check out the prices for the old metal fans are going for . the more sites an most are higher . so be on the lookout for theys mick s .... http://www.ebay.com/bhp/antique-metal-fan
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check out the prices for the old metal fans are going for . the more sites an most are higher . so be on the lookout for theys mick s .... http://www.ebay.com/bhp/antique-metal-fan
Good deal mick silver. Always an advantage if you have the storage room for large items. If I didn’t have the acreage and large barn I wouldn’t have been able to have stored cars, tractors, furniture and equipment. One problem I have is that these large items often need work and finding the time to get them ready to use or sell is difficult. But the important point is that I have these items in possession. Deals come through time and if I do not get them when offered they may not appear for years, if ever. Some items I feel that I need right away and some that I will need in the future. This is why I have a barn and other storage rooms full of items I have acquired through the years. I may be like a trading post someday, who’s to know for sure ?
I do know this for a fact. I have been trading bicycles for work or favors as well as many other items. The other day my nephew worked on my desktop and laptop computers and I thanked him with 3 pairs of jeans and a belt. I knew that he needed them and we both were happy with the deal, although it wasn’t anything formal. Heck, I would have given these items to him anyway but things just seemed to fall together at the same time. What is the word ? Serendipity, a "fortuitous happenstance" or "pleasant surprise".
This bartering and horse trading has always been serendipitous to me, a traveling about while finding the unexpected and being pleasantly surprised.
As I wrote in my last post, bartering and horse trading is a skill which will become more important in the future. Imagine what would/will happen in a monetary collapse. How would/will we get what we need ? Well, unless you are like Ponce who already has practically everything he needs for years to come you would/will need to search out and trade. It is a lot easier to do this now while there is an abundance of used items for sale. Not right now but in the coming spring and summer months.
So what is going to be in demand in the years to come ?
This is at once both easy to answer and almost impossible to answer. Ponce says that ANYTHING of use will be like gold. I believe that there will be varying degrees of demand, some items like clothing will be difficult to find as well as expensive. And many imported items will be nigh impossible to find. I just spoke with Ponce and he said that when he was in Cuba he bought some items for a local who actually cried when he gave them to him. Items like spark plugs, fan belts, radiator hoses that wear out should be stocked now for whatever cars you intend to keep running in the future.
A while back I posted a thread called “I met a Saint Today”. I heard of a lady with 8 adopted children who was struggling to hold things together. My son and I decided to help her but never did we expect anything in return. Well, things have gotten to our dropping boxes of fruits and veggies two or three times a week. She in turn has decided to be our chef. She has given us apple pies, lemon meringue pies, gallons of Texas hot chili (I’m eating some right now), gallons of split pea soup, lasagna, canned preserves, applesauce and various other cooked foods. I have to say that I am amazed and a little embarrassed to be receiving so much in return. I even have to tell her to not give us so much food although her home cooking is the best.
I’m almost 67 and have always felt that we Americans should work together to help each other. I mean this on a one to one personal basis. We enter this world naked and leave it naked. What we share with others is foundational to our being. It is not the things themselves that we share but that we are showing others that they are important to us. I don’t think prepping and then going into hiding when things collapse will work for most. Either these preppers will succeed in keeping their preps to themselves or they will lose them to overwhelming forces. In the first case I wouldn’t be proud of myself while watching families starving all around me, particularly the children who will be my focus. I would have to live with this shame the rest of my life; what I had not done while others were in dire need. And in the second case I wouldn’t feel good about being overrun and relieved of my preps.
There is a third option. But many preppers scoff at this sharing with those who did not prep. Their defense is either that others did not prep and went about life spending their money foolishly or that if preppers shared their preps that they would also be out of food in the future. Because many folks did not prep it is not fair to judge them so harshly. We preppers have been blessed with information of what to do as well as the financial wherewithal to do so.
I realize that we preppers are limited in means and therefore we fear that if we were to share what we have we will soon run out. This is the dilemma we all face and it has no easy solution. If I were a multimillionaire and could stock great quantities of food items I would still run out in time since I would be supplying to a whole community.
