By Raymond Mhor
So many people out there talk about the coming zombie apocalypse, EMP event, or even nuclear war. Yes, all of these are possible and something we might experience.
BUT… what is really looming on the horizon are layoffs.
See, it is cool to talk about how you are prepared to deal with all these “what if” situations sitting out there. But are you truly prepared when you get that pink slip?
The odds of being laid off from your job are far more probable than the walking dead ripping your nose off your face.
Signs of the coming layoff wave are already here.
We have seen that Elon Musk just laid off a huge number of Twitter employees.
Follow that up with Facebook, aka Meta.
In fact, Mark Zuckerberg just announced he was letting over 11,000 employees go. This is what he said…
Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history. I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1.
I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry for those impacted.
Uhhhh. Yeah, it is easy for him to say this. He has wads of cash in the bank, and who is going to fire him? He owns the company.
In fact, it is interesting to see a lot of tech companies are laying off. The Kobeissi Letter just posted this list of tech companies that are laying off as well as instituting hiring freezes.
- Twitter: 50%
- Cameo: 25%
- Robinhood: 23%
- Intel: 20%
- Snapchat: 20%
- Coinbase: 18%
- Opendoor: 18%
- Stripe: 14%
- Lyft: 13%
- Shopify: 10%
- Meta: “Thousands.”
- Apple: Hiring Freeze
- Amazon: Hiring Freeze
I will share with you later a website that posted probably 20 pages of companies that are going to be downsizing and laying off.
What’s the probable “apocalypse?”
I share all this because we like to talk about surviving when the SHTF or some Zombie Apocalypse.
But will these really affect you in the very near future?
Probably not.
But what will affect you and your family is if you or you and your spouse lose your jobs.
The great thing is if you are a prepper and you have prepared for some of these events you see in the movies and read about in books, then you probably are pretty set.
People in this position have created what I call “Food Insurance.”
See, with the high and continuing-to-rise food prices, one will have to think about how they are going to pay the bills, feed the family, and what will happen if little Johnny or little Jane gets sick. That unemployment check you ‘might’ get won’t go very far.
But, if you have stocked up food, medicine, and such, then you will not be dipping into the little bit of money you may possibly have come in. What many people do not realize is food is an investment, and when you have prepared, that food will be a God-send, and you will be glad you had the knowledge to stock up your pantry.
What happens if your pantry is pretty lean? Well, my best advice is to start stocking up now.
This is how you can take action now…
It is never too late to start building up your pantry. Our parents and grandparents did this in their day because they did not have the big box stores nor had restaurants on every corner where getting a meal was pretty easy like it is today.
Now, I am not telling you to start panic buying, but to start acquiring food you and your family eat and a steady pace now.
Good plans are…
The $5 Dollar Rule – every time you go to the store, buy $5 of food specifically for your pantry.
Buy Double Rule – if your family likes tuna, then instead of buying 2-3 cans, buy 4 – 6 cans and stock away the extra.
The 5 Can Rule – Like the $5 rule, buy five cans of food. I can’t take credit for this one; I learned this from Patara from ‘Appalachia’s Homestead with Patara’ when I interviewed her for my YouTube channel.
Buy In Bulk Rule – Instead of buying a lot of different food items, buy a case of pasta one time and then maybe a case of green beans, corn, or pasta sauce. Buying in bulk will help you save over the long run, and you don’t have to go out and repurchase that item for some time.
Finally, consider getting my book Survive The Coming Storm – The Poor Man’s Guide To Preserving Your Wealth in an Economic Collapse.
(Looking for more information about building up your food stores? Check out our free QUICKSTART Guide to building a 3-layer food storage system.)
Maybe what you can do is mix and match these plans and come up with something that is unique to you and your family.
The key is that you start acquiring food now. Don’t wait for tomorrow; start doing it now because the REALITY and odds of you getting the pink slip are growing better and better daily. As inflation grows, so will the job losses.
Understand you are nothing but a number to your employer.
Also, do not think you are too valuable to be replaced with someone better, faster or who will work for less pay. As much as I hate to say it, companies are no longer loyal to their employees. You are just a number to help them improve their bottom line and report positive earnings reports to their stockholders.
Don’t expect them to keep you on when hard times come to pass. If you do lose your job, be sure to take these steps to put yourself in the best possible position.
I mentioned a website that is tracking all this. It is called intellizence.com. They have assembled a massive list of companies that are going to start the layoff process. It might be wise of you to check this list and see if the company you work for is listed.
But not only that, if your company has anything to do with any of these companies listed, then take heed because it boils down to supply chain and interoperability.
If Company “A” makes bolts for you and you can not get them anywhere else, and they start laying off, guess what? You are not going to get your bolts.
