I would like to add a few things to your excellent prepper list: set aside a month's worth of CASH, stock up on medications for your family and pets; stock up on first aid supplies, including rubbing alcohol & hydrogen peroxide; fill your freezer with frozen vegetables; start a victory garden--you can do it in small spaces in containers, set aside water, alcohol, and coffee--get the beans and a grinder NOW before this idiot imposes more tariffs. Also, if you use anything that is egg based (like a protein shake), stock up on it NOW. The flocks will be decimated with this new bird flu.
Far as I understand Colombia didn't cave, they demanded the migrants be treated humanely, not arriving with wrists and ankles shackled in un-aircondidtioned planes and no allowance to use the bathroom. Drumpf caved and is SUPPOSED to be stopping that. We shall see.
Not Tariffs no, but the commodity price has sky rocketed.
"The Wall Street Journal reports that arabica coffee prices hit a "record level" on Monday as futures for the commodity "rose 0.8% to $3.50 a pound in midday trading in Europe, having reached as high as $3.56 earlier in the session." This tops the previous record set back in December of $3.48 when concerns arose about this year's coffee harvest in Brazil".
Wondering if climate change is having an impact. My understanding is that coffee only grows between certain latitudes; those conditions may be changing and shifting unpredictably.
there are some egg substitutes that can be used like flax seed and chickpea liquid (aquafaba) i plan to get powdered milk also, even though i am not a big milk drinker, i do use it in baking bread. i have a grill outside and a propane/butane burner in case of loss of power. i grew up in Cali preparing for earthquakes, now i'm in Flori-duh prepared for hurricanes. 🤦🏽♀️(i know, i'm a maroon)🐞🪲 🐰
No you aren't, there are many of us that live in Florida that are here on substack. We just get gerrymandered and out voted by the maga retirees that out shitlord Gov Deathsantis attracts.
I started prepping the day after the election. Also I signed a contract for solar panels bc screw the fossil fuel industry and I began scrutinizing the political activities of companies I patronized and I started writing my Substack about it. :)
You'll love your solar panels. We've have them for nine years. My son hasn't paid for gas ever since. We're getting a storage battery in the next month.
Just one comment: you said the Mango Mussolini and his handlers would not touch the military. I wouldn't be surprised is VETERAN'S BENEFITS (like the VA, Tricare, etc.) were subject to cuts because we all know just how much they care about our soldiers.../s. As the son of a Korean War/POW vet, this burns my bacon more than I want to say.
He can't steal if it he can't cut it from somewhere! He bankrupted a veteran charity that had a ten million dollar budget, left them a half a mil in the hole. You know you are bad if wingnut welfare funder Koch fires you.
" A trail of documents, corroborated by the accounts of former colleagues, indicates that Hegseth was forced to step down by both of the two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran—Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America—in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.
Earlier in his career, in 2007, Hegseth was hired to lead a small veterans’ group called Vets for Freedom, which advocated for expanding the war in Iraq. By 2009, VFF was virtually bankrupt, with $1,000 in the bank, and nearly $500,000 in debts. The billionaire backers lost confidence in him and merged VFF with another vets’ group to minimize his role."
Excellent advice. I’ve already depression-proofed my life as much as humanly possible. Even if the worst never happens, it’s a great feeling to know that I’m prepared if it does.
I would also like to add that if you are a person who is looking to relocate outside the U.S. (aka a digital nomad or work in a different country) because of the cost of living, an up-to-date passport is essential. Who knows if the State Department will increase the fees for renewal or first-time applicants? $130 for passport and $30 for passport card is cheap considering they last a decade (aka longer than Trump will be in office).
Unfortunately, trans and nonbinary applicants who have transitioned and haven't updated their documents are stuck. Trump proof your life in every way possible.
The economic risk is both recession and inflation; termed stagflation, this occurred in the late 70s when oil prices went up dramatically and the economy was in recession. The worst of both worlds. Don’t expect any rethuglicans to see this coming by the very policies that they are pursuing. For example, tariffs will cause inflation. Cutting entitlements will cause a recession. Given that rethuglicans will be unable to get themselves out of the paper bag on their head, I suspect that they will let the pain ride for a year until the midterms scare them.
My family already is buying seeds and will expand our backyard garden. (It sure helps that my wife grew up farming in the Midwest!).
Cash is a catch-22. Definitely have some, but if (when) inflation runs up, then greenbacks will lose their relative value (while cash in a bank may pay at least a nominal interest rate). The rich don’t want to crash the banking system, but we all have learned that the rich did not get rich by being smart.
