Once money is worthless, what is the best thing to stock up on for trading?

Originally posted by dr_strangecraft

There will never be a time when "All money" is worthless."

Someone will come along with a new currency, with more trustworthy backing / underwriting, and the old currency will simply be replaced.

Been going on for 3000 years.

I think the OP meant: Once Dollars and all other modern currencies are worthless, what is the best thing to stock up on for trading?

Here's what i was thinking....since the prisons are overcrowded...why not make every one criminals...and lock them up behind invisible bars. Bars that keep you from traveling, buying and selling, etc. I have a feeling...society is about to learn how the inmates do things. Could you imagine that? It would cost a pretty penny for 1 cig...and with the billions of people addicted....cha-ching. Well, maybe not cha-ching...but your belly would be mighty full; as would be your cupboards!

I would stock up on MATCHES. What good are smokes...if you got nothing to light it with? Also, you could stock up on toilet paper or baby wipes. Oh, vicadin....can't forget the drugs. I think maxi-pads would also do well. More importantly....you're gonna need to store your bartering items somewhere...so..think of bulk items that would require very little space to store.

Just off the top of my head...
I make wine and have invested a few bucks on that equipment
Spices...makes gamey meat taste better and people will tire of boring, bland beans quickly
Heirloom seeds
RYO tobacco...pipe tobacco is much cheaper now and due to longer cut, will stay fresher, longer
Salt. Cannot ever have too much; it preserves meat, skins and hides until you have time to process them.
culinary salt with Iodine may be valuable in the event of nuke contamination fears

ETA parraffin wax(many uses)

Originally posted by mbartelsm

Originally posted by dr_strangecraft

There will never be a time when "All money" is worthless."

Someone will come along with a new currency, with more trustworthy backing / underwriting, and the old currency will simply be replaced.

Been going on for 3000 years.

I think the OP meant: Once Dollars and all other modern currencies are worthless, what is the best thing to stock up on for trading?

I think that is what OP intended as well.

But what I am saying is that you cannot "un-invent" money. If every world currency somehow magically went to exactly zero (which is not possible), then some person or someone (me) would introduce "new money" backed by gold or oil or microchips or bullets, and we'd have money again.

Then, after a few years, people would get tired of carrying bullets or microchips around and wearing holes in their pockets, and we'd develop pieces of paper or poker chips to stand for so many bullets or so much gold.

Money is simply a store of imputed value. Nothing more and nothing less. It is a convenient social construct, and when one brand dies, a competitor will develop a new one. The deutschmark doesn't exist. Has money ceased? What about the drachma, the denarius, or the groschen?

Some money will replace the Euro. Something will replace the dollar. And it it turn will be replaced.

And we'll call it "news," and be upset by all the change.

In an emergency, you'll need to barter. But I have enough faith in the human race and its greed to be confident and predict that you won't need to barter for more than about 3 months before there will be a coin or a note or a byte with ceasar's face on it, and minted by the full faith and credit of the Senate and People of the Next Imperium.

It has ever been thus.

Bartering harkens back to a time when there was little specialization in human society. If you ever experience it again in your lifetime, it will only be temporary until people can develop specialized trades and handcrafts again. The earliest money seems to have been coined by herdsmen, who couldn't divide up a cow for barter without ruining a cow. The first coins were shaped like little cowhides, made of precious metal, and functioning like poker chips.

So as soon as a community begins producing single items to costly to conveniently subdivide, they will use money as a proxy.

That, and governments. you cannot have a secular government unless you have money that "only the government" manufactures, and the people therefore must pay their taxes in said currency. The senator must get fed, and if you had to bring him an actual chicken to pay for him to represent you, then you'd see him for the parasite he is, and rise up and oust him and his ilk. So instead, the government "takes a few percent of every dollar," and the cent was born, and all the rest of the currency.

I'm saying the process is implaccable, like the next approaching ice age. The non-existence of money is something that you won't enjoy except for a few months at a time, at most.

reply to post by dr_strangecraft


I don't mean that money will not raise again, but there will be a time when the system will be barter and with time, some thing will become more valuable than others becoming the first currency.

In any SHTF situation, I don't think there will be any one item to stock up on, I think it really depends on climate, terrain, type of people, ect. If I was walking in the desert for days and didn't have a hat or sunglasses, I wouldn't mind bartering a box of 5.56 or something of that sort. It's going to boil down to individual needs.. I think something to stock up on are mini survival kits, the ones in a can.. carry a couple, I'm sure there will be plenty of people caught unprepared. and of course booze and smokes, we will all need a drink the day after..

