How would you spend $1000 Contest Winner

Last week UrbanSurvivalSkills.com hosted a contest on how would your spend $1000 on the day of the collapse, putting it in the context of what would you advise your un-prepared neighbor to buy with his $1000 in cash. To read that previous post, click here.

The winner is seigelscott. He wins a Maxpedition Gearslinger bag and a CK M4 cleaning Tool.  His entry is posted below:

Hey UrbanMan,

I posed the original question on nobullshitsurvival. My original list sucked and I’ve learned a lot spending $1000 (at least) over the past few weeks. This reflects a lot of that education and from what I’ve learned on the web and in the homestead and other books I’ve read.

This is my list, but as important, what I am trying to accomplish. This is not a BO situation, but BI. I’ll try to list locations of where I’d buy it so you know the cost is realistic, because I’ve actually purchased these items at these places:

Basic Strategy:

Food: Since I’m not BO, rely on existing food in the home at first and then switch to supplies. Rice and Beans to supply main food supply for near future. Start to raise free range livestock (chickens) to produce eggs and meat – additional forms of protein. Grow vegetables when spring comes and trade excess Chickens for gardening tools beyond the basics listed. Collect rainwater and reuse as much gray water as possible with makeshift distillation tools.

Clothes: I’ll have plenty of clothes on hand, but I need to get some heavy duty for the outdoor work. Nearly indestructible pants, great boots and a change of shirts and socks to stay warm and dry.

Medical: Good first aid kit with all the basics to help patch up any minor injuries.

Anything else comes by way of shotgun, unfortunately, if I need it bad enough.

Ability to use flashlight radio by relying on solar power to recharge daily.

The List:

Food ($220):

Costco: 6x25lbs of Rice ($45)

Costco: 3x25lbs of Black Beans ($60)

Costco: 5x5 Gal Spring Water ($15) – 25 gal of water is enough until you locate a river, or until you collect some rainfall.

Costco: 25 lbs of Salt ($5) – seasoning or at least for curing food if I happen to get a deer to wander on my land which is actually quite common.

Local Farmer: Live Chickens, 6 Hens, 1 Rooster, ($35) - now I have plenty of eggs to eat and can start breeding eating chickens as well

Costco: 3x25lbs Corn Meal ($60) = chicken feed supplement to whatever they can otherwise peck.

Protection ($350):

Bass Pro Remington 870 12 Gauge Shotgun ($300) – wouldn’t be the police/swat model, but pump action sufficient to hunt, protect yourself or do some looting if all else failed.

Bass Pro 12 Gauge Shells – Remington Buck Shot 50 shells, ($50). Keep 5 for protection, but the rest for opportunistic hunting when a big animal wanders too close to my gardens.

Hardware Store Items/Gardening: ($160)

½ Set of Heirloom Seeds Set ($50) Ideally I’d want more, but I am on a budget and am looking to supplement the chickens/eggs and hopefully utilize the first harvest to double or triple output in the future

Small bag of Fertilizer ($20) – at least the first year, you cant risk making mistakes growing food. You just don’t have enough to live on. This will help grow bigger veggies until you learn to compost.

Hand Axe ($25) – firewood will be really important

Kettle, pipe fitting and 25ft 3/8” copper tubing in a spiral (like a water line for your fridge) – use kettle to boil water and copper tubing to act as a radiator to cool and condense steam as a makeshift distillation tool ($35)

Several Tarps ($30) – tents, to catch rainwater, or a million other uses.

Misc. Items: ($118)

Adventure Medical Kit (Day Tripper, $33)

Maglite with LED bulb ($20) – long battery life

Small handheld radio ($15)

Rechargable batteries ($10)

Solar Cell to charge batteries $30 http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp?pn=3039813&cmss=solar+battery+charger

A good lighter ($10) or if not good, a hell of a lot of disposable ones.

