Basics of Bartering

June 11, 2012 by Chris Ray

Bartering is a skill that many of us aren’t used to, or very good at. We see a price and accept that as the amount we must pay.

In much of the world, bartering is a part of daily life. The same could be said in a prolonged survival situation. The economy of Argentina was much like that in America prior to 2000. Their economy has since collapsed and barter has become a common means of purchasing. In fact I read somewhere that people would cut links off a gold necklace and trade the links.

When I was in the Navy, I spent time in Hong Kong and in Dubai. Neither place was what it is today. That being said, if you didn’t barter, you got ripped off in many cases. I have a hard time with the concept, so I followed the lead of some friends who had been there before. Here is what I have learned about bartering from those experiences and since then.

What is Currency?

Jack Spirko has helped me define what currency is and what it is not. Currency is not the dollar bill in your pocket or even the precious metals you have stored away. Currency is the value you place on something.

Let me paint this picture: Inflation has skyrocketed and the price of gas is $6.00 a gallon. The price of many foods is 50%-75% higher than a year ago. I have been growing a garden and have expanded it. I’m willing to sell or trade with my neighbors. Pete has some cash and some rice that he would like to trade for some of my tomatoes.

Since the cash isn’t worth as much but is still useful I could charge him accordingly. It’s value may still decrease. I have been prepping and don’t need any more rice, so Pete doesn’t have any currency that I value.

Dan lives a bit further out of town and has a small chicken coop. Dan and his wife both love tomatoes. Since we both have something the other has placed value on, the tomatoes and chickens will be our currency. We just need to sort out the details. I could take eggs, chicken meat, or maybe have him raise a couple for me, so I could start my own coop.

In short, currency is whatever you, or someone else, might place value on. The most common currencies are, of course, dollars or the national currency in your nation, as well as precious metals.

If you’re a pro, please add any additional suggestions to the comment section

Let me share that I’m not very good at bartering. That being said, below are some things I’ve learned.

As Kenny Rogers says, “Know when to hold them, when to fold them, know when to walk away and when to run.”

When bartering, both sides are trying to get the best deal they can. If both parties are honorable, they can both walk away happy. However, you should have a price or trade in mind that you’re willing to pay, with some wiggle room on either side.

When to hold them

If you know the value of what you have and are offering it at a reasonable price, don’t stray too far from it. The same can be said if you make a fair offer on an item that you know the true value of. This is bartering, so remember the wiggle room I mentioned. Don’t stray too far from your original offer.

When to Fold them, and when to run

These two are the same but I like the song and thought using it was clever. Sometimes people will make an offer that is ridiculous. Just say “no thank you” and walk away. If they were testing you, they’ll come back with a legitimate offer. If they’re a fool, they’ll probably go off about how the item your offering is subpar or, if they’re the one selling, they’ll go on about how their item is the best blah, blah, blah. Unless you really need the item, let them keep it.

When to walk away

There are times when buying or selling, when walking away can show the other party that their offer wasn’t serious and that you’re not willing to consider it. The catch is that you may end up keep walking away and losing out on your chance at the item, unless you want to go back and meet their offer. If you do go back, the party now knows how much you want it. You’ll probably have to pay their full asking price. Sometimes the other party will modify their original offer and you can barter for a fair exchange.

Here is a list of skills and items you could use for bartering.

If you’re a pro, please add any additional suggestions to the comment section.

Filed Under: Finance, Mind Set Tagged With: community, frugal

Half Is The New Empty

June 7, 2012 by Chris Ray

Here is a preparedness tip that I stress in cold climates, but is probably a good idea for everyone. “Half is the new empty.” I never let the gas tank get below half empty. When it’s very cold, if the tank isn’t full enough to have pressure pushing the gas down the line, it can freeze. The more gas in the tank, the more pressure there is.

Another reason for this is that you never know when something might cause you to drive further than you expected. For example, I asked What would you do if you were being followed in your car?. In a scenario like this, if you were nearly out of gas and had to drive for an extra 10-20 minutes, you could run out of gas.

Filed Under: Preparedness Tips

Book Review: One Second After

June 6, 2012 by Chris Ray

One Second After

Here is a book that deals with a topic many of us will be familiar with; EMP. This book made it into the mainstream and I have even heard rumors of a movie deal.

Book description, from Amazon:

New York Times best selling author William R. Forstchen now brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real…a story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages…A war based upon a weapon, an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP). A weapon that may already be in the hands of our enemies.

