I wrote bits of this in another post, but I think it needs to be common knowledge if things get turbulent.
I popped a couple grand out of the bank the other day and scrapped my old debit card for a new one, to get me out of any subscription that still have the info logged in.
I don't think the money is gonna matter though. If the banks all go down, then the value of the dollar won't mean anything anyway. Cash will be as valuable as your ability to sucker someone into believing it still has value.
Gold and silver, unless you have it in your possession, is also as useless as money in the bank.
Even if you do have gold and silver on hand, don't expect to barter with it. People have no clue what it is actually worth anymore.
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Instead, buy food and stuff that makes stuff. Don't buy more than 2 weeks of food, though. A minor shortage will turn into a major shortage in the panic, which we learned from the Toilet Paper Shortage before the China Virus started up.
When I say "stuff that makes stuff" I mean buy firewood (or better yet, source your own) and hand tools that don't need electricity. If the power goes out, and people need to build stuff, all the electric hand drills in the world won't be worth anything but their weight in copper coils. Instead, buy braces, old wrenches at thrift stores (can be gotten for pennies), nails, screws, bolts, ANYTHING elastic, yarn, cordage(paracord/rope), matches and candles(to melt the ends of paracord), saws, tarps, knives, hatchets; you get the deal.
Barter is the oldest and honest form of commerce -- and one they can't tax or monitor!
Buy some craft books. Put your "manliness" or "girliness" aside and get things like cookbooks, knitting/crochet/sewing books, wood working books, mechanic books, and the like. If the internet goes down, you'll be glad you can still crochet a blanket or pair of socks. It's really not as hard as it seems.
Next, the holy grail of crafts... PVC Piping.
PVC pipe in all sizes is more valuable than gold in an extended blackout. It can be used to make tents, collect water, or heated up and shaped to form armor plates. You can duct tape a kitchen knife to the end to make a spear, or even lash it with some cordage and make a bow. The interlocking cylinder's are the most versatile crafting base for any project to date. Expect a single Tee adapter to be worth a sack of flour on its own.
Don't glue unless you're working with water. You can always tear down what you make and use it for something else. Don't cut pipe unless you have to. Measure twice, cut once. Learn to make wood dowels to connect two small pipes together, in case you screw up.
Once you realize you don't have to buy something-ready made and that everything is only a sum of its parts (that you can scrap and reuse) you really get a rush of independence that only a Creator knows.
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In summary...
Use these things to make things. Then trade the things you make. Make boxes, bags, knives(from old wrenches) and anything else needed for a more "rustic" lifestyle. You and others in your community will be glad you had the foresight.
So many goobers get all these mail-order "bugout bags" and prepper supplies, but they neglect getting the things that actually matter -- tools.
Make yourself so invaluable to your community, with your knowledge and intuition, that you'd be the last person they'd eat. It's a silly conclusion, but absolutely true in its merits.
Edit:
Feel free to add your own advice in the comments. Knots are something else to keep in mind.
Don't forget not having water... urine stinks. Hard to flush your toilet without water.
You gotta filter urine to water plants.
The salt and acid content will kill most vegetation.
Some people, like my grandmother, are actually poisonous to some plants. She can't so much as touch a green pepper without it withering a week later. I shit you not, green pepper plants are allergic to her. I can hardly imagine what her urine would do...
Urine's best use is as you said, to keep animals at bay, and if you distill it, the remnants can actually be used to make some light pyrotechnics. The phosphorus content in urine is a good base to make some matches, if you're willing enough to learn some less-than entry level chemistry and then slow-boil tons and tons of piss...
Flush your pee? Why not just pee in the back yard, or side yard, or front yard if your slingin.
If you haven't gone without water for a while, you wouldn't realize that it's the urine that stinks up the place more than the feces, and is easily solved, as you noticed.
I think on 1.5 acres, I can find a place to pee that want stink up the house.
I do no that if you pee in the same spot to much, it will kill the grass, and it will stink.
This is so good, and something we can do right now.
Very smart!
I recently watched a video of a family that did this during the winter. One of the things they mentioned was an inexpensive camp stove. Didn't know they existed and if it's really cold out that would be better than the rocket stove I set up.
Our electricity went out last year for a day, we live in the country and this can happen for a hour or do, but this was at night and it went on and on. I thought I was prepared until i could not find the flash light I was looking for! I used phone and was all over my house looking for the light i wanted. Did not find it until next day at bottom of last used back pack. So I went on a flashlight rampage, now ever single light, headlamps,neck book lights (my favorite for hands free cooking) and big and small and hand crank light are all in the same spot in a cool box on bench in entryway. Next power outage I can find the one I want easily