Category Archives: Saving money

Bartering For Preppers

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Bartering for Preppers is a Guest Post by Robert Creech

As everyone who engages in some form of prepping knows, it’s expensive. Most of us will never have all of the gear and resources we want, instead we prioritize and get by with what we can. However I’ve found that many people are leaving money on the table, so to speak, because they have skills (and maybe resources) that they aren’t fully utilizing. Yes, I’m talking about bartering.

You have to remember that every other prepper is like you; they’re trying to acquire skills and resources on a limited budget, to learn everything they can about self-sufficiency. They’re also people trying to make a living and get by, so any opportunity they have to barter, to gain something, is almost always welcome. How about you? Are you willing to teach someone a skill, or trade a service or resource you have?

Do you have a particular skill set that others might be interested in? Maybe you’ve become quite adept at apartment gardening and have perfected ways to grow essential plants in a terrace garden or from balcony planters. You would be surprised at the number of people in your area who would be willing to trade something they have for you to teach them how to start gardening, one of the fastest growing areas of interest among city dwellers.

Maybe you know how to can or preserve foods, how to reload ammunition, how to set snares for trapping, how to secure an apartment from intruders, how to make primitive weapons… almost everyone has skills or knowledge that others would like to have. If yours is academic knowledge, then you can put it in a guidebook or e-book, and offer it that way. And it may not even be prepping related, the skills or resources you have to barter. If you’re a mechanic or plumber you’ll almost certainly find people willing to barter their resources for your time or guidance on a project.

So how do you set it up? Craigslist is perhaps one of the greatest resources people have… the Barter Kings use it for a reason. You can list your skills or resources in two different sections… the first is the For Sale – Barter section, and the other is under Services. Simply write in what it is that you have to offer (or what you will do for them), and what it is you’re looking for. If you want someone to help you set up a solar oven, then say so. Perhaps you are looking for a new backpack because yours is too small, simply tell the reader what you can offer and what you’re looking to get.

More times than not people will contact you offering something other than what you asked for, but that is fine. Bartering is always good and maybe they have something else you can use, or that you can trade further. In fact you might be surprised to find that you like the art of bartering and meeting new people, and at how much you are able to learn along the way. Since you live in an apartment, maybe you’ll be fortunate and meet someone out of town who has property that you can use… for gardening or target practice.

And the final point to this whole bartering activity is perhaps the most important… you will be actively engaging in networking, building contacts and resources along the way, many of whom will be like-minded preppers. Before you know it you’ll be amazed at how much you can acquire and learn through bartering.

About the Author   Robert Creech began a career in law enforcement in the early 1990’s, culminating in serving as the elected Sheriff of his county for two terms. He’s a graduate of two state law enforcement academies as well as many executive level training programs for law enforcement administrators. Robert writes almost exclusively on Squidoo; check out his latest article about Prepping.   http://www.squidoo.com/prepping-preparedness

 

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Drying Herbs without a Food Dehydrator

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Dried mint leaves after 2 weeks

Dehydrating food is a handy skill to have but may not seem practical while living in an apartment in the city.  You may not have room for a food dehydrator in your small apartment kitchen, but you can actually dry herbs without one.

Most recipes call for just a pinch of herbs but when you buy it at the grocery store you end up with large bunch that ends up withering in the fridge.  But it doesn’t have to go to waste if you air dry it.

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Wash the herbs thoroughly.
  2. Without tearing or crushing the leaves, gently dry them with a towel.
  3. Lay the herbs on a clean kitchen towel, or on a paper towel.
  4. Leave the entire thing on a high shelf or another out-of-the-way spot in the house where it can be undisturbed for a couple of weeks.
  5. Check in one week.  The photo above was after two weeks.  The rate of drying depends on the humidity level in your area, so your drying time may be quicker if you live in a dry climate.
  6. After three weeks, the herbs should be thoroughly dry.  This is what the mint looked like after it was completely dry.

Dried mint leaves after 3 weeks

You can tell it is ready when you feel the leaves and stems are somewhat brittle and can easily be crushed by your fingers.  Store whole in an airtight container, or crush the herbs and store in a recycled clean spice container.

