Outline
No economy in the history of the world has ever sustained a constant rate of growth. Recessions, depressions, and complete economic collapse is inevitable in even the most advanced of societies. Any astute observer can look at the economic signs of high unemployment, low GDP, missed mortgage payments, historic low wages, rising cost of living, and a repressed global economy and see that a deeper recession and possible depression if not inevitable, at least looms like a spectre on the horizon. In this blog, we will look specifically at ten ways you can develop the right mindset and habits to survive another great depression. Survival is ten percent physical and ninety percent mental, so it is important to develop the right mindset today to survive the challenges of tomorrow. If we somehow manage to avoid a massive and prolonged economic downturn, you will end up all the richer by learning these things today because you will spend less and properly use all your resources now. Either way, you end up, hopefully, on top of your situation.
1- Develop a Reusable Mentality
Beyond jars, though, to survive a prolonged economic depression, you will need to look at everything you throw out as potentially reusable. Packaging is potential kindling. Food scraps should be composted for the garden. Egg cartons can be used to sprout plants. Old clothes can be mended or used as rags. Wine corks, shopping bags, hangers, rubber bands, and more, all have reusability. Even the cotton balls from over the counter prescription bottles and the bottles themselves can be reused. If it’s something that broke, don’t just throw it out and get a new one. Can it be repurposed? Can it be fixed? Can it be scavenged for useful parts? I’ve watched YouTube videos and scavenged parts out of my broken laptops to sell online. It’s saved me money on buying new PCs. Start to look twice at anything you’re about to throw out and ask yourself, can I repurpose this now or in the future?
2- Have Multiple Revenue Streams
3- Never Credit, Less Cash, Trade
Dollars may lose value, so relying upon cash transactions isn’t feasible either. Don’t be afraid to ask for a lower price if the supply and demand equation is in your favor or the dollars have more value in the eyes of the seller. Try and stretch out any money you have and focus on necessities. In most transactions, trading what you have for what you need is probably your best option. It instantly reconciles the transaction and gives you what you need right now in exchange. I knew a guy who mowed the neighborhood lawns frequently just to pick up a few extra dollars– what he called fishing money. He also sold catfish for every catfish fry in his town right out of his basement. He traded his service for a little cash which he used to fund his larger and more profitable operation. Like the never credit concept, though, don’t trade what you don’t have for what you need now. Trading tomatoes from your next harvest that might fail will force you into a debt with someone that you will have to renegotiate on their terms.
4- Learn to Filter and Purify Water
We have recommended pocket filtration systems in the past, and we still do. Technology advancements have brought these down to under twenty dollars in price, and it is an absolute must have in your prepper supplies. If a natural disaster strikes while the country is in the grips of an economic depression, we guarantee you that critical infrastructures like water and electricity will stay down for a long period of time. Don’t be caught off guard with your water. If you are forced to flee your area, you won’t be able to take that fifty-five gallon drum of water with you, but a mini filter like we recommend weighs two ounces, fits into your pocket, and can filter one thousand eight hundred and eighteen of those fifty five gallon drums.
Think like a survivor, and give water its proper place in your prepping supplies.
5- Go Fishing or Hunting
Set aside some time to casually fish some weekend. Maybe plan on bagging one extra deer or try turkey or duck hunting. Maybe try your hand at hunting small game and preparing it for your table. Expand your knowledge and bolster your supplies with fresh fish or game. Understand how to process the meat for your table and become less reliant upon a food supply system that can easily falter or suffer from disruptions, especially during an economic depression.
6- Start a Garden and Grow Your Own
Just like hunting and fishing, gardening of any kind requires knowledge and learning through trial and error. Expect that your first couple of batches of sprouts will mold before you figure it out. It’s better to have that happen now than when you are amidst a crisis.
Even something as small as an herb garden can provide you micronutrients and vitamins to supplement your other supplies. A cup of mint tea will not provide you much in the way of nutrition, but it will be an incredible psychological boost to you when you are worried about the next dollar or meal.
Don’t underestimate the power of growing your own, freeing yourself even a little from tenuous food supply chains, and increasing your self-sufficiency; but you can’t wait for disaster to strike. Start in small ways today.
7- Preserve and Dehydrate
Learn to use the broccoli stem in your cooking or the carrot tops off those carrots from the farmer’s market or your garden. Cook the pepper leaves along with the peppers in your asian stir fry. Try sunflower leaves or dandelions in your salad. Above all else, though, buy yourself a kitchen countertop food dehydrator and commit to trying to not let anything go to waste for a week or month. If you didn’t get around to eating the whole bag of apples or oranges, those strawberries or raspberries, learn how to dehydrate them and then use them later. Food dehydrators are another one of those items that have dropped significantly in price over the years, and there are a number of plans online for making your own solar food dehydrators. If canning and preserving is too much for you, definitely start on the smaller side with dehydrating foods, but don’t be afraid to try and make your own jam or apple butter.
Think like a survivor and start to preserve and dehydrate every ounce of consumable food that enters your home. This will train your brain to start thinking of ways to stretch your food supply. You will look differently at the food you purchase and consume. You will start to become more self-sufficient, and you will begin to start thinking like a person who can survive another great depression.
8- Cook Everything
One final trick for food, when you are eating or preparing your evening meal, add up the total cost of everything you are putting in it and divide that by the number of mouths fed. Come up with a per meal price. Compare that to even one meal out or takeout. You will be shocked at the savings. Many people during this recent pandemic were more than a little shocked at how much they were spending on meals out. Their grocery bills went up but they still had money in their accounts. Eating at home is an amazing savings technique, and it will be the only way to stretch your money in an economic depression. Learn and apply the skills now.
9- Durable Goods
We once used a hickory handled axe we received one father’s day to process some firewood only to have it break on my fourth swipe. It turns out it wasn’t hickory at all or it was bad wood. You don’t really know either how to properly use your durable goods or how durable they really are or what you still may need unless you start using them in your everyday life before a disaster or depression starts. By incorporating these durable goods into your everyday life, you develop a durable mindset that will help you survive long periods of time where simply buying a new product or repairing an old one may no longer be a possibility.
10- Stock Up
Stock-up on your food, water, ammo, durable goods, and other prepping supplies. Most importantly though, don’t just let these things sit on the shelf. Rotate food supplies. Use and test your tools. Take it to the beach or park with you. Start in small ways to incorporate these things into your everyday life. If an economic depression strikes, it will have less impact on you if you are already living in a self-sufficient manner with less dependency upon the systems collapsing around you.
Conclusion
Survival is ninety percent mental and ten percent knowledge and skills. You can use this video as a guide for ten tips that will help you develop a survivor’s mentality when facing another great depression. If the United States experiences, instead, a massive period of economic growth and prosperity, you will still benefit by living a more spartan and independent lifestyle. It’s a winning scenario and a survivor’s mindset.
As always, please stay safe out there.