[tjwilhelm]

Hey! Welcome to the forum, cismifmus! A few of us are from the Midwest...and I have a 1951 Farmall-M; BUT, it's NOT up for trade, barter or sale!

[Pat/Rick]

One of my neighbors has a portable saw mill. His services could be priceless. Things to stock for barter, trash bags, screws, nails, pipe for plumbing and fittings, candles, canned shortening, soap, lids for canning jars,strike anywhere matches, lantern mantles, baking soda/powder. Alot of these things can be stocked up cheaply if you purchase at any number of "dollar stores". Small boxes of dried soup mix, bean soup mix etc, thread and needles. I would NOT trade ammunition. Do not give the means for others to take what you have. Fruit press and an orchard? you could trade cider, juice, and fruit butters.In event of EMP your magneto powered roto tiller,other equipment with you running it of course, could be traded for neccessaties. Another reason to buy the best grain mill you can afford you could be your neighborhoods miller.

[caveman]

The things people want should be what you can stock up on now. In Somalia people were starving and needing everything. The things they most wanted was cigarettes, kids wanted candy. Everyone will have some survival gear/clothing and food they can trade. The person that has the stuff no one else has can set their own price. Cigarettes, Booze, Porn mags, Candy. If you already have your supplies filled, grab a few bottle of Vodka, they also work for medicinal purposes

[TaintRight]

my top three

pint bottles of vodka and/or bourbon
tins of cigarette tobacco and papers
feminine hygiene pads

I shall be the king

[snowshoe67]

I would have the Basic essentials to Trade Cloths,first aid kits,fire,(FireSteel)things that make life easy.trading has been around for hundreds of years maybe longer!

[cowgirlup]

Originally Posted by TaintRight

my top three

pint bottles of vodka and/or bourbon
tins of cigarette tobacco and papers
feminine hygiene pads

I shall be the king

You will only be the king if you are packing chocolate to go along with
item #3.

[Solar Geek]

Originally Posted by Ron Fontaine

Very interesting observations. Consumable supplies are finite and will run out, but your skills and gear can continue to produce for you.

One of the best items in my preparedness stocks is a high end hand operated grain mill with replacement parts. This little piece of equipment, long forgotten by the masses of people, will be worth 100 times its weight in gold should there be a collapse. It could even be the means to make a living when people lucky enough to find grains and other hard foods come to Survival Topics to have them processed.

Ron if you don't mind, which brand and model did you buy? I am always looking at the different models in the Lehman's Non-Electric catalogue but just am unsure as to which is reliable. Thanks, SG PS JUST GOT MY 5 PACK OF FIRESTEELS AND THE ONE EXTRA ARMAGEDDON AND CANNOT WAIT TO TRY THEM THIS WEEKEND! SG

[crazydave]

how about a still? you can brew drinking alcohol and fuel alcohols for trade or personal use.

[Aussie_Tim]

Trade? Why would you want to trade? Id much prefer to prepare in advance. No I see your point Ronnie (even though your banned)
Id go with hard routine in an urban situation. Eat, but no cooking. People see or smell smoke, they know you have firewood for warmth and or cooking that means you have food too! If you have to, keep a few extra boxes of matches or some extra blankets. Remember in prison, drugs are hard to come by, if SHTF so will supplies and the prices skyrocket. The ideas about tobacco, alcohol and female hygiene products are great. Dont show the essentials or hard to come by supplies to your survival.

[garret]

at the moment i have about 300kilos of salt loaf (from sea salt) that i got as part of a deal i made for some mod work to a motorcycle so i could use that as a barter item (it lasts forever if kept dry)

i also have my chicken stuff to make and trade (i can see them taking off in a big way if TSHTF) especially as you can protect the eggs from predators with my system.

i also have my mech skills and carpentry/cabinet making skills, i can lay brick and block and i know how to build haybale houses and i am a competant electrician (i am licenced in the uk but not in Aus because of the regs difference but in a TSHTF situation i dont think people are going to care)

i am also in the process of making a prototype wind generator so i hope that will be a go.

at the moment we are stocking up on timber/lumber, metal sheeting of all kinds, glass and anything else we can think of, i tend to go to garage sales and buy all the hand tools they have (especially carpentry)