Now you’ll have dried herbs whenever you need it for a recipe.

 

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Other Uses for Homemade Laundry Detergent

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In a previous article, I posted about trying out Survival Woman’s super easy homemade detergent recipe.

It turns out to be even more useful than originally thought.  I was cleaning the toilet and needed a little extra help scrubbing with the toilet brush.  Normally I use plain bleach but decided to try something different.  (Note:  I don’t use any other chemicals in the toilet such as leave-in bowl cleaners.   If you are using them, do not mix in other chemicals.)  I reached for the homemade laundry detergent mixture and poured about half a cup into the bowl.  I left it alone for a few minutes, then swabbed it around with the toilet brush.   The stains came off easily and I did not have to deal with bleach fumes.

Next, I poured some of the homemade detergent into a spray bottle.  I sprayed a dirty counter with it and wiped it down.   I was able to easily clean the kitchen counter, and again, no chemical smells to contend with.   (Note:  Our apartment has formica counters; if you have granite or other types of materials, test on small area before spraying the entire surface.)  The homemade laundry detergent post post has the recipe.

Cleanliness is important for health and quality of life after a disaster or emergency.  It is good to know that by having just a few ingredients such as Borax, washing soda and a dishwashing liquid, you can whip up a batch of laundry detergent that also doubles as an all-purpose cleaner.

 

 

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Short on Cash for Preps this Month? Here are a Few Ideas

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I had to do a double take when I noticed my paycheck this year has gotten much smaller. No, I am not working less hours, in fact, I have had to put in some late nights finishing up projects.  I compared the deductions line by line to see what had changed from last year:  health insurance went up, and mostly, taxes went up.  The country may have stepped away from the dreaded fiscal cliff, but for many workers, payroll taxes have taken a chunk out of their take home pay.

If I am feeling the pinch, I am sure a lot of other preppers out there are feeling strapped for cash as well.  But we don’t want to stop prepping.  Here are a few ideas to help you cope if you find yourself short on funds:

  1. Even apartment dwellers accumulate unwanted items and clutter:  Go through your home and find items you can sell easily such as books, CDs, XBox games.  List them on E-bay or on Zumu.   I have no financial affiliation with them but I have tried selling off items at Zumu myself and was happy I got rid of un-needed items and got a check after a couple of weeks.   I cashed the check soon after and used it for bulk food storage.
  2. Save up for more expensive items such as a good water purifier by setting aside the budgeted amount for the current month to carry over to next month.
  3. Have a no-spend week where you buy nothing that week.  It’s not as painful as you think;  I tried it and described the turn-out here.
  4. Devote the entire month to learning skills instead.  Each weekend, choose one survival skill to try out and devote a couple of hours to learning that skill:  filter and purify water, build a fire without matches, cook over an open flame, build a shelter
  5. If you feel you are already experienced, practice something you haven’t done in a long time.  It doesn’t cost you anything to map out at least three routes out of your city, take a free refresher course at a hospital or Red Cross such as CPR, basic first aid, etc.
  6. Visit your local library, get a library card if you don’t have one.  Check out emergency preparedness and survival books.  If you already have a library card, check your library’s website online.  Most city libraries allow you reserve books that are already checked out.  If you plan ahead, you’ll avoid wasting gas.
  7. Instead of buying more stuff, do a thorough inventory of all your emergency supplies and get yourself organized.  You may be surprised and find things you forgot you had, or find items that can be repurposed for prepping.  How much camping equipment do you have around?  I found some nice sleeping bags we used for a camping trip five years ago that were perfectly fine and only needed freshening up.  We also used the sleeping bags as additional comforters when we had an unexpected cold snap last month.
  8. Even if you have only $5-10 to spare, you can buy emergency supplies at the dollar store
  9. Have you considered barter?  A lot of Craigslist users are not in it for cash, but prefer to barter instead. Again you would have to get yourself organized and find items of value that you no longer need.  Make a list of survival or emergency items that you need.  Then list your items for barter.   If you do try Craigslist, make sure you are mindful of safety at all times.
  10. Sign up for free samples.  Use the free samples to supplement your bug out bag, office emergency kit or personal care buckets.  First, you must set up an email address just for signing up for free samples.  Do not use this email address for anything else.  Google “free samples” and sign up for the sites that look good to you.  Even Target and Walmart have sites designated to give away freebies.  Checking early in the morning seems to glean the best samples as they usually run out later in the day.

