Barter/trade Items in Time of Economic Collapse

[Awakening2014]

Hello fellow Avalonians!
I thought I would start a page discussing and listing items that could be useful in trade and barter during economic collapse. Let me state that this is not an issue of fear. I just would like all of us to be prepared and be able to still provide for our families and communities should something occur. Much Love and gratitude.

[idiit]

This Tiny Farm Pumps Out 6,000 Pounds Of Food Per Year. But Where It’s Located? Shocking
Tue 8:17 am UTC, 4 Aug 2015 2
posted by Gordon


This incredible tiny farm produces over 6,000 pounds of food per year on only 1/10 acre. What is even more surprising is it is located 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. The Dervaes family cultivates over 400 species of plants, 900 chicken and 1,000 duck eggs, 4,300 pounds of vegetables, 25 lbs of honey and seasonal fruit depending on the time of year.

On only 1/10th of an acre, get over 90% of their daily food, plus earn over 20,000 dollars per year (after eating what they have produced). They use no expensive and highly damaging synthetic chemicals, and actually improve the fertility and overall condition of the land they are growing their crops on. If you scaled their 1/10th of an acre up to an acre it would come to over 200,000 dollars per year!

Near urban and urban farming is rapidly becoming popular and can be extremely productive. It doesn’t matter how much land you have, it can be done. It is about time we solve the world hunger crisis and this is one way to do it. Watch the video below and learn how it’s done!


http://tapnewswire.com/2015/08/this-tiny-farm-pumps-out-6000-pounds-of-food-per-year-but-where-its-located-shocking/

[ThePythonicCow]

... items that could be useful in trade and barter during economic collapse ...
Can you give a couple of examples ?

Food and toilet paper come to my mind.

[Selkie]

I was thinking of coffee, cigarettes and whiskey. In a crunch, they could be worth their weight in gold to barter with.

[idiit]

I was thinking of coffee, cigarettes and whiskey

^ substitute pruno for whiskey and add ramen noodles and you got the prison barter system down pretty good.

[Sierra]

I read an article by someone who lived through the years of fighting in Bosnia.


Make your home look abandoned
You will need at least 15 people living with you, to maintain the watches 24/7 around the house
Never, ever, ever trade your medical supplies. A simple cut can kill you, living in war time conditions
Boil your water
Never go out until dark
Barter: alcohol
Barter: cigarettes
Barter: cigarette lighters
Barter: guns
Barter: bullets
Barter: canned goods

[Selkie]

One thing that comes to mind is salt. Have plenty of salt on hand. It is critical for life, and too easy to take for granted until there is none.

[ghostrider]

Rope, cold and wet weather gear, trash bags , and anything to make fire ... If your things get wet they are useless, if your cold and wet , you will give up everything to be dry and warm...

[Hervé]

Although not focused on bartering items, this article give the details of what one would need for oneself and, therefore, what others are going to need too:
Lessons from Argentina's economic collapse (http://cosmolearning.org/documentaries/argentinaacirc/)
by Esteban Morales, Wednesday, 13 December 2006

(Editor's note: the article that follows is a very sobering account of the effect that the collapse of the Argentine economy (1999 - 2002) had on its citizens, as seen through the eyes of one of them. The economic collapse wiped out the middle class and raised the level of poverty to 57.5%. Central to the collapse was the implementation of neo-liberal policies which enabled the swindle of billions of dollars by foreign banks and corporations. Many of Argentina's assets and resources were shamefully plundered. Its financial system was even used for money laundering by Citibank, Credit Suisse, and JP Morgan (sound familar?). The net result was massive wealth transfers and the impoverishment of society which culminated in many deaths due to oppression and malnutrition. I am not sure the same thing is about to happen here, but I am sure that there is a distinct possibility that it might. Just food for thought - JSB)
Lessons From Argentina's Economic Collapse - Part 1 (http://www.kickthemallout.com/article.php/Story-Lessons_Argentinas_Collapse_1)

Also here: http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/10.08/tshtf1.html

and here: http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/argentina-collapse/

As a PDF: http://www.thetruthnews.info/lessons_from_argentinas_economic_collapse_full.pdf

[RunningDeer]

I considered way back when to have a stash of those mini-bottles of booze. But it’d invite desperate addicts and/or an organized gang out my way. Pain medication such as Advil would be a good thing to take the edge off for those experiencing withdrawals from booze, coffee, and cigarettes.


Me-thinks, it's not a good idea to get specific on what one has on an open forum.

[Frenchy]

One thing that comes to mind is salt. Have plenty of salt on hand. It is critical for life, and too easy to take for granted until there is none.