We’re saving up as we can, while also buying non perishables, especially red meat in cans or beef jerky. You don’t need red meat as your primary source of protein, but have some as it provides necessary and digestible iron. The rich will keep buying red meats, because, well, they can.
Dehydrated eggs have not soared in price (yet), but they will. I find the Auguson Farms label to be tasty and a good value for the money.
I really hope the worst doesn't happen, but I hope it'll be bad enough to flip the House AND Senate back to Democratic control next year. Ernst, Collins, Tillis, et al need to get the boot -- and that we keep Jon Ossoff in the Senate.
If Susan Crawford wins the WISC race on April 1st -- and by similar margins that Protosaewicz and Karofsky did (10-11 points) -- it's going to be a big flashing sign for Rs. And we'll find out how fucked Rs are in Virginia this November.
Hopefully all three PA SC justices win their retention elections this fall too.
I have a money market account that pays a decent rate of interest. I'm allowed to write checks against it -- up to 10 a month -- and it's where my Social Security gets auto-deposited every month. I started it when I came into about $30,000 after my mother died and I had a 1/3 share of the condominium she owned. And I started to draw SS before I retired so it was getting regular deposits. Then, when my wife talked me into paying our daughter's school loans it took a hit. When I retired and my pension kicked in, I took a chunk of that equity and paid off the mortgage. Right now all the expenses are covered. My former employer set me up with a useful Medicare Advantage type plan that keeps my generic medications reasonable. And I'm still going to cut out superficial stuff. I may even have to cut some of my substack subscriptions.
During FDJT's first term, I prioritized paying off my student loan debt because I feared he would put us into a recession (and I would be out of a job). I didn't have as much debt because my dad's workplace paid my college tuition -- so I was basically paying off the room and board. I finished paying off my debt November 2018, well before Covid hit and I got furloughed for six months.
I was actually able to pad my account with the stimulus and enhanced unemployment checks. And during the Great Resignation, I was able to leave my part time movie theater job to a steady 9-5 office job.
1. If you can try and use cash. I find I spend less when I'm handing over hard money. And you can save the change in a jar for when you're really broke.
2. If something is on sale in the grocery store, buy two or three. Not something you're not going to eat but something you regularly eat.
3. If you haven't already updated your driver's license to a REAL idea, please do that now.
4. There's something called shelf stable milk. Put a few boxes of that aside for an emergency.
5. Beans, onions & rice can last forever.
And last but not least, for those of you who haven't done this - stock your cans, coffee, whatever with the newest stuff at the back of the shelf and the oldest stuff in the front. Expiration dates are not gospel but you don't want to find that your last can is from 2015.
Yep. It's always easier to load new stuff in the front but it leads to precisely that problem.
Having said that I would check the contents before tossing. Dried beans for example, have an expiration date but if the package is unopened, I would just soak them longer.
You can Google for lists of real toss dates vs expiration dates.
My mom and dad are 89 and 93 respectively. Mom buys everything and dad puts it away. He says he's not worried about anything canned so he's not going to waste time rotating the stock. The items with the 2013 expiration dates are boxed rice dinners. The rice is probably fine but I don't trust the spices in them. I also found a box of Triscuit crackers that expired in 2017. I'm sure they are pretty stale by now 😬
But since the spices are probably loaded with sodium, you can toss them with pleasure and just fry the rice.
🙂
My guess is your parents are Depression kids and a fully stocked pantry eases their minds.
And they don't think they'll be the ones packing everything up.
I was raised with that thinking. I never saw an empty refrigerator until I visited a friend's house. Her mother liked to empty it out before she went grocery shopping. My grandmother liked to make sure she could feed a football team if one was in the neighborhood.
Wonderful advice! As for student loans - what about all of the loans that are currently in limbo due to the Biden plan languishing in the courts?
Also, are credit unions safer than banks?
And 100% address all of your health issues, pet issues, car issues now while you have the resources. And the insurance. If the moldy orange and his puppeteers get their way, ACA goes byebye, and all of us with pre-existing conditions are up that creek.
I like the idea of credit unions more but we tried that twice and our account got hacked twice. It hasn't been hacked at banks. -_- I feel like credit unions are targeted because they're a threat to the larger banking system but that's just me because a paranoid lefty.
I had the opposite happen. I had problems with my debit card and my account hacked several times when I was at BB&T (now Truist). And when they started gobbling up regional banks, their fees went up and customer service went down. And hoops to jump through to keep your checking account "free" if your balance wasn't $1500 on average.
