Here's an interesting read of events in the car world that you foretold years ago agnut:
What's Your Favorite "On the Ground" Recession Indicator?
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Here's an interesting read of events in the car world that you foretold years ago agnut:
What's Your Favorite "On the Ground" Recession Indicator?
Hi all. This post is in response to General Of Darkness‘ thread “Cars running at 70 mpg BANNED in the US by Fed Gvmt”.
I have a 1990 Dodge 1 ton truck with the Cummins diesel engine and 5 speed manual transmission. It just rolled over 250K miles and besides regular 3,000 mile oil changes, I have only replaced an alternator, master cylinder and universal joints. I’ve had it for about 3 years now and couldn’t be happier with the 24-26 MPG highway and 18-20 MPG city driving. It pulls my double axle trailer with 100 bales of hay like it doesn’t notice the load. Also just got over 200 bales of hay for free; they had been lightly rained on and now not good for horses but okay for cows.
Ponce says that there will be a demand in the future for someone who has a truck and trailer that can move goods from one area to another. Not necessarily long distance but from town to town. I agree with this and see having this truck and trailer as a future income potential. Down the road, of course.
Next I have a Ford 550 diesel backhoe. Haven’t used it much yet but it will come in handy for the heavy jobs.
Next I have a Lister 12K diesel generator. I have run it but don’t have it hooked up to the house and battery pack. Hopefully this summer (maybe my last chance; who knows ?). Got a deal in the works for heavy cables.
Next is the 1987 VW Scirocco. It never was offered from the factory with a diesel engine. So I asked, Why not ? I installed a 1600cc normally aspirated diesel engine from a 1984 Rabbit and a stretched out 5 speed manual transmission. I rebuilt them last year and had them in a VW Caddy pickup truck that no one would buy for a fair price so I removed them and sold the pickup truck without an engine or transmission. The transmission I rebuilt has a 3.67 ring and pinion, a .91 fourth gear and a .71 fifth gear which are the most stretched out ratios the VW factory offered in this type of transmission. This yields the lowest RPM possible on the freeway driving which everyone uses as a standard for high MPG. City driving is subject to too many traffic variables as to be reliable. Not a bad yardstick but somewhat rubbery in my opinion.
I thought I was the first to convert a Scirocco to a diesel engine but I ran across someone in Oregon who had done this. He said that he is getting 65 MPG on the freeway. And he has a stock diesel transmission which has closer gear ratios than mine. This is why I believe that I may have some chance at getting around 70 MPG. In retrospect, perhaps not worth the effort and expense to obtain the extra few miles per gallon.
About now you may be wondering how much all this costs. Although I got the VW Scirocco for free at a garage sale, a normal price may be guesstimated at $600 to $1,500, depending on condition. These are not common Vws like the Jetta or Golf but they are available to the patient buyer.
The diesel engine can be rebuilt for about $1,000 to $1,500 in parts and machining. If I were not a professional mechanic I would probably find a good running diesel engine and install it with a specific 5 speed transmission and have the 5th gear changed out to a .71 gear ratio. Only problem here is that the 4th gear would have to be a 1.03 gear ratio and not the .91 gear ratio I recommend which provides a smooth transition between the 4th gear and the 5th gear rather than a large gap in RPM. A rebuilt transmission would cost about $1,400 outright and I am recommending a good used transmission with a changed out .71 5th gear ratio. By the way, this .71 gear ratio is getting harder and harder to find.
And if you are content with getting 65 MPG, finding a stock 1983 through 1989 VW diesel car shouldn’t be too difficult. Either a rust bucket or a wreck should cost under a grand.
For about $3,000 and some elbow grease you can have a 65 MPG diesel car that carries 4 or 5 and has a rear hatch for groceries. Compare that to a new diesel car at 10 times the price. Oh, that’s right, we can only compare IN THEORY since our government won’t allow us Americans to own such a high MPG automobile.
What I am doing is building a manual fuel injected diesel auto that is light and aerodynamic. There are lighter chassis around but the VW Scirocco gas to diesel conversion is the easiest I know of.
