Cheaping yourself to death

My personal choice in prepping is to keep it simple if possible and if not buy the best quality that you can afford once, saving if necessary, rather than taking a chance on something failing after the SHTF and possibly killing you. I would rather buy an "antique" Collins axe head and put a new handle on it or an old Buck knife or chisel or a Stanley plane or other old quality tool than a new cheap imported tool and so on it goes. If I did buy a new axe, it would be a Fisker's quality one. The new technology available in stoves, solar, LED lights, water filters and so one are so superior to the old ones, that you almost have to buy new. My dad and grand dad said that in life, it is not what you make that is important, it is what you spend. My choice is to get the minimum as quickly as you can, Moision Nagant rifle, beans, rice, etc and then get the quality things that you will use every day and would continue to use if TSTF. Good wood stove for heat, good reliable source of water that you control, well, or spring, greenhouse, garden, canning and drying systems, a lot of hand tools as a hobby and learn how to use them now, We try not to prepare, but to live as comfortable minimum life as we can. We cook mostly from scratch, it is cheaper, wife had heart surgery and was told to limit salt intake to 1200 milligrams a day and to limit sugar and it is almost impossible to buy packaged food and meet those limits, you learn which of the storage foods you like and will eat and rotate your supplies, you may find that some of the church groups, LDS, Amish, Menonites, etc, have simple foods that are equal in quality to the prep foods and at a fraction of the cost. We have a good tent, sleeping bags, camp cooking set and such that we used to camp with years ago and we keep it up and together in one place and use a couple times a year. We could bug out if needed, but at our ages it wouldn't likely work. I think that our "hobbies" and our lives somehow blend into our prepping. The wife and I like to cook, garden, have a greenhouse, heat with wood, read, sew, make quilts, visit the Amish country in the summer, and i like woodworking with hand tools and repair power tools for a living. We live in what is now a semi rural area and have our own well,, septic, and backup electric, and many friends of all ages as a social and religious backup if needed. When my wife had a bypass heart operation, the ladies from the church brought so much food that we gained weight and not for one day, but for weeks. I think that in prepping, the social network you have, church, friends, family, are as important as your physical preps. In our case and in many of our friends, the crises that happen in our individual lives are just as major and just as devastating as a major event would be to the nation. We try to prepare for those events and to limit their impact on our lives. That said, I must admit that I have a tendency to keep piling some things ever higher and deeper, and most of them go boom, are semi antique, or taste good.

 

I made up a couple of those CTD water filter set-ups some years back. Monolith, the outfit that makes them does stuff around the world to help folks get water. They're also heavily into building domes and maybe some other stuff, but I don't remember. They were my "frugal" alternative to a Berkey.
If someone's new to all this, you can save money on firearms by buying used. Often you can buy a quality "used" gun for a lot less than a new one. But be careful if you don't know guns. Bring someone knowledgeable with you or you might buy a clunker.

 

I've been a big fan of old junk my whole life. This has allowed for some interesting skill development, as well as multi-vintage redundancy on lots of things. Just a couple examples: I can light a fire in the fire place with a butane lighter, a Zippo, a pile of oddball foreign design lighters, strike anywhere matches, ferrocerium rod, bust a flake off that big white flint in the garden and whip out the char cloth can, or use a boot lace to build a bow drill.
Since it gets dark so early I could wind up a couple LED lanterns, rely on the solar lights that are already in place, or use other battery lights or lanterns. If batteries fail I have lanterns large and small running on kerosene, Coleman fuel, unleaded gasoline, or propane. If I'm really hard up I still have a Betty lamp hanging around here that'll run on racoon fat.

Recognizing useful vintage items and picking them up cheap at flea markets and antique stores is one thing. Becoming proficient in their use gives you a more well rounded skill base, so you'll be better prepared to answer the next big "What if....?" Sometimes it's just fun! If you've ever tried making popcorn in a cast iron frying pan, or over a camp fire you can understand how steep that learning curve is. After all the burnt popcorn and mess on the stove is forgotten, the memory of how good that popcorn tasted will remain.

 

I agree about buying good gun, but most confuse that with popular guns. Many would pass on Star or an Astra not knowing how well they work. As with anything knowledge of what you are buying is the true "value" in what you end up with not the cost.

 

My thoughts on this are extensive, but I'll keep this short.
Everything is subject to failure or loss, fact.
Having grown up repairing and rebuilding antiques ,and creating tools and equipment of my own , and rebuilding equipment better then the manufacturer .
I realize that many things we rely on have their limits.
I don't buy expensive stuff having experienced being a mechanic most of my life working on equipment .
A poorly made knife might have sold me on design then but failed in detail or function , fine, I can either use it's design to build a better one or re temper it, and add material or refashion it to suit my needs, either way nothing goes to waste.
I store water knowing that in time it will eventually need re filtering before use, to get what ever leaches from the container it was stored in .
Filtering is a job that separates contaminants but in time the contaminants will clog and cause the filter to stop working .
So in fact it is in reality an expendable tool, like toilet paper.
Just like the reverse osmosis system, it back flushes it's self to keep the filters clean as possible, but this system does not last forever and the water it flushes with is unfiltered , those elements must be changed regularly any away.
So long as I am on city water I have a simple whole house filter , then Britta filters for our drinking water. and these need changed for time to time as well. It is an acceptable investment.
Post SHTF, I have a bucket filter system; screen, gravel,screen,sand,screen , activated charcoal, and screen.
And I have materials set aside for restoring that system, AND, I am building a solar distiller for water and any thing else that needs distilled, using a Fresnel lens.
I learned on things that were cheap and did not matter if it worked again or not, it's the const of education.
I can weld a plastic gas can ,but I didn't learn that in one sitting,
It took spending the time learning on other plastics, and learning the difference between them, and the temperatures they need to flow.
Learning any skill takes personal investment ,and a margin of loss as well.

