The New Barter Economy

Image from myggm.org

As prices rise and employment rates fall, most of us are looking for a better way to obtain the necessities of life. For thousands of years, people lived well by using a barter system -- that is, they traded goods and services for what they needed.

A barter economy is just what we need these days! Think of all the ways in which this could free up cash that is required for dealing with landlords, utility companies, and other businesses. Instead of paying a day care facility, you might organize a babysitting cooperative with other young parents in your area.


Instead of buying a new refrigerator or picking up a used one at a yard sale, perhaps you can trade your talent or skill for a slightly-used but still working appliance that is just taking up space in your neighbor's garage.

Instead of storing old furniture in your basement, why not offer it to someone who can really use it on  Freecycle?

Do you love to read but hate paying huge amounts of money for a book you're only going to read once? Aside from your local library, you also have the option of signing up for Paperback Swap, which  allows you to indulge your passion for reading while keeping books in circulation for others to share. A group called Swap A CD makes the same thing available to music lovers.



Hundreds or perhaps thousands of share and barter groups exist and can easily be found through a simple search of the internet.

Whenever possible, it's best to barter within your community, however. Why? Because neighbors who band together often discover that they can help each other in more ways than they ever imagined. A strong network of friends is the core of a healthy community, and a safety net when times get really bad. The Survivalist Blog explains it this way: "In a post collapse world, barter would be essential. Currency may have little value, while the value of certain things like sawing needles and matches for example, could increase dramatically. Put back what you will need for your own survival first, then and only after ensuring you have enough supplies such as food, water, water filters, first-aid, fuel, weapons and ammunition etc, to meet your own needs should you worry about stocking up on trade goods."

If barter sounds like something that would work for you, you may want to start keeping a list of all the things you have to trade -- not just tangible items, but skills, talents, crafting abilities, knowledge that you can teach, food that you produce, and so forth. Remember that YOU are an important part of a barter economy but only if you are able to provide as much as you take.

Is Your Mail Safe?

From GettyImages.com

 

After reading several news stories about identity theft in my area recently, I was reminded that it’s far easier to become a victim of this crime by using traditional (‘snail’) mail than it is by using credit cards to pay for online purchases. Why? Because any fool can pull up to your mailbox, snatch the contents, and be long gone before you know what happened.

All it takes is one time, one piece of mail that contains your credit card number, your bank statement, or anything at all with your social security number on it. After that, you can kiss your credit rating and large portions of your life goodbye. Victims of identity theft almost always end up spending years and tens of thousands of dollars to dig themselves out of the mess created by one low-life thief. What’s worse, anyone convicted of identity theft will likely be out of jail long before the victim has restored his good name and credit.

With all this in mind, I decided to look around at some websites such as Mailbox Ixchange to learn more about sturdy mailboxes and how much it might cost me to install one. I found hundreds of decorative mailboxes but beauty isn’t what I’m going for at all. I want an armored safe style mailbox.

• Collect your mail as quickly as possible after it is delivered to the mailbox.

• Consider investing in one of the Locking Mailboxes. This type of box allows the carrier to put mail in but only you (or someone else with your key) can take it out. Mail slots are even better, as they allow the delivered mail to slide right into your home instead of leaving it out in the open.

• Never put outgoing mail in your mailbox. Using the drop box in front of your local post office is a better option, but the best option is to take your envelopes and packages inside the post office. There have been cases of thieves actually breaking into the drop boxes right outside the post office.

• When you are away from home and can’t collect your mail, be sure to ask the post office to put a hold on  delivery.  Leaving mail in your box is not only a handout to identity thieves, it lets everyone else know that your home is wide open and ready to be picked clean.

While my 40 year old mailbox is dented and dinged, it still holds mail. Replacing something that works just fine is against everything I believe in, but I have to ask myself … does it work fine? With no lock, out there alone beside the road, its mouth flapping open half the time – is my mailbox really a billboard advertising ‘Easy Pickings’?

Is yours?

Are You Ready To Buy A Farm?

In most areas of the country, the real estate business has been in a slump these past few years. Certainly some areas, such as La Jolla, California, continue to enjoy strong housing markets. If you've tried to sell property, you probably haven't had much luck. On the other hand, if you plan to buy a house and/or land,  the time could be now.