So why am I all diesel with my equipment ? Well, diesel fuel stores better and longer than gasoline. My opinion from years of experience.
When you have seen a car on the side of the road in flames, has it ever been a diesel car ? Nope, always a gas car. My father was fuel officer on the Valley Forge aircraft carrier and he always told me that you could throw a match in diesel fuel and it would put the match out but a match in gas would blow the place up. I feel a lot better having a couple hundred gallons of diesel or veggie oil around than an equal amount of gasoline.
Diesel engines can run on a variety of fuels. Right now I am in the process of investigating converted cooking oil. I bought a diesel VW from a man nearby who does this and says that his cost is 49 cents per gallon. Right now, diesel at the pump is about $4 a gallon. Or 8 times what processed cooking oil costs. By the way, this cooking oil doesn’t have to be heated or treated differently that regular diesel fuel. Just pour it into your tank and hit the road. He has been doing just this with his 2002 Dodge diesel truck for years without a problem. Apparently his method of prepping the cooking oil is different than what I had read of in the past.
The earlier Dodge and VW diesel cars have manual fuel injection. So no problem with a solar flare or EMP. Also, the manual fuel injection system is simpler and cheaper to maintain than an electronic fuel system. Used injection pumps are available at reasonable prices. I have several spares for the future.
If fuel prices shoot through the roof or become largely unavailable I plan to have a lot stored in advance. Right now I am vulnerable to a fuel shock but hope to be ready in time (whenever that is). You see, we don’t know when or how intense the future will be affecting our lives. We can only guess and take our best shot. What I am acting upon first priority is some items that will benefit me and my family whether or not things fall apart.
This is an important point not to be lost in all of our preparing. What is the benefit to me right now ? Food preps benefit from future price increases whether a crisis happens or not. Similarly, diesel fuel preps benefit from future price increases as well as the option to make cooking oil diesel or biofuel diesel. This is true right now; it will be immensely more valuable should a fuel crisis hit in the future. Imagine fuel rationing when you have fuel stored away as well as the ability to make fuel from other sources.
I haven’t forgotten wood gasification. It is just on the back burner right now. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an electric generator that ran on wood ?
Should we be collecting plastic in anticipation of future conversion into fuel ? Maybe too soon but maybe not. What do you think ? Remember when old cooking oil used to be free out back of restaurants ?
With a probable resource war in the future, doesn’t it make sense to think of what commodities that are available now that will be sucked up in the future ? As Ponce says, “The trash dumps of today will be the gold mines of tomorrow”. Or something close to that.
Best wishes,
Agnut
P.S. Just picked up a propane cabin stove for $50. It is about 50 years old, has 4 top burners and a fair size oven. Sometimes I don’t know why I acquire something but it still seems too good an item to pass up. When looking at a dubious item I always try to imagine a future in which it would have been a wise idea to have put away for an uncertain future. And who knows; I may someday build a cabin like Ponce has and want such a small stove.
i'll add that to my Ponce quotes file . . .Quote:
As Ponce says, “The trash dumps of today will be the gold mines of tomorrow”
Hi Canadian-guerilla, good to hear from you. I also copied your two quotes from your post. I collect quotes and have literally thousands to draw from. Where my own wisdom fails me, my quotes uplift me.
Here’s something I wrote up this morning. It’s a bit crude but should show my thinking (such as it is). Anyhow, works for me. Hope you like the quotes.
Gimme Credit
I work hard and spend frugally in order to save up money so that I may buy things. I have no credit rating. Only a debit card which means that I must have the money in the bank before using it. However I also have no debt. All I have are assets which I own. Gimme credit for that.
I buy used cars instead of new since they are affordable and therefore can be purchased with cash paid in full. I have a 1 ton truck that I paid one twentieth of the new price and it has performed beautifully since I bought it three years ago. Gimme credit for that.
I read that things are becoming so tight that some folks are buying food with credit cards because they do not have the money to pay cash. I buy food on deep sales and stockpile extra for future uncertainties. Gimme credit for that.
I buy clothes and household necessities at estate and garage sales rather than paying 10 to 20 times more at the local stores. The only clothes I buy new are socks and underwear. Gimme credit for that.
