[Ellen]

Just wondering what others stock up on to use for bartering. I need to know what YOU have so I don't get stuck without it and have to buy it from you for a small portion of my soul and an ounce of gold...LOL.

Hopefully in TEOTWAWKI situation, most of my neighbors are gone. I see a few around that will be fit to stay or go. I can't help but wonder what the best bartering items are when people get in to black and gray markets.

I know there are the obvious: ammo, food, etc. Just wondering what people stock, if anything, with bartering in mind. Or is it going overboard to plan ahead for bartering instead of just providing for yourself?

 

[proventheory]

http://www.thepowerhour.com/news/items_disappearfirst.htm

hope this helps!

 

[patriot101]

Im stockpiling everything that my own family needs. Bartering items can be things that people would love that disappear as times go bad. On Glen Beck he did a show on these things like Chocolate and orange juice being hot commodities along with a bunch of other stuff. Chocolate doesnt store very well for long though. It turns grey and doesnt taste right after a while! OJ , same thing, it has an expiration day for a reason.
There are so many things to prep yourself that its hard to find the time to worry about bartering stuff. Besides worrying about food and water, you've got ammo weapons, keeping sewerage out of your house, medical supplies, securing your home with reinforcements etc.etc. You can drive yourself crazy trying to think of everything. Just imagine yourself on a deserted island and think of all the day to day things you wish you had... Qtips, toilet paper, deodorant, toothpaste!!

 

[Raven]

Im stockpiling everything that my own family needs. There are so many things to prep yourself that its hard to find the time to worry about bartering stuff. Besides worrying about food and water, you've got ammo weapons, keeping sewerage out of your house, medical supplies, securing your home with reinforcements etc.etc. You can drive yourself crazy trying to think of everything. Just imagine yourself on a deserted island and think of all the day to day things you wish you had... Qtips, toilet paper, deodorant, toothpaste!!

Here, here! I've never been a fan of the bartering concept. It's hard enough to get yourself where you need to be.

Besides that...bartering will get you killed. Unless you have an army to protect you. Bartering lets everyone in need of something know you're the one who might just have it.

 

[munchie3409]

I personally am not stocking up on things I think I can barter down the road...I only have so much money to spend and limited space, so I'm not buying for the "what can I trade" if things go bad. I have enough things to prep for and bartering isn't high on my priority list. If you must barter, you didn't plan accordingly if you FAILED to figure out what you need versus what you want.


I only stock up on items that I need...everything else is a luxury that I cannot afford.
BTW, how much space do you have in your home or BOL to store all of these bartering items?

 

[drjewler]

Barter your skills as a carpenter, metal worker, armorer, etc. Its not always whats in your hand but what you can do with your hands

 

[8valve]

cheap lighters
rope
pocket knives
bandages
can openers (the cheapest you can find)
soap samples

and learn some skills

 

[toktok]

Salt
Food
Antibiotics
Aspirin
Soap
Baking Soda
Ammo
Fuel
Winter cloth
Car parts

*All taken from real experience.

 

[AuntieEm]

Just started to acquire barter items:
salt
P-38 can openers
matches
soap
fresh eggs
apples (from my trees)
nails (have a 5 gallon bucket full of them)

 

[AuntieEm]

Forgot one more thing:

toothbrushes, the 3 for a dollar kind
toothpaste

 

[whirlibird]

For Bartering?

Consumables.

Matches (strike anywhere kind)
Kerosene
Lighter flints
Salt/Pepper
Soap/shampoo
OTC Meds (aspirin, IB's, loratadine, pepto, etc)
Liquor
Toiletries (toothpaste/brushes, fem hy products, TP, etc)
Nails/deck screws
blankets

 

[Ellen]

I was thinking beyond the top 100 things that disappear in an emergency. I really like that list, but after things settle a bit, I always wonder what people are really going to miss. Perhaps when their socks start to wear out and there isn't a WalMart anymore (like that will ever happen....scary thoughts). I have been thinking about it since yesterday, and my husband and I came up with:

Dr. Pepper (neither of us drink it either, and I don't think people will care if it's a little flat)
Tampons (an in-law was in jail and said that was what women REALLY wanted)*
Tobacco (we don't smoke either, but it's a good currency)
Rolling Papers for loose/homegrown tobacco
Hard liquor
Chapstick (I can get cranky with chapped lips; likely a regional commodity...AZ, ya know?)
Canning jars and supplies
Salt

I hadn't thought of nails/screws aside from the supply we have for ourselves.


*Other highly desired jail items for women: #1 was tobacco, good shampoo and conditioner, gum, good shoes. She said everyone talked about food all the time, good, familiar foods; tacos, fresh cookies, pizza, just regular foods that they were deprived of in jail. Illicit drugs were on the list too, but that doesn't concern me in my preps at all. I do think good prescription drugs are good to store.