It's important to know exactly what you want in a piece of property as well as how you intend to use that property. Maybe you have visions of a peaceful farm, far away from the noise and chaos of a city. Before you plunk down a deposit on your dream farm, though, you'd be wise to make a list of features that are must-haves for you and your family. Some things to consider are:

Structures: Houses, barns, sheds -- does the property you're looking at offer all of these that you need right away? If you plan to build any of those structures later, does the land allow for the size and design you have in mind?

Water: Is there a working well on the property? A spring or creek?

Neighbors: The farms and residences nearest to you will have a significant impact on your quality of life. Be sure you visit each of them before making a final decision to get a feel for the level of cooperation you might expect, as well as for any nuisances that might pop up.

Access to resources: While living in isolation may be your goal, it isn't necessarily practical. If your farm is accessible only by a 20 mile stretch of dirt road, it won't be easy to get to an emergency room. If your preferred lifestyle includes eating at high-end restaurants several times a week, you won't be happy living an hour's drive from the nearest city.

Top Ten Things I Learned Buying a Small Farm on the  Oregon State University site  has an excellent starter piece to help you make your list.  In addition to that, you'll want to have a look at Questions to Ask When Buying a Farm.

A little planning and careful thought now about how and where you want to live will serve you well in the long run. If farm livin' is the life for you, though, don't wait much longer before making it a reality.

A Strategy for Shopping

Shopping isn't my favorite way to spend time. I find that, even though I always carry a list of just what I need to buy, I often leave the stores with more than I came for. Why do I do that? I know better.

In recent years I've learned that it's far easier to stick to a shopping list if I shop online. Of course, I can browse any website and find all sorts of goodies, but I am far less likely to go beyond the needed items when I'm online.

The point of this post, however, is not shopping. I want to suggest to you a strategy for shopping, whether online or in a brick-and-mortar, that has helped me save a considerable amount of money over the years. It is simply this: don't buy it unless it serves at least two purposes. There are special items, of course, that are made for one purpose only but that we simply must have. (I have yet to find more than one use for my #32 plastic sausage stuffing tube, and I'd be eternally grateful to anyone who can suggest another way to use it)

 Think it over before you put an item on your list to be sure you can really and truly put a desired item to work in more than one area. For example, I wanted a pair of comfortable shoes that I could wear in the house during cold weather but not houseshoes, per se -- I wanted to be able to wear the same shoes in public without being made fun of. A quick google search for indoor shoes turned up 'cheap nike soccer indoor shoes'.


Another example is area rugs. I know that having a door mat on the outside as well as an area rug inside the door can keep vinyl floors and carpets cleaner and give them a much longer life. I buy area rugs that are neutral in color and pattern so that I can move them from room to room to get a new look, and I also use my area rugs to help me slide heavy furniture pieces when I want to rearrange a room.

I have about a dozen 1 quart plastic pitchers that serve the usual purpose (to hold tea and lemonade) but also get used as watering cans (much easier to control the flow, easier to hold, and the lighter weight is easier for me to handle).

There are always going to be times when I just want something, and there's no logical reason to buy the thing. It takes discipline to not allow my desires to override common sense. This does not mean that I don't allow myself little luxuries.

In the end, though, the greatest luxury we can give ourselves is financial stability, isn't it? So I will suggest one more strategy that I've found useful over the years. Whenever there is a frivolous item that I want but have no practical use for, I put the money it would cost into my savings account and wait three days. At the end of that time, if my desire is still strong enough, I take that money out of savings and buy the toy.

More often than not, the cooling-off period is all it takes to restore my good sense, and my savings grow as a reward.

Get Ready - The Next Steps

It has been my intention to share in this blog the ways in which I have moved toward greater self-sufficiency. I'm not expecting a world-wide catastrophe (although I'm not denying the possibility) but I want to be able to survive a few days or a few weeks in the event that a natural disaster comes my way. What's more, I like not having to depend upon an increasingly unworkable commercial system to supply my basic needs.

We saw after Hurricane Katrina how unprepared most people are to survive on their own when disaster strikes. Those who could not or would not evacuate surely expected to be rescued and back to normal life immediately after the storm passed.

It didn't happen. It still hasn't happened for many of those people.

Fifty years ago, would it have been the same? Probably not. Fewer people were crammed into the urban areas and most of them were still able to access the skills they learned growing up -- skills such as cooking without electricity or microwave meals.

I believe that a great many people today would like to be self-sufficient, or at least better able to take care of themselves and their families. They just don't know where to start. If you are one of those people or if you know some of them, this blog may be helpful.

