On becoming more self-reliant in an ever growing volatile planet

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

www.poormansurvivor.net

 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 

 

With money in your pocket, you are wise and you are handsome and you sing well, too.
- Yiddish Proverb

 

 

On Becoming more Self Reliant…

 

  Some of you may recall that I remain at heart a bookseller, an information broker, a collector of information.  This week I sold a leather bound copy of Henry David Thoreau’s WAlDEN, his essay on becoming more self reliant and independent, something all of us were forced to read in high school [they probably won’t have such requirements today].

 

You may also recall several weeks ago that I warned about the strong potential for the stock market decline which did take place [though I must admit, I thought it would happen in September], losing nearly 10% of its value in two days thanks in large part to the problems in China…no doubt, few of you paid attention.

Long ago I warned about keeping much money in the artificial stock market and instead suggested putting it into silver [not gold] food stocks and farm land…

 

In 2008-9 I warned friends to get out of the antiques business as the economy was going to crash.  It did and many couldn’t give their goods away.

 

I warned against an impending water crisis in CA as it didn’t take a whole lot of brains to see the lack of conservation along with rampant building and irrigation which was taking place since the 70s, 80s, and 90s…and guess what happened.

 

I’m accustomed to being ignored but that’s OK as I keep my own counsel and manage to keep ahead of the curve on most things.

 

In any event, that guided my choice today’s content for this issue and I hope you make use of it!

 

 

Drilled Wells-A DYI Resource

Although most well drilling rigs are intended for use by professionals, it is possible to use them yourself to drill your own well. Some rental companies do provide well-drilling rigs for rent, but they are rather rare. However, there is one option for drilling your own well, which is affordable and possible to do yourself.

On the website www.howtodrillawell.com, you can buy a kit for drilling your own well. This kit uses air power to drive an air motor which is down the hole in the well, directly behind the drill bit. While a totally different concept than other well drilling methods, it is quite effective.

Drilling your own 100-foot deep well will cost you about $1,200, not counting the cost of the well pump. The kit available from that website will account for about half of that cost, with the other required materials accounting for the other half. The kit includes an instruction video and booklet, with detailed instructions for drilling your own well.

How to Build an Earthbag Dome

Learn all about it here:

  http://waldenlabs.com/how-to-build-an-earthbag-dome/

 

Our Top Picks for Useful Resources

 

Four Ways to Get Internet Access Off Grid

http://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to-2/4-ways-to-get-internet-access-off-grid-even-without-electricity/

 

 

Except in states which somehow believe they “own” the rain…

Reduce Your Water Bill with Rain Barrels
Like many people, you may have planted a garden, hoping to put a dent in your food bill and put more natural and delicious food on your table. That is, until you open your water bill and cringe at the total. Before you throw in the garden towel, consider setting up some rain barrels. It is an easy and extremely affordable way to harness Mother Nature's bounty, and much more beneficial to your garden as well.

 

Mastering the Art of Haggling
Haggling is becoming an essential skill in today's economy. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but with practice, you can master the art of haggling. Consider the following tips.

 

 

RoboKiller App Wins FTC's Contest for a Tech Solution to Annoying Calls

The FTC just held another contest to find a technological solution to the problem of unwanted automated phone calls (robocalls). RoboKiller, a forthcoming app, took the top prize. It forwards all calls for analysis before reaching your phone, and then lets through only the legitimate ones.

 

 

Little Guy Tear Drop Camper…an easy way to become a ‘perpetual traveler’ in your own country.

http://www.golittleguy.com/

 

 

End of Season Tomatoes

Most years, I have more tomatoes than my family can eat. Since I don't like the amount of work that it takes to can them, I've come up with a different solution. I core the tomatoes and then put them in my blender, including the peel. Then I run the blender on puree. I pour that into zipper baggies and place them flat in the freezer. Now when I want to make spaghetti, chili or tomato soup, I have the taste of homegrown tomatoes waiting in my freezer!

 

 

·  Becoming Self-Sufficient

You pay a premium on anything done for you…

 

Learning to be self-sufficient

 

Be Prepared for Anything

Do you know how to get ready for a natural disaster?  Tune into AARP LIVE on RFD-TV, September 17 at 10pm, Eastern time for tips that will help you stay safe and you’ll have a chance to win a free natural disaster preparedness kit [must be 50 years of age].  Learn more at:

Aarp.org/rfd

 

Given the state of the stock market this month, I thought I’d make this offer available again---No charge!