Clothes/Personal Items: ($151)

Decent hiking boots ($75)

Canvas Pants ($35)

6 Pack Hanes t-shits (light weight and cheap) ($6)

6 Pack Crew Socks and Underwear ($12) but why wouldn’t you already have socks and underwear I suppose?

Tooth brush and 3 tooth pastes ($8) – no sense being an animal. Good hygiene is important

At least 5 books, just to read to relax ($15 from used book store)

$1 in quarters for the soda machine. A nice birthday treat if there are still any working.

siegelscott

Urban Survival Plannng - Not Good News for Silver - Gold buyers

From Numismaster. We thought our readers would like to read about this. The reason we fight against gun registration so heartedly is that the Government has to know who has the guns in order to take them away....a registration of ownership. Well, the same could be held true for gold and silver if the Government confiscates the one true medium we have for commerce and trade,..we'll be left with only fiat dollars and a barter system. I'm not a lawyer, but the law spelled out below leads me to believe if we buy coins for the silver melt value or even numismatic value, we'll be okay if we stay below the $600 level.

"A blizzard of paperwork could be about to hit numismatics."

Passage by Congress of the national health care legislation has had an unintended consequence to the nation’s coin collectors, vest-pocket dealers who buys and sells coins, and larger dealers who are frequent buyers of coins that collectors periodically liquidate as they trade up their collections for better coins, or simply sell to take a small profit or loss.

What has happened is that effective Jan. 1, 2012, the whole system of giving and receiving Internal Revenue Service 1099 forms will be turned on its head and all persons (including corporations) who are in business will now have to give 1099 tax reporting forms for coins and other goods that they sell as well as buy.

The responsibility for issuing forms kicks in at $600 for coins or bullion – not a very high level and one that has already started sounding alarm bells. It doesn’t matter in what form payment is made, whether cash, check, credit card, or Yap stone money, the $600 threshold applies.

There’s a bill introduced by Rep. Dan Lungren (H.R. 5141), which has gathered over 80 members of Congress as co-sponsors to repeal this section. Evidently, however, the drafters of the provision think there is a $17 billion loophole that this plugs.

The Industry Council for Tangible Assets is alerting member dealers and the public at large in the hope that some sense of outrage will lead to a ready modification before the law becomes operational in 2012.

Form 1099 is used to report independent contractor income, income from dividends, income from other things – and is one of the reasons why children receive tax bills for work or labor or services performed.

Section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148, signed into law by President Obama this spring) turns 1099 forms into reporting forms not only for independent contractor’s income – what they have long been used for – but also to show sales, gains and losses on purchases and sales of goods as part of a trade or business.

The section reads (in relevant part) “SEC. 9006. EXPANSION OF INFORMATION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. (a) IN GENERAL. – Section 6041 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new subsections:

‘‘(h) APPLICATION TO CORPORATIONS. – Notwithstanding any regulation prescribed by the secretary before the date of the enactment of this subsection, for purposes of this section the term ‘person’ includes any corporation that is not an organization exempt from tax under section 501(a).

‘‘(i) REGULATIONS. – The secretary may prescribe such regulations and other guidance as may be appropriate or necessary to carry out the purposes of this section, including rules to prevent duplicative reporting of transactions.’’

(b) PAYMENTS FOR PROPERTY AND OTHER GROSS PROCEEDS. –

Subsection (a) of section 6041 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended –

(1) by inserting ‘‘amounts in consideration for property,’’ after ‘‘wages,’’
(2) by inserting ‘‘gross proceeds,’’ after ‘‘emoluments, or other’’, and
(3) by inserting ‘‘gross proceeds,’’ after ‘‘setting forth the amount of such.’’

The property section means that if B. Max Mehl was selling coins to another major dealer of that era, a 1099 would have to be issued. When he bought from the public, the same thing is also required. The “report” does not necessarily measure profit or loss, but it does show activity.

The old exemption against corporations is also gone. If you buy or sell more than $600 of coins, or whatever, from, to or with a bullion dealer, for example, you have an obligation under the new law to issue 1099s.

You can read the original article at: www.numismaster.com

Urban Financial Survival - The Dollar Not a Good Bet for the Future

The below video is Gerald Celente, http://www.geraldcelente.com discussing the upcoming devaluation of the U.S. and the world wide economic slump.