Months before publication, One Second After has already been cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should read, a book already being discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a truly realistic look at a weapon and its awesome power to destroy the entire United States, literally within one second. It is a weapon that the Wall Street Journal warns could shatter America. In the tradition of On the Beach, Fail Safe and Testament, this book, set in a typical American town, is a dire warning of what might be our future…and our end.

My Take:

Be forewarned, there are a few spoilers in this review. I purchased and read the book shortly after its release three years ago. I remember it, but could have a few things a little off. If I do, please let me know and I’ll make a correction.

This book brings to light a topic that I don’t think most Americans are aware of or understand the dangers of. This book shows the impact of the EMP on one man and his family and his city and the hard choices that must be made. They are, in large part, cut off from the rest of the country and must fend for themselves, soon running low on food and medicine. There are a few examples of lawlessness and the difficult choices that must be made when the systems we have come to rely on to feed us and keep us safe are no longer there.

I think the book does a good job showing the dangers of being unprepared. In fact, in one part, the main character makes a comment on wishing he had even one bag of rice. Yet in another part, they put down the “survivalists” and their food stores in the mountains.

The book does a pretty good job overall in showing how a society might react to an EMP. It might go a bit far in the huge roving hoard of cannibal raiders. If there is an event like this, there could be pockets of raiders but having a huge group of them ravaging entire cities seems a bit too much to me.

This wasn’t a book that I couldn’t put down. In fact I read it over the course of six months. That is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it. I did, it just did not draw me in and keep my attention. As I mentioned, it does a good job of showing the dangers of being unprepared at any level and also of how a community must come together to face an event of this magnitude.

I give One Second After three stars.

A note that I forgot to add that Tim made in the comment section: “Forgot to add a warning to potential readers: there is some crude language and multiple portrayals of very gruesome images. If this book were to be accurately made into a movie, it would probably be rated R, primarily for the violence.”

Filed Under: Reviews

Types of Water Purifiers and Their Applications

June 4, 2012 by Chris Ray

In The Storage, Filtration And Purification Of Water I covered water purification pretty thoroughly. Today I want to discuss the types of purification systems and their applications, as one purifier might be a better fit in certain situations.

Gravity Fed

These systems have one reservoir to hold unpurified water and often have a second reservoir to hold the purified water. These systems use gravity to pass the water through the filter at a slow and steady pace. In my opinion these systems are often best at home or at a base camp. They are often too big and bulky to be used in the field. The plus side of these units is that they are passive. The only thing you need to do is add unpurified water and take the purified water away.

Any of the pitcher type units such as PUR and other models are gravity fed. Some bigger names geared at preparedness are Berkey and MSR .

Pump

These systems force water through the filter. In most cases there is no reservoir, the dirty water can be taken directly from a source such as a river or lake. Or you can collect dirty water in a separate reservoir. You will also need to have a container ready to collect the clean water. To me, it makes sense to have a system like this in the field, along with your water bottle or canteen.

There are in house systems that attach directly to your faucet. These are pump fed. Some popular preparedness brands are Katadyn, MSR and Lifesaver.

Water Bottles with Purifiers

With these, you add water to the bottle and use a straw of sorts to suck the water through the filter. I think these are a solid second option, but the other options may be a better primary, with the exception of the Lifesaver. The Lifesaver is considered a pump, but it is the size of a water bottle and can filter water fast enough to be useful for multiple people, once the filter has expired on the lifesaver, a failsafe will not allow it to function until the filter is replaced.

Ultraviolet

Using an ultraviolet purifier will kill viruses and bacteria but will not remove any chemicals or other contaminants. To use this method you will need a container to hold the water and place the UV source directly into the water. The water in that container will then be free of bacteria and viruses. A downside to these is that they require outside power, either from batteries of electricity.

In my opinion this is a great option for backup purification.

Steripen and TrojanUV are two companies that produce this type of purification technology.

Chemical

Bleach, chlorine and Iodine water purification tablets are all methods that, like the ultraviolet, will kill bacteria and viruses, but won’t remove chemicals. In some cases such as with iodine will add a foul taste.

This, in my opinion, is another good backup method.

Final thoughts

In looking into the different brands and methods, I am very impressed with the Lifesaver. They do a lot of humanitarian work. It is their goal to end water poverty. They are trying to change the way people think about providing clean water in emergencies. Right now after a typhoon or hurricane, the thought is to bring in clean drinking water. Lifesaver is saying, “just treat the dirty water that is already there.” On their website they show a video of how the bottle works. The jerry can works the same way, though it can do more water at one time. I’m seriously considering buying one of the jerry cans. In the video the creator says that one jerry can will purify 25,000 liters.

