(Image created by me)
The immediate danger is over. You’ve survived for several months or even a year on your stockpiled supplies. However, things haven’t “gone back to normal”. For whatever reason, society has degenerated completely and you’re essentially on your own. There’s no more government, no more grocery stores and no more mass-produced food, clothing or other goods. What are you to do?
It’s a serious question that requires a lot of thought and planning. In addition, it might be a wise decision to start working on integrating some of these concepts into your everyday life right now, before things melt down. The most important (and often, the most difficult) aspect is just wrapping your head around the changes in order to create a new mentality, a new viewpoint on what society is and what it should be.
Money is gone. It’s useless. Those wads of dollar bills are now fit only for shredding and using to get your daily cook fire going. What do you do if there’s no value in money? How do you get what you and your family need to survive?
It’s not as difficult as you might think. It’s really all about realizing that the money economy is a new invention, and not a particularly good one at that. Human societies have done a number of different things over the long millennia of our existence, long before the advent of cash.
In this chapter, we’ll explore some of the ways that you can move forward into a future with no money. Some may be a better fit for you, your family or your community’s needs than others, and there’s no single answer that will be “right” for everyone.
Where to Live-
This section assumes that you have some choice over where you’ll live. While we do all have at least some small element of choice, that doesn’t mean that every single person could choose to live in whatever area they like. There are also other mitigating factors, such as where you’re living when the meltdown happens. If you don’t get out early, you’ll be stuck where you are once resources like gasoline become scarce, and when the infrastructure (roads and bridges) begins to deteriorate.
There are four basic areas in which you might choose to live, each of which has its own pros and cons. Below, we’ll cover each of the four, as well as a rough outline of the challenges and benefits associated with them.
First, though, a caveat – all land is owned by someone. You will not find unclaimed land in the US just laying around waiting for someone to claim it. Even “public” land is technically owned by the government. What does that mean? Simply put, you’ll need to either buy land, rent where you live or squat and hope that no one comes along to evict you. Obviously, there are implications to each of those methods.
Owning/Buying – If you buy land, you obviously have to have cash to do so, or financing (for most of us). Buying land outright is the best option, as it doesn’t leave you tied directly to the banks and financiers who will ultimately be responsible for the collapse of the financial situation, and you’re limiting personal debt as well (another significant factor in any financial collapse). However, you’re still beholden to the government – you’ll have to pay taxes on that land.
Renting – Renting might seem like the perfect trade-off, but there’s a lot that can go wrong here. Obviously, you won’t own the land (or apartment, or whatever else you’re renting). This means that if worse comes to worst, you have no real claim to where you live. Your landlord is free to move you out, forcibly if need be.
Squatting – Squatting is essentially moving into a structure or area that you don’t own and don’t pay rent on. It might be an abandoned building downtown, or it could be a forest clearing in the middle of nowhere. You have no legal claim to the property other than the fact that you’re there and using it. Obviously, if the owner shows up, you have no leg to stand on (there are rules governing this type of situation). However, in the case of societal breakdown, squatting might be your only option.