So how does that affect the company you work for? It will slow down production and if that happens, guess what your company will do? Yes, start laying off all because they cannot get those bolts from Company “A.”
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You need to be prepared for the layoff wave. It’s already here.
I hope that this article has given you some ideas as well as food for thought. Please do not think that this can’t happen to you, it is becoming an economic epidemic, and many are going to lose their jobs. The best thing to do is know it is coming, and you can do something about it now.
Have you ever been laid off or lost a job? If so, do you have any advice to share with others who may find themselves in that position? Do you feel like your neck might be on the chopping block soon? What are your plans?
Let’s talk about it in the comments.
About Raymond:
Raymond Mhor is The Kilted Prepper. He is an author, blogger, and internet influencer who has been in the survival arena for over 20 years. Ray has eight books, multiple television appearances, and many radio and podcast interviews to his credit.
Ray’s motto is “Real Prepping for Real People – None of the Hollywood Stuff.”
He currently lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with his wife, Cynthia, his daughter, and their three dogs. The Mhor family enjoys living the homesteading and preparedness lifestyle. He can be found at Facebook, Truth Social, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube.
High Unemployment levels are common during Democrat run Administrations.
As is high Inflation, higher gas prices and higher prices overall.
Sometimes it carriers over into the Republican administrations, especially if we have a Democratic controlled Congress.
This is nothing unusual, although with the massive spending of the Government during the Covid Pandemic and the spending in Ukraine is not helping.
So we will be experiencing this stuff for awhile regardless of which party is in office as the damage to the economy has been done and will continue for some time.
A good part of prepping is in knowing the signs of the Times. So I hope no one is being caught unaware, that this was coming our way. If you have not done so already, now us the time to cut discretionary spending, put off large purchases, plan on keeping the vehicle a few more years or buy a cheaper used one for cash- no payments, etc.
Beware on going overboard on stocking up your pantry. Don’t buy more than what you will go through in 6 months or a year. That way it is easier to store, easier to rotate and track your stock and less chance of it getting spoiled.
LMFAO – I guess you don’t remember the 25% unemployment rate during the raygun administration. Gads, some people will fabricate anything.
Who changed the tax code to make it quite financially lucrative to ship jobs overseas – hint it wasn’t the dems.
Wall Street loves layoffs – the price of said stock(s) go/goes up. And bonus preservation is a driving force behind far too many business decisions. Banks are notorious for acting like they are going to lose money. It is getting closer to the day when I’ll ask “how much money is enough money”?
And you are absolutely correct Raymond. I got fired October of this year in a job that I had just gotten a raise and bonus 2 weeks prior. I worked in the stock market as a grunt transfer agent aka customer service person gal. They are expecting massive layoffs from a lot of companies. I got fired after 2 years of 80 hour weeks and shareholders screaming at me because the stock market was crashing, because of my background check. 3 background checks prior to me being hired on and then bam, because I had a felony 30 years ago that I disclosed at hiring….well needless to say I was just a cog in the wheel for them. They also laid off 300 people 3 months prior to firing me. I just want to let everyone know that as soon as you get laid off or fired, apply for unemployment. I got mine, and as much as I do not like taking government handouts, this is MY money that I put in. The 2nd thing I did was cut off all subscriptions to anything we did not need. It’s not wants right now, it’s needs. 3rd thing I did was prepay my utilities with my bonus money for 2 months until I can get more money coming in. I have also been buying double of everything for years and still do when I go to the grocery store monthly. I do not go weekly to grocery store. I also want to tell ya’ll that there is light at the end of the tunnel and we know how this turns out. God wins in the end, but there’s going to be a lot of casualties along the way.
God wins in the end. LOL. Meanwhile all these decades upon decades of evil having a field day and people being used and abused and slaughtered is no consolation for a random statement like “god wins in the end.” What does god win exactly? God won’t even protect people trying to take down this corrupt temple and expose the evil and help the innocent. I just can’t figure out whose side this god fella is on exactly because it sure doesn’t seem like he is on the side of people risking everything (of which there are not many) to expose the evil that has been exploiting people for generations. And this is not just the elite as this is an equal opportunity infection in our society that has been allowed to run rampant and unchecked with no recourse for the innocent, weak and helpless. We are all victims in one way or another.
How easy it is to accuse God for the mess we’ve made.
or to think he will magically fix it, or even care, or even exists in the first place !!
If we can’t accuse him of the mess we made then we certainly cant give him credit for the progress and successes either.
Yes you can, and must.
Read the prophets, it’s in there plain as day.
If you are new to studying God’s word read this portion like a novel, but make notes where God punished those not following His Law and prospered those who did.
Also, where He prospered the wicked to be used as His sword against His people when they sunk into idolatry.
Here is an example:
Habakkuk 1:6
“ For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not their’s. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.”