If you’re interested in the Lifesaver products in the US, use this link to Lifesaver USA.

Filed Under: Water Tagged With: gear

How to do a Threat Assessment

May 31, 2012 by Chris Ray

One of the most important parts of preparedness is doing a threat assessment for potential threats to the loss of the five basic needs. We have to know where the weakness or vulnerability is so that we can know how to mitigate it. I have talked before about preparing for threats to the five basic human needs, but I haven’t ever gone into detail on how to do a threat assessment.

Threat assessing your home and the area around it is very important. It can greatly impact how you prepare. For example, if you have overhead power lines, you have two possible threats. Just this last weekend there was a downed line in Minneapolis that came down during a storm. The line burned through the asphalt and into a gas line. Both power and gas had to be turned off until both could be repaired. So the threats are: the electricity in the line itself, a higher chance of being without power in a storm and the possibility of fire. Someone who has power lines over head may place a generator higher on the need list than someone who has underground power lines.

Here I’ll cover how I do a threat assortment from area to area. Below I’ll cover some of the things you should be assessing. The best place to start a threat assessment is inside your home, going from room to room, moving from inside your house to the outside, going around the outside and also the perimeter. Once done with your house, assesses the neighborhood you live in and expand from there. In some cases you’ll want to expand out a good distance; is there a nuclear power plant within 30 miles? You’ll want to take that into consideration. If you have a BOL (Bug Out Location) you’ll want to do a threat assessment there as well, assessing the route you take to get there.

In ” Bugging Out or Battening Down?“ I suggest that people without a BOL still create multiple temporary BOL’s in different directions. In the vast majority of circumstances, battening down or bugging in is a better choice than bugging out. However, there could be something that forces you to leave. If you do not have a plan in place, you will lose precious time trying to make one. I suggest picking a small town that is big enough to have a hotel, making it your rally point. You do not need to stay at the hotel, but it can serve as a place to meet if nothing else. I suggest having four such routes planned, going north, south, east and west. Then you always have multiple options. I bring this up because you should do an assessment of these four as well. One of my possible options could bring me closer to a nuclear power plant. In some situations that is not a big deal. In others it could be critical. I need to know it’s there to know it’s a threat.

Here are some of the things to be looking for, listed by the basic need.

Threats to Water

There are cities that pipe their water in from hundreds of miles away. What if something caused the means of pumping water to fail? I recently read that there are 60 year old water mains that are corroding and breaking. Do you live in an area that has access to potable water or water that could be filtered?

Threats to Food

These threats are pretty standard with a few possible exceptions. Modern grocery stores use the “just in time” delivery model and have roughly three days of perishable supplies on hand. Any time there is a hurricane or blizzard on the East Coast, people scramble to buy up supplies to get through the storm.

Threats to Shelter

I believe that in 95% of situations, battening down and staying put is a better option than bugging out. That being said, there are threats that we need to consider while we prepare. Here are just a few that I came up with.

Starting inside, are there working fire alarms? Do you have fire extinguishers? Are there solvents or other flammable things inside that could be stored outside? Moving out side, what about the structure? Are there any broken windows or other repairs that need to be made or vulnerabilities such as hedges that are too high near the door?

Do you live in tornado alley? What about a flood plain or does your bug out route go through one? Do you live near a nuclear power plant? Are there risks of wildfires? Do you live near an industrial area that may have lots of chemicals nearby?

Threats to Energy

Going without electricity is one threat, but so are loss of heat and ability to cook. As mentioned above, overhead power lines are one possible threat. Another threat that could happen anywhere is someone running into a transformer. Routine maintenance can be a threat, like what happened in California that led to a blackout for hundreds of thousands of people in three states. There are also the less likely events such as EMP and solar flares. While they are very unlikely, they are still possibilities.

Threats to Security

You can take care of many safety concerns in the shelter section. Here are some others to consider.

You can look for Crime Reports to get an idea of the crime near where you live. You can also search the this sex offender registry to find out which former, or potential predators live near you. By doing those two you might discover that the area you live in isn’t quite as safe as you would have thought.

If you live in an apartment, is the place you park your car safe? What about walking to and from your car in the dark?

In rural areas, what is the response time for police and ambulance? If the response time is long, are you able to provide protection or first aid to hold out until they arrive?