 

I am not so complicated in my preps for guns, I went basic and made my choices based on the question 'what would be the most common ammo post SHFT?"

I just decided most people won't pull the trigger and aren't prepared for the kind of violence that is possible so bigger and better wasn't as important as skills and stealth.

 

Skills are as important as tools.
Often as a mechanic you notice that manufacturers do not consider service to their creations, they only care about sales and getting them out the door.
By the time the mechanic gets to it, and repairs are needed, the usual culprit is out of reach because there is miles of wire and other components in the way.
I like many , modified my own tools to get to these problems ,and made special tools dedicated to a particular issue .
The skill in building the tool for the event and the sacrifice in doing so are only appreciated by the mechanic ,no one else.
Mechanics invest heavily in their craft and tools are not cheap especially those dedicated to special applications.
Proto, snap on, mac tool, cornwall, and a host of others make their living on these special tools no one else provides not sears or harbor freight, or husky, or any others .
What I'm getting at is , life is not digital it is analog ,not only that it is fluid, not locked in concrete.
So to say I only need one kind of fire starting implement , given certain circumstances, that may not be adequate .
You lost you can opener,or some one stole it , do you know other ways to open a can ?
Some one's been shot in the arm and there is severe bleeding what can you do about it with out a first aid kit ?
There's been a fire and one of your family has suffered smoke inhalation and their throat is swelled up and can't breathe what are you going to do ?
These situation are post SHTF , and there is no one to call on but your self , no 911, and any out side help is more likely to compound the problem rather than deal with it.

Academically knowing what needs to be done, and the courage to do it , are very different things.
There was a hiker that early in the hike, he fell and his hand caught in a crack in rocks he was hanging from after days he finally cut off his hand to get free, rather than die there in torture .

Should things turn savage, there are some very difficult decisions that have to be made during the stress of the moment , there will be no internet to turn to friends for their expertise , and the best tool for a given problem might have been out of reach financially, but what have you prepared to meet that event as an alternative ?
Scenario , Some one is sniping at your home from 500 yards.
What provision do you have, with out using up all your close range home defense rounds for nothing, but keeping them at bay .
Or have you the provision and means to sneak out of the house, and deal with the aggression from a different angle/closer range.
Courage to face challenge, like fighting a fire.
It takes wading into it with tools skills and aggression, not having a conference over the best options .
Knowing some thing about fighting fire is very important and having the best tools for the job is best , but at least knowing the function of the best tools for the job and improvising from there give you an edge, over not having the knowledge of their value.
Knowing the fuel and character of fire make dealing with it manageable .
More importantly though , modifying one's home to match several different scenarios to begin with, is a start.
Post SHTF some one has thrown a molotov cocktail on your home.
Though you've cleared the area of the aggressors, how do you deal with the fire, no water ? there is a way .
Shovels and dirt can put out a chemical fire .Not as good as soda, but effective.
Most any healthy normal adult can develop the skills to use a shovel and throw dirt .
Because a chemical is vaporizing in heat, throwing a blanket on a chemical fire only gives it more fuel, but dirt doesn't burn .
Visit your fire extinguishers and read the instructions, and see that there pressure is where it belongs.
Never test them, they will loose the seal, and leak their charge, and will not take being just re-pressurized.
Extinguishers that are mounted in vehicles, or boats, need to be freed and inverted and shaken to free up the powder .
Standing vertical in moving equipment, they tend to pack up hard due to constant pounding in place, and fail in the moment of crisis.
I have several different means of fire fighting in/around my place, and re- charge some of my own equipment .
I have weed sprayers that have only had water in them I have charged and ready as well.

 

You get what you pay for but just because something is more expensive is not a guarantee that it is a superior product.

For example, I can purchase an old bicycle that many would consider to be just scrap steel and turn it into a dependable working machine because I am a skilled bicycle mechanic. So, in such an instance I can achieve quality performance without shelling out a lot of $$$. For most people though, they will have to spend the $$$ to get a dependable ride because they are unskilled at working on bicycles.

Also I grow a lot of my own food, but not everything, and have to depend on purchasing other's produce, but I still shop around for the best bargains, and so it goes with everything we might consider acquiring to be prepared for whatever disaster might spring up.

Many people are short on time, can't shop for bargains, don't have a lot of hands on skills, and evaluate items by cost and purchase what they deem to be the most affordable for them. Those of us who have certain skills, knowledge, and time can equal or surpass current market prices for a lot of goods with a small cash expenditure, and come out on top in quality performance of product.

 

I like the example of a Morakniv. $25-$40 dollars of honest, hard working knife that is all but bulletproof, and while you can beat it for a LOT more money, do you NEED to?

 

It is an unfortunate fact that few people now days, have the opportunity, that many of us born 50-60+ years ago can relate to.
In my day we took cars apart and rebuilt every aspect , but the current economy this is not possible, and in fact seriously discouraged.
I was fortunate to be raised lower middle income, because it made me work to learn how to fix things and understand what made things work .
The younger folks here have a great deal to learn, and a short time to gather it in .
Inadvertently, we call a lot of things common sense, but truth be told good sense is not cheap and not easily come by, and it's not common.
I am thankful for this forum and the friends I've gained here.