YOUR god sounds like a spoiled narcissistic child. I think I’ll follow something else. Remember, no matter HOW righteous you think you are, you and your like minded followers are at best, about 1/3 of the worlds population.
“you and your like minded followers are at best, about 1/3 of the worlds population”
is there any larger plurality?
I am so sorry you feel this way Lila. I’ll be praying for you. It’s easy to blame God and be angry, but honestly, if we lived in a Utopian Society where everything was great, and peaceful, and everyone got along, then we would not know true love of Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for our sins. See this is why I do not like to post on here. This victim mentality you speak of is very dangerous. It reeks of “Poor me, Poor Me, Poor Me”. Regardless if you believe in God or not, if you keep having the victim mentality then you will expect others to fix things for you. It all starts in our minds, this battle. Good Luck Lila. I’ll keep ya in my prayers.
Amazon is also laying off 10,000 employees.
They also presented some kind of robot sorter to replace people I think it was last week.
In 2020 Intel announced it was going to open a plant outside of Columbus OH. While it will employ people with high paying jobs, the question I have is how many will be done by automation? Granted some aspects can only be done by automation.
Flip side, IIRC the Amazon delivery robot got canceled.
So, that could be good news for delivery drivers.
Regardless, industries that can, are going to explore and when viable replace people workers.
Others argue automation will lead to new career opportunities.
However, I recall Bill Gates talking about the exciting Internet of Things (IoT), where your refrigerator will detect when you are low on, say, milk. Add milk to your grocery store list. When you are ready, you push your grocery list to the grocery warehouse of your choice. Through your GPS locator, the warehouse estimates when you will arrive. A robot goes through the warehouse and collects the items from your list. Another robot bags them. And another one delivers it to your vehicle.
He also talked about how sensors will be able to tell when a part of a robot will know it is broken and another robot comes along and fixes/replaces the defective part.
Read a Popular Science article a year or two ago about designing vehicles to be accessed by what was basically one big robot that can service the entire vehicle. Instead of 5 people/mechanics working in 5 bays, you have one guy who monitors 5 robots.
For some, the future is so bright, the gotta wear shades.
For others, the future looks like a single candle in the wilderness.
The technological future requires fewer people to run it. That is just the reality. People can say that there is enough food and land and natural resources for billions and trillions of people but there are not enough jobs to sustain all these people. That is just a fact.
There WILL need to be people programming these things, and fixing them when they break, just not as many.
Robots will be replacing people very rapidly here and people brought most of it on their selves.
Robots don’t come in late, call in sick, get rude with your customers, demand pay raises or that you use clink and clank as their preferred pronouns. Robots don’t have HR on speed dial waiting to cry about every little thing they can. Robots don’t have to be told 20 times to put the GD phone down and get back to work or re affirmed every 5 minutes how special they are.
TBH I can’t wait for them to take over. Maybe we’ll get some decent customer service again.
Ahhh, the technological pipe dreams. For most, they will remain pipe dreams. AI is just a bunch of questions that lead to other questions. The self-driving car is still a ways off because the sheer number of options that we drivers can solve almost instantaneously are beyond the capabilities even of supercomputers. The miracle of human vision and the wetware behind it boggles the best programmers, let alone the machines they design.
Then there’s the problem of maintaining the infrastructure. Already we have troubles maintaining what we have with the population that we have, can you imagine the way things will fall apart without the people to work? The super rich think they can use technology to replace the majority of the population of the world? One the technology isn’t there yet, and two it will never come without the people behind it. So we’ll have nothing and eating bugs and be happy? There’s something else we won’t be doing is innovating and producing. Those shiny private jets will be collecting dust while the runways sprout grasses and weeds. From where will come the fuel to fly them?
Popular Science and mags like them write about the technological future as click-bait. How much of that will actually happen?
They will fix this with ‘Bot Only’ lanes. instead of expecting the robot to be able to calculate the best outcome to 20 trillion events, put it on a lane on a road, or run a high wire, and it goes like a train, with stops between end A and end B. That final block you take a rickshaw or walk.
What to do about layoffs? I forgot to mention that in my last message. For me personally, that is a moot question as I am officially “retired” living off of Social Security. I’ve cut my expenses so far that I now have some cash, not counting some stored food. But I don’t think that I can count on Social Security much longer, so I have skills in black smithing, machining with metal and wood lathes and milling machines, though I don’t have the strength to keep up with a professional worker, I have done everything in house construction starting with laying a foundation, plumbing including sweating pipes and electrical, to putting on the shingles on the roof. I can sew too. These are all skills that are not much valued now, but will become much more valuable when manufacturing and supply chains break down. Production is my plan for long-term survival.
Unfortunately, most of those being laid off now have almost none of those skills. Many of them will end up in homeless camps. Thanks to “progressive” politics, many places have banned low-cost housing options. Even though I have had very tight finances, I have managed to avoid debt and all the headaches connected with debt. So I highly recommend avoiding debt if at all possible.