I am not going to miss anything but convenience. We have several methods of preparing foods and thousands of recipes compatible with our food reserves. We have about 1200 square feet that we can store miscellaneous items.

AuntieEm AuntieEm

Forgot one more thing:

toothbrushes, the 3 for a dollar kind
toothpaste

3 for a dollar?! We have some that are 6 for $1. They lose a bristle or two every brush after the first five or six brushings.

toktok toktok

Salt

How much salt do you have for just bartering? I always think that a ton would be good; I'm several hundred pounds short of that right now. Wars have been fought over salt. It makes the difference between wheat water and wheat soup.

Raven

Here, here! I've never been a fan of the bartering concept. It's hard enough to get yourself where you need to be.

Besides that...bartering will get you killed. Unless you have an army to protect you. Bartering lets everyone in need of something know you're the one who might just have it.

I think about people realizing that you've got the good stuff. I don't ever intend to open up house with an OPEN FOR BUSINESS sign up. I think about markets, but I also don't intend to travel just to trade when I already have the good stuff at home. That's why I want to know what else I may be overlooking, stuff I already need to have in stock.

Thanks for all of your input. I have always prepped with the idea that some day I am going to be well-off when it comes to living; the difference between begging and scraping by and have the upper hand in being able to stay put and not have to go out searching for things that I should already have on hand.

 

[fuggit]

The only thing I've bought to barter that I don't use is tobacco. I picked up 25 pounds of roll your own cig tobacco in one pound bags. I picked it up before the $24+ per pound tax a few years ago. I put each bag into mylar and stuffed them into 5 gallon buckets with some O2.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[scorptx]

I think that booze and tobacco will be big bartering items early on. Eventually, some enterprising souls will begin to grow tobacco and grain for brewing/distilling again.

 

[rextex]

I also think booze and tobacco will be big bartering items. Be extremely careful bartering ammo, I wouldn't do that unless you knew the person pretty well. You'd hate to trade ammo to the guy that uses it on you!!

 

[LadyFenix]

Responding to the original post......in general, go thru your home and look for things that either get used up, regularly, OR that wear out and need replacing, often. This list of things you come up with will most likely be the best barter items.

And think SMALL. For the most part, you don't want to be storing a lot of bulky weighty big items for barter purposes. One thing I think would be an exception to the weight guideline would be bars of soap. Especially Ivory soap. It has a lot of potential. Bathing, dish washing, laundry, etc. You can even scrape slivers off this soap bar, melt those in warm water and wash your hair with the resulting liquid.

I was a late-in-life baby born to two parents who went thru the 1930's Depression the hard way. So I grew up on stories of hard times. Something they mentioned, repeatedly, was how scarce soap and household linens became (especially bath and kitchen towels). They said, even if you had money to buy, these items were hard to find anywhere. So, soap is on my list of barter items. (I find lots of new wrapped standard size bars of soap in thrift shops. As a hobby, I knit cotton washcloths as a go-with for the bars of soap.)

I'm a long-time thrift shop buyer. Other things I accumulate for barter purposes, when I find them in the thrifts......pocket knives, manual can openers, new socks, small travel size bottles of shampoo. Things probably worth buying at retail to add to the barter selection are matches, nails, hair combs, toothbrushes, small travel size packages of skin lotion, baby powder, etc. There are, of course, lots of other things to look for. This list is just to get you started with your thinking.

 

[Swordbearer]

I keep needles, aspirin, vitamins, and lighters.

 

[Cold White North]

Coffee/tea
matches
candles
lamp oil
pocket knives
led flash lights/batteries
needles/thread
cloth
rope
salt
baking soda
soap/shampoo
socks
gloves/mitts
.22lr ammo

 

[ATLPilgrim]

Barter your skills as a carpenter, metal worker, armorer, etc. Its not always whats in your hand but what you can do with your hands

Amen to that. Fixing someone's weapon, forging a knife, helping construct a shelter, etc are all things that have to be done sooner or later post-SHTF. Knowledge is key here. When you have time, carefully take apart your weapons and pay closer attention to them while your doing tasks such as cleaning them, and truly learn how they work. When you have time, read up some basic smithing skills, buy some cheap metal files or railroad spikes and go to town with what you've learned. You lose nothing and gain more than one thing in barter.

 

[graf56]

Bic lighters
Zippos flints
Ammo
Lighter fluid
Seeds
Kerosene
Kerosene wicks
Packets of baking soda 3 parts/salt 1 part for toothpaste.
Bars of soap.
I try and keep a mix of mainly small items that can be in my pack in case of bug out also easier for others to carry. Keep it basic is my theme.