The best I can figure is to help the children and ask for cooperation from the adults in protecting food stocks while they are being shared. At the same time being a clearinghouse for information as to where to get food for adults as well as to what native plants and animals are in the local area. Growing food is difficult to start for a city dweller as well as time consuming. And people need food NOW, not when crops mature.
The more I think about future food shortages the more I see what an enormous task it will be in solving the problem. As I understand, our government sold out our three year grain storage and there is nothing left for the people. No wonder many suspect that America’s Fort Knox gold has also been sold out.
Do you know where some of the silver came from in coining the very first dimes in America ? George Washington’s family silverware. Did Washington make a profit ? Well, not in financial terms but rather in human and spiritual terms.
Sadly, most Americans consider rich to be in how much money and expensive assets one possesses. But there are other yardsticks by which to measure wealth and success. Helping others by sharing and teaching loom large in one’s spiritual growth.
Just this evening I had a couple of new friends drop by and they mentioned that they needed some foam insulation for one of their rooms. Well, last summer I had acquired 60 sheets of 4x8 by 2 inch thick ex- military surplus for $1 each. They cost about $20 each at Home Depot. My friends need about 18 sheets. So what to charge them…. How about nothing since they have been so good to me ? Aha, agnut, you have finally lost it ! Not really since I operate in a world in which what goes around comes around, so things will work themselves out if they already haven’t. It’s a sort of flow of goods and labor through time that intrigues me in that I only do this once in a while. Makes me wonder just how far it may be expanded in the future we face.
Can you imagine a huge place in which items are traded rather than using cash? A real trading post. The first thing that comes to mind is what the government would think taxwise. Say I had a pair of floor joist jacks and someone wanted to trade them for a pile of lumber or a quantity of frozen beef. What would be the sales tax ? What would be the income tax ? Should this enterprise be considered a nonprofit organization ?
Straight bartering is something I have to be traded for something I value equally. A fair deal entered into with free will and no coercion from either party. Where is the so called profit ? Someone and I decided that we would trade items of equal value to each of us. Is this a nonprofit transaction by its very nature ?
If I have 10 pounds of chicken and trade it for 5 pounds of fish, where does the government enter into the deal ? Is it any of their business ? Because if they were entitled to a cut, who would figure out the details ? Paid in chicken and fish ?
Suppose I gift an item to someone and he gifts an item to me. This is essentially what medical marijuana growers do in getting rid of their excess crops. It is considered a donation whether cash or an item. There is no sales or income tax involved here either.
We have B.C. which is before collapse and we have A.D. which is after disaster. Now we are living in B.C. but when we cross over into A.D., what kind of world will we have ? Hopefully a world in which, as Thoreau said, “that government is best which governs least”.
Personally I am disgusted at how we American citizens are being treated by our government. Unwanted wars, graft, lies, privileged information, onerous laws, taxation for almost every action are but a few in a long list.
At the bottom of it all has been the transformation of real money into debt currency. The LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Not money itself but the LOVE of money over the love of our fellow man. Greed knows no bounds figures in here also.
Money ideally is only an intermediary for trade/bartering which greatly facilitates ease of transactions. Additionally, money can be saved as we would save food for future uncertainties. Which brings to mind something. If preppers have a stock of food for the future he is disparagingly called a hoarder but if someone has a great deal of money he is admiringly called rich. Talk about an assbackward upside down world.
Best wishes,
agnut
Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" Summary and Analysis
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literatur...y-and-analysis
Hi govcheetos. Yeah, the deals come in spurts and ya have to be ready for the flood as well as the drought. When things are slow like in the winter I am organizing more and buying less. Sounds like you have been busy making some great deals, especially items you can use right away.
I haven’t sold anything lately on Craigslist; I like to sell more expensive items like tillers, antiques, cars and car parts. Generally, buyers won’t drive 2 to 3 hours each way for a $20 item but will for a $500 or more item. The exception is if you have a rare item or one that is otherwise unavailable locally.