To add,
I watched a few Twitter employees post videos about their day at ‘work.’
Looked like they ‘worked’ for about two hours. The rest of the time was spent doing nothing.
I could see why Musk cut 50% of his workforce.
With the up coming layoffs, hiring freezes, where will they go?
Also read that many of those newly laid off employees, are taking lower pay just to have a job.
But dont automatically feel sorry for them. Most make 6 figures.
In IT it can be feast or famine – things run well, not much to do. When not, the big boys act like, well, a selective part of their anatomy is at risk.
Trust me – those with programming and/or project management won’t have a difficult time finding a job. Truth be told, a percentage aren’t US citizens – tis a tech world “thing”.
Be honest.
most of them are Indian. If they have the skills they have the job. If Americans are butt hurt over this …well, learn to code.
Half of them would crumble to a quivering ball of useless protoplasm if they ever had to work one single days work in a REAL job with real responsibilities. I do not feel sorry for them one bit. They really do need to feel a bit of pain to understand what being an adult really is like. Just my salty opinion.
So I’m going to be transparent cuz that’s all I know how to be. Don’t hate comment me here please because I need some clarity. My husband & I have been questioning pulling out funds to payoff our house to reduce expenses & to get out of debt.
My feeling is when the market crashes hard, we will ‘lose’ less since less will be in there when it does. Our financial advisor strongly disagrees (he is a long time Christian friend as well so we do trust him). We will take a hard hit on the penalty but will most likely feel less angry if we have gained a mortgage free life & reducing costs in the process (relatively speaking) while we are going through Armageddon 🙂 in 2023. Ideas??
By the way, you all have inspired us to get a wood stove! So thank you! 😉
I did that just a few months ago. A few caveats: I was 59-1/2 so there would be no taxes or penalties for the money I withdrew from my Roth. I would take a hard look at the spot you’re thinking to pull money from and investigate these things. If the penalties are more than the interest you’re saving, think carefully before doing. Your financial advisor may well be right.
I don’t know about Roth, but a regular IRA account means you pay taxes upon distribution of the funds. But you’re correct about the 59 1/2 rule on penalty payment. So, if you’re past the penalty age and you pay 20% income tax on that distribution, and buy food or supplies now in a period of 20% inflation, IMO you’ll break even by next year.
We are 56 1/2 so dang. I think we are above 20% tax rate. Mortgage is only $69k so close to the finish line. We are prudent & can afford our modest house in the country so we won’t move.
My husband and I did that exact same thing and have not regretted it. When 911 hit, we lost most of our investments and took what was left to pay off debts out despite advice to ride it out. So glad we did. We are debt free and it is easier to do without on some things when it gets tight than to have the worry of not being able to pay bills, cars being repossessed, loosing the house, etc. The value of the dollar is decreasing so terribly adding to our feeling that this was the right thing to do. God’s Word also advises us to live debt free but pray about it and let Him direct your path.
God bless!
Yes indeed, we have followed some Dave Ramsey tools before. We wouldn’t cash out but just looking to make a small dent, pay some penalties on $35k in Dec & $35k split in Jan (I also run a small biz so that affects taxes slightly). We are more comfortable being debt free. I’m getting angry about making others rich from the investments that we’ve worked hard to make while we white knuckle our lives.
Pray about it. The Lord is not a God of confusion and He will lead you on His path.
Agree…if only we both were on the same page here.
Do it, and depending on your age, you may be able to use the rule of 55 to get around the penalty.
When money gets devalued, your 100 dollar bill may only be worth 10 dollars now, but your mortgage is not going to go from 100 to 10 a month. When you OWN your house, it can’t be repossessed, and so far, technically they are not allowed to seize it just for back taxes, but be ready to KOS armed IRS agents anyways.
Another way to look at it is, the BIGGEST debt pretty much everyone ever has is their mortgage payment. If you are paying 1500 a month every month, plus everything else, that puts a huge strain on things. Now, if that got paid off, you could easily live on 1/3 the money you are bringing in now. Don’t expect it to go away, it wont, you still have property taxes and insurance to pay, which are all wrapped up in your mortgage, so count on it dropping 65 to 80 percent or so, but you will in essence still have SOME monthly payment to make.
Financial advisors have this uncanny ability to look at numbers but lack ANY common sense at times. IF you think the mess might hold out a few more years before totally collapsing,then take your money over the course of 2 or 3 years so you don’t get raped as bad in taxes if that works, but Id get it out. Keep some aside,but gold / silver never go bad, paper money does. Real estate is always tangible too.
id be VERY careful about renting to others to make ends meet, because when the govt tells you, you can’t evict anymore and the dirt bag decides they no longer can afford their rent anymore, you’ll end up burying them and that can get messy. amazing how they can’t afford rent, electric, food, yet ALWAYS seem to have enough money to get their weed.
