total collapse of the world as we know it now.


Ok I will say from the get go, you really piss me off.

that being said I had to search out this thread to really understand why, and this is the one....

But I am not going to make it that easy, who else sees the failed logic?

[hawgrider]

Ok I will say from the get go, you really piss me off.

that being said I had to search out this thread to really understand why, and this is the one....

But I am not going to make it that easy, who else sees the failed logic?
What crawled up your ass? I'm supposed to care if I piss you off? Maybe you should go read my profile.
I've stated my mission there. And If I pissed you off then that makes me happy.

[Inor]

IMO a toothless act as anyone seriously investing in PM's will hold them until the current system collapses, and avoid the dreaded 1099

Maybe it is just a definition of terms. I never invest in anything without a plan to sell it later on for more than I paid for it. That includes PMs as well as anything else I may invest in. When I buy gold and silver as an investment, I do not intend to hold it longer than 1-5 years. In other words investing in PMs does get affected by the stupid 1099 provision of Obamacare.

On the other hand, I do have a supply of gold and silver that I stack. Any PMs that I buy for stacking purposes will not be sold, hopefully ever. These are my insurance policy against the collapse of the dollar and strictly a defensive play, so the 1099 crap does not matter.

Since it is no fun going through life always playing defense, I use a combination of investing and stacking.

[Pauls]

I thought you only had to pay capital gains on the sale of comodities. The person you buy it from can't say anything about capital gains.
On the other hand if you pay me in silver or gold for goods or services then I don't have to report your spending or my receiving the precious metals.

If you sell it through a dealer then the dealer must report his purchase and you might have to file capital gains under those conditions. That would be the sale of commodities for profit which doesn't tax the gold but the income you recieved from the sale of it. Using it as currency is not taxed... as far as I know.

[Inor]

I thought you only had to pay capital gains on the sale of comodities. The person you buy it from can't say anything about capital gains.
On the other hand if you pay me in silver or gold for goods or services then I don't have to report your spending or my receiving the precious metals.

Technically, if you trade something to another private party for any good or service, you are supposed to declare it as income. I got into a jam with that a few years back. I traded my teaching services to a company in exchange for the rights to print their copyrighted materials for another client. It was all above board and legal but my CPA went absolutely bananas that year when he did my corporate taxes.

I expect if the transaction was only worth a few hundred or even a few thousand, you would not have to worry much. But this was a deal worth about $20K.

Hell, in Minnesota I am even supposed to pay a "use tax" for teaching from books that I wrote! It is a state tax in lieu of sales tax. FUBAR!


If you sell it through a dealer then the dealer must report his purchase and you might have to file capital gains under those conditions. That would be the sale of commodities for profit which doesn't tax the gold but the income you recieved from the sale of it. Using it as currency is not taxed... as far as I know.

That is the type of transaction I was referring to.

[Montana Rancher]

Maybe it is just a definition of terms. I never invest in anything without a plan to sell it later on for more than I paid for it. That includes PMs as well as anything else I may invest in. When I buy gold and silver as an investment, I do not intend to hold it longer than 1-5 years. In other words investing in PMs does get affected by the stupid 1099 provision of Obamacare.

On the other hand, I do have a supply of gold and silver that I stack. Any PMs that I buy for stacking purposes will not be sold, hopefully ever. These are my insurance policy against the collapse of the dollar and strictly a defensive play, so the 1099 crap does not matter.

Since it is no fun going through life always playing defense, I use a combination of investing and stacking.

I didn't really understand your first part and 2nd part as they seem to contradict each other, but I totally support your second point, stack, stack, stack.

[Inor]

I didn't really understand your first part and 2nd part as they seem to contradict each other, but I totally support your second point, stack, stack, stack.

Investing - Buying PMs (or anything else) with the intention of selling when the dollar value goes higher with the expectation of buying them back when it returns to lower prices. In other words, trading.

Note: I am NOT a day-trader! But I am also not opposed to making a few bucks on the hype. No, I do not trade ammo.

In short, every PM buy that I make, some quantity of it goes into "forever" storage, some goes into storage until I can make a dollar profit on it. I fully expect on the last couple trades I do, I will lose my ass when the dollar finally collapses. But over the long term I will still be WAY up. But I have yet to figure out a way around the Obamacare BS so I do not get skinned by the govt as they destroy the dollar. Maybe I will get stuck with more gold and silver than I planned. Oh well...

