doomsday shopping list

DOOMSDAY SHOPPING LIST
Today I got tired of waiting in between classical music ( I like the stuff, but in small doses such as during a Looney Tunes cartoon or a copter attack on a Cong village ) for snatches of highly biased news from National Pravda Radio so I turned the radio station to the AM spectrum and by accident picked up Rush Limbaugh. Now, I like trash talking Liberals, Communists and Democrats as much as the next guy but Rush turned to the dark side of Fascism to do it. He never met a Republican he didn’t like so much he would kiss their butts as they were wiping it with the Constitution. I remembered why I stopped listening to him about fifteen years ago. Besides the fact I usually work during the day and I don’t have three hours to listen to the radio, I also got tired of his opinion being so discolored by his love for a political party that hasn’t held true to its roots for decades. He was talking about how the Democrats used the current market dip as an excuse to push their liberal agenda. Excuse me! A market dip? More than likely this is the start of a market meltdown and the only thing Rush is concerned with is how his rich buddies on Wall Street might get a bad name from the commies. How out of touch is this guy?
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I know, you know, and Ross Perot knows that the economy is difficult to predict with anything other than a very broad brush. We can only call the macro moves, the general direction ( eventually, down ). But I think this is more than a small dip of activity. This could be the beginning of the derivative market meltdown. Or not. But who cares? Our job is to prepare to survive, not to write $200 a year newsletter we sell to the suckers buying paper assets. I am just going along like the end has already started. If I’m wrong, you bought prep items before inflation raised the price. If I’m right you bought them when they were still available. I think now is a great time to start getting all those little items you never seem to get around to. We are all so busy buying cans of ammunition and burying steel containers of wheat kernels. No time to buy toothpaste or thermal underwear.
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Assume that by the start of winter we will see a huge downtrend in the economy. You might see your wages cut in half as the spouse loses their job. Or your credit card interest goes up. Or a lot of retail outlets start closing down and it gets harder to find everyday items. Or we invade Iran and oil doubles in price. Ask yourself, what are the common everyday items, or needed specialty goods I keep putting off buying? For instance, any kind of disruption may well see power being cut out, at least for a time. You don’t have the cash to go buy a small refrigerator and solar panel to make a solar ice box. But could you come up with enough to buy the two ceramic pots to make an evaporation cooler? The one with wet sand in between the two pots as outlined in an earlier article. If you lose heat this winter, do you have enough thermal underwear and wool sweaters, caps, gloves? Much cheaper than buying a cord of wood.
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No one ever has enough toilet paper. Telephone books are free for the taking in many different locations. Stock up on them. Store inside to avoid insect infestation. Perhaps under the couch. Assume trouble with washing clothes. Not only would it be a good idea to get extra underwear and socks to go longer between washings, but plan now on how to wash them by hand. If nothing else, a poly bucket with lid ( with a hole in the middle ) and a toilet plunger. Buy a new one, they are only a few bucks. Stock up on the cheapest detergent you can find. Do you have enough rope for a clothes line? Wooden clothes pins are still available in the dollar stores. You might as well buy it from China while the cargo ships are still running.
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Instead of stocking up on toothpaste which may or may not be contaminated by Chinese communists, get baking soda. A few twenty five cent boxes will last a long time. Toothbrushes are five or six for a buck. Dental floss can last a long time if you re-use a strand until it starts falling apart between your teeth. I don’t know why people get grossed out about it, it contains your own germs. If still squeamish, clean with your fingers under hot water each time. For a better shower than a whores bath with a pan of water and a washcloth ( when the only hot water available is from heating on the stovetop ) get a new one handed small weed sprayer. Fill with hot water, spray, lather, spray. One half gallon per person gets you nicely clean. Double if long hair.
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If clothes washing is not a concern, substitute paper napkins with cloth ones. Each person keeps the same one, perhaps with a named ring to keep track. Wash with the regular laundry. Stock up on bar soap. Yes, you can make your own when you must. But the store bought kind will be nice while it lasts. Odds are you make your own and the lye irritates your eyes in a very uncomfortable way. Disposable razors are great, much better than a straight razor. If you can buy them cheaply. Stocking up now is better than a scratchy irritating beard later. The Razor Saver from Lehman’s gives you ten times the use from each blade. Substitute deodorant with cologne. A small spray under your pits will keep you presentable all day. Get it at the dollar store, the largest bottle you can find. None of us smell like petunias during a hot and humid summer day so take pity on your fellow man and mask your foul stench. Besides, as jobs get scarce and you go to an interview, body odor will be enough to keep you from getting hired.
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Have you replaced all of your regular flashlights with LED’s yet? Why not? Batteries will either need to be hoarded or not recharged as often and a LED sips power instead of guzzling it like a Roman Catholic priest guzzles wine before he goes to have a few special prayers with the youngest choir boy. And the bulbs are for all practical purposes “forever”. LED lights are not as good of a source of illumination as most other types, be they kerosene or propane or whatever, but they last a lot longer on less. Do you have more than one knife? If not, at least buy a few cheap ones. Better than nothing if your expensive one breaks. Do you have enough beans to go along with your wheat? Enough white flour to stretch out the wheat kernels? Enough rice to give your diet some variety?
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Enough bottled water? How about some rolls of plastic to cover your windows in case they get broken. Some black plastic to increase the heat in your south facing windows come winter. How about trash bags? I only use grocery store plastic bags as trash bags myself. Once those run out, what would I do for sanitary trash disposal? Tin foil to help build solar ovens. I could go on and on, but the basic point is, there are dozens of items, mostly from the dollar store, you use everyday that might disappear or get much more expensive that you can easily afford, no matter how low your income. Some, such as LED flashlights or wool socks or thermals are a major investment on our limited budgets. But they are much cheaper than the alternatives ( such as wood heat or a supply of propane ). Brainstorm a list of all the stuff you always use everyday and create a stockpile. Think of Zimbabwe where a roll of toilet paper is currently going for Z$200,000. And I imagine electricity is a luxury.
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