I pick up free items that I may later use or trade with others. Gimme credit for that.
I also pick up items that I know or believe that others may need. Gimme credit for that.
I don’t have an ego like others that requires constant feeding in the form of enviable new purchases. My pride is in seeking the most cost efficient and practical solutions to my and others’ needs. Gimme credit for that.
I keep only a minimum amount in my bank accounts. The rest is in cash, change and bricks of nickels. Any silver I have is in physical form and in my possession. If I am robbed I want to see who is robbing me and not some distant investment broker and judge. I want to be able to get my hands around a thief’s throat and defend what is mine and for my family’s future. Gimme credit for that.
I have bought a $2 lottery ticket only once in my life and you know what ? I didn’t win. Now I spend the money on other things rather than on a one in a 50 million chance to be a millionaire. I have been a millionaire more than once and it never made me happy. Rather, it caused many problems. Now I don’t try to get rich in dollars but rich in sense. Gimme credit for that.
So now I go to the local Indian casino, give them $20 for $30 on my card and I play a particular slot machine until I win or get too close to my original $20 I laid out. Entertainment only; not gambling. Gimme credit for that.
Most importantly, I have learned what is most important to me. Family and friends. This is where I invest my time and efforts. I wasted too many years in pursuit of the brass ring. What is rich can only be determined by what is your yardstick. If your yardstick is money, most everyone will acknowledge wealth. But if it is friends and family, it may be known only to you. Gimme credit for that.
I write this bartering and horse trading thread to share my perspective on how to take control of one’s finances. I risk being called cheap and low class by buying used items. Well, what is the opposite of cheap ? Extravagant ? How is that working out for the “extravagant” Madison Avenue brainwashed masses out there ? Gimme credit for that.
Do you watch TV and buy some of the items advertised ? Or are the ads a mere distraction until the show reappears ? A commercial break to shut off the sound and converse without interference or to go to the bathroom ? Personally I cannot recollect when I ever bought something that Madison Avenue tried to tell me that I must have. A new car ? Don’t make me laugh. The only car I really wanted was the C111 Mercedes but the factory decided to not produce it. When I was at the factory museum in Stuttgart the rep said that it was going to be manufactured next year at the price of $25,000. I thought of it as an incredible investment. What other car in 1974 could go from 0-60 in 3 seconds and also go 200 MPH ? And had gullwing doors. It was decades before its time.
Most Americans never gave a thought of what stress is created by living in a world in which prices for everything are much, much higher since payment in full is not required but rather a relatively small installment payment. I deeply resent that I have had to compete all my life against all the credit whores out there who would not save first and spend later. This drives prices up to the point where a buyer asks “What is the monthly payment ?” instead of “What is the total price out the door ?”.
Americans, can’t you see the myriad of ways you have been misled ? Acknowledge that and the who, what, where, when, why and how of the deceptions may become your passionate hobby. Only then will you be afforded the opportunity to become a patriot in the spirit of our founding fathers.
Lots written on the internet about a coming revolution. It could be a peaceful one but I believe that people in general are not wise enough to pull it off. Perhaps someday. Perhaps 12/21/2012 ?
Best wishes,
Agnut
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.*
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest. -Benjamin Franklin
Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite. -Charles Spurgeon
“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.
Daniel Webster
“The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” Ron Paul
"The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it." -- Woodrow Wilson Speech in New York, September 9, 1912
Wise men are instructed by reason;
Men of less understanding, by experience;
The most ignorant, by necessity;
The beasts by nature.
Letters to Atticus[?], Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Constitutional governments and aristocracies are commonly overthrown owing to some deviation from justice…the rich, if the constitution gives them power, are apt to be insolent and avaricious… In all well-attempered governments there is nothing which should be more jealously maintained than the spirit of obedience to law, more especially in small matters; for transgression creeps in unperceived and at last ruins the state, just as the constant recurrence of small expenses in time eats up a fortune.” – Aristotle, Politics, Book V. 350 B.C.E.
"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword.. The other is by debt."