This is even more reason to not only prepare for tough times, but to possess some precious metals in the form of Gold and Silver. I am a big silver fan, both bullion and coins for silver melt value.

By the way, not like the Stock Market is the best indicator, but this is the seventh or eight consecutive day of a down turn. Protect yourselves. Oh and another by the way,..you can't protect yourself adequately just by moving money around into "safe" low growth entities. Think stockpiled food (even Glenn Beck is advocating it!), survival gear, equipment and firearms. And above all, a plan to weather the storm, including a Bug Out plan.

Learn how to garden. In fact, there is a growing Urban Garden/Farming movement as people are instinctively wanting to be able to grow their own food, and/or, trying to reduce their monthly grocery bill. Anyway, this video is depressing, so I thought I'd share with everyone.

Survival Base Camp Medical Kit

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following comment: "Anonymous said....The $1000 "what would you buy thing" is a good idea for a post. I will work on a reply, but I have a question: Can you give me an idea for a Medical Kit, not a personal kit, but maybe a chest or foot locker. What would I need to provide medical care for a family if four and anticipating six more people arriving at my house. It would be great if you can do a post on this."

UrbanMan replies: The list below is the "base camp" medical kit I currently have on hand. It is stored in 30mm Ammunition cans, ready to open and use or transport to another location if I am bugging out or setting up a treatment site some place else. I am still missing some items which I have noted at the bottom.

Base Camp Medical Kit: Items on Hand

Syringes, 12 and 25 cc, 1 ½ inch, 10 each size

Needles, 18 gauge and 21 gauge, 20 each size

I.V. Starter Kit w/ Tourniquet, 7 each

Sodium Chloride 500ml IV Solution 4 each

2% Dextrose 500ml IV Solution 4 each

Irrigation Sterile Water 500ml, 1 each

Provodine Iodine Solution, 2 bottles

Hydrogen Pyroxide, 2 bottles

Alcohol, 2 bottles

Alcohol Preps, two boxes

Provodine Iodine Prep Pads, two boxes

Non - Powdered Surgical Gloves #9, one box

Pocket Mask w Gloves, 6 sets

Neosporin Packets, two boxes

Neosporin, tubes, 2 each

Hydrocortisone Cream, tube, one each

Ace Wrap Self Adherent 2"x 5 yds, 10 rolls

Bandages Adhesive, assorted sizes, two boxes

Cotton Gauze pads, package of 100, 4 packages

Gauze rolls, six rolls

Mole Skin, three packets

Medical Tape, 2 inch by 10 yards, 4 rolls

13mm 6-0 Monofil Nylon Suture, 2 packs

13mm 5-0 Monofil Nylon Suture, 2 packs

Skin Closure Strips, 2 boxes

Ammonia Inhalants, one box

Quick Clot, 25 gram packets, 4 packets

Aspirin, 325 mg, Large Bottle, one each

Ibuprofen, 200 mg, Large Bottle, one each

Penicillin, Inj solution, 25 ml bottle

Acetaminophen, 500 mg, Large Bottle, one each

Kwik-Cold Instant Cold Packs, 4 each

Hemostats, 2 each

Sphygometer, Blood Pressure Cuffs one set

Stethoscope, 2 each

Bandage Scissors, 2 pair

Flashlights, small exam, 2 each

Tweezers, two each

Thermometer, two each digital and two analog

Special Forces Medical Handbook


Items on my short list to procure:

Couple more IV bags, 500 ml or one liter each

Dramamine tablets, one packet

Benedryl Capsules, two packets

Tylenol, Cold and Flu Capsules

Another big bottle of Aspirin

Dental Tools,

Dental Cement

Asherman Chest Seal Bandages

Ophthalmic (Eye) Anti-biotic Cream and Bandages

Hope this helps you decide on what you want and need for your larger base medical kit. I have personal kits for each set of battle harnesses I have. Each of these personal sets have 2 each 25 gram Quik Clots, 2 each Battle dressing, 1 each tourniquet, adhesive bandage, self adhering Ace wrap, medical tape, and alcohol preps.