SHTF Saturday Now that the whole Black Friday weekend is winding down, I am reminded again of several reasons why I have NEVER participated in it, the key reason being that I do not actually NEED a single thing offered. But it got me to thinking….. WHY is that?! Surely there must be something being sold this weekend I might find useful enough to brave the crowds to find a super deal on it. But alas, there’s a reason there is not: If people actually NEEDED it, it wouldn’t be on sale and retailers wouldn’t have to entice people to THINK they need it when they don’t. So I think we need another holiday called “SHTF Saturday” for us preppers and homesteaders. For instance, potatoes…. I could really use about 50 pounds of potatoes right now. And I could find a place to store them this time of year at just about the right temp where they wouldn’t freeze or rot and I’d have all winter to use them. In fact, 100 pounds might not be too many – eat all we can and plant the rest in the spring. I’d stand in line for 100 pounds of those burlap bags of seed potatoes with the dirt still on them for 25 cents a pound. Or cabbages. I’ve never figured out the secret to growing cabbages here in the south so they are ready in time for the holidays to make kraut. Yep, I’d gladly pay even GOOD money for 50# of good, sweet, large cabbages right now. And if you want to entice me to a place like Wal-barf, bring in a truck of flour in bulk at sale prices, and not just the bleached crap I can find at Sam’s Club. Let’s have some whole wheat flour that was not made more expensive than white flour by polishing off the hull, then adding it back to the white flour in specific amounts – just grind the darned stuff whole and sell it that way. And bring some rye and barley flour too – that stuff is hard to find out here in the sticks! How about steel-cut oats? I notice a few stores are offering those now, but I buy them by the 50# bag. Bring some of those along as well! How about bacon?! Offer bacon for even $2 a pound and see if you don’t sell out in an hour! People will fight over that. Propane? Offer a deal where people can buy an extra 250 gallon tank for a reasonable price and fill it for $1 a gallon. I’d love to have another propane tank! And how about fuel in general – did anyone see a gas station having a Black Friday sale? Gas for $1/gallon. That’s something people would wait in line for! How about livestock feed and hay? Half off if you buy it buy the ton or truckload at a time. We can set up a reusable hoophouse to store it in until we get around to using it, no problem. Oh! Fencing supplies – cattle and hog panels and T-posts and woven wire – sell those for 50% off and I’ll put up a tent in the parking lot. But you’ll never find those kinds of things for sale on a day where vapid consumerism is the order of the day because those things already have a basic value based on production price and people NEED them enough to pay full price if necessary. Hence a good system for figuring out if it’s something you NEED or merely WANT. If it’s on sale for a price to entice you into the store, you don’t need it, you want it. If you are being lured to a Black Friday sale for a big-screen TV and the latest schmart phone, you are purchasing an illusion. The parts on those things are practically disposable – it’s the service plan you’ll be paying for the next 2 years. Same with clothing and accessories – you have not become a classier person because you wear designer labels – you are purchasing an illusion. And when The-Stuff-Hits-The-Fan, you’ll be wishing you’d bought the potatoes….
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 00:54:58 +0000
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