Being tight with cash is nothing to be depressed about.  Instead, think of things you can do, instead of what you can’t.  With a little creativity, you can continue to prepare for any emergency whatever your financial situation might be.

 

Experimenting with the Easiest Homemade Laundry Detergent

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I had been wanting to try making my own homemade laundry detergent, but wanted an easy one.  Many recipes require grating soap, or boiling the soap mixture, which I wanted to avoid.

Then I found a super easy laundry detergent recipe over at Backdoor Survival.  Survival Woman’s recipe, found in The No Mess No Fuss Method of Making DIY Laundry Detergent did not involve grating soap or boiling ingredients.  The best part was, I already had these materials on hand.

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You will need:

1/2 gallon container (recycled juice bottle will do)

3 TBSP Borax

3 TBSP Washing Soda

2 TBSP dishwashing detergent (Dawn Dishwashing Liquid was recommended in the article and that is the one I used)

8 cups water

Directions:

  1. Boil 2 cups water (out of the 8 cups).
  2. Using a funnel, pour the Borax and Washing Soda into the bottle.
  3. Carefully pour in the 2 cups of boiling water.  Shake well until powders are dissolved.
  4. Add the dishwashing liquid and mix some more.
  5. Finally, add the remaining 6 cups of water and mix well.  That’s it, you’re done mixing.
  6. Use about a quarter to a half cup of this laundry detergent to a load of wash.

The Test

First, I washed a load of colors with the homemade dishwashing liquid, at the cold water cycle.  Our machine is just a regular washer.  I noticed the mixture is more watery than store bought liquid laundry detergent.  It is also odor free.

The second load consisted of whites.

The Result

The load of colors came out clean, with surface dirt removed.  I did not have any heavily stained clothes but any dusty pants and minor dirt came off.

The whites were clean enough, but because I did not use bleach like I normally do for whites, they are not bright white.  To be fair, the homemade laundry detergent results were about the same as store bought without bleach.

If you are used to heavily fragranced clothes, the unscented mixture may be an adjustment.  For myself, though I like the scent for fresh laundry, I used to get an allergic reaction when using too much Downey or heavily scented detergents.  I think we get conditioned to store bought products and expect cleaners to be extra sudsy and fragrant.  They do not need to do these to clean properly.  I believe the homemade laundry detergent worked as well as commercial detergents but is certainly much cheaper to make.

This homemade detergent experiment was certainly a success!  Thanks Survival Woman!

 

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Personal Savings Lessons from Prepping

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Prepping may seem unrelated to personal finance, yet I found that these areas are intertwined.  After all, you need a certain amount of money to buy supplies, and whatever you spend on will impact your monthly budget.  At the same time prepping habits also impact your finances, hopefully in a positive way.  Here are a few money lessons that I learned from prepping.

  1. Having a small stockpile of supplies actually saves you money in the long run.    If you stock up on items that your family uses such as canned food that everyone eats, toilet paper, laundry detergent, bleach, sugar, coffee etc., you will always have supplies on hand and never have to run to the store at the last minute for something because you ran out.
  2. Stock up on items while they are on sale and combine sales with coupons for maximum savings.  Buying in bulk also helps you save money.
  3. Learning new skills will empower you to make things that you previously only bought at the store, thereby saving you cash.  If you know how to bake bread, make yogurt at home and grow some herbs, these are items you don’t have to buy.
  4. Getting in shape and losing weight are part of a good preparedness plan and will save you money as well.  If you are overweight and out of shape, you will have trouble navigating an emergency, therefore it behooves you to get healthy.  Being healthy saves you from spending money on doctor bills, prescriptions and lost time from work.
  5. Set aside a small amount of cash in case of emergency.  If there is a power outage, credit and debit cards will not work.  You should have enough cash to cover food and gas for at least a couple of days. 
  6. When you are ready to invest in gold and silver coins make sure you take ownership of these items in physical form, not just a certificate.  Or, start collecting pre-1965 quarters and dimes which contain 90% silver.
  7. Don’t get into more debt buying preparedness items.  Figure out what you can afford and stick to a plan.  Even $5 a week will get you a good start, as long as you do it consistently.

