Bartering. Can your skill help you survive?

This isn't about prying about what you know how to do. This isn't about giving a scenario of a particular SHTF scenario. This is about SURVIVAL.

Do you have a skill that would be good for a barter and trade deal? I would like to say that it doesn't matter what you can do, but it does. There are many of us that can call each other out on who can or cannot survive due to strength, or ammunition, but do you have a skill that will not make such things necessary?

I can build things, I can cook, I can garden, I can sew, and I can defend myself if necessary. Believe it or not, allot of people out there cannot do allot of these things, and will need someone to do it for them in exchange for items or other services, that can make your out look, no matter what it is easier, safer, and more long term.

So, what can you barter, until someone asks the question, you may never even realize how many things you can do to survive out there, I will try to post some link for sites with information about some of the things you can do, in case you choose to have particular knowledge about other things besides the ones you can do. Thank you.


Peace to you...

I think that I have great people skills. Whether that would translate well into an apocalyptic situation, I don't know, everyone being high on emotions on all. I can read a person, very well, to the point I can learn what motivates them. What type of a person they are, and where they are headed.

Its uncanny but more often than not I can say just the right thing to get the response I want out of them. I've been able to talk my way out of fights with using only words. Not only does it work, but I feel more victorious for being able to not raise a finger and be able to calm someone down.

It my belief that I can talk my way out of anything! I am an aries though what do i know...

I can garden, and especially good at growing certain kinds of plant eh hem, lol, I can grow anything that was just a joke. Any way, I can build and repair computers if electric is up to reach other survivors, I can fish and hunt if need be(I can take a deer down, I'll have my man do the rest as that other stuff I cannot do) but I can aim and hit a target thanks to the military, anyway I can cook like nobody's business too, I can tell which plants out in the world are good for eating and poison ones, I can put up a tent(thanks to the girl scouts), ummmm oh I know how to crab and clam dig, I can start a fire with a lighter which I've always got cause I ssmoke, oh and can roll cigarettes, roast coffee beans to perfection, make beef jerky and cured meats, distill water, shall I keep going there's more but I grow tired of typing... I guess I should be alright then , Oh jewelery making...ok ok I'll stop!!!

[edit on 18-7-2010 by ldyserenity]

[edit on 18-7-2010 by ldyserenity]

Now those are the types of skills I'm talking about, I wish you were my neighbor, we would be set .

Peace to you...

I probably won't be one of the small percentage of people that will survive the coming apocalypse, so I'm not worried about survival skills.

I would garden, if SHTF there wouldnt be any gestapo from preventing me from growing the plants and fungi of my choosing if you get my drift Honestly, for me, having that freedom would better than having electricity. The only thing I really need is food, and I could grow that too plus hunt some ducks and catch some fish. I can boil rain water for drinking or something like that. What do I need electricity for? There's a fireplace in the house, I dont watch TV, I use my computer to read about TPTB and make money - both irrelevant in a SHTF situation. Not having a phone would suck, but oh well, there wouldnt be gas for cars so its not like people would be hard to find, all my friends live close anyway. Honestly, I am down for a pole shift or something, bring it on.

edit- I also have some want-to-be scarface friends with bullet proof vests and big guns. Id be strapped! One of my friends always likes to talk about what we would do in a zombie apocalypse, so we are ready lol

[edit on 18-7-2010 by CREAM]

I am an avid home brewer of beer, I also make wine occasionally. I roll my own cigarettes, I cure and smoke my own jerky, I have a small garden that I keep going with a variety of staple type veggies. I bake our own bread and reload my own ammunition. Keep in mind, I do all of these things without the need of electricity or other items that would be hard to come by or non existant in a SHTF scenario, i consider it on the job training.

I am a leatherworker. I live in a hunting area and advertise in the local paper during hunting season for hunters to sell me the hide, leg tendons and brains of the animal they bag, higher prices paid of course for a full hide, and I use the brain for tanning and tendons for thread. I hand-sew pillows, clothing, moccasins, bed covers etc... I currently make a decent sum from this.
I am also a herbalist and know most wild plants native to my woodland area. I know the medicinal properties of them and also which ones are edible. I make salves and tinctures and know how to blend different plants for specific ailments. I have been using various wild edibles for some time and know how to prepare most of them so they are more palatable. I also have discovered which plants pair best with different types of game.
I have been making homemade wine for sometime from elderberry, chokecherry, huckleberry, etc... I have all the necessary equipment and enough yeast, clarifiers, sugars, bottles and corks to make several hundred gallons here right now.
I have also stocked up on tobacco. I currently have around 100 lbs of top, buglar and drum tobacco in sealed containers in 1 of my chest freezers.
I am a salesperson by trade, and have awesome dickering skills, lol.

reply to post by The Endtime Warrior


People skills will be an invaluable skill as those with have the ability to read people and figure out what they want or need.
However, I would not advertise this skill as I personally associate this with political skill.
This may be dangerous if politicians are being targeted.
Careful Brother.

On the major topic I have always seen myself as a Jack of all trades.
Although i generally misspell "of" for the giggle effect.
Yes, growing up poor does have advantages, you become extremely resilient.
The only real skillset I do not have is the electrical field and I mostly attribute that to not wanting to electricute myself.

reply to post by g146541


LOL ok thanks for the warning! if i am passed off as a politician one day ill just laugh and smirk about all the times i got away with tripping at school!

