Global economic crash threat and surviving it?...

With reading all the recent economy problems...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

....i want to know what i can do to prepare, i do not want to know this infomation and not act upon it...

My problem is, im just the average person with the average income living in the uk, i cannot afford to stock pile food in large in large quantities, or buy expensive equipment, however, we do have approx £10,000 in savings, plus many credit cards IF it was absolutely necassary, as im sure you understand, we dont want to lose savings on panic buying things just because we read it on ats... yet i do not want to ignore the warnings either....


.....what can the average family do???

* do we buy a gun?

* do we stockpile food?

*do we move?

*most importantly do we withdraw our savings from the bank NOW, before panic sets in?

*what problems to tenants who rent face in an economic crash?

*at what point do you pack up and attempt to fall off the grid?

*at what point do you take SERIOUS action, by that i mean, using credit cards, loans and savings to 'get out'?

......if i had it my way, i would start a commune and attempt to live by my own means, but of course, you still need a substantial amount of money to do that!

......basically we feel strongly that we need to prepare, but need some advice on how to do it without risking everything, in case nothing actually happens...

We are prepared to do whatever necassary, so all ideas and opinions welcome, were not hesitant about spending savings etc, just obviously want to be absolute sure its necassary...

Others in a similar situation must also be anxious about possible coming events, and unsure of what course of action to take and when... utility bills, food prices, oil prices, all these are starting to cripple me and the average person... at what point does it become disaster, and at what point do we take action...

[edit on 19-6-2008 by cosmicstorm]

[edit on 19-6-2008 by cosmicstorm]

Here in the U.K I have found myself in a similar situation! I'm unemployed and can barely afford to eat now, let alone be able to stockpile that much food... I have the basics, rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes etc. But other than that I am pretty unprepared, I do have some fishing gear, although I do not have a tent... lol...
As soon as things go t!ts up I will be heading straight out into the countryside... hopefully I can find a place where there are'nt any people, which will be kind of hard here in the U.K as it's only a small country....

reply to post by cosmicstorm


I'm almost in the same situation. I think things can go very bad in a few months. I live in Europe too and I want to be prepared.
I won't starve, because I’m very lucky to own about 5acres (2000 m2) of very good soil in an isolated small village. Three years ago when I loosed my job I took the opportunity to made an exercise of living a full year only eating things I planted by myself (the most were potatoes, tomatoes and rye) and fishing 20km away from my place. And it worked, only using 1'5 acres (600 m2), but it was a really hard work for one person, and the winter was very hard (I loosed 15Kg to weight 65kg for a 1,75m man).

OK, the point is in my opinion to own a place where you can grow stuff and if you don't own one, have in mind a place where you can settle if something goes wrong, (isolated places the best). Having a small stock of rice it's not a bad idea if you live with your family and it's not expensive at all. The most important thing it's to have a basic supply, or be prepared for surviving 3-4months until you can start harvesting your own food. By this I mean not to stockpile 50kg of food, but knowing which plants are edible and knowing a little of hunting or fishing will help you to extend your food supply.
For me this is the most important, if you know how to survive the other things will come later.

As you know in Europe it’s hard to get a gun, but at least in my country you can buy a rifle if you are a member of a hunting club and if you have a firearm license. Forget about buying a short gun, it’s almost impossible. In my country when people stop hunting the police ask people to sell their weapons or disable it. I have a double barrel shotgun disabled that works pretty well for intimidating. Have you tried the slingshots? You can hunt birds with them and you can leave a person unconscious or kill him if you hit in the head with a steel ball.

I won’t move until there is no real danger or until I can see clearly what’s going on. I live in a huge city and my safe place it’s about 400kms away. I’m not worried about reaching this place, I don’t mind going by car, bus, or walking. Just only be prepared. Have in mind the routes you will take if you don’t want to get stuck in the exits of a big city, avoid highways, and learn alternative routes to reach your safe place without using a map. Having a military map of the route will help you a lot (it contains fountains, rivers, railway tracks and a lot of tracks you won’t find in a common map)

The most important it’s done! You can survive for a while if something goes really bad following these steps. It’s only an opinion, but you have to be prepared for the basics of survival.