-John Adams 1826
"It is the usurer's game to hurl the savage against the civilized opponent"--Ezra Pound
"Youth is in danger until it learns to look upon debts as furies." Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
"I keep picturing a stranger from outer space. He lands on my farm and wants me to tell him about our world. I try to put the best face on things that I can, but he keeps going back to the monetary system: 'You use what for money?' I'm so embarrassed I want to dig a hole and crawl in." - Franklin Sanders, in The Money Changer
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” -? Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
"Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave." -- Frederick Douglass
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." -- Charles Darwin
at yard sales i alway look for hand tools . the way i look at it is , everyone will need a garden hoe . i have more garden stuff then my whole family will need to live off the land . here in my state there already started digging up old sink holes and removing the metals to sell . thanks agnuts and all who have posted here .
Hi Mick Silver. Yeah, tools are top priority with me too. Here is a possible money making sideline for you :Quote:
Originally Posted by mick silver
Back in the late 1980s a neighbor was acquiring old shovels, hoes and rakes that had broken wooden handles. He would clean them up and weld hollow steel tubes on them and sell them for a healthy profit. He got most of these used items for free since the owners didn’t want to bother with buying a new wooden handle and fixing it themselves. Besides, have you priced these new wooden handles at Home Depot and other places ? Almost as much as a complete shovel, rake or hoe.
This may be a good little business for the future; one in which quality and longevity will be crucial. I would still have the steel shaft tools that I had bought from this guy but lost all of them in the divorce. I miss them more than….. Well, let’s just say that some things are more breakable than others.
Anyway Mick, keep buying quality hand tools like hammers, drills, saws, wrenches, sockets, Vise Grips, pliers, pipe wrenches, and a great number of other associated items. Also, buy only quality brand used tools such as Snap-On, Proto, Stanley, Plumb, Skil Craftsman and others. You will have to be discriminating since some of the more recently manufactured are now foreign made and therefore questionable.
And don’t forget the boxes of nuts, bolts, screws and other fittings that we take for granted now. Will they be available in the future ? Don’t most of them come from overseas ? Hmmm…
Both Ponce and I have multiples of the above tools; some for backup and some for trading material. Ponce has a new machinist’s lathe for possible work income if ever needed. I would like to get a vertical mill and metal lathe for the same purpose but may have to sell some silver in order to pay for it. That’s the reason I haven’t acted yet; not sure if it is the wisest thing at this point of time in history. And make no mistake; we are in historical times which those in the future will study and make judgments about how we individuals behaved.
Gotta go for now; my son is working in the shop and wants some company while he works.
Best wishes,
Agnut
P.S. Recently went to a garage sale in a storage company’s lot. I bought a 6 piece set of sterling spoons for $14 , went home and weighed them and they are worth about $150 in silver content. Not too shabby for a few minutes scrounging around. You never know what you will find so keep an open mind and the deals will fall in. HaHa
I have not been going out to tag sales as much but went today. I was able to pick up a display case of mini-Sterling silver ingots for $50. When I got home, I weighed them up to 6.6 toz.
6.6 x .925 x $30/oz = $183 value
I was too late to another location- old woman selling coins. When I got there she only had left a bundle (maybe 60) dollar silver certificates and a box of steel pennies. I got the steel pennies for a dollar.
At another location I found a bird (chicken) watering container.
this one here--
Attachment 3580
Value: $43. My cost: $5.
Hi Spectrism; glad to hear that you are doing so well. I know that I am in the extreme minority with favoring 90% “junk” silver coins and sterling silver over silver bullion coins and silver eagles. However, the future is ever changing and we would be wise to also ever adapt in order to be at the right place at the right time. The reason I mention this is that of late, there has been even more mention of future confiscation of gold and silver if their prices were to rise dramatically. I agree, the govt. temptation would be great to either outright confiscate or heavily tax the “windfall profits”. Pathetic and quite disgusting, I will grant you, but the reality of this unfolding would be devastating to precious metal holders who hold entirely bullion.