The first year hurts when you do get banged with any penalties but after a few years you will be SO glad you did that.
Thank you! Our mortgage is only $1200/month for a country home, quite affordable & we love it. It’s very practical living.
No, we don’t share well so renting is out of question. Thanks again!
I just pulled mine after I got fired, and I got penalized 25% plus I’ll owe on my taxes (if I even file, debating) because I am only 52. I was losing thousands of dollars any way and to watch it drop daily made my stomach sick. I am not saying you should do this, and I would say to pray about it, and as the other good folks on here have posted think very carefully about this. The value of the dollar is decreasing at such a rapid pace, as well as the fact that bidens handlers got him to sign that digital currency thing: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/16/fact-sheet-white-house-releases-first-ever-comprehensive-framework-for-responsible-development-of-digital-assets/
Soooo with that being said, along with the FTX money laundering fiasco and crash last week, I would say for me, personally, I had nothing left to lose in regards to pulling everything.
Good Luck
I’m jealous……I want a wood stove!!
We have made a practice of going to grocery stores that offer weekly BOGO’s and take advantage of those. We buy one to use and one to store. Also, when money gets tight, we go to get the BOGO’s but buy only one at half price, which some stores offer.
This is real-life SHTF, not as melodramatic and unfolds in slow motion so it doesn’t get the same attention as more unprovable SHTFs but it’s real and will get so many.
Even those thinking they won’t get laid off, should get ready for the consequences of mass unemployment: rampant crime, alcoholism, drug abuse and mental illness.
Also unrest, strikes, shortages, blackouts, poor service and bad products, credit crunch, and emotional distress as many around you suffer with all these things and more.
As business fail and close down, neighborhoods will decay, public transportation will decay, everything gets worse not just people.
Those who own their own business will see a drop in sales/business, and will have to deal with people they let off themselves, too. It’s hard to be in that position, too.
Fabian,
With the seemingly convergence of so many different events happening at various levels, I think you are correct.
Only in hindsight will historians be able to say not only when it started, but how fast.
I fear is something like this: One day we goto the grocery store, and it is not just a few empty shelves or only one stocked deep. It is a massive empty shelves where people start to panic buy. Not only panic buy, but also gets Black Friday stupid but instead of fighting over dish towels, it is over food.
Then we start seeing flash mobs emptying grocery stores, or people whom bought groceries getting robbed in the parking lot.
The collapse happens slowly, then suddenly.
You make a good point 1StMarine. It all depends on how deep the collapse goes. Sometimes it doesn´t happen, it´s just things decaying and decaying.
If anyone is interested in a book that describes this in some form closer to reality, I´d suggest ´The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047´ by American author Lionel Shriver.
Look how retarded people got over toilet paper during the coofie plandemic. WHY do you need cases of TP. If there is nothing to eat, you will have nothing to wipe you fools !! On that even, ok, so you can’t splash a little water on your asshole and call it a day? of all the things to hoard you pick THAT??
Wait until something genuinely serious happens, it’s all bets off then.
Pay CLOSE attention, the stores are about empty right now. Yes shelves may seem full but they are full of the one item stretched out to make it not look so bad. Example, the veggie aisle, carrots, chopped carrots, baby carrots, crinkle cut carrots, steamed carrots, canned carrots, frozencarrots… you get the idea. ok nice, where are the beans, the peas, the radishes, the squash, the corn, the caluliflower etc etc. All I see are 30 different cuts of carrots. They are trying to mask it already.
By the time the flash mobs actually start stealing out of need, rather than, oh i can get away with stealing, it will be way too late to find anything good left anymore. Hopefully you will be well stocked and armed by then.
We are definitely in a slow boiling SHTF that’s for sure. That winter storm a couple years ago here in Texas that was pre china virus plandemic is a prime example. Nothing on the shelves at our little towns grocery store, dollar general, gas stations, etc. We were prepped but my husband ran out of beer the 3rd day. LOL So we got to see firsthand what it would look like. People fighting over the last 6 pack of water on shelf that cost $10. It’ll definitely get worse that’s for sure.
100% agree.
Right – I’m not going to be laid off, I work for that ‘thrift store chain with colored price tags that reduce two colors to half price every week’ that Collette has mentioned in her articles.
We’re getting tons of donations from folks downsizing their living space and moving to smaller places. Many of them older folks, now going to live with their kids or nieces/nephews.
But my wages are low, and I don’t expect that any of us will get raises at all, much the less to keep up with inflation. And when I started, I was the only person over 55 working there. Now there are 5 of us – one is over 80.
Meanwhile, the assistant manager and the shift supervisor are 21.
