Year in review

The low hanging fruit of the blogging world is the reviewing the previous year and speculating on the upcoming year. Not being proud, here we go….

2020. Holy Drokk, where to start? From a survivalist standpoint is was a fairly validating year. I didn’t wind up needing to use any of the stored food or supplies. Even toilet paper needs were met handily just by the ‘on hand’ supply that exists outside of the stored stuff. But, the situation did give me the impetus to double-down on a lot of stuff. Most notably, the Preponomicon was thoroughly examined, revised, reviewed, and adhered to. While I was doing quite well on most things, I took this time to really polish off a few glaring weak spots and beef up what I already had.

Gunwise, it was a freakin’ Mardi Gras. If I told you what I spent on guns and magazines this year you would be aghast. But…I did what I believed was necessary for the continued safety and security of my future self. So..I regret nothing.

Financially, there was a little bit of a hiccup in March when things really hit the fan in terms of the Wuhan Flu becoming A Big Deal. I had to dip into cash reserves a tiny bit but then the income stream resumed it’s normal flow and I made up for it. In fact, 2020, despite my outrageous purchases, turned out to be a good year in terms of making progress on finances.

There were, of course, some down moments. Most notably the election. Because I had my doubts about a Trump re-election, I decided early in the year to get a start on going heavy on Uncertain Goods. Unfortunately, I was not the only one and between political maneuvering, race riots, a pandemic, and gasping economy, there were plenty of moments where things I wanted were either unavailable or grossly overpriced. However, I managed to get it all done with a bit of time to spare. Yay me.

All in all, 2020 was actually…and I hate to say this because it makes me sound like a colossal jerk…a really good year for me. I got a lot done, hit a bunch of goals, had virtually no hit to my income or finances, and pretty much skated through a year that left a lot of people crashed and burning by the side of the road. And…it wasn’t luck. By living below my means, getting the house paid off, not carrying debt, having multiple income streams, and keeping a cautious eye open for opportunities, 2020 wound up being, on paper, a good year for me.

What’s my prediction for 2021?  The likeliest thing I see happening is economic uncertainty. Keep in mind, I say “uncertainty” but that doesn’t indicate good or bad. There could be an economic revival of sorts as the ‘dead wood’ is swept aside as businesses that were long past tenable finally disappear, leaving behind smaller, more agile, better run businesses to take up the slack. The void left by businesses closing is an opportunity for new businesses. The forced acceleration of the inevitable switch to more ‘telecommuting’ or ‘remote’ jobs may open avenues for people who have wanted to work for East/West coast companies but never wanted to leave Kansas. So, there is a perspective that says 2021 might be a good year.

But, then theres the other side of the argument….businesses close or reduce their workforce, long-term leases for business space dry up creating commercial real estate ghost towns, unemployment increases, .gov starts printing money for benefits, state and local .gov get carried away with their newfound powers in the name of ‘the public health’, the Trump tax changes get repealed, we all lumber through a prolonged recession….that sort of thing. Telecommuting means a broader pool of competitors for a job opening, possibly even outsourcing. A larger pool of candidates means employers can offer less compensation and be reasonably sure someone, somewhere, will take it. Could go either way. So….yeah, changes ahead….and those changes could swing in either direction.

And that doesn’t even touch on whether or not the new administration (or whoever is pulling their strings) finally gets around to the old chestnut of ‘reasonable gun control’ that has become a rallying cry for the left.

Personally, I think 2021 will be a year that is full of the consequences of 2020. I think the economic impact of the everything that happened in 2020 will ‘come home to roost’ in 2021. My personal plans for 2021 include reducing expenditures and maximizing income as much as possible, spreading my assets out into various forms…cash, savings, metals, etc., working on some sideline gigs that will generate some cash fairly consistently so there’s always something coming in, and overall just working on increasing my resilience against whatever is coming.

17 thoughts on “Year in review

  1. Without giving away anything too personal, any suggestions for side gigs for income that may be aligned with prepping from a skill set/capability perspective? Personally, I’ve gotten a used compact tractor that has a backhoe for side jobs and landscaping…and it helps with shoot, shovel, shut up…

    • I would imagine that anything is ‘aligned with prepping’ if the revenue from it is used for prepping purposes. But, if youre talking about side gigs that have a direct benefit..I’d say any type of construction, equipment operation, resale of a product that has prepping application (storage food, guns, metals, etc), ‘horse trading’ on vehicles, etc, etc.

  2. yep, i have a feeling 2021 is going to worse…as biden, aka sniffy, says, the darkest days are in front of us…the government is going to make things harder on us…

  3. Hah! The low hanging fruit is “Top Ten Lists”….

    As a practice run for the zombie apocalypse, it went pretty well for me too. Caused me to spend some money on things that were further down the list, but that’s ok, they were on the list.

    I’ve got 3 females in my household and even so we didn’t get out of normal ‘on hand’ TP until last week, and I just bought some at Costco with my groceries. The long term stores have been built up even more.

    I might have accelerated the purchase of some redundant defensive items, not to anything like the CZ level, but while they cost more than I would have paid last year, I think they’ll look cheap compared to next year.

    I think a LOT of items will look cheap this year in retrospect.

    More freezers, and way more food in them than this time in ’19. More buckets of bulk too, even though we never cracked one open. We did get the kids to eat both soup and potatoes, so that was a win.