My credit union experiences have been mainly stress free.
Credit unions are protected by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) like the banks are protected by FDIC. Both protect consumer deposits up to $250,000.
Credit unions often have better rates and low to no fees on similar products available at banks. Better interest rates and customer service too.
If you have a freezer, stock up on chicken now. ConFelon will do nothing to stop the Avian flu. Today it's egg prices but soon it will be chicken. Vacuum packing will keep meat free from freezer burn for one year, minimum.
I purchase a book called The Lost Ways. It talks about a lot of things you can do to make resources go farther without electricity or gas. Good stuff in it and it's not expensive. Also get some skills. Sewing, crochet, knitting,canning, if you don't know how find someone that does and become a small community with people with different skills you trust.
All of this sound good unless one is living on social security. We are close to 80 and are frugal yet so worried. There’s no extra money to set aside. Thank you MAGA nuts for bringing fascism to our country.
I would like to add a few things to your excellent prepper list: set aside a month's worth of CASH, stock up on medications for your family and pets; stock up on first aid supplies, including rubbing alcohol & hydrogen peroxide; fill your freezer with frozen vegetables; start a victory garden--you can do it in small spaces in containers, set aside water, alcohol, and coffee--get the beans and a grinder NOW before this idiot imposes more tariffs. Also, if you use anything that is egg based (like a protein shake), stock up on it NOW. The flocks will be decimated with this new bird flu.
Yeah especially as The Demented Orangutan's latest spat with Colombia has just caused the cost of Coffee to sky rocket.
You can grow anything anywhere even a windowsill can be treated like a greenhouse and grow carrots, tomatoes in hanging baskets and microgreens.
I have a deck and live in a condo. This is my bedtime reading right now The Container Victory Garden: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Your Own Groceries https://www.amazon.com/Container-Victory-Garden-Beginners-Groceries/dp/0785255761
Columbia caved to the orange turd...but no tariffs on ur coffee....bfd
Far as I understand Colombia didn't cave, they demanded the migrants be treated humanely, not arriving with wrists and ankles shackled in un-aircondidtioned planes and no allowance to use the bathroom. Drumpf caved and is SUPPOSED to be stopping that. We shall see.
I hope ur right
Thank you! I hate when people repeat right-wing brags, even unconsciously.
I suspect they will unsnap the cuffs just before letting them off the plane, though.
Not Tariffs no, but the commodity price has sky rocketed.
"The Wall Street Journal reports that arabica coffee prices hit a "record level" on Monday as futures for the commodity "rose 0.8% to $3.50 a pound in midday trading in Europe, having reached as high as $3.56 earlier in the session." This tops the previous record set back in December of $3.48 when concerns arose about this year's coffee harvest in Brazil".
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/food-and-drink/beverages/coffee-price-soars-to-new-high-even-as-trump-backs-off-colombia-trade-war/ar-AA1xWYg1
Wondering if climate change is having an impact. My understanding is that coffee only grows between certain latitudes; those conditions may be changing and shifting unpredictably.
That's an entirely different problem but it -will- be one down the road.
And often under shade trees, maybe the shade trees aren't getting enough water.
Thank goodness for me, I now drink green tea...but I do love the smell of coffee unfortunately my stomach doesn't like it. (:
there are some egg substitutes that can be used like flax seed and chickpea liquid (aquafaba) i plan to get powdered milk also, even though i am not a big milk drinker, i do use it in baking bread. i have a grill outside and a propane/butane burner in case of loss of power. i grew up in Cali preparing for earthquakes, now i'm in Flori-duh prepared for hurricanes. 🤦🏽♀️(i know, i'm a maroon)🐞🪲 🐰
No you aren't, there are many of us that live in Florida that are here on substack. We just get gerrymandered and out voted by the maga retirees that out shitlord Gov Deathsantis attracts.
I started prepping the day after the election. Also I signed a contract for solar panels bc screw the fossil fuel industry and I began scrutinizing the political activities of companies I patronized and I started writing my Substack about it. :)
You'll love your solar panels. We've have them for nine years. My son hasn't paid for gas ever since. We're getting a storage battery in the next month.
Just one comment: you said the Mango Mussolini and his handlers would not touch the military. I wouldn't be surprised is VETERAN'S BENEFITS (like the VA, Tricare, etc.) were subject to cuts because we all know just how much they care about our soldiers.../s. As the son of a Korean War/POW vet, this burns my bacon more than I want to say.
I bet that drunk Hegeseth will try to implement those cuts.
