When SHTF, bartering is one of the most vital skills you can have. Chances are that traditional money will be scarce or lose its value altogether, and in order to survive you will have to trade and barter to get what you need. It’s important to know the value of everything. Of course there are the obvious items like food, clothing and building materials, but the truth is that there are tons of things that will have surprising bartering value in a SHTF situation. Our friend Gaye Levy compiled a list of 101 inexpensive bartering items.
I would be preaching the choir if I told you that it is wise to gather extra supplies that you can use for bartering in a post-collapse world. The issue for many, however, is that their budget allows no room for extras. Finding funds for long term personal preps, let alone daily needs can be an ongoing challenge.
Let’s face it. We all know that the middle class is disappearing. Food and health care costs are up and even those with comfortable nest eggs are finding that their funds are rotting, earning virtually no interest and suffering the ravages of inflation. So what are we to do?
The first rule of thumb is to acquire skills that can be bartered for goods. That is the smart thing to do regardless of your financial situation. Beyond that, there are a number of low cost items that you can accumulate over time, even if you are poor.
Backdoor Survival reader Elaine K. sent me her list of “poor man’s barter items”. It gave me so many ideas that I expanded the list to include even more items. Here it is: 101 low cost items to barter if the stuff hits the fan.