The govt going so far as confiscating or taxing sterling silverware, jewelry and 90% coins would have to be an extreme extension of precious metal confiscation. Roosevelt did not go this far in the 1930s but this is no guarantee but only a possibility in our favor. It may be instructive to imagine such a scenario in order to appreciate the difficulty in enacting such a draconian measure. I believe that 1/3 in bullion rounds, 1/3 in sterling silver and 1/3 in 90% silver coins may be the best defensive positioning.
Having said that Spectrism, I applaud your sterling find.
Your steel penny purchase made me laugh. I have a small bag of war nickels that I must have bought many years ago and I come across them occasionally and also laugh to muse what the govt must have been thinking at that time. Your steel pennies and my partial silver war nickels were both minted in order to save the copper content for brass shell casings for the war effort.
And how times change. In WWII, brass was needed more than silver and nowadays silver is crucial for cruise missiles.
Your chicken watering container also made me laugh. I had recently also bought one for our 25 chickens but I paid $10. So you did twice as good as me. HaHa
Okay, here is a story about my last garage sale dealings.
It was a Friday and I was cruising through the ads in my local newspaper and Craig’s List when one ad jumped out and practically hit me on the head. It was someone moving and selling most everything. But the kicker was that it was so close to home that I could have ridden a bicycle over there. The sale started at 8:00 so I threw on my clothes, jumped in the truck and blasted over there. You see, I was lounging around in my jimmies, drinking milk with cookies. I had planned to lay around that day with absolutely no intention of financial raping and pillaging. But this ad had me by the throat. What could I do ? Ignore it and never know what I may find ? Yeah, right !
As I arrived at the sale, there were no other cars in front of the house. My suspicions were turning into disappointment when I saw the homeowner up the hill gesturing to me. I rolled down the window and he said that he was sick and decided to not hold the sale and that he had taken down the signs beside the road. My heart skipped a beat. But a funny thing happened next; he said to come up and look around. So I parked the truck down the hill and hiked up the steep gravel driveway. We shook hands and began conversing. He was moving far away and didn’t want to have to haul the tons of belongings.
The first thing I saw was a small Snap-On roll around tool box with a 7 drawer Mac top box. They were in sad shape so I wasn’t excited. Well, not until I opened the top box to discover that it was chock full of tools. And not just tools but brands like Proto, Snap-On, Craftsman and other American made tools. I counted 115 sockets, 7 ratchets, 20 extensions, 45 wrenches, 10 punches, over 100 small items, 3 hammers, loads of miscellaneous connectors and parts. Now that was just the top box. The bottom box had 2 C clamps, 2 trailer balls, a professional wire stripper (I didn’t have one and they are fast and efficient but not cheap), a Craftsman vernier and a T level, a hatchet, sheet metal shears, impact driver tool, 25 new hacksaw blades, 20 electrical splicers, 5 large wrenches, 50 22 caliber bullets, and several small tools.
Total price for all of the above ? Try $50 and that was what he told me he wanted for it. Sometimes it doesn’t pay either financially or morally to haggle.
Moving on to his other items was a wood burning stove with the name “Monarch Malleable” on the front. It wasn’t in very good condition with the chrome work bad and chips in some of the porcelain. But it had the water jacket on the side for heating water while cooking. This is something I was specifically looking for. Complete and functional for $50 ! Who could say no ? Only problem is that it weighs more that any two men should wrestle with.
Next were two aluminum ladders made by Werner and Gorilla. Price for both was $15.
Next was a solid oak armoire with glass mirrors. It was huge and very heavy. Owner said that he paid well over $1,000 for it. I got it for $125.
Next was a round dining room table with 4 chairs and an internal leaf for making larger. It was so unusual and in perfect condition that I had to have it. I paid $50 but don’t know if I will even use it since I already have a table and chairs. Maybe a mistake but I follow my gut feelings and may sell it in the future.
Next was a Milwaukee angle hole drill in its metal box for $20. I don’t need it right now but like the table above, I may either need it or sell it later for a profit. Quality tools at bargain prices should not be ignored but respected; they helped make this country what it is.