Being frugal and learning to live on less are all great habits to have regardless of whether an emergency happens.  Even if you never experience an emergency, your finances will be greatly improved if you adopt these habits.

 

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Save some Money: Make your own Homemade Dishwashing Powder Detergent

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Trying to free up money to for emergency supplies means cutting back on expenses elsewhere.  One thing I am trying is to cut back on commercially made products, and replace them with homemade substitutes.  One project that turned out well was to make homemade liquid soap.  I found a good recipe for homemade dishwashing powder over at Survival Common Sense.

Most of the grocery and Target stores in my area did not have Borax or washing soda but I found them at Wal-Mart.   They can also be found on Amazon.

You will need a clean empty jar (I used a recycled plastic jar), a measuring cup and a measuring spoon.

Here are the ingredients I used:

1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax

1/4 cup store brand kosher store

2 packets of lemonade flavor unsweetened Kool-Aid  (1/4 cup citric acid can also be used but Kool-aid was easier for me to find)

White vinegar (as a rinse aid)

Mix all together in a jar.  Measure two tablespoons of the mixture into your dishwasher’s  soap compartment, along with three drops of dishwashing liquid.  Important:  do not put more than three drops of dishwashing liquid, as this will overflow your dishwasher with suds.

Add vinegar to the rinse aid receptacle to make sure your glasses are spot free.

I ran a dishwasher full of dirty dishes at the normal cycle.  After washing was completed, I checked the glasses.  They came out clean.  I had one that had chocolate milk stains all over it when I put it in:

This is how it came out.

No chocolate milk stains were left in the glass.  They were not completely spot free, about one to two spots appeared in some of the glasses; but for everyday use, I’d say the homemade dishwashing powder worked just fine.

A note about storing homemade dishwashing powder:  I  initially stored the powder mixture under the sink with the rest of the cleaners.  The next day, I took it out to use it for the next load, I noticed the powder was starting to clump.  I think the humidity may affect the powder and cause clumping if left too long.  This does not have chemicals to keep it free flowing.  I shook the jar vigorously and most of the clumps disappeared so I will be able to continue using it.  If you live in a humid area, you may want to cut the recipe in half.   I moved it to another spot that has less humidity.

I consider this experiment a success and will continue to use the homemade dishwashing powder.

 

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Homemade Liquid Hand Soap (from a Soap Bar)

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I tend to get itchy, chapped hands so I wanted to see if I can make an inexpensive liquid hand that is gentle and non-drying.  I am a big fan of Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Magic Soap, as you can see from this review.   So I used the soap bar version as a base for my liquid hand soap.  Here is what I did.

Ingredients:

1 bar of soap – I used Dr. Bronner’s Almond Bar Soap      2 tbsp glycerin (can be found in most personal care sections at groceries or drug stores)

12 1/2 cups of water

You will also need:  cheese grater, large pot, large funnel, liquid soap dispenser (I used recycled empty ones)

Directions:

1.  Grate the bar of soap using the cheese grater.

2.  Boil 3 liters of water.

3.  Add the grated soap and stir well.

4.  Add the glycerin.

5.  Continue boiling until the soap melts.  The water will be a bit bubbly but overall somewhat clear.

6.  Let stand overnight.

6.  When I checked it the next day, the liquid had become filmy.  It needed to be mixed so I used a fork to stir it up.

 

 

 

 

 

6.  Using a large funnel, pour the liquid soap into a large empty jug for storage (best done over the sink.)  The liquid tends to pour in large quantities so do it very slowly.  Once it’s in a more manageable container, fill up a recycled soap dispenser.   Don’t forget to wash your cheese grater and all other utensils before using for food.