He can't steal if it he can't cut it from somewhere! He bankrupted a veteran charity that had a ten million dollar budget, left them a half a mil in the hole. You know you are bad if wingnut welfare funder Koch fires you.
" A trail of documents, corroborated by the accounts of former colleagues, indicates that Hegseth was forced to step down by both of the two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran—Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America—in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.
Earlier in his career, in 2007, Hegseth was hired to lead a small veterans’ group called Vets for Freedom, which advocated for expanding the war in Iraq. By 2009, VFF was virtually bankrupt, with $1,000 in the bank, and nearly $500,000 in debts. The billionaire backers lost confidence in him and merged VFF with another vets’ group to minimize his role."
https://dianeravitch.net/2024/12/03/jane-mayer-pete-hegseths-secret-history-as-a-drunk-and-sexual-predator/
Before he got booted Vivek specifically said he wanted to gut the VA.
I don't think Hegsteth has any say in that.
Mango Mussolini? Literally made me crack up. TY 😂🤣
The Opinionated Ogre is wise.
Excellent advice. I’ve already depression-proofed my life as much as humanly possible. Even if the worst never happens, it’s a great feeling to know that I’m prepared if it does.
I would also like to add that if you are a person who is looking to relocate outside the U.S. (aka a digital nomad or work in a different country) because of the cost of living, an up-to-date passport is essential. Who knows if the State Department will increase the fees for renewal or first-time applicants? $130 for passport and $30 for passport card is cheap considering they last a decade (aka longer than Trump will be in office).
Unfortunately, trans and nonbinary applicants who have transitioned and haven't updated their documents are stuck. Trump proof your life in every way possible.
According to another video I saw you also need a entry permit for UK and some European countries.
So please, please check out the embassy of where you want to go and see what the requirements are.
And don’t for gods sake wear your American flag.
The economic risk is both recession and inflation; termed stagflation, this occurred in the late 70s when oil prices went up dramatically and the economy was in recession. The worst of both worlds. Don’t expect any rethuglicans to see this coming by the very policies that they are pursuing. For example, tariffs will cause inflation. Cutting entitlements will cause a recession. Given that rethuglicans will be unable to get themselves out of the paper bag on their head, I suspect that they will let the pain ride for a year until the midterms scare them.
My family already is buying seeds and will expand our backyard garden. (It sure helps that my wife grew up farming in the Midwest!).
Cash is a catch-22. Definitely have some, but if (when) inflation runs up, then greenbacks will lose their relative value (while cash in a bank may pay at least a nominal interest rate). The rich don’t want to crash the banking system, but we all have learned that the rich did not get rich by being smart.
We’re saving up as we can, while also buying non perishables, especially red meat in cans or beef jerky. You don’t need red meat as your primary source of protein, but have some as it provides necessary and digestible iron. The rich will keep buying red meats, because, well, they can.
Dehydrated eggs have not soared in price (yet), but they will. I find the Auguson Farms label to be tasty and a good value for the money.
280 days 🙏
I really hope the worst doesn't happen, but I hope it'll be bad enough to flip the House AND Senate back to Democratic control next year. Ernst, Collins, Tillis, et al need to get the boot -- and that we keep Jon Ossoff in the Senate.
That's next year. This year is the off year elections which will tell us how fucked Republicans are for the midterms.
If Susan Crawford wins the WISC race on April 1st -- and by similar margins that Protosaewicz and Karofsky did (10-11 points) -- it's going to be a big flashing sign for Rs. And we'll find out how fucked Rs are in Virginia this November.
Hopefully all three PA SC justices win their retention elections this fall too.
I have a money market account that pays a decent rate of interest. I'm allowed to write checks against it -- up to 10 a month -- and it's where my Social Security gets auto-deposited every month. I started it when I came into about $30,000 after my mother died and I had a 1/3 share of the condominium she owned. And I started to draw SS before I retired so it was getting regular deposits. Then, when my wife talked me into paying our daughter's school loans it took a hit. When I retired and my pension kicked in, I took a chunk of that equity and paid off the mortgage. Right now all the expenses are covered. My former employer set me up with a useful Medicare Advantage type plan that keeps my generic medications reasonable. And I'm still going to cut out superficial stuff. I may even have to cut some of my substack subscriptions.
During FDJT's first term, I prioritized paying off my student loan debt because I feared he would put us into a recession (and I would be out of a job). I didn't have as much debt because my dad's workplace paid my college tuition -- so I was basically paying off the room and board. I finished paying off my debt November 2018, well before Covid hit and I got furloughed for six months.