Not that they make much more than we peons do.
Even the manager lives with her family. She’s in her late 30’s.
We’re rural enough that this isn’t a big area for crime other than kids opening gates and letting cattle out. But West Virginia has a huge drug/alcohol problem already.
And don’t let me get started on our schools.
I switched jobs from being a housekeeper to working online just before the covid shutdowns started. The online job disappeared before I finished unpaid training as a result of the lockdowns.
My only advice is don’t buy anything unnecessary in the next year if there is any chance of a lay off. Be as frugal as possible. Save anything you can.
I’m working for myself now but things are unbelievably tight. This holiday season, grandkids are getting personalized cookies instead of toys and presents are pretty much not happening. I feel for those who are payed off during this difficult economic time. But pride is not your friend, if it really matters take any job you can and wait it out. Providing something for your family is better than nothing.
Sorry, typo, I meant those who are laid off not payed off
You know it’s funny. Many years ago when I was applying for my mortgage for my house, they were scrutinizing my app and the loan bit.. err officer asked, “well you say you are an electrician” but here you said you did ‘this’ for a year, what happened there? I replied back, well gee when you get laid off, you still have bills to pay now don’t you? You take whatever job you can find to pay your bills and keep a roof over your head until you get back into your proper field. She looked at me with those bug eyes of hers like I just threw up a frog onto her desk. Like this was such a foreign concept or something. I then added rather loudly that, one would think a bank would APPRECIATE someone who’d go to extremes to keep paying them their money back. Later did I learn that, that is not the case, they WANT you to fail, that way you put years of equity into it and they can steal that right out from under you if they can.
Im not a proud person but I AM proud to tell you how I dumpster dived to make ends meet during the rough times ! Kids and gifts, don’t get me started. It’s the thought that counts, if you don’t like it then F you, you get nothing next year, and forever more.
But you are correct, when it does get bad, an employer hopefully will appreciate someone who is willing to do a bit extra to make the business’ ends meet as well as keeping their job… You do what you have to do to provide for your family, even if you feel it is ‘beneath’ you.
Thanks for sharing your own experience Ron. I am now doing 2 contract remote jobs, and a bit of housecleaning for a couple people. I 100% agree with you. Getting ready to go get a job as cashier at the “red store ” as we call HEB down here in Texas. These mortgage companies want you to fail. I still have a lil more than halfway to go on my mortgage but I did buy the lot next door to me with cash money when money and bonuses were flowing, so that I would not have neighbors.
My mortgage company tried to get me to refinance on a variable interest rate year before last when the plandemic started, and I said not no but HELL no. Because I knew that my 5.5% fixed would be where I needed to stay at, and now look. Housing market is getting ready to pop and those interest rates keep climbing. I have been truly blessed.
My mom did that one year with our 4 kids. I’m sure I’d been complaining about how they were being ungrateful at some point that year (what kid doesn’t act like that?!). So for Christmas my Mom an otherwise VERY generous grandmother gave to different charities in the name of each of my kids. They never complained again but it was a huge lesson that a heifer given to a family across the world is considered a gift & their spoiled bratty comments about how much Grandma would be ‘giving’ that year was disgusting. Lesson learned & many other people were blessed in the process.
In fact, my freelance book indexing business has taken a hit. I’m still doing fine, but I’ve noticed that the number of books sent my way are fewer than in previous years. I’ve read the writing on the wall and worked to develop side hustles. I write for Daisy. I taught on Outschool until it became unprofitable (for me.) I sell things on eBay occasionally. There are lots of ways to make a few extra bucks! Investigate your options BEFORE money becomes a serious problem. And yes, prep in the interim. No pile lasts forever but it’ll certainly help!
Side hustle: I’m heading out in a minute to help a neighbor move his farm/livestock/art studio complex. I’ll get gas money, but am making a deposit into the favor bank with folks that have 50+ head of angus cattle, so have access to beef in the coming season even if the S really does HTF.
That’s one thing that so many of these kids have forgotten. They are soo eager to ‘get over’ on each other to get ahead, they forget what a commodity, a ‘favor’ is. That person you helped last year that you didn’t have to, and didn’t charge them stupid money to help, well fast forward 2 years and karma comes back around and they help you. Everything doesn’t have to be. ‘ What’s in it for me?’ every single time. Few understand that anymore and that’s really a sad fortelling of the direction society is heading.
Deeper multi-decade observation and research suggests that events are more inline with Fabian’s thinking. In other words, the Economic Downturn is part & parcel of an Orchestrated Economic Collapse (True SHTF scenario) that has been in the final planning stages for about a hundred years, and in the “execution” phase now. More importantly, it is a deliberate Economic DESTRUCTION plan that is simply piggybacking on a convergence of weather and geophysical cycles that come around like clockwork, but on a multi-hundred year cycle. Study history, and you’ll know EXACTLY what is coming – and EXACTLY what to prepare for! Hint: Layoffs and financial stress are going to be among the least of your problems.