Originally posted by SM2
I am an avid home brewer of beer, I.

Now that's what I am talking about... Hope you live nearby...lol!

Wonderful to read about all the various skills !
I have some also, and fortunately, these will be in demand in Cali! Grew up in the desert, and as was mentioned, without a great deal of money, which I now consider a blessing. I am good with hydrology, fire, earth, and friendly with bugs! We fix things, too.
Still, I believe in stashing crates of whiskey, coffee, and other "goodies" to barter with. You know the list. Do you think stashing items is good?

reply to post by CestLaVie


There is a reason "cache" sounds like "cash"
2nd silly line

GREAT THREAD...

In a SHTF scenario, money will, for all intents and purposes, be useless..

What will be valuable is skills...

If you have skills that are in demand, mechanical repair, gardening etc, you will be a commodity and should be able to "barter" yourself a decent living..

I would also expect to see, after the turmoil is over of course, trading posts cropping up where barter will be the main monetary unit..

reply to post by CestLaVie


Oh yes stashing is great, and you can stash anything. I have extra everything, I even have coffee cans already filled with toilet paper, together with 3 bottles of alcohol, just in case we have to leave and come back, but don't want a smoke trail to and from my house.

Everyone in my home has a, if I had to bring anything with my back pack. Its what we would normally not consider keeping, but is sentimental to the individual, whatever you can fit in a back pack.

I have enough wood, with 2 homemade pits, and a wood stove, with 3 gardens, 2 garden beds, and the 3rd the ground tilled well. Each garden has a priority, the 1st, seeds, 2nd seedling, 3rd full growth. I use old dressers, cinder blocks for herbs, and one pit is built with cinder blocks and oven grates, Im going to try to post a pic.

Right behind my house is a creek full of fish, and a well, and if you have a hot water heater, whatever the size, if left without water, you will have about 50-60 gallons, all you need is a hose. Which will by some time.

I have about 100 ideas, and I try to implement them as much as I can.

I
Here's the pic.. I think it will work if not its in my photos.

http://



Peace to you...

In the general realm of bartering in the strict sense, I worked in sales, so I think I can haggle a good deal for myself.

My main skill is computers, with a side helping of electronics, I doubt that will be much use in SHTF though, especially if it's something like solar flares or EMP that might fry technology.

Luckily, I was in a pretty hardcore scout group as a teenager, I think those are the skills that will help me most. We did things like shooting, hunting (setting traps with things found in nature), fishing with home made tackle. We built our own shelters (known locally as bivvys) from things found in the woods. We did survival weekends where we lived off the land. We made fires, butchered our own meat, collected plants to eat. All this and much more. If you have kids, and can find a decent scout group that still does these kind of things - I hear many don't anymore due to 'health and safety' - I would recommend getting them involved. I've done a lot of things like that in real practice, although only for the short term, I think I'm far more prepared than most people.

So I think that I will be able to barter some of the most important things, food and shelter, and the knowledge of how to get/make those.

I also have a few years martial arts and boxing, so I'll be able to teach people basics of hand to hand self defense, people should be interested in trading with me for that information too.


[edit on 19/7/2010 by harpsounds]

Sandpaper will be in demand, as people that wield a mighty pen for a living will have a need to rough up their hands to fit in with the working class.

Skills are what will keep you alive if the SHTF, I suppose I've been prepping for it all my life at least most of my skills seem to center on the concept of survival.

Edible and medicinal wild plants
Hunting/Trapping w. both modern firearms and archery/manufactured or improvised traps
Mantracking and camouflage
Blacksmithing/metalworking
Tanning/furs
Sewing
Tool making/flint knapping

If that ain't enough to get me by well screw it!
Somehow I never felt like a few years in boy scouts would be enough.
I am also saving up a few things for barter later if needed - non hybrid vegetable seeds, hand tools and hack saw blades, ammunition, water filtration systems.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals

Edible and medicinal wild plants
Hunting/Trapping w. both modern firearms and archery/manufactured or improvised traps
Mantracking and camouflage
Blacksmithing/metalworking
Tanning/furs
Sewing
Tool making/flint knapping

This is a very sound skillset. The tanning furs part is extremely important, I do hope you are refering to brain tanning? Flint knapping is a lost art sadly, but certainly an important skill.

So what can I do that will prove usefull?

Gardening/canning
Hunting/trapping
Brain Tanning
Fishing
Cabin Construction
Finding potable water
Medicine
General First Aid
Canoe/Boat building (yes, birch bark canoes)
General survival understanding/knowledge
Produce/cure tobacco
Wine/beer production
Leather sewing
Thats a short list, but good enough for now.

However, I likely will not be trading any of these skills. Maybe on the food side I could see some barter for high level physical work (cutting firewood), but for the most part, I have my stash, my group has theirs, it wont be much of a barter system, more of a take care of each other and therefore the group.

As an ex Paramedic, with a good grounding in minor surgical procedures as well I've always thought I might be useful.

I just worry that I wouldn't have the necessary tools to practice my skills.

Any thoughts?

I do have a big stash of the stuff I need, and rotate it regularly. Ultimately I suspect that I'd only be very useful in the short term.