$What to do if the Dollar Collapses$

http://1drv.ms/1pb0sp9

 

 

How to Survive the War on the Middle Class

 14 of the best reports I’ve assembled on protecting your freedom…the download link to this will be included with your package and/or sent to you via email.  Some of the life saving information includes:

 http://www.bonanza.com/listings/14-e-Books-Surviving-the-War-on-the-Middle-Class-Big-Book-of-Free-the-Big-Dro/268786606

 

 

A Smoking Frog Feature from…

A Shallow Planet Production

How Bureaucrats Destroy a Nation

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

www.poormansurvivor.net

 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 

“A wise man investigates what a fool takes for granted”

--Chinese Proverb

 

 

 

Everywhere you turn government at every level is creating obstacles to living the American dream, to freedom, to making a living.  At the local, state and federal level, regulations and laws are crushing small business and their job building engines. 

 

Our 74,000 page ‘tax code’ has proven a DISINCENTIVE for many to pursue work or to create jobs and since the idiots in Washington place a 39% earnings rate on corporations, this so-called corporate tax revenue is eventually paid for by consumers via higher prices.

 

Government is a model for stupidity, waste and inefficiency and can no longer be trusted.  As I’ve reported several times previously, for example, their inflation numbers are pure bullcrap…Americans are having a tough time keeping up with the spiraling cost of housing, medical costs, food and more. 

 

If you’d like a more accurate picture inflation gauge, use the Chapwood Index.  The impetus for its creation is that ‘the government has been artificially deflating the CPI to keep figures as low as possible.  The readings you see published today no longer represent the real out of pocket expenditures incurred by most Americans.’

 

In 2014, the Chapwood Index showed consumer price levels in major cities increasing at rates of 6.6% to 13.7%  --  far above the CPI’s unrealistic inflation rate of less than 2%!  

 

Lifelong politicians such as the [Teflon] Clintons’ have fed at the public trough while attempting to impose their socialist agenda on America…I’m sick of people like this and their desire for more mega government which is already bankrupting the nation.

 

The United States now has more rules, regulations and laws on the books than any other nation, essentially turning everyone into a lawbreaker which is why we incarcerate more citizens than other nation and perhaps, why record numbers of people are actually renouncing their citizenship.

 

Well trained monkeys could run the government better than the legions and hoards of incompetents who are currently sucking the lifeblood out of our nation.

 

 I want to share the potential these kinds of parasites hold for America by sharing the following from Simon Black…

 

How Bureaucrats Ruin a Nation

It struck me as so curious why one of the largest car rental agencies in the world would have just one worker at one of their busiest tourist transit points.

If you look around in France, it’s actually quite typical to see. And the answer isn’t hard to find: regulation.

Between all the taxes, rules, and inflexible labor laws, it’s simply too expensive and risky for businesses to hire employees in France.

So as a result, French companies tend to hire fewer workers-- far fewer than they need to get the job done right... which means that quality suffers.

It’s a sad thing to see when companies have to care more about regulatory nonsense than providing a great product or service to their customers.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in France’s bloated public sector, where roughly a quarter of the country’s labor force is employed.

French bureaucracy is legendary, and it is the primary disability of otherwise productive businesses.

Curiously, French bureaucrats are rewarded handsomely for making people’s lives more difficult. They have shorter working hours, longer vacations, great medical care, and guaranteed employment for life.

It sounds a lot like the US, actually, which isn’t far behind. In fact I recently stumbled across a pretty scary survey of the job satisfaction of civilian government workers.

It showed that 91.2% of US government workers think that their work is important.

In other words, the people who tell us what we can or can't put in our bodies, or that we can't collect rainwater, or tell kids they can’t shovel snow from their neighbors’ driveways-- think they’re providing a valuable service for society.

The truth is the exact opposite. I’m sure they’re all very nice people. But government bureaucracy is the problem, not the solution.

Ever single business day of the year, hundreds of pages of new regulations are published in the Federal Register that most people aren’t even aware of.

In the last year alone, an astounding 79,066 pages of new regulations and proposals were published.

Note- these aren’t laws passed by congress. They’re ‘rules’ created out of thin air by obscure agencies within the executive branch, each of whom has the authority to make up new rules on a whim.

Like the Bureau of Economic Analysis, for example, which recently commanded every American with a foreign company to fill out an absurd survey under threat of a $20,000+ fine.

This is not exactly the sort of thing that makes people more prosperous and free.

And yet the apparatus grows, suffocating innovation and quality beneath it.

At this point people seem to get it. I doubt anyone is going to complain that the government isn’t big enough.

The problem is that people think they can fix it in a voting booth.

That’s lazy thinking. Voting doesn’t affect anything; all you’re doing is changing the players, not the game.

If you’re truly fed up with the system, one of the most powerful weapons you have (other than your feet) is your money.

Bureaucracies thrives on funding. Money. Specifically-- YOUR money.

So if you want to change the system, stop supporting it. Take every option available to legally reduce what you pay in taxes to the government.

Deduct legitimate business expenses. Use the foreign earned income exclusion or Puerto Rico exemption. Set up captive insurance and finance companies. Buy whatever you can online from states without sales tax.

As an example, I maintain a US mobile number so that my mother can more easily call me.

But I set up the billing address in Nevada, which has the 2nd lowest cell phone taxes in the country.

I obviously don’t live in Nevada. I don’t even live in the US. All it took was a Nevada address (which hardly costs anything), and the net savings is several hundred dollars each year.

These steps don’t need to be complicated.

But a little bit of effort can go a long way in reducing what you legally owe, which, aside from saving you money, also reduces how much you directly contribute to the destruction of your country. 

Simon Black
Founder, SovereignMan.com

 

How to Survive the War on the Middle Class

 14 of the best reports I’ve assembled on protecting your freedom…the download link to this will be included with your package and/or sent to you via email.  Some of the life saving information includes:

 

·         Surviving the Final Days of the Dollar

·         Developing Your Financial IQ

·         What to do if There is a Bank Run

·         Become Self Sufficient for at Least Six Months

·         What to do if There is a Financial Collapse

·         77 Censored Cures

·         The Big Drop: Grow your wealth during the coming collapse

·         A Man’s Right to Happiness-reclaim your privacy, reduce your taxes and more

·         The Big Book of Free- FREE Stuff… chock-full of proven tricks, loopholes, and insider secrets to living a higher-quality, wealthier, healthier, and more successful life.

 

We’ve just added…

·        How to Get Guns, Ammo, and Nearly any Emergency Item to Keep Your Family Safe.  

http://www.bonanza.com/listings/14-e-Books-Surviving-the-War-on-the-Middle-Class-Big-Book-of-Free-the-Big-Dro/268786606

 

 

A Smoking Frog Feature from…

A Shallow Planet Production

 

Shaving with an Axe, Mini-Farm Grow Box, At-Home Hydroponics. Doomsday Clock, More

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

www.poormansurvivor.net

 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 

Good things may come to those who wait, but only those things left behind by those who hustle.
- Abraham Lincoln

 

The Mini-Farm Grow Box is an all-new soil-free, non-electric home-based food growing system developed by Texan consumer health advocate Mike Adams of the non-profit organization Food Raising. This contraption allows home gardeners to grow food without having to weed out invaders and without have to worry about complex pumps, motors and other parts. Moreover, this system works with about 1/20th the amount of water required in conventional agriculture, and about half as much soil space.

The Mini-Farm Grow Box is based on the principles of constant bottom feeding non-circulation hydroponics. The system maintains a constant water level in grow boxes without extra circulation or air pumps.

This system works well anywhere with access to sunlight and allows growers to grow food in waist-high platforms. This sort of convenience is exactly what's needed if home-grown food is to catch on a wider scale.

References: foodrising.org & gizmag

 

The 'Eliooo' Book Teaches How to Grow Food at Home with Hydroponics

 

The 'Eliooo' book by Antonio Scarponi is designed to teach people how to grow food at home using IKEA boxes and hydroponics, a farming technique that uses water in the place of soil. This technique is doesn't require a lot of space and is very low maintenance. After setup, you don't have to remember to water your plants.

As a creator, Scarponi says that he "likes to design things that everyone can make." The 'Eliooo' manual makes growing your own food at home very accessible, especially since the main components of this system are inexpensive pieces that come from IKEA. Unlike some instruction manuals that are hard to follow, the directions are charmingly illustrated and easy to follow along with

 

References: eliooo & swiss-miss

Hydroponic Indoor Gardens

The Hyundai Kitchen Nano Lets Users Grow Their Own Organic Veggies

 

 

How to Save Your Own Life

Every man should be able to save his own life, here are 5 fitness benchmarks a man must master in order to do so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ssz0YUORKk

 

 

More Useful Stuff You Might Like to Use & Share

 

EnergySage: If you are considering solar power for your home, this free tool will help you calculate the cost and savings based on your specific address. The site also offers a lot of information about solar power.

 

10 ways to spend 99 cents and make or save much, much more!
read more here

 

How to be more manly – Shave with an Axe

http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-shave-with-an-axe/

 

 

Homemade Watermelon Beer-Summertime Treat that Can’t be Beat

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Watermelon-Beer/

 

Spare Parts for Hanging Coats

Screw a shelf bracket to the back of the closet and affix a short length of chain to each end of it.  Hangers slip through the links in the chain!

 

Even more Unusual Uses for Vinegar

http://www.clarkhoward.com/8-brilliant-uses-vinegar-clean

 

Cut the Humidity

We bought a dehumidifier and put it in our basement two months ago. I'm amazed at the difference it has made. Not only has the bug population almost completely disappeared, but the basement doesn't feel moldy. We're even talking about setting it up to use as a cooler summer room!

 

Finally, the financial doomsday clock does appear to be ticking…

I want to share with you an excerpt from an article that just appeared in the Telegraph entitled “Doomsday clock for global market crash strikes one minute to midnight as central banks lose control“.  You see, the Telegraph is not just one of the most important newspapers in the UK – it is truly one of the most important newspapers in the entire world.  When it speaks on financial matters, millions of people listen very carefully.  So for the Telegraph to declare that the countdown to a “global market crash” is “one minute to midnight” is a very, very big deal…

When the banking crisis crippled global markets seven years ago, central bankers stepped in as lenders of last resort. Profligate private-sector loans were moved on to the public-sector balance sheet and vast money-printing gave the global economy room to heal.

Time is now rapidly running out. From China to Brazil, the central banks have lost control and at the same time the global economy is grinding to a halt. It is only a matter of time before stock markets collapse under the weight of their lofty expectations and record valuations.

You might wish to read the rest of this article right here.  It illustrates many of the points I have tried to make over the past few years…

 

Also noteworthy…

 

It’s now reported that many German citizens, fearing US NSA spying, are now microwaving and/or boiling their state issued ID cards [against the law, of course].Our own asinine government plans to force citizens to begin using privacy bashing government ID/drivers licenses in 2016 so use this free report to learn a few ways to protect yourself from your privacy-rights destroying Big Brother…

 

Ultimate Privacy Guide/161-pages:Get it Free

http://1drv.ms/1CzV7At

 

Show your support by making a purchase…

 

Books, Art, Video – the saucy, the odd, the retro, even the practical…

http://RetroGuy.net

Pillars of Self Reliance

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

www.poormansurvivor.net

 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

“No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

 

Everything is Rosy in Oz

 

Historically, the economy picks up somewhat during an election cycle…Yet, despite an uptick in employment [even auto unions are readying themselves to ask for more money] and a rosy picture painted by Obama:

>Most of us can feel what is coming.  According to Gallup, the number of Americans that believe that the economy is getting worse is almost 50 percent higher than the number of Americans that believe that the economy is getting better.

>Consumer spending in the United States has just plummeted to multi-year lows.

 

Like so much of the economy, durable goods orders (think autos and home appliances) are down one month and up the next. Sometimes consumers are optimistic and other times not so much. No clear trend in the economy is evident.

What does that mean for you and me? It means that we should be ready for a so-so economy. Don't assume that your job is secure for the longer term.

Be cautious with your finances. Now is not the time to abandon the frugal ways that you've acquired over the past few years. Many people were burned by the recession of 2008 because they had a lot of debt and had little foresight or much in the way of a backup plan.

 

Never count on a politician, regardless of party to fix things…[When I was born, we were the most prosperous nation on the planet, now, we are broke, losing our privacy and freedoms and the fat cats are getting fatter at our expense].

 

 

Personal liberty is deteriorating. People are being trained -- from cradle to the grave -- to fear their governments

 

 

The Six Pillars of Self-Reliance

Financial Sovereignty in the 21st Century

By Sovereign Man

1. Move your money to safety – Foreign banking

We grow up thinking banks are the bastions of safety and security. It must be safe, after all, it’s a bank!

But with the multitude of bank crises and panics throughout history and just in the past few years it’s clear that this trust is deeply unfounded. Not only are many Western banks in the US and Europe borderline insolvent, but there are also multitudes of government bureaucrats with the power to freeze your bank account with the push of a button.

You don’t even have to do anything wrong, because with the thousands of laws and regulations that exist today practically everyone is a criminal. There are many better and far safer places to store your life savings and retirement than in Western banks loaded with toxic debt. Moving your money to a bank with healthy balance sheets in a strong banking jurisdiction is a key step to secure your financial future.

Singapore. Hong Kong. Norway. There are good options out there that suit everyone, and today it’s totally possible to open a foreign bank account and move your money overseas straight from your living room. Foreign banking is no longer just for the mega rich.

2. Establish new roots abroad – Second residence and second passport

We’d like to live in a world where no passports are required, but we don’t live in that world. We live in a world of bureaucracy, red tape, and arbitrary distinctions between countries.

Therefore, it’s necessary to work within the system and make preparations so that you’re not chained to any one piece of land -- this means establishing residency and/or acquiring a second passport. Now, there’s a lot of benefits to expatriating.

Better lifestyle and career opportunities, lower cost of living, lower taxes, better climate. But even if you have no plans of leaving your country of birth behind it’s still fully possible to establish a “residency flag” abroad. Why?

Because a second passport is a really useful insurance policy in the event of things like social unrest, political turmoil, major lawsuit, economic collapse, etc. Problem is, there is little accurate information out there about how to actually obtain a second passport or establish residency, and that’s why thousands of people find our information so valuable.

3. Don’t bet your life on a single currency – Alternative stores of value

We may be able to agree that major fiat currencies like the dollar, pound, euro, and yen are all ‘headed to zero.’

In fact, the US dollar is well on its way to zero having lost 96% of its value since 1913. Much is written in the financial blogosphere about the fundamental weaknesses of these currencies, and of the massive, untenable debts that their governments have assumed.

But what does it actually mean when a major currency ‘goes to zero’? How will the world function afterward? How will we know when it’s happening? And most importantly, how can you protect yourself?

At Sovereign Man we strongly believe in alternative currencies and stores of value such as physical gold and silver (preferably stored safely offshore), fertile farmland, real estate, profitable businesses, etc. But alternative currencies and stores of value are not enough…

4. Rely on yourself – Personal resilience in a fragile world

Let’s be realistic. If the worst would happen where you live, if “shit hits the fan” so to speak, then neither your paper money nor gold or silver coins might not be of much help initially.

Truth is, you might have a hard time putting food on the table during a crisis, considering supermarket shelves are emptied within hours, and you certainly can’t eat gold.

Now, resilience is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.And it’s easier to adjust to misfortune or change if you don’t have all your eggs in the same basket.

This applies to investing, where you keep your savings, and where you get your food and water. Having a back up plan for a sustainable food and water source makes all the sense in the world considering how centralized and fragile the production and distribution systems are today.

5. Grow your wealth – Entrepreneurship and private investments

We believe that in order to achieve true freedom, you have to be able to make money We also believe you have to be able to control your time, and eliminate the mindset that you are subject to a corrupt government that is bent on degrading your personal liberty.

You don’t have to be a slave to geography anymore; live where you want, how you want.

You can take control of your time and spend it how you want, not how others tell you

You can live a luxurious and worry-free lifestyle overseas that would be unaffordable elsewhere

You can make money anywhere, whether it’s China, Panama, New Zealand, or online

You can mix and mingle with the absolute elite.

6. Protect what you hold dear – Asset protection and privacy

We all know that your government is spying on you, and considering they are near bankruptcy you can also be fairly certain that they have their eyes on your money.

Now, whether they come after your savings or your retirement account or a bigger chunk of your pay-check we can’t know, but we can be sure that someone will have to pay for the fiscal irresponsibility of your government, and it sure won’t be the politicians or the financial elite that sponsor their campaigns.

Here’s the good news, though: By diversifying your life and assets properly, on a global scale, you’ll be safer and better off than 99% of your fellow citizens, no matter what happens.

By being proactive instead of reactive to what politicians and central bankers do, you effectively take back control over your life.

And by taking a few easy steps to protect your offline and online privacy you’ll also have higher privacy than 99% of the population.

True privacy is precious these days and can even be a life saver.

[Ed. note: I’ve been following Sovereign Man for a while.  If you’re not already an “insider,” click here to learn more and sign up for free.]

Yours for surviving stupid times,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

 

 

Books, Art, Video – the saucy, the odd, the retro, even the practical…

http://RetroGuy.net

  

How to Survive the War on the Middle Class

 14 of the best reports I’ve assembled on protecting your freedom…the download link to this will be included with your package and/or sent to you via email.  Some of the life saving information includes:

 

·         Surviving the Final Days of the Dollar

·         Developing Your Financial IQ

·         What to do if There is a Bank Run

·         Become Self Sufficient for at Least Six Months

·         What to do if There is a Financial Collapse

·         77 Censored Cures

·         The Big Drop: Grow your wealth during the coming collapse

·         A Man’s Right to Happiness-reclaim your privacy, reduce your taxes and more

·         The Big Book of Free- FREE Stuff… chock-full of proven tricks, loopholes, and insider secrets to living a higher-quality, wealthier, healthier, and more successful life.

 

We’ve just added…

·        How to Get Guns, Ammo, and Nearly any Emergency Item to Keep Your Family Safe.  

http://www.bonanza.com/listings/14-e-Books-Surviving-the-War-on-the-Middle-Class-Big-Book-of-Free-the-Big-Dro/268786606