– Just the weather cycle alone triggers a 40% collapse in the food supply, which corresponds to a 40% collapse in global plant and animal life (including humans!) in less than a decade. In the Orchestrated scenario, additional chaos and stress will result in human population reduction numbers easily doubling to 80%. Go on a deeper dive and read various “planning documents” such as the Deagel Forecast, Georgia Guidestones, The Secret Covenant, Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, the Rockefeller COVID plans, the WEF Agenda for 2030 (eating bugs and owning nothing…), and you can see how precisely these plans are being followed. Equally as important, how accurately these plans are tracking a specific Timeline. Sigh… and skip the labels about “conspiracy” please! At some point your cognitive skills should kick in, as you realize how accurately such planning documents have forecast the events manifesting now.
For those of you that really want to KNOW what is coming our way and how to prepare: Go to the other end of the spectrum and review the Prophecies in the Scripture, which tell you the same thing as the “Planning” documents. But read them for yourself, and don’t depend on some church or religion or government to tell you what’s in the Book, as they also tend to be deliberately misleading. Again you’ll find a detailed sequence of events to include a specific Timeline, and it turns out to be (by far) the most accurate source of information. Since Sept 17th, 2001 (the week after 911) Prophetic Events have been manifesting to the Year, Month, Week, Day, Hour, Minute, and Second! Not to mention precisely following the Moon Cycles, Festival Dates, and Prophetic Cycles that were originally written about 2500 years ago (Leviticus, 500 BC) that define the most accurate calendar system that has been in use since then.
If you want to be completely prepared for EVERYTHING coming our way during the remainder of the decade, then you’ll want to be Fully Informed. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself reacting to news events as they develop, and you’ll be somewhere between way behind and too late. And probably wake up one day to realize you have prepared for the wrong scenario! Kind of like reacting to layoffs and economic downturn, because it has shown up in the news over the past few months. Or reacting to an increase in food prices, when we KNOW a Famine is being orchestrated – and in fact they’ve already destroyed the bulk of the 2023 food production, supply chains, fertilizer (etc), and are in the process of boosting the cost of distributing food.
Review the “Planning” documents as well as the Prophetic descriptions in the Scriptures, and compare to these events manifesting now:
– Open Borders (Democrat and GOP Admins since 1985)
– WEF Plans for COVID and Pandemics from 2020-2030
– Mandatory Vaccines and Health Passport
– Lockdowns, social distancing, travel restrictions
– Famine and Food/Energy Hyperinflation (Wx)
– Supply chain and crop destruction (man made)
– Central Bank Digital Currency (electronic)
– Massive Election Integrity Problems
– War, to include nuclear weapons
– Martial Law and social order collapse
– Civil War and Rebellion
– Weather Wars & boosted geophysical events
– Banking crisis, dollar collapse, economic destruction
– Real Estate collapse and stock/bond/etc market crash
– Earth Changes, Chaotic Weather, drought (etc)
– Space weather events (EMP, Flares, Radiation, etc)
– GMO Food, Nano Particles, toxic pollution
– 5G cell phones, IoT monitoring & control
– Mosquito vaccines, mRNA technology
– Health Care collapse
– Rampant Crime and Law & Order collapse
– Promotion & enforcement of Transgender/LGBTQ
– Green energy and climate change enforcement
– Censorship and Cancel Culture, Propaganda
– “Extremist” label for disagreeing with Propaganda
You’ll feel awful foolish if your pantry is full, but you don’t have any way to purify water or breath clean air from radioactive fallout, volcanic ash, and toxic pollution. Or if you build a robust inventory of food & supplies, and at the first sign of trouble somebody (or the Gov) comes along and takes it from you. And so on. Your best and perhaps only way to survive and thrive for the remainder of the decade is to be FULLY INFORMED so that you can prepare for EVERYTHING that will manifest in a very well known historical cycle. Then Align yourself with like minded people in a small clan or network of about 60-100 people. And Prepare for everything in the cycle with the expertise and resources in your group. Odds are nobody will make it through these events by going solo. On the other hand, every single previous catastrophic cycle (4 in the Scriptures, one in 1054 AD), the best and only formula for success is Neighbor Helping Neighbor. Not solo, and definitely not depending on the Government! LoL, they are the ones trying to destroy you.
Not sure I want to try that hard tbh when I know where I’m going.
I was following Dave Ramsey’s advice before I ever heard of him, listened to him,and read some his books.
Against the advice of my accountant and wife (daughter of an accountant) I was able to pay off our mortgage in 1998 before the Y2K panic came in. As of that time and up through today, we have NO debt.