A 5 drawer chest; cheap material but the drawers all worked smoothly. $10
A porch glider for two with cushions for $20
And last but not least was a new 100 foot roll of 4 lead copper wire for 220 volt for my 12 K Lister diesel generator. The seller said that he had bought it many years ago before the copper price had gone sky high. It weighs a little over 40 pounds. He had paid $50 plus tax and would sell it to me for $50. No room to haggle here, especially since this wiring is exactly what I need to hook the generator to my house. All I need now is a good electrician since I am devoid of knowledge in this area (in other words, ignorant as all getout).
It took my 1 ton truck two trips, one with a trailer, to haul all of the goodies home. As the seller, my younger son and I were loading the last of the items on the trailer, a man drove up in a truck. He apparently knew the seller and began trying to buy the items I had already loaded on the trailer and truck. Funny but I didn’t notice that all the time I was buying, negotiating and loading everything, nobody showed up. This was an upscale neighborhood with “million dollar views”. It was eerily quiet. Usually there would have been 10 or 20 cars parked around the sale. Weird is all I can say.
Oh, by the way, almost forgot. There was a side by side refrigerator/freezer with ice maker and water dispenser. The owner said that he already had one upstairs in the kitchen but it was not as nice as this one in the garage but he didn’t want to expend the energy in swapping them. I asked how much and he said that I could have it for free.
Looking back, that was one sale; the only one I attended that day. This has happened to me before but it is not often. Fortunately I was ready for it with the money, time, truck and trailer, place to store it, and the knowledge of what these items were worth (both new price and resale price). Sometimes you can swoop in and clean out the seller before anyone even shows up.
Hope this helps with your deal making.
Best wishes,
Agnut
Thanks for the news Agnut!! You did very well. While I would love to have that kind of fortune, I have no place to put everything. Treasures in ugly boxes- that is what I thought about when you mentioned the tools.
Yesterday I encountered an older fellow moving to Florida. The sale was not advertised anywhere and I happened to drive by (and had to turn around) the sign by his driveway.
There I picked up a vacuum sealer for $5. He sold me a Weller soldering gun and 2 rolls of solder for $25. He had these old butcher scales- one he said was used by his grandmother.... I got 4 of them for $20. They are similar to this pic-
http://www.greatplanestrading.com/FULLER/INDY3010.jpg
This fella was an old-time prepper but was giving it all up. He had 3 big boxes of mason jars that I got for $15. He had shelves full of tomato sauce he made up. He was getting too old to do these things anymore and his children & grandchildren seemed not to care.
I spotted copper wire... not unlike your find.... but this wire was 2 AWG.... yes 2. It is a stranded wire about 9mm in diameter with black insulation over the single conducter. He said he got his stuff cleaning out an old mill. The copper wire 3 bundles of 80 ft each bundle, weighed about 50 pounds. He asked $50, but took $30. I was thinking about this for hooking up batteries for solar power.
He had much more, but I am getting filled to the gills with stuff.... and need more room.
I almost forgot one other thing I got there.... 2 tow chains for $15. One is 10 feet long , the other 20 feet. These are heavy duty welded links with hooks at either end.
If I had knowledge of things, he had a cutting torch set and bins of welding rods. Another person I ran into was selling an arc welding unit for $300..... but since I knew little aabout them, did not even pursue. When we lack knowledge - I am certain we miss out. If you know values and uses, you can drive the deal how it needs to go.
Some great deals there spectrism. Please keep sharing your good fortunes. I loved your quote :
“When we lack knowledge - I am certain we miss out. If you know values and uses, you can drive the deal how it needs to go.”
And will put it in my quote collection.
Well, well, well…. So agnut is still alive and kickin’. Who’da thunk ?
It has been a very long time since my last post. Life has been greatly accelerated around here of late. Taking care of chickens, steers, family peccadilloes, tragedies, fruits and veggies by the ton, deals, competition, business slowdown, money tightness, lots of cold and rain, mud, and much more. I thought retirement was a time in which I could sit back and suck up mint juleps on the veranda. Boy was I wrong ! I may have to go back to work to slow down.
But there have also been new friendships, new opportunities, new ways of looking at things, expansion of mind (at least I like to think).