Rather than reinvent the wheel by giving you my own suggested steps, I'll often refer you to other internet resources.  One such resource is The Deliberate Agrarian's post An Agrarian-Style Economic Self Defense Plan.

This post spells out the first steps to be taken by those seeking to become more self-reliant. More than that, however, it provides insight into our country's economic situation. Written in early 2008, this post was prophetic in its clear look at what was to come.

I strongly dislike the term 'sheeple,' which refers to people who follow like sheep whoever or whatever appears to be a leader or trend.

Nevertheless, recent news reports suggest that there might be a lot of sheeple out there.

December's snowstorms stranded thousands of travelers, many of them trapped inside airports when flights were canceled due to weather. Most of them whined about the situation, even though they must have had access to weather reports and therefore must have suspected that travel would be difficult.

It's likely that many of them also complained about the new and more invasive security measures in airports, involving body scans and pat-downs that constitute sexual assault when employed by anyone other than government-sanctioned workers.

Despite skyrocketing prices, additional fees for luggage and food, the loathesome security measures, and the general lack of reliable transport and customer service, air travel increased 3% in 2010 over the previous year.

Now the former president of Shell Oil Company tells us that gasoline prices will almost certainly hit $5 within the next year. There are all sorts of explanations for this, ranging from increased oil use by developing countries to a shut down at an oil pipeline in Canada.

I believe the most likely explanation is quite simple: because they can.

In recent years when the price of gasoline has jumped up, drivers complained but kept on pumping. No doubt the same will happen again. Why?

It's as if people don't realize that they have a choice. Our my-car-is-my-independence culture has erased any memory of another way to do it.

Carpooling, biking, walking, and the one-car family don't register as realistic options. Neither does consolidating trips, or so it would seem based on the number of times my down the road neighbors zoom past my house every day.

Yes, many of us have to get to work, but do we have to drive there alone in a gas-guzzler? Can we not manage a half hour of social interaction on a bus?

I agree that having one's own car is convenient. If you are happy to pay the price without complaint, I see no problem with going on as you've always done.

On the other hand, if you find gas prices and travel in general to be out of control, stressful, expensive, offensive, or in any way disturbing, take your stand. Find another way.

You do NOT have to put up with the status quo. You do NOT have to follow the sheep into That's How It Is Land.


Take your stand, I say. Sacrifice a little convenience. Our country was founded on sacrifice, after all, and generally that sacrifice was considerably greater than a pleasure cruise.

The only way to bring about change is to break away from the flock and head in the right direction.

Cooking Beans on the Fire

With winter cold comes the comforting warmth of a wood fire. We feed ours with trees that have fallen in the woods throughout the year, so it costs almost nothing to heat our house.

I love the smell of a wood fire, too. Good thing, you say, since I'm living with it.

There's one more thing to love about the wood heater -- it cooks! Yes, my friends, while it warms the house and wafts its heavenly scent, it also prepares delicious meals.

I know that some of you reading this post have your own stews and soups bubbling away on your own fires, but it's likely that some newcomers to the self-reliant life are visiting today. For those of you who haven't tried cooking with your woodstove (and especially for those of you who haven't tried cooking without a microwave oven), here's a tip: beans.

Easy to grow, easy to store,  and easy to cook, dried beans are loaded with nutrition. They're affordable even if you buy from the local supermarket, they're versatile, and they are the basis for a frugal family's meal planning.

Whether you intend to cook them on a wood fire or an electric range, start by soaking dried beans in water for several hours, even overnight if you like. The variety makes little difference -- pinto, navy, aduki, kidney, black, or whatever dried bean you have on hand.Once they've soaked a while, you'll notice that the beans have swollen up a bit and gotten slightly softer.

Drain off the soak water, then add fresh water that covers the beans by about 2 inches. Add a piece of pork (ham bone, salt pork, whatever you like) and little salt -- the amount is up to you, and you can always taste and adjust as the beans cook.

And now you're ready to go. Put the pot of beans on your heat source and let them simmer for 2 hours or more, tasting every so often until they're just the way you like 'em.

That's the basic bean recipe, but there are so many variations, you could eat beans every day and never have exactly the same dish. Try adding tomatoes, celery, onions, garlic, carrots, or any combination of whatever vegetables you like.   Serve your beans with rice, or with cornbread, or with biscuits.

Eat, enjoy, and commend yourself for having the wisdom to recognize and enjoy the simple pleasures of life.