I was actually able to pad my account with the stimulus and enhanced unemployment checks. And during the Great Resignation, I was able to leave my part time movie theater job to a steady 9-5 office job.
Keep an eye on the Medicare Advantage. Those types of plans while affordable fight claims at higher frequency than standard Medicare.
Make sure you're extremely familiar with their requirements for testing and hospital visits.
So far, it's behaving like the plan I had while employed. But then, I don't put a lot of stress on the system...yet.
You should be fine. But some of them have arcane approval processes so just make sure you're familiar -- especially before traveling.
1. If you can try and use cash. I find I spend less when I'm handing over hard money. And you can save the change in a jar for when you're really broke.
2. If something is on sale in the grocery store, buy two or three. Not something you're not going to eat but something you regularly eat.
3. If you haven't already updated your driver's license to a REAL idea, please do that now.
4. There's something called shelf stable milk. Put a few boxes of that aside for an emergency.
5. Beans, onions & rice can last forever.
And last but not least, for those of you who haven't done this - stock your cans, coffee, whatever with the newest stuff at the back of the shelf and the oldest stuff in the front. Expiration dates are not gospel but you don't want to find that your last can is from 2015.
LOL. I was going through my parent's pantry and there are some items with expiration dates in 2013!!!
Yep. It's always easier to load new stuff in the front but it leads to precisely that problem.
Having said that I would check the contents before tossing. Dried beans for example, have an expiration date but if the package is unopened, I would just soak them longer.
You can Google for lists of real toss dates vs expiration dates.
My mom and dad are 89 and 93 respectively. Mom buys everything and dad puts it away. He says he's not worried about anything canned so he's not going to waste time rotating the stock. The items with the 2013 expiration dates are boxed rice dinners. The rice is probably fine but I don't trust the spices in them. I also found a box of Triscuit crackers that expired in 2017. I'm sure they are pretty stale by now 😬
You're probably right about the boxed rice.
But since the spices are probably loaded with sodium, you can toss them with pleasure and just fry the rice.
🙂
My guess is your parents are Depression kids and a fully stocked pantry eases their minds.
And they don't think they'll be the ones packing everything up.
I was raised with that thinking. I never saw an empty refrigerator until I visited a friend's house. Her mother liked to empty it out before she went grocery shopping. My grandmother liked to make sure she could feed a football team if one was in the neighborhood.
😁
Wonderful advice! As for student loans - what about all of the loans that are currently in limbo due to the Biden plan languishing in the courts?
Also, are credit unions safer than banks?
And 100% address all of your health issues, pet issues, car issues now while you have the resources. And the insurance. If the moldy orange and his puppeteers get their way, ACA goes byebye, and all of us with pre-existing conditions are up that creek.
I like the idea of credit unions more but we tried that twice and our account got hacked twice. It hasn't been hacked at banks. -_- I feel like credit unions are targeted because they're a threat to the larger banking system but that's just me because a paranoid lefty.
I had the opposite happen. I had problems with my debit card and my account hacked several times when I was at BB&T (now Truist). And when they started gobbling up regional banks, their fees went up and customer service went down. And hoops to jump through to keep your checking account "free" if your balance wasn't $1500 on average.
My credit union experiences have been mainly stress free.
My account was hacked twice at the same bank. Fortunately, it hasn't happened again in 10+ years.
I will have to check out a credit union, because I'm not confident banks will be easy to get our money from.
Credit unions are protected by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) like the banks are protected by FDIC. Both protect consumer deposits up to $250,000.
Credit unions often have better rates and low to no fees on similar products available at banks. Better interest rates and customer service too.
One of the best compliments you can give to an article is to say it was informative. The best compliment you can give is to say it was useful.
This was useful. Thank you.
If you have a freezer, stock up on chicken now. ConFelon will do nothing to stop the Avian flu. Today it's egg prices but soon it will be chicken. Vacuum packing will keep meat free from freezer burn for one year, minimum.
Yes, I have zero degree freezer. One of the best investments I've ever made.
Excellent and so practical for we non billionaires about 99%, thank you for sharing!
I purchase a book called The Lost Ways. It talks about a lot of things you can do to make resources go farther without electricity or gas. Good stuff in it and it's not expensive. Also get some skills. Sewing, crochet, knitting,canning, if you don't know how find someone that does and become a small community with people with different skills you trust.
All of this sound good unless one is living on social security. We are close to 80 and are frugal yet so worried. There’s no extra money to set aside. Thank you MAGA nuts for bringing fascism to our country.