extreme frugal preps

EXTREME FRUGAL PREPARATIONS
I don’t ever want to be accused of giving advice people can’t afford to follow. I understand that sometimes even ten bucks can’t be squeezed from the budget. But over time I want even those devastated by medical bills or seniors on a tight budget to be able to follow my quest for frugal preparations. In case I have been guilty lately of giving impractical advice I want to cover the bare bones today. If you think you need a lot of land for a used trailer or even a $25 grain grinder, I will give you alternatives. No one should have to suffer from lack of preparations. No one. I shudder to think of my lack of preparedness at times when I had absolutely no cash on hand to spare. And it was not lack of money, just a wrong perception. I thought I couldn’t afford what I needed.
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In the early eighties when I was in the service I was stationed over in Hawaii. 98% of my advanced training class got sent over to Germany to guard nuke sites ( we were 95B’s- military police ). I got sent to Hawaii to provide security to a intelligence gathering site. I didn’t even get sent next door to Schofield Barracks as a semi-infantry puck, but to about the easiest job there was ( the reality came later when I went to Korea ). So, here I was working forty hours a week, barely. I was soon assigned to the misfit squad due to my poor attitude ( read- I wasn’t gung ho and lacked a broom stick up my butt ). It was a great tour of duty. And all I did was read up on survivalism. I would have been screwed on an island without any supplies. I didn’t even try to prepare I was so convinced I couldn’t afford any of the supplies every author said I needed. You know, the Yuppie Survivalists.
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I had read Kurt Saxon but only his Poor Mans James Bond book. I didn’t know about frugal survivalism until later in the decade. And even then I still carried a lot of misconceptions around with me. An example. My first gun I bought was a Springfield Armory .45 1911A1. I had several clips and a few hundred rounds of ammo. What a waste of scarce cash! I did have wheat and a Corona mill, at least, but I spent $500 on a pistol I could have used to buy two surplus bolt guns, several thousand rounds for and another several years of food ( surplus rifles and wheat were half the price then ).
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So here is a bit of advice on how to prepare darn dirt cheap. It is far from the best but it will get the job done in a hurry. It will escape the wives deadly radar set on destruct for any non-frivolous non-middle class budget item. Christmas is coming up and the few items costing over a buck or two can be given as gifts to you buy unsuspecting family members. Other items can be snuck into the weekly shopping trip at Wal-Mart as regular grocery items that disappear off the pantry shelf and go into the stash.
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A gun might be a bit much to expect. Unless you can convince the wife to spend $100 on a Russian bolt gun so you can fill the freezer for free. You might try the single shot shotgun as a home defense measure. Or a friendly and non threatening plinking gun rimfire. Otherwise, get any other kind of weapon. A boys archery set is cheap and a good hobby to get your skill to the point you can spring for a nicer more expensive bow. Arrows can be reused. You might live in California or New York or New Jersey where it is almost impossible to own any firearm or the wife is a Commie Bastard and won’t let you have one in the house ( I hope she at least has a nice rack ). Or you can even get a book from the library and make your own bow and arrows or even better, a crossbow. Even a $10 rubber tube sling shot ( with the wrist support ). Anything that can be mastered by you and has a bit of reach to avoid getting to close to that feral gang member with a 9mm. Worse case scenario at least get a few knives. Put one on a stick for a spear and one or two on your person. At least you won’t be totally undefended.
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If you rent an apartment and don’t even have a car to live out of come crunch time, at least have a tarp and some rope. It beats nothing at all. A space blanket for heat is better than no warmth because you couldn’t afford a $20 sleeping bag. A cheap bag with a wool blanket inside is a lot warmer. About $35. But a space blanket is $3. It might rip after repeated use. Carry duct tape. If you can’t afford a tarp get a painters plastic sheet at the dollar store. A space blanket and a pack of tea candles should keep you alive under most conditions.
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If you don’t want to mess with wheat, or can’t afford the grinder ( even at $25 after postage ) just buy a small bag at a time of rice and beans. If you can’t afford the crock pot or “hay cooker” to cook the beans just buy the canned variety. It isn’t that much more. They are already cooked. Or buy white flour and tinned beans, suitable for fast cooking over a campfire. Flour is $5 for 25 pounds and beans are two to three bucks a can for the big restaurant sizes at Wal-Mart. Instead of MRE’s get 10 cent packs of Top Ramen. They are 200 calories each and can be eaten uncooked. Who can’t afford $2.50 for a case of them? A solar water distiller is a few bucks of plastic.
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You can keep living the good life ( after all a society wide collapse is realistically a low probability event ) and just spend a few bucks here and there at preps. If you have disposable income and don’t want to drop out of the rat race or leave the city, just buy a used travel trailer. Tell the wife it is for camping trips. And then go camping. All the canned goods and other left over supplies you over bought each weekend can be stored as a stash. Camping is excellent camouflage for survival preparations. Just buy canned goods instead of wheat. And civilian firearms instead of military types. Buying a few extra cans every week arouses no suspicions and can be stored literally forever. And come in their own insect and rodent proof containers. If any questions are raised about too much food just claim it doubles for week long natural disaster preps ( St. Louis is still without power now after something like five days ) or even unemployment preps. Claim to be a short term prepper even though you are trying for more than that.
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Just think the basics. Defense, food, water, shelter. It can take so very little to do it. A gallon of water is a buck in long lasting plastic. A five pound bag of rice a buck or so. A candle is twenty five cents. As is a lighter. The thrift store has half off days or $5 bag days to stock up on warm cloths. Just think basic, primitive long term camping. Think “better than nothing”. Just do something, anything rather than waiting for the money for perfect items.
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