I’m having the same problem about my savings. I was thinking in buying gold but if you look at the price now is crazy comparing to the last years. (For me this is a fact that something it’s going bad). 12-2005: “The rise of the gold prices gives us a very clear warning: money seeks refuge before a more than predictable inflationary situation”.
30 years gold prices.
10 years gold prices
The gold train is gone by now. But it isn’t a bad idea to have some gold jewelry just in case…
Now I have three different money deposits: Yuan(China), CHF(Switzerland frank), and euro. If there’s a global economy crash I think Asia will thrive at the begining, just like it’s happening now. Switzerland is Switzerland, and always will be, I’m losing money there but it’s safe to have money there. And euro is my local currency, so if someone has a good idea about what to do with this money, please tell me. I'm not an economist so maybe I’m wrong doing this, but I had to do something!

I hope it helped.

we have a family plan in talking with my father a few weeks back I said you know you may very well have all your kids living here before it is all said and done and his response surprised me he said why do you think I bought a bigger house.. I have stockpiled of food and water that could go into the pot with the others and I have enough seed to plant for about 10-20 years and between the 8 adults and 3 kids I think we could make it work and keep a roof over our heads
we are close to the woods for hunting and fishing and at the very least when all is said and done if the economy recovers dad will still have his house and us kids well we are young enough to start over it's not much but it is a plain that could work well for us...

I guess I have to say to those of you that used to disregard the nay sayers keep them on the short list they may indeed be good help when needed and if we are all correct in this they won't be nay sayers anymore..


Respectfully
GEO

I also believe that the first sitx Im every going to witness will be civil unrest due to the economy.

There for I am storing extra food stuffs and the abilty to make fire and light.

I have alot of camping gear already as I love camping and as im an avid fisherman I have alot of tackle and alot of know how on the local lakes and rivers.

My major worry is self defence and security....

I lived in the UK from 94-96. I would definitely try to find some form of subsistence living right now outside of the major urban areas preferably somewhere towards the south coast. Warmer weather is easier to deal with than the cold and you should be able to grow food much of the year down there.

A firearm in your country can be problematic. But even a single shot shotgun can be a fearsome weapon. I would get a small supply(1-200 rounds) of 12 gage or .410 ammo even if you don't possess a shotgun. An improvised shotgun can be easily constructed from plumbing supplies in a dire emergency. An air rifle, crossbow,trapping and snaring should be able to keep meat in your diet for quite some time after a collapse. You should check out the countless US 'homesteading' websites for tip on canning and food preservation without refrigeration. Fishing gear will also be fairly useful as well.

You'll need to start preparing to live a 'frugal' life. Limit your purchases to necessities only. Fuel is money, a bike, moped, scooter or motorcycle will be better choice for daily transportation than a car. As I recall, most rural bus service was fairly limited over there and I predict that it hasn't improved much since '96 given the price of fuel. If you can afford to have a car or delivery vehicle as well, it should be one that is capable of towing the largest used caravan you can possible afford in case you have to become mobile. It should be diesel powered, so that you brew your own biodiesel should you have to. Start thinking about how you can reduce, reuse and recycle anything that you might find in the dustbin or illegal dumping ground.

You should have a large electronic library of d-i-y books on make such things as organic gardening, herbal medicine, brewing and making wine, spirits, cider and beer.. biodiesel, animal husbandry, car and bike repair, and alternative energy production. An old laptop that has a usb port and several 8gb thumbdrives will hold more info than you can possibly read in several years.

thanks for all your advice!..... ive taken lots of it onboard, and think it will definitely be worth my while stocking up on food...

reply to post by cosmicstorm


Hey,excellent thread.........starred,flagged,and dugg!You seem like you are really prepared and ready to go!Is it that motherly instinct maybe?You said'we' are prepaired,who is 'we'........lol(sorry for the ignorance)

Yup, excellent thread....starred and flagged...thank you!

Personally, I think it will be food, or lack of it that really causes the problems we might face....

I have this genetic tendency to store food and stockpile anyway, but I think if you pick the right foods, you can do it on a budget, as most of us are...

Here are the basics of my list...mostly dried or in cans..

Rice...basmati and short grain
Lentils
Beans...dried and canned
Chickpeas
Coconut milk
Tomatoes
Dried milk
Canned veg, soups and fruit
Tea
Coffee
Hot chocolate..to make life bearable!
Sugar
Salt
Spices
Soya and rice milk
Porridge oats....unbelieveably useful
Polenta


I always make sure I pick up a few extras of these, cos I use them anyway, and they become like a rolling stockpile, always kept fresh. I usually go to Asda of the like and pick up own brand stuff...nothing wrong with it and it's really cheap. And I do the same for toiletries and so on. A wee bit at a time really piles up.

Cait

[edit on 8-7-2008 by caitlinfae]