Money is tight nowadays and I believe will be getting a lot tighter what with oblamacare taking even more out of paychecks. I don’t see how we pee-ons can continue much longer without being pushed over the cliff. Yeah, like lemmings.
With that said, I again caution you all to be careful in spending money for what may look like a good deal now that may be available in the not too distant future for a pittance. I’m not sure about this but imagine what items like vinyl records, DVDs, stereos, TVs, art, jet skis, boats, and many items that people will want but not need. Need becomes everything when there is high unemployment coupled with low wages, high debt and high inflation. Toys become a luxury that few can/will afford. Food, housing and transportation are the three necessities; most everything else can be put off or negotiated.
Right now I have a VW Jetta that came with a rebuilt transmission and new clutch. I made a mistake a while back when I bought it for $1,500 for a daughter to use while visiting us. The transmission retails for $1300, the clutch is $200 and the new windshield I had put in was $300. That’s $1,800 my cost and I will be lucky to break even when I sell it. In looking back, I shouldn’t have bought the car but rather had my daughter rent a car from the airport. She will be doing just that this summer when she visits. Lesson learned.
Thrift stores around here seem to be doing very well since money is tight. Dollar store too. I recommend getting multiples of dollar store items you use regularly; I believe that the size of current items will continue to decrease as inflation gnaws away at everything like rats in a barn.
Best wishes,
Agnut
Quote:
Originally Posted by agnut
what amazes me is the prices people will pay in Silicon Valley/ SF Bay Area.
around here pussy willows grow like weeds, but in Silly Valley people will pay $MONEY$ for that "Nature Look" in their barren high-rise apartment/ condo.
I have a piece of wood where the rings are very pronounced, with some blue copper nitrate di-hydrate crystals on top (they look like blue quartz crystals.) just one of those pretty nature-y things people put on the kitchen window-sill.
i was thinking about selling it in the SF Bay Area for some ridiculous price, $100+.
i think part of the trick of selling stuff is establishing credibility with the buyer, related to, "why should they trust you with their money".
nothing really to report this last month it been so cold that i have just been working on the stuff i have and on the house . right now i am looking for stuff to build a hottub with a wood broiler to heat the water . i been looking at site to get a few ideas on how to do this so this will be my next thing to do around here . i know ponce has one i may see if he can post some picture to what his looks like .last year i got a new camping stove with oven off of Craigslist it was still in the box for 20 paper bucks it works great in our outside kitchen .... and thanks all for the undates . be good but be safe at it mick
was hoping to see something from agnut , hope all is good . spring getting closer hope the sales start up soon . been a slow winter here and cold cant remember the last time it was this cold for so long , deers have been hurting for food an water with all the ice an snow on the ground for so long , be good an safe at it mick s
anyone out looking for deals yet , hope all are safe an well mick
Hi gun driller. Yeah, there are still some folks with more money that sense. Reminds me of when a friend came over with her 16 year old son. I was telling her about the clothes I had on and what I had paid for them. The Wranglers were 50 cents, the shirt was 30 cents, the London Fog jacket was three dollars and the Phat Farm brand shoes were free. My friend agreed that this was the way to go but her son wanted what the other kids wanted. Her son was wearing a pair of those baggy long shorts that would have fitted in with the ghetto crowd. I told him to keep those shorts and look at them in 5 years and then in ten years. I furthermore said that he wouldn’t be caught dead in them by then. But hey, the young kids have such fragile egos and just HAVE to fit in with their friends (who are also clueless).
This is all about leaving your ego behind. Remember that I wrote long ago that we were moving from form to function. This is especially true with spending money on what we want and NOT what we need. I was in Kmart the other day and noted that their jeans were $20 ! So I could buy 40 pairs of almost new jeans for 1 pair of new jeans.
Some folks have wised up on their own and some other folks were forced to by financial necessity. Both of these types of folks are the reason that thrift stores and doing so well lately. The first folks have been buying frugally for a long time while the financially strapped folks have had to or go without clothes and begin to look like the homeless.