What an astute obs ! ! It was one of the UFO guys, when saying he's got his ranch all set up, and Toilet paper, of all things, he said, taken for granted, would be sorely missed ! But, what concerns me, is a lot of my reading confirms Niburu, wiping the place ' clean 'again, so , underground bunkers, no thanks, not unless taxpayer helps me ! ! !

But, whether over the pond, or here in the UK, living in complete isolation, is also no good, the brit army also has ' Big Dog' , and they're not just for carrying supplies, I bet anything their IR, Heartbeat detectors, will be augmented with lethal weapons such as Microwave, Nerve gas, etc etc... So, Sierra, also has reason, people need people....

[Bingo]

One of the items I've been storing, along with batteries and candles, is a neat little meat bar put out by a company in Texas, epicbar.com

It's easy to store freeze dried products but hard for meat, and this bar will last about one year. Also it's hard to find organic foods, but naturalsociety.com offers a nice
box of beans and grains that are all organic. I'm using these products along with storing and just keeping everything up to date. Any of these foodstuffs are great for barter.

[Richard S.]

... items that could be useful in trade and barter during economic collapse ...
Can you give a couple of examples ?

Food and toilet paper come to my mind.

Instead of toilet paper, I would recommend a bunch of washcloths and some soap, lol...

[Selkie]

One of the items I've been storing, along with batteries and candles, is a neat little meat bar put out by a company in Texas, epicbar.com

It's easy to store freeze dried products but hard for meat, and this bar will last about one year. Also it's hard to find organic foods, but naturalsociety.com offers a nice
box of beans and grains that are all organic. I'm using these products along with storing and just keeping everything up to date. Any of these foodstuffs are great for barter.

For a do-it-yourself meat bar, one can always make pemmican. If its made with a saturated fat like beef suet or coconut oil, I think it would have very good keeping qualities, like the epicbars.

http://www.wildernesscollege.com/pemmican-recipes.html

Recipe #2 sounds the best to me. Nuts would introduce a spoilage factor, since they are high in Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids, with turn rancid quickly, especially the Omega-3s.

[Selkie]

... items that could be useful in trade and barter during economic collapse ...
Can you give a couple of examples ?

Food and toilet paper come to my mind.

Instead of toilet paper, I would recommend a bunch of washcloths and some soap, lol...

(my emphasis)

This is really important. For us at my house, I had thought of a diaper pail arrangement, where one would use cut up rags and then put them in a pail with some bleach, to be washed later.

[Ron Mauer Sr]

... items that could be useful in trade and barter during economic collapse ...
Can you give a couple of examples ?

Food and toilet paper come to my mind.

Instead of toilet paper, I would recommend a bunch of washcloths and some soap, lol...

(my emphasis)

This is really important. For us at my house, I had thought of a diaper pail arrangement, where one would use cut up rags and then put them in a pail with some bleach, to be washed later.


More options: When there is no toilet paper (http://ronmauer.net/blog/?page_id=2303)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXIlKetfuVQ#t=47


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_iizpAsczM

Learn how to use a plastic soda bottle and soap (https://obbproducts.com/HowToUse.htm)to clean. A couple of bidet bottles store a whole lot easier than a year’s worth of toilet paper. Remember, your left hand is for cleaning and the right hand for greeting.

[Lost N Found]

Well all here in this day and age of getting ready for the collapse or end times and surviving. This is way real in our times and I gather the need to know what is going to important for barter and survival. Most of what I have read above is all very good and even given idea to create these things. One of the things I could say right up front for barter is the same as all have been saying but have one trepidation with that, is food. You and your family are going to need as much of that as you can store and keep and protect. When neighbors band together then you all can become of like mind in keeping a store together. Toilet paper is definitely going to be a luxury item so if you have a store it will be something to barter with. Whiskey oh yes, This will be not only something to calm with but also a medication in the pain killer area and also an antiseptic. Medical supplies will be a very good thing to store alot of for barter and yourselves.

Now here is something that may be very important and also a barter as long as you are in the trust mode with others of like mind around you. Bullets for weapons, I know that is not a very nice thing but you will be having to protect yourself somehow and if you are part of neighborhood that has set up a camp of survival then this is going to be very important. Warm clothes, Shoes, socks, undergarments, head gear, blankets, all of these things will be cherished. Geez, the list just keeps going on as one thinks. So hopefully, most here are already storing up stuff. Here are two movies that I thought when seeing them really did spur these thoughts. The first is "The Book of Eli" and the second is "The Road". Just watching these will tell you or give you some idea of what might be real important to store and have on hand.

Thank you and peace be with us all
Lost N Found.

