Currency in a SHTF Scenario

reply to post by Gazrok


my wife has the answer


toilet paper

Knowledge.....I don't need to carry much of anything for trade if I can teach you something...As a bonus people can't steal your valuables. Think of the old Magicians, they just needed to be smarter than average to have a decent life. If you were thirsty with all the food and ammo you could use but no potable water and I had the ability to teach you to clean drinking water what would you pay in trade??

If I could build the better mouse trap for all animals what's that worth??
If I taught people to salvage cars and make Gasifier engines when the world has no transportation what do you think that's worth??
Parabolic weapons/Battery chargers, the list goes on and on...Best part is I could travel light and have the people I'm helping hunt down Materials.

That's my Valuable Barter, My ingenuity and wealth of knowledge.

Water and food would be obvious, but we all need that... so it would be the most valuable unless the situation actually supplied it in abundance (ice storm would obviously supply massive amount of water...so heat and food would be most important). In general, each scenario would be different depending the type of $hit that hits the fan. Nuclear, regular feast/famine, world catastrophe... etc.

Liquor.
Matches.
Clothes.
Shoes.
Toiletries
Battery power

vegetable seeds , ammo, flint, first aid supply''s, morphine, salt tabs, disinfectants, razors, for the gold, Rifle, pistol with ammo, horse , milk cow, Gen with gas, you get the idea, knife and gunsmithing will be the top money makers like this one; www.americangunsmith.com... small Eng repair, and medical will be in high demand, will civilization remain or want to rebuild? towns will pop up over night, "tent city's" will dot the land scape far from big city's, security in numbers, i think they would bee nomads, not staying to long in one place, fallowing game, and fresh water.

Read up on the refugees who lived in the woods in europe.

Those are the things that matter after being disconnected for a year or more.

Bleach will be worth its weight in gold. You need very little to disinfect water, plus you can use it for other disinfection purposes. I noticed someone else added ammonia as well. With the two of those, you have a rudimentary chemical weapon.

I vote for bleach to be on the list of "must have's".

I think the ability to purify water will be more valuable than having storage tanks.

reply to post by buddhasystem
A play off of your post.. Spices. They used to be a big trade commodity, and probably will be again in a PAW scenario. Nobody likes bland food all the time.

Originally posted by camaro68ss
pre 1965 US 90% silver coins is my game plan for currency in SHTF world!

I like junk silver as well. I recently went through my coin bank (3/4 full 5 gal. Water Jug) to see what I could find. In all of that change I came out with 2 pre 1964 dimes and 1 War Nickel (only made from 1942-1945 35% silver).

Don't rule out stashing ordinary nickels either. The melt value is higher than face value at the moment and Most expect the metal composition of nickels to change very soon.
www.coinflation.com...

Additionally, I would expect cigarettes and cut tobacco to have considerable value as with any other substance that is prone to abuse and addiction. If things ever get bad, I would expect droves of people wanting to numb out the reality of it all. People will then drink,ingest or inhale anything that will alter the brain. Zombies will actually be just burned out huffers who fried on inhalants.

reply to post by chiefsmom


Not silly at all. ANY skill will be a valuable commodity in a barter world.

Funny though, most people are mentioning things they too need. (water, food, bullets, etc.). Though, if you find you don't use too many bullets, and have a surplus, I'd agree these would also be good currency.

Seeds are a GREAT suggestion (and replenish-able!)

i think they would bee nomads, not staying to long in one place, fallowing game, and fresh water.

Maybe at first, depending on the scenario, but soon, crops, etc. I think at first, it will be roaming scavengers, who then gather enough to make a go at an actual settlement.

I think Cigars would be a great thing to have to trade with.

money will still have value

some good things have already been said

toilet paper will be a nice thing to have and when you run out of tp

you can still use your dollars to whipe your bum

or you can use it as fire tender.

Yea i would say we would turn into a barter type economy.

Well we WOULD turn into one. The prices would determine on either how good you were of a merchant or how much you/they needed it.

reply to post by Gazrok


Marijuana, cigs & cigars, Alchohol, fuel, solar cells, engine belts, bullets.

people seem to be forgetting the small things

nails and screws and wood 2x4s and stuff like particle board.

windows break doors broken in and no way to replace them.

just a another thing to be consider

wetnaps, beef jerky, neosporin, and deodorant.

reply to post by Lawgiver


mmmm I've been making homemade beef jerky lately, and actually stocked up on enough spices to make over 50lbs.... specifically because of food storage haha It's funny how survival thinking changes what you buy.

My mom bought a 20lb solar oven. The COOLEST thing I have seen. It has a handle, so you can carry it easily. Easy to cook anything in it, and usable all year round. I'm planning on buying one soon. Definitely a good thing to have when heat sources are hard to come by or you don't want to have a fire going.

Originally posted by Redwing48
reply to post by buddhasystem

 

A play off of your post.. Spices. They used to be a big trade commodity, and probably will be again in a PAW scenario. Nobody likes bland food all the time.

I agree. However this would depend on how bad the S is (that one that hit the fan). In the survival mode, I'd go without spices to get salt, and I'd forgo salt to get antibiotics.

Good barter commodities are nice to have hard to make yourself items.

The obvious easiest to obtain and trade ones will be tobacco, alcohol, other drugs and spices. Next desired will be Hygiene items like soap, TP, combs, and toothpaste. Vegetable and herb seeds, matches and cheap lighters, batteries, inexpensive ammunition and jewelery would always be "money" in a SHTF situation.

Also plain bleach is a dirt cheap and VERY effective water purifier that could be traded as small bottles for almost anything else in a very ugly shtf situation. Dose to use is 2 drops per quart in a closed bottle for 1 hour of time. Pool shock chlorinator powder (pure calcium hypochlorite) is also a longer life version of bleach that works very well. Dose is 1/8 teaspoon per 10 liters of water.

I see many things mentioned but one thing has not been mentioned that is the backbone of the human race. Labour. We made it this far because we worked together. I can build and fix things or whatever, you cant but you have some nice warm jackets and food, we make trade. Helping one another , working together is the human race's greatest strength.

In a SHTF scenario I never once see anyone mentioning helping one another. Its all about fending for self, need bullets, guns, knives. I think this generation has grown up with unimaginative games and movies. Who ever said we are going to be killing each other?


Stop playing fallout.

reply to post by Gazrok


I have always thought whiskey, tobacco and coffee. Can you imagine? I'm pretty sure I'd kill for a cup of coffee in the morning with a cig in a bad situation. And the whiskey, well heck, you could always pour some in your coffee.