Now there is an abundance of used items but what happens when the dollar takes a hard dump when we lose reserve currency status ? A 50% relative devaluation would double the prices of imports. An 80% relative devaluation would cost 5 times what they do now ? And this 80% devaluation of the dollar is exactly what Jim Willie is predicting. So a new imported item now priced at $100 would be $500 after an 80% devaluation ? Unimaginable. Or is it ?
And obviously the used items I am buying are often one tenth of their new price. So a $10 used item will be what value after an 80% dollar devaluation ? I hope that this type of thinking will encourage us all to think freely about what will be valuable in the future because we all need to know how to position ourselves well beforehand. Toilet paper is looking better and better as a trading item (thanks Ponce). Unlike liquor or ammo, who is going to shoot you for a roll of toilet paper ?
So this is why I buy quality used items rather than silver or gold. The world must go on no matter what happens to the dollar. I expect that as time passes there will be more bartering and horse trading going on. Even in the last 6 months I have greatly increased trading of my items for either labor or items I wanted. I think I see a trend developing here.
I think real estate is going to crash and burn someday but it won’t matter if you are already living in your bugout place all set up. The sale price would be inconsequential to your and your loved ones’ safety and security. Priceless.
A few Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) quotes :
A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.
I am not young enough to know everything.
If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.
We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.
We teach people how to remember, we never teach them how to grow.
One's real life is often the life that one does not lead.
It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.
Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.
Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
Best wishes,
Agnut
Gold : A barbarous relic for barbarous times.
Hi Mick silver. Funny but I have been doing the same thing; working on the stuff I have already bartered and horse traded in the last year. The den is filled with boxes of items to be stored away for someday when they will be needed by someone. I’ve been picking up several kitchen appliances at the local thrift store. And bags of clothing and a canning pressure cooker. And lots of little goodies.
And lots of DVDs; of course. I can’t resist getting a good movie no matter if I am practically broke. I came to realize that each of the movies I have cost millions of dollars to create. One way of looking at an absolute bargain. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That is my weakness or strength depending on how one sees it. About 20 of my movies are out on loan right now; I have seen them all and they have so much value when I can share them. Sitting on a shelf gathering dust helps no one. I always get them back and we have much to discuss and share.
I believe that we are living in a golden age of miracles yet few recognize it. Perhaps someday it will be written about like the Renaissance. It is just that when living during such a mind blowing time in history, people cannot see its progression and its totality. It is much like experiencing a movie or book and being in the middle in which the rest of the story is yet to unfold. A triumph or tragedy; only time will tell.
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".
Percy Bysshe Shelley
We can own nothing in this world but only have use of it for a time for we are mortal.
The unbridled lust for money and power is an as yet unrecognized form of mental illness.
Our leaders’ responsibility is to enact the will of the people, not to be our rulers but rather our servants. I am not alone in feeling that the assassination of President Kennedy was a critical turning point in which the transformation from servant to ruler occurred.
I believe that we should be humbled by the cornucopia of opportunities to learn, laugh, love and share. It wasn’t too long ago that mankind was focused on surviving from day to day. However, we are living in a time of overwhelming plenty but are too immersed in wanting more and more, never stopping to smell the roses.
This bartering and horse trading is much more than it appears on the surface; beneath is the relationships gained. Some of my best friends have been found at garage sales. And others have come about from sharing with them some of the neat things that I have found. You can’t buy these friends; they are both free and priceless at the same time.
I highly recommend “The Handbook To Higher Consciousness” by Ken Keyes, Jr. In it he states “The highest stage of consciousness (the seventh center) is attained by reprogramming what is called the “self”. …Because one has transcended all personal boundaries, and experiences no separation from anyone or anything in the world, serving “others” is the only thing to do in life. For there are no “others”. Everything is experienced from an “us” space.”
We are all in this together. One Earth, one humanity. I like to think that the rest of the universe is watching….and waiting. Time to evolve, folks.
Best wishes,
Agnut
glad to see you guys an gals doing good . this has been one long azz winter . but i did get a ride in the other day it was good on the soul to be out riding . i hope the sales start up soon , i need to kick the rust off from the winter and get some funds coming in again . you all be good an safe mick