Knowing Is Half The Battle – GI Joe

Knowing the possible threats is the beginning. Keeping aware of what they are is important as well. I get a monthly e-mail from the police department detailing the crimes, but the websites I listed above can be used as well. Use the knowledge gained from these assessments to find holes in your preparation and possible tweaks that you might need to make.

Filed Under: General Preparedness Tagged With: awareness

Review: Tactical Bible Stories: Personal Security Tips from the Bible

May 30, 2012 by Chris Ray

Personal Security Tips from the Bible
By Rob Robideau

Today I am going to review a book authored by a reader. Make sure to read the end to see how, for one day, you can get a free copy of this book.

Description from Amazon:

“Tactical Bible Stories” takes the most important aspects of personal security and uses Bible illustrations to make them fun and easy for anyone to understand, remember, and apply.

Did you know that the Bible has examples of tactics, concepts, and ideas that are still used and taught by modern security professionals?

Tactical Bible Stories” will help you learn how to prepare for, avoid, and deal with violent confrontations.

My Take:

Navigating self-defense and Christianity can be tricky but Rob does a very good job. He introduces topics using scripture and paints a picture of how this self-defense principle was being used at the time the scriptures were written. This book is aimed at someone who may have some understanding of self-defense concepts but, as Rob puts it, “was written for the readers that may not be a part of the typical “self-defense circles”.” I consider myself fairly tuned in when it comes to self-defense and Rob still made a few points that I either hadn’t considered previously or had seen from a different perspective.

He explains that there is far more to self-defense than shooting, fighting or using any tactical gear. He covers training and gear, but also covers awareness, mindset and touches on avoidance and de-escalation as well. However, he makes it clear that your goal is to keep you, your family and friends safe; avoiding a fight if possible, but finishing it if it is brought to you, to meet your goal of keeping your loved ones safe.

If you or someone in your life is new to self-defense concepts or has some doubts about it being biblical, this would be a good book to read.

“Tactical Bible Stories” will be launched on June 5^th and Rob will be giving away the Kindle version free all day. He will be selling the paperback version at his cost. You don’t need to own a Kindle to read a Kindle e-book, there are free versions available for PC, Mac, Smart Phones and Tablets

Filed Under: Christian World View, Reviews, Security Tagged With: awareness, Self-Defense

Memorial Day Prayer

May 28, 2012 by Chris Ray

On this Memorial Day, I am thankful for the sacrifice so many throughout our history have made, for the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice and for their families who had to carry on without them.

It is a sacrifice that is easy to forget. For those who have it, freedom is like oxygen. It’s something we just have. Many will not understand just how precious either is until they are at risk of being taken away. There are encroachments being made on our freedoms right now by those who think they know better. This is a conversation for another time.

Today I remember a sacrifice made and a debt I cannot repay. Today I pray for the God of heaven to bless the families of those who have lost loved ones while serving our great nation. I pray for Him to bless and comfort the walking wounded who are still with us, and bless their families as well.

It is also my prayer that we remember their sacrifice and the precious gift of freedom every day, not just once a year or when they are in danger of being taken away.

Filed Under: Mind Set, Uncategorized

What Would You Do: Feral Dogs

May 23, 2012 by Chris Ray

In this “what would you do” I want you to think about a possible future situation where many people are not able to feed their pets. They have begun to take them to distant areas and release them, letting them run wild. Many dogs have gone feral and some have formed packs.

There are two things to consider:

What will you do to keep from being in this situation with your pets?
What will you do if you live near an area with feral dogs?

Filed Under: What Would You Do?

Poor man’s Gatorade: Stave off Dehydration

May 22, 2012 by Chris Ray

‘Poor man’s Gatorade’ could save kids from diarrhea death is an article that explains that the simple recipe for “Poor Man’s Gatorade”; “A pinch of salt, A fistful of sugar, A half liter of water” has saved many children from diarrhea, the second largest killer in children under five in Bangladesh. Worldwide, Diarrhea claims 1.5 million kids annually — more than AIDS.

For the most part we don’t have a problem with clean water in the United States. Even so, this simple recipe is worth memorizing. It could save lives in the future. Whether things take a turn for the worse here, or you go on a mission trip, remember:

“A pinch of salt. A fistful of sugar. A half liter of water.”

This recipe is using a child’s hand, so adults might want to use less sugar.

Filed Under: Preparedness Tips

Preparing for Physical Limitations

May 21, 2012 by Chris Ray

Many of us are prepared for a variety of things; from pandemic to economic collapse and a host of other things. However, the biggest threat to most of us is our poor health, in more ways than one. We have a much higher risk of heart attack than we do seeing most of the things we prepare for and hope. I’m not going to scold you and tell you that you should lose weight or exercise more, you know if you should or not. Instead I’m just going to give my thoughts on health and preparedness; you pick what applies to you.