Well, this ATS thread lists the first 100 items to disappear first from store shelves in an emergency. That list might be a helpful guide to disaster-merchants.....

reply to post by Elieser


Clean drinking water
A good water filter
fuel
food with long shelf life (google and lists will come up) Protein will really be priceless
Toilet paper
clorine bleach
soap
toothpaste
toothbrushes
comb
rasors
guns & amo (and know how to clean, load, reload and shoot one).
blankets
shoes
coats
diapers
candles
lanterns and oil
formula (people will barter anything for their babies)
gas
batteries
vegetable seeds (not GMO)
bikes
skis
carriage
horse
wagon
shopping cart on wheels
alcohol both booze and rubbing alcohol
cigerettes
medicine..............any kind, even asprin will be at a premium - alcohol wipes, hydrogen perioxide, neosporien - many people will die from getting a cut and that cut turning into a simple infection
sanitary products ( a big femine pad can absorb more blood than a bandaid
warm clothing
socks, good ones - I just got 30 pairs of part woolen ones from Universal Textiles in England
jackets
hats
gloves
rope
duct tape
plastic sheets
boots, any good walking shoes - think hiking
good practicle clothing like jeans, long sleeve sweatshirts, clothes you can travel miles in on foot
Bug spray....................yes OFF, there will be mosquitos and outbreaks of malaria and West Niles virus
tents
rafts
Almost any arm equipment
gas mask
iodine pills
salt
coffee
tea
sugar
a manual can opener
Baby wipes
Disinfectant wipes like Clorox makes
People that know how to farm, build, doctors, nurses, and those that have lived off the grid for years will be invaluable.
manual tools - axe, hammer, nails, screwdrivers, manual pulley, vise, manual can opener (yes I said this twice, people just forget this one handy item)
latex gloves
first aid kit
knife (good one)
sissors
matches and lighters
candles and flash lights
a wood stove or fireplace.............but than people will be able to see smoke and know where you are
buckets, all sizes - make sure you have a couple good ones with lids for waste and remember you want to bury (hide) your waste so people do not know you are there and try to take over your shelter.

Stuff that will not be useful after awhile if TSHTF is money, jewelry, fancy purses and high heels, fancy dresses, fingernail polish, stuff we value today we will look upon as useless in the years ahead if TSHTF.

Think along the line of stuff we all now take forgranted, the simple things water, food, shelter and keeping bacteria & germ contamination down to a minimum are at the top of the list.

Suggestion, having a secret hidden room or shelter. The key is hidden because something that is not hidden you will have more trouble defending...............people now fight over parking spaces. Imagine one can of corn, three families that haven't eaten for several days

Start either renting or buying books and magazines on survival................there is a lot of free info on the net.

Mostly it will be lady luck.

I strongly suggest if you live along a coast line to move inland..............always wanted to have a ocean front home but now I am glad I live almost in the center of the country with one of the biggest fresh water lakes next door.

Depending on what happens, again it's luck................plan all you want but depending on what "crisis" TPTB have planned for us next will determine who lives and who dies.

You can have a ton of food, a safe hidden place but if you're down wind from a "melt down" and not far enough underground with a good ventilation system (which cost mega bucks) kiss your behind good bye.

Luck..............plan ahead but live each day as if it were your last.

Don't hold grudges
Don't leave anyone you love or like with a bad word because it may be the last conversation you have with them.
Cherish each bar of soap, deodorant and shampoo you have, while you are in the shower, smell the heavenly scent of your bath product, relish the hot clean water running in abundance
Don't waste food..........enjoy each mouthful
When you slip into bed each night behind a safe, secure, locked door and into clean fresh smelling sheets with a nice comfy blanket be grateful.
Hug a friend and tell them how much they mean to you

Time is short. I've watched almost 60 years race by and each year goes faster and faster getting crazier and crazier.

Live, laugh and love...............be kind and play fair.

If and when TSHTF happens, people show what their true nature is..................cowardly predators or heros.

The true test of a man or woman is how they react in the face of real adversity.

Am I the only one that has noticed many of the elite (like Bill & Melinda Gates) are preparing underground "vaults" (bunkers)?