I was self employed for about 18 years, so our rainy day fund would cover a year’s expenses (including property and income tax). In the 18 years, at the whims of DoD contracting I had 2 years (luckily not consecutive) with no income. I had another BIG DoD client that didn’t pay my invoices for almost 9 months. Then the flood gates opened.
I learned a lot of lessons, in person, on how to prepare for these kind of things.
Three to six months is the usual advice you get for a “rainy day fund”.
Hit your local library for Dave Ramsey “Total Money Makeover”. Some good advice, especially for these troubling times.
LOVED the books. Super helpful & still useful whether or not you’re in a dire situation.
Dear Raymond,
As a survivor of the Venezuelan Collapse, I´d rather be fighting a zombie horde everyday than stretching my finances as much as I can.
You´re totally on the spot. Those stoopid zombie movies where nobody bothers in commandeering riot suits for everyone are nothing but nonsense with very little exceptions.
My husband was the main breadwinner of the family: with careful management we were doing fine. As a musician, Covid ended my sporadic income, and then the vax mandate was imposed and my husband lost his job of 13 years. Not quite retirement age, we had to re-budget and live off our savings. Fortunately we were still able to pay the mortgage and continue prepping, as we have done for 3 years.
Then my husband became ill and was diagnosed with cancer. Unable to drive the car, we have been living off our prep stores and a few items from the garden. Unfortunately it’s been a bad year in the garden. Our son walks to town (5km) and buys some groceries, and our kind neighbours sometimes collect groceries for us, but it’s been hard. There will be several more months of this before my husband is finished all the treatment and surgery.
From a prepper’s point of view, the personal SHTF came early for us. It has allowed us to survive this crisis but now there is less put away for the next, which I believe is coming fast. When we can shop again, everything will be twice the price or unavailable.
What I have put into practice is the growing of sprouts. Unable to obtain fresh vegetables, sprouts have provided the fresh component of our diets, providing valuable antioxidants and vitamins. I would recommend every prepper learn how to grow sprouts now and stock up on appropriate seeds and legumes. They are quite inexpensive and keep well in recycled glass jars.
All of those little tricks our great grand parents knew on how to survive. Making your own soap, dandelion salad, potato’s in the root cellar, are all going to become critical skills once again as the food supplies go away.
You may not be attacked by zombies but when the homeless population goes up 10x because people losing everything, they are NOT going to just disappear. THey WILL forage to survive, and crime will go up 10x as well.
Ive been getting a lot of bulk canned stuff and just washing some of the salt out of it and then immediately freeze drying it, box it and put it up somewhere to store it. Weighs a lot less and lasts a lot longer than simple canning will.
Also WARNING to all of you getting ‘carbs’ ie the grains and beans to stock upon, most of them are loaded with bugs now. If you put a dried bag of beans with your supplies, the little bastards will be into EVERYTHING you own. Either nitrogen fix them or deep freeze them for a week or so to kill off any living / and eggs in there so they don’t hatch out and ruin your stash.
Don’t forget ammo
Yes, stock up on everything.
Do not forget motor oil and filters.
Shingles and fiber roof patch, water pipe repair, now, add to the list.
Throw little or nothing away.
Find another use for it.
Learn to repair things.
Learn a new career skill now when you do not need it.
I had an 18 month heads up on my factory closing and got a new skill.
That put me in the position to turn down offers to do similar work with a new company, where the same thing may very well happen again,
so today I’m driving a truck.
Save containers of all sorts.
You do not need fancy containers for food storage.
Almost any air tight container will do.
Hand warmers will work just fine for removing oxygen.
Hit with high heating bills? Sit or sleep with a heating pad.
Rig beds up with a canopy and curtains.
Hang blankets and sheets over windows.
Use a small heater to just heat the room you are in.
I have done all this and it works.
Extended your food budget by cracking and boiling the bones.
If you throw them out you are wasting a lot of nutrition. Drink all liquids left after the vegetables and meat are eaten or use it for soup stock.
Lick the plate and scrape the pots clean.
Get a copy of The American Frugal House Wife.
It may not be “retro” much longer.
Nuff for today.
If the liquids are in a can of veggies and or meat, Id recommend NOT to drink it. it’s probably loaded with salts and preservatives and you’d be better off without it. Bone broth, if you think it’s too nasty tasting, use it as a soup base then. Dehydrate it down for longer term storage, then just add water.
Don’t forget the fish, many people throw out the head, but if you boil it down, there is a TON of meat in it you will boil out. Like your seafood chowder? Know what makes it so nice and thick and ooey and gooey delicious? Boil down the Eyes, the fluids in them do that. ie throw the ENTIRE HEAD in, boil it down remove the meat. Throw the bones on your plants, the’ll love the phosphates they will provide.