I’ve been buying books, tools, appliances, clothes, barb wire and lots of other stuff. Since it turned cold and rainy there have been only a couple of estate/garage sales locally per week. But that hasn’t stopped me. I do have to be there before opening time. In the first place, the competition is fierce with as many as 50 cars showing up. And in the second place, it is wise to be there ½ hour early because the sellers will open earlier than their posted time. If I was only on time, most of the items would be already sold.
I attribute this high activity to the economy; everybody is looking for a deal to save more of their dwindling so called discretionary money. They are wising up to what I’ve known for years. And that is that fiat dollars are best gotten rid of in favor of real three dimensional items. Remember the hyperinflation of 1922-23 Germany. They were even trading German Marks for brass doorknobs in order to have something that would rise in price as time passed. That was at the end of the hyperinflationary period, just before the new currency was issued. Well, what we have here and now is the same thing but in slow motion. Things I bought 5 years ago have risen in price beyond inflation.
“The treasury’s bare,”
“The country’s bankrupt, they won’t admit it, and that’s why there’s so much anger and frustration, because it’s hard to divvy up loot when there’s none to divvy up.”
Ron Paul in an interview on Fox news December 17, 2012.
Now I don’t know how things will play out in that we could either experience high inflation or there being too little currency around to buy things. Or, gulp, BOTH ! Having no dollars saved could be very difficult in either case. So even though I hate having dollars around with possible high inflation looming, I cannot leave myself financially naked. I guess it is a matter of where I would be most comfortable, even with all the uncertainty. Who knows, maybe having many bricks of nickels and a bathtub full of change like the story of the lady in 1922-23 Germany would ride me through safely as it did her. Ponce is a firm believer in keeping lots of change for this possibility of a dollar devaluation. It takes little to imagine coins disappearing from the public when that happens. Gresham’s Law and all that.
Okay, here are some of my purchases which I so shamelessly present for your perusal ( don’t hate me because I am beautiful because I’m not. You could envy me because I find so many great deals) :
Near new Maytag washer and propane dryer for $250. Just what I was looking for as I’m changing from an electric dryer to propane; also the oven and hot water heater. Should cut my electric bills down as well put less strain on my backup battery and inverter system. Still haven’t hooked up the Lister 12K diesel generator because still looking for a good electrician.
Chest freezer for $50. It would cost about $400 if new.
20 pounds of insulated single strand copper wire for $5. Heavy ground wire type.
4 85 pound rolls of barb wire with 4 loose partial rolls for $20 total. The store price with tax is about $440.
I need it to fence off our property. Next I need a couple of hundred metal posts. I heard that Craig’s list has them offered, since I’m not going to spend $1,400 for new fence posts (about $7 each).
12 power saw blades $2 total. I probably have about 60 spare blades now.
Lufkin 100’ tape measure for $1.
7 round files and holder for chain saw sharpening for $1.
3 near new 13 inch tires on rims for $10 total.
Electric coffee bean grinder for $2.
3 drawer secretary, dovetailed drawers and all solid wood in excellent condition for $25. I already have one but it is considerably smaller and I am selling it to a friend for her daughter‘s room for $25. Trading up to what you really need/want can sometimes be a most satisfying side benefit of bartering and horse trading.
A box with 57 dies from 1 3/8” down to 6X20 (tiny), 95 taps from ¾” down to very small, 8 tap handles all for $10. The largest die alone is $55 new. Got the whole box for $10.
Over the last several months I must have purchased a hundred smaller items that were 5 to 10 percent of their new price. Things I need or will need as well as things others will need.
Now I know that there are two types of folks reading this; the first who are also out there buying and finding deals like me and happy for me and the second who are not and thinking just who is this SOB agnut who has the audacity to throw these deals in our face. So let’s ALL get out there and kick some financial butt !
Best wishes,
Agnut
P.S. Tomorrow a couple of new friends are coming over to hang out for the day and dinner. Beefalo crock potted with carrots, onions and potatoes. Just melts in your mouth. I met them at a garage sale recently and they stood out as fascinating and especially nice people. Can’t think of a better benefit from bartering and horse trading.
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson