What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?

PhebaAndThePilgrim

Good day from Pheba, from the farm:
Every day that I log on to this site, and every day that I look around at the craziness I decide to hoard a bit more.
Just out of curiosity I wonder how many of my fellow PO folk have
the same mindset.
I collect vintage Singer sewing machines. I have 9 mint vintage machines. Some of them can be treadled. I think the machines will be invaluable in the future. I oil them and use them every few months to keep them in good shape.
I hoard bath soap, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner (totally unnecessary) and laundry detergent. I buy the new concentrated bottles of detergent cheap at Dollar General. I find soap on sale or clearance at Dollar stores. I buy name brand cheap, and it stores forever. I buy Pepsodent toothpaste for a dollar a tube (Consumer report rates it the best at cleaning teeth).
I just purchased 25 1# packages of loose tea from our food co-op. That's about 3 years supply of tea. Hubby and I drink a lot of tea.
I also have 25 pound bags of beans and rice that I purchased from the co-op. I have huge vacuum sealed bags of spices and herbs.
Our food co-op sells the stuff reasonable, and the vacuum sealing keeps it fresh. The tea is also vacuum sealed. The seal-a-meal vacuum systems are a great ideal. The vacuum bags that the tea come in are reusable. The system works very well with dry foods in the pantry.
I plan on putting more thought to it and will probably be purchasing more vacuum sealed bags of food. Am I being silly?
If the crash doesn't come I am still using the stuff.
We save about 3 dollars a pound on the tea by purchasing it this way, and it tastes about a thousand times better than store brands.
The first time I bought the tea a few years ago my husband thought I was nuts. He told me that 25 pounds of tea would last ten years. Boy, did he end up being wrong. (I wrote it on the calendar. he is usually right.) The tea lasted about 2-1/2 years. We sold 3 bags to a friend, and gave 3 or 4 to his Mom and dad. Otherwise we drank all of it.
I am raising a garden this spring, and right now have about 60 tomato, pepper, cabbage and broccoli plants growing in the laundry room. My husband is very intent on raising a big garden this summer.
He plans on putting in an entire field of potatoes.
This is a new mindset for him.
I think my husband is beginning to feel the ground shake, and he is usually a very optimistic person.
What do yo collect, and why? What do you hoard?
Pheba, from the farm.
PS. For some weird reason I also have a desire to hoard notepads and notebook.

vision-master

Aladdin lamps.

Dukkha · Tar Sands Joined: Dec 14, 2007 Posts: 83

Unrealised good intentions.

patience · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1181

Pheba,
My wife hoards clothing for us, sewing stuff, and money. I hoard tools, shop cutting tools and supplies, canned food, canning jars and lids, coal for the forge, oil and gas for vehicles and small engines (on burr mill, wood splitter, chainsaw, and tiller), spare parts for EVERYTHING. Plumbing, electrical, and building supplies. Local maps, radios, rechargeable batteries, hand or foot powered equipment. Steel, aluminum, and plastic stock for the shop. Filters, hoses, belts, and tires for vehicles.

I bought a new bicycle last year, and also got 2 extra tires and tubes, a couple patch kits, a carry tool kit, frame pump, water bottle, and basket, considering those part of the purchase price. I collect Maglites, bulbs, and batteries to fit(rechargeable).

Garden tools, seeds, rotenone dust, bagged lime and fertilizer, and soil testing stuff. I "collect" manure and compost. Firewood. Solvents, paint and epoxy cements. Grease and lubes for all purposes. Nails, screws, and small hardware items, like hinges and latches. (I can make those, but not profitably. In a PO world, time will be precious.) Bolts, nuts, washers, cotter pins, snap rings, gasket material, sealants, teflon tape, adhesives in all varieties.

A minimum amount of lumber, roofing repair materials, gutter parts, drain pipe, hand carpenter tools. (I can build a rabbit hutch, or chicken tractor without going to town.)

Once the LP tank is installed, I'll fill it (500 gal) for long term cooking/canning fuel. Battery backup for our internet and phone equipment, that are interchangeable with our 3 car and truck batteries, held on trickle charge, and soon to be solar powered.

Pet foods and vet meds, herb garden, meds for us, books, art supplies, paper, pencils (pens and markers dry out), waste oil to be reclaimed in a centrifuge for lube use. Cooking oils, homemade soap, laundry supplies. Pool chlorine for cistern water treatment. spare leathers for the hand water pumps, and neatsfoot oil to soften and preserve them. Bags of salt and brown sugar for meat curing.

That's what I can think of just now. No savings to speak of otherwise, but enough cash for needs and taxes. Still have a long way to go.