[DerBiermeister]

Let me see if I can add a different point to this discussion.

In my way of thinking, there are two periods of time that PMs would be a good thing to have stacked (like Inor talked about). That would be right after the dollar hits the crapper, but before we are killing zombies. The second time period would be sometime in the long-term future after a SHTF calamity. The first weeks, months, and maybe even years -- basic commodities will be what is bartered. Ammo will probably be King, followed closely by toilet paper, etc. But, the point of being well prepared is to survive the first few years so that --- hopefully --- a better life will follow. If the SHTF event was truly apocalyptic, then the US dollar will be like Confederate currency. But at some point, people will begin to VALUE the PMs, and start trading in them. That is when I would smile upon my stash.

[Montana Rancher]

Let me see if I can add a different point to this discussion.

In my way of thinking, there are two periods of time that PMs would be a good thing to have stacked (like Inor talked about). That would be right after the dollar hits the crapper, but before we are killing zombies. The second time period would be sometime in the long-term future after a SHTF calamity. The first weeks, months, and maybe even years -- basic commodities will be what is bartered. Ammo will probably be King, followed closely by toilet paper, etc. But, the point of being well prepared is to survive the first few years so that --- hopefully --- a better life will follow. If the SHTF event was truly apocalyptic, then the US dollar will be like Confederate currency. But at some point, people will begin to VALUE the PMs, and start trading in them. That is when I would smile upon my stash.

Great post, in the world of instant gratification and easy money (or credit in lack of money) there has been a lax attitude about real wealth and generational wealth. If you "stack" you are probably preserving your wealth but more than likely you are preserving wealth for your children and grand children. Let us not be so narrow minded as to think we are the last generation.

[Inor]

I know every one of you know this intrinsically, but maybe have not thought of it in these terms...

"Preserving wealth" always ends in poverty. It does not matter how big your stack of gold is, if you are simply trying to "preserve" wealth with it, you will eventually end up flat broke. You will eventually run out of supplies and start using your gold to buy more supplies which you will consume and eventually you, or your posterity will have consumed all of it.

We need to preserve wealth ONLY for the purpose of using it as "seed capital" for the next round of building. It is interesting that until the colonies were settled, the world did not have the phrase "to make money". Until we came along, money was a zero-sum game. For one person to have money, another had to be without. The American colonies were the first time where humanity figured out that you could spend money to make even more money. The American culture was the birth of the win-win business transaction.

It is ABSOLUTELY imperative that we know the economic concept of opportunity cost and know that our skills for creating wealth FAR outweigh anything that we can store. Absolutely we need to store capital. But know that capital, without the skills to leverage that capital, is just postponing the inevitable.

[Montana Rancher]

I know every one of you know this intrinsically, but maybe have not thought of it in these terms...

"Preserving wealth" always ends in poverty. It does not matter how big your stack of gold is, if you are simply trying to "preserve" wealth with it, you will eventually end up flat broke. You will eventually run out of supplies and start using your gold to buy more supplies which you will consume and eventually you, or your posterity will have consumed all of it.

We need to preserve wealth ONLY for the purpose of using it as "seed capital" for the next round of building. It is interesting that until the colonies were settled, the world did not have the phrase "to make money". Until we came along, money was a zero-sum game. For one person to have money, another had to be without. The American colonies were the first time where humanity figured out that you could spend money to make even more money. The American culture was the birth of the win-win business transaction.

It is ABSOLUTELY imperative that we know the economic concept of opportunity cost and know that our skills for creating wealth FAR outweigh anything that we can store. Absolutely we need to store capital. But know that capital, without the skills to leverage that capital, is just postponing the inevitable.

A good post, but let me explain

http://www.peakprosperity.com/crashcourse

Watch the (sorry) 4 plus hours of content although it is set up in 6-12 minute videos and let me know what you think

[Inor]

I watched it all (the full set) and I did post my thoughts on it here on this site (on your last thread on the topic; I cannot find it). My overall summary is that I thought the parts on the Fed and the nature of money were absolutely 110% correct and EXTREMELY well presented. His parts on "peak oil" were interesting. I did not agree with his conclusions, BUT I had never heard it explained in pure economic terms like he did and it has given me a LOT to think about. (I may end up changing my position on peak oil or I may not, but his arguments were very compelling.) His green-tard shit was totally off the map. Fortunately that was only the last couple segments and they were pretty short. :D