[Selene]

Some useful hints on how to trade or barter safely:

Excerpted from my earlier post, here: http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?55461-Caching-food-and-more&p=632675&viewfull=1#post632675


1. Never trade or barter from your home or the location of your stash. Go to whatever flea market has been set up (there will be one, trust me) in your community.

2. Bring only a few pathetic amounts from your stash – just enough, with some clever bargaining – to get what you need that day in exchange.

3. Corollary: Don’t bargain with that whole 5 lb bag of sugar or jar of freeze-dried coffee; divide it up into smaller packets. (Set aside some small ziplocks for this.) Gives you more leverage (“Okay, I’ll trade you three packs for that…”) If you have seeds, consider starting them as seedlings in egg cartons, rather than trading an entire pack for something. The upside is that you can help a whole lot more people by giving them viable plants – they may not really know how to start seeds.

4. Never, ever indicate that “there’s more where that came from…” Always suggest that this one is the very last one….you were lucky to find this…parting reluctantly with… etc. Don’t become a reliable supplier. They’ll follow you home.

5. Never go to the market alone. You will quite literally need someone to watch your back enroute. Food can become more precious than gold.

Hope this is helpful.

Cheers,

Selene

[Selkie]

Some useful hints on how to trade or barter safely:

Excerpted from my earlier post, here: http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?55461-Caching-food-and-more&p=632675&viewfull=1#post632675


1. Never trade or barter from your home or the location of your stash. Go to whatever flea market has been set up (there will be one, trust me) in your community.

2. Bring only a few pathetic amounts from your stash – just enough, with some clever bargaining – to get what you need that day in exchange.

3. Corollary: Don’t bargain with that whole 5 lb bag of sugar or jar of freeze-dried coffee; divide it up into smaller packets. (Set aside some small ziplocks for this.) Gives you more leverage (“Okay, I’ll trade you three packs for that…”) If you have seeds, consider starting them as seedlings in egg cartons, rather than trading an entire pack for something. The upside is that you can help a whole lot more people by giving them viable plants – they may not really know how to start seeds.

4. Never, ever indicate that “there’s more where that came from…” Always suggest that this one is the very last one….you were lucky to find this…parting reluctantly with… etc. Don’t become a reliable supplier. They’ll follow you home.

5. Never go to the market alone. You will quite literally need someone to watch your back enroute. Food can become more precious than gold.

Hope this is helpful.

Cheers,

Selene

Marvelous...a wonderful post! Thank you very much :)

[Selene]

Another hint on bartering:

6. Barter “sideways” as well as straight-on. That is, if someone has an otherwise valuable commodity that you yourself don’t want (cigarettes, whiskey, say) but the item would be popular with other traders snag that item, if you can. It may later prove to be much more valuable in trade for a desirable item than the cans of beans you’re dealing in now.

In Russia after the collapse of the Soviet regime and the ruble, packs of cigarettes became a highly viable currency. A single pack could buy you almost anything else you wanted; everyone accepted them in trade. You could stand on a streetcorner and hold up a pack of cigs “taxi!” style and the next car driving by would come to a screeching halt – and happily take you wherever you wanted to go in exchange for the cigs.

Hubby & I were advised to bring along a suitcase full of Marlboros when we travelled through Russia in the late 1980’s. Worked like a charm.

:sun:

Cheers,
Selene

[Selkie]

Another item that occurs to me is honey. Honey keeps forever, is good for all kinds of things, including dressing wounds, and when times are tough, people will really miss sweets. Just a thought.

[Richard S.]

... items that could be useful in trade and barter during economic collapse ...
Can you give a couple of examples ?

Food and toilet paper come to my mind.

Instead of toilet paper, I would recommend a bunch of washcloths and some soap, lol...

Coming out of the shower last night, this thread came in mind, I was thinking, yeah, the washcloths are probably a good idea, but then as I was cleaning my ears, I thought, what about cotton swabs!!!

I would go nuts not able to clean out my ears, so....

Cotton swabs added to my list!

(BTW, I hope I didn't offend anyone, namely Paul, who I hold in great esteem, with my post.)

[Selkie]

One idea I had awhile back was to buy a really good straight razor and a strop, so that I could sell/barter shaves. Also, a wash tub and scrub board, to sell/barter washing for work around the place, or maybe firewood.

[Lost N Found]

Alright, I do believe there are a lot of great comments in here about what to store up with and what will be very good bartering items. I haven't seen this yet so I will venture it forward. Your self worth, your physical and knowledgeable being, What you can provide as yourself to others to do what they may not be able to do. Your knowledge of how to grow food, your ability to protect with whatever is available. In other words what ever you have to give that others do not have. It all boils down to your willingness to give whatever in return for what you need, I believe this about wraps up all things that one has in store of ones self and is willing to give in times of need. Is that love?