WisJim

We collect potato varieties, and the collection varies gradually over the years, usually including 25 to 30 varieties. We also collect garlic varieties, and are narrowing down the assortment to around a dozen kinds. I have also collected sweet and hot peppers and tomato varieties, but although I keep a lot of seeds we don't grow them all out every year.
I collect old hand tools, but they generally need to be usable for something that I do, unless they are outrageously intricate, interesting, or strange. I won't say how many tools I have for fear of sounding off-the-wall. We also collect books, but only ones that we want to read or use for reference. We are currently trying to inventory them so we know what we have, where they are, and which ones are duplicates. We also have accumulations of useful gardening and woodworking and other shop tools, and don't hesitate to add to that collection if we find something useful to try.

erb

I collect.... nothing

my family and friends think "it'll all be fine" so i guess i'm screwed

anyone who's mate or family is on board with them should thank them and REALLY apreciate that because i feel like the sand is sucking me down knowing that in 10 years we could be in totaly different situation and i can barely prepare.

i've tried to prepare a few days supply totaly under the radar because my income is low and every dollar goes somewhere.

i have 2 sychelle handheld charcoal water fileters
few flashlights and batteries
some canned goods.. fruit, soup, juice, sauce
few bags of pasta

i need to start rotating it out and buy new stuff
wish i could save a large amount of rice and garden seeds

btw how do you plant potatos? gut em in half and plant the halfs in soil?
_________________
LOOKING FOR - new job - southern ontario - niagara area - message me if you have any ideas, suggestions

DomusAlbion

Food – enough to keep two alive for more than a year.
Seeds – to keep the garden going.
Diesel – 500 gallons of Ag-red to keep the tractor going.
Ammo – to keep the curious going down the road. Twisted Evil

_________________
"Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
-- Albert Bartlett

"It will be a dark time. But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting."
-- James Lovelock

killJOY · Fission Joined: Feb 21, 2005 Posts: 2284 Location: ^NNE^

Kerosene lamps, Aladdin lamps, cabbages, wind-up clocks, seeds, old tractors, manure forks, chickens, bags of flour, butter molds, coin silver dinnerware, Spode china, dust....

P.s. Pheba, you have us beat: we only have five sewing machines (Wheeler-Wilson and Singer).
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"By the time individuals discover that remaining resources will not be adequate for the next generation, the next generation has already been born. " David Price

Ferretlover

I have several thousand yards of 100% cotton fabric that I have been collecting for about ten years (I quilt).
Lately, I've been buying two cases of canning jars every payday, extra toilet paper, extra sewing needles (hand and machine), thread, and food, food, food.
Once, I bought four packages of 24 roll toilet paper, and the clerk asked me if I had a big family! (If she only knew! lol)
We still have snow on the ground, but, I am planning to buy seeds, and a couple of fruit trees, and a couple of nut trees soon to plant this spring.
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"RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto

heroineworshipper · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:38 pm Post subject: Massive amounts of chocolate

Every time chocolate is on sale or CNN says something like "Fed's Mishkin Expects Inflation To Wane", I hoard as much of it as possible because next week it'll be 20% more expensive.
_________________
People first, then things, then dollars.
There will be enslavement & cannibalism.

waldo · Tar Sands Joined: Dec 22, 2007 Posts: 44

I am thinking of hoarding granulated sugar, won't it keep forever if in an airtight package? Probably it's going to get expensive fast, it has to travel far, right?

Blacksmith

Whenever, I buy anything the first thing I ask is:

(1) Can I use something else (birch sap will give you sugar, and a wet cloth can replace toilet paper)?

(2) Can I repair it, and can I make replacement parts?

(3) Can it be used for trade?

(4) Can I use it now or indeed do I need it now?

(5) Can I save money by buying in bulk?
_________________
Appuis ait fabrum esse suae quemque fortunae.
Alias Redneck

FoolYap

catbox · Last edited by catbox on Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:10 pm; edited 1 time in total

I've got a record/music thing, but I'm not a nerd about it...I don't sell or trade anything,and don't download it off the internet either. It's just my own piece of mind to be able to go into the music/art room and put on darn near anything I can think of and enjoy it.

But, I also seem to have a bunch of bikes and wheel sets...tires, tubes..etc...
I think bikes are the way to go and will be the way to go, so I snatchem' up when I can..............and music is my comfort food!

cb
_________________
President Bush: “There’s no question about it. Wall Street got drunk—that’s one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras. It got drunk, and now it’s got a hangover."

Fishman

erb
I think you are doing great. Make what you need your "hobby", that's how I plaicate the wife. Gardening, no petroleum imput after initial prep (great exercise), take up canning (small scale) and buy those books that will be helpful, or go to the library. Perhaps buy a few tools at a yard sale. Knowledge will be just as useful as all the things we list here.
Start out with just those potatos, the best source of calories per square foot. The easiest way is just cut them with at least one eye, dry for a day and plant. Go to the library and borrow a gardening book, free, and you will be far ahead of the masses. You are not being sucked down, the task at hand is great but YOU are so far ahead of the crowd it's amazing. Just outrun the guy behind you, not the bear.