Another threat that being in poor health plays is how it will impact you in a true survival situation. If you’re out of shape now and do very little in the form of physical activity, your body probably won’t rise to the occasion in a survival situation, at least not for long. I’m in this group. With Information Technology (IT) as a living, I’m at a desk all day, as well as 3-4 hours after work, doing various projects for the website. By the time I’m done, I just want to relax, both mind and body. Due to an injury I mention below, my physical activity is a bit limited. Once healed I am going to make a lot of effort to get back into shape…other than round. Lol (“I’m in shape! Round is a shape!”)

I think most of us probably should be in better shape. Until then, we’re Prepper’s, we should prepare and mitigate our limitations until we are in better shape and there are no longer limitations. If you have a permanent physical limitation, you probably have already done this. If not, I think you should figure out how to mitigate those limitations as well. A reader commented recently that she was using a suitcase with wheels, until she got stronger. Fantastic! She’s working to improve and has a plan for what to do until then.

Functional fitness

The same reader asked my thoughts on functional fitness. I’m not an expert, but here is what I think; I don’t care about how much weight I can bench press or how many crunches or pushups I can do. I care about being strong enough to get through my day and being able to lift the TV when it’s needed or complete a similar task. I read an article on functional fitness that said many people who spend hours at the gym aren’t functionally fit. That they can leg press hundreds of pounds, but can throw out their back reaching for something at an awkward angle.

I did a bit of reading about functional fitness. The goal in training functional fitness is exercising multiple parts of the body at the same time. For example, while doing a squat, holding a medicine ball or something similar with your arms extended as you bend your legs. When you stand, you bring your arms back to your body. Another example I saw was doing a one legged squat. You might only be using your leg, but the rest of your muscles are providing stability and balance. Many articles mentioned the exercise balls and balance boards. I think these ideas are great and for many people, are a much better idea than spending time at a traditional gym.

I know of a few people who spent so much time at the gym and while they looked great in their youth, their joints are now shot. One guy I know was in so much pain he was prescribed pain killers, which he then became addicted to.

Find What Works For You

Many physical therapy clinics are using functional fitness to rehab their patient. This might be a good option for some. There are a lot of trainers using other approaches that might be good options. There are many videos available and you can get balance boards and exercise balls at many retailers or order them on line.

I think walking is great as well. If you can walk in an area with hills, that’s even better. Going up a hill uses different muscles than going down a hill. It is something that you can start doing now at any level and can keep doing.

Yoga and Tai Chi both have their roots in some mysticism, but if you can find an Americanized version that has stripped that out, these both have huge benefits. They both offer a full body workout and will aid in flexibility and strengthening. I was able to find a digital version of a beginners Tai Chi video on Amazon for just a couple bucks. There are also plenty of YouTube videos available.

Self-Analysis

I think it is very important we all take an honest look at ourselves to find physical limitations. Sometimes, as we get a bit older, we think we can still do the things we did when we were younger. The man that teaches my Haganah class told us that he kept having a problem with his neck, so he went to see the doctor and explained he had hurt it a few weeks ago, but it just kept nagging. The doctor said “That’s because you’re getting older and it takes longer to heal”, to which he replied “I want a second opinion!”

I don’t mean this for a way to get down on yourself. We just need to be real with ourselves so that we can take steps to mitigate any limitations.

Here is a personal example. I hurt my good knee a while back and it hasn’t been quite right since. If my leg is bent for any period the muscles around my knee cramp up, and the knee cap itself feels like it wants to pop off. There are days when walking is a chore. I’m in physical therapy and taking steps to get better, but until then, my leg is a possible liability. If for some reason the car broke down and I had to walk for help, I could muscle up for a while, but for how long? What if I, for some reason, had to head out on foot for a longer distance? For these reasons, as I mentioned, I am in physical therapy, I have gotten a couple of braces and I even have a cane. Will I need them? I hope not, but one of the prepper motto’s is “I would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it”. I purchased the cane for other reasons, but it is available for this as well.

They say that necessity is the mother of ingenuity and this is often true. If you found yourself in a survival situation, you might be able to get creative and find a means to get by. But I’m not one to leave things to chance if I can help it and want to avoid making a bad situation much worse.

Filed Under: General Preparedness, Medical and First Aid

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