I estimated how much this whole project cost:  $4 for the soap and a few cents worth of glycerin (it was $3 for the small bottle of glycerin):  $7 total initial outlay made 3 liters of liquid soap, which equates to about $40 of liquid soap.

More importantly, did it work?  I had never tried this before so I wasn’t sure if it would turn out well.  I tested the new hand soap:  it lathered up just enough and smelled clean.  It felt a lot like store bought liquid soap but not as strong and drying.

Additional Notes:  This was my first try so I am not sure how other soaps would work.  I would think other soap brands would work just as well, as long as they are not overly moisturized such as Dove soap, as that would change the consistency.  I also thought adding a few drops of your favorite essential oil would work.  If you like it extra sudsy, use a foaming soap dispenser. 

 

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What We Did to Find Extra Cash this Week

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The previous month has been tight budget wise.  To find additional funds to add to the prepping budget, we went on a “No spending week.”

Here is what we did:

  • Take out enough cash for gas during the week.  You know roughly how much gas you use to get to and from work, and possibly an errand or two.  That’s it.
  • Pay bills that are due normally (I would never recommend getting behind on your bills for any reason.)
  • No spending for groceries that week.  We used whatever was already in the freezer, refrigerator and pantry but did not break into the emergency food storage.
  • No eating out.
  • No shopping for any new items or for entertainment.  Avoid spending even on small items such as request for birthday lunches for coworkers, cookie sales etc.

How did we do?

We did surprisingly well.  To tell you the truth, I wasn’t worried about the no shopping and no entertainment spending but I was dubious about not spending any money on groceries.  I always end up running to the store for milk or other ingredients I forgot about but this time I stood firm about not buying anything at the grocery store.  I found enough ingredients in the freezer and pantry to create menu items, substituting when necessary.  We ran out of chips and other snacks but otherwise did not feel deprived at all.  I needed to send a birthday card in the middle of the week, but instead of going to the card shop, I created a handmade card instead.

Cash savings:

No Grocery shopping:  $100

Not eating out:  $25

Gas savings from limiting errands  $20

I’ve received emails in the past from readers who feel they are unable to prep due to lack of funds.  I hope this idea helps others find other ways to save money for prepping.  I honestly thought this would be too difficult for a family to do, but it turned out to be very doable.

 

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Do this One Tip and Avoid Wasting Money

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Last week I was paying bills when I noticed the electric bill was $25 higher than last month’s.  I didn’t think our usage changed that much so I called the power company to find out what changed.  I was right, our usage didn’t change that much.  But one thing did change:  the discount electric plan I had subscribed to had expired.  I’m usually pretty good about keeping track of such things so I asked why wasn’t I notified?  Well, it turns out I was notified– the company rep said they sent me an email 45 days before expiration to remind me to renew.  I just didn’t pay attention.

I have separate emails for this blog (which a check a couple of times a day), another one for personal emails (checked once every night) and a third one for a “junk emails.”  I looked through my personal emails- I had 51 unread emails, mostly from online stores announcing sales and such, and sure enough, buried in there was the email from the energy company.  Arrggg!  I wasted $25 from a cluttered email box!  I could’ve used that cash to buy some more preps.  Mr Apt Prepper was appalled I had 400 old emails just sitting there dating back a year. His email box only has about five items at a time.

I realized the same principle applies to physical clutter as electronic clutter- if you see it you need to:

  • act on it
  • file it
  • trash it

I sat there and cleaned out the entire email box by filing the important ones in various email folders and left only 20 outstanding emails that needed attention.

I tell everyone to de-clutter their apartment or home to avoid wasting supplies, but now I found I have to follow my one advice in regards to electronic clutter.

Clean out your email box and you may be surprised to find:

- deals and coupons on items you’ve been waiting for

- announcements of pricing changes

- expiring discount memberships

It’s a chore, just like organizing your home. but you’re better off doing it now before something gets missed.
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