    Garden was a failure, but I did actually get a few pieces of veg. So I upped the number of cans on the shelf in compensation. And I’ll try yet again in the spring.

    My wife has made a number of mental accommodations and is MUCH more supportive of my prepping now. She still wants to throw out perfectly good food just because of a date on a package, but I’m working on that.

    We bought 12 Christmas dinners, sans meat, for a local food bank, and it was less than $180. We’d have bought the meat too if we could have gotten the coordination to work out. I think I’ll do the same again after the holidays. The need will still be there but the spirit of giving might not be. Work on your local engagement.

    The wuflu and restrictions got me to finally order and use a can management system. If you are USING cans instead of just stacking them, a FIFO can system is a big help.

    I’m trying to get rid of a lot of stuff that has piled up here over the last 10 years. I can use both the money and the space.

    As for next year, everything in motion now will still be in motion next year. It’s going to look a lot worse than 2020 because of the loss of faith in .gov and science, and .gov and elections, and .gov and protection. .gov and education took a beating too, once parents realized how little of their kid’s day involved learning, and how much involves the appearance of learning or just time filling.

    I expect employment to get worse. I expect we will have angry mobs with little left to lose. NO idea what will come of that, but it won’t be pretty in the short run.

    and now, the Top 10 Things to have for 2021
    1 TP
    2 Food
    3 Guns and ammo
    4 Alcohol – medicinal and disinfecting, at the same time is fine
    5 Physical media-books, dvds, cds
    6 Set of Encyclopedia
    7 Birth control
    8 Garden stuff- seeds, fertilizer, bugspray, canning jars and lids
    9 Armor
    10 black hoodie and jeans

    So there you have it, a mix of practical and somewhat tongue in cheek.

    nick

    • Don’t give up on the gardening, Nick. Every year will get better if you keep at it and read up on how to do it. Took me several years back in my younger days to learn how. But all the work has paid off and we enjoy our efforts.

      Remember — have at least one thing on your plate you grew yourself. Veggie or meat (eggs)

  4. I’m as ready for 2021 as I can be. Bought new living room furniture for sitting at home. Got a new dog to train. Going through the current supplies, rotating/replacing/adding some. We really didn’t dip into our supplies in 2020, and the family kept working and earning through the whole year.

    Just looking at what might not be available due to possible restrictions/availability issues. Looking to free us from services provided by others, as much as possible.

    Mainly, I just plan on getting older in 2021!

  5. Dont forget how the libs will tear down any progress made on a southern border wall which will lead to vastly more workers driving wages down even further.

    I still dont understand how injecting literally Trillions into the Economy hasnt produced significant inflation but you can bet they will do all they can to see how far they can go with that racehorse now.

    Dont go into debt.
    Get out of debt.
    Stay out of debt.
    Debt = Slavery.

    • Darn right it is!
      Hershey’s chocolate with almonds.
      M&M’s with almonds.
      Hershey’s kisses.

      I gotta work on my recipe for mixing chocolate with bacon. 2 food groups covered in one snack!

    • Calories = fuel. The #1 food for most calories by weight? Chocolate. The military included it in pilot survival kits. Doesn’t do well in the heat though.

  6. Commercial property ghost town lease space can be converted to other functions. Our firm converted a plain jane Wal-Mart building to a city public library easily (but doing it with style took some effort on the interior designer’s part). Low budget apartment or small office space would be fairly easy to do, depending on building size.

    Winston Smith comment above – spot on. Debt and lack of readily available funds will make a slave very easily.

  7. I got caught a little short on a few things at the start of the Plandemic, but was able to fill in those gaps before the panic buying took hold. By the time the Golden Horde had its fill of toilet paper, I was far and away gone, larder full. If anything, 2020 was a dry run for folks like us, and hopefully a wakeup call for everyone else.

    I see COVID evaporating like magic, on or about Inauguration Day, leaving the taxes, fees, and unconstitutional laws crystalized in its wake. The laws, the fees, the taxes, and the abridgements of our freedoms will remain long after COVID is a fading memory. I don’t see the American public standing up in any way against this tyranny. the American public won’t even defy a local mayor or “governor” as they lose everything they’ve worked for, and have nothing left beyond that. New businesses may open, but they’ll be on the hook to the few who still have money. “You can’t own, but I’ll gladly rent to you; rent, and a percentage of whatever you produce or sell.” History is rife with such arrangements.

    As for firearms, if owning one makes me a felon, then a felon I’ll be. Robin Hood was a hero. The names of those who caved to the Sheriff of Nottingham are lost to time. I’m not looking to be a hero. Neither am I looking to be cut down by some “non-violent” early release while the cops are raid a hair salon in town in full battle rattle because the salon defied a COVID lockdown… which never was lawful in the first place…

    My take? 2020 will be seen historically as the Left’s first major offensive… The beginning… of whatever’s next… We can either submit to or defy tyranny… It’s our choice…

  8. Consider if you will, “Mad Max” happened in 2021, so at least we got that going for us eh!
    No from my understanding of it in order to meet the socialists agenda of “reasonable gun control” we already got that, what the fuk more do they need. Unless they are actually saying that “reasonable gun control” actually means hitting reasonably close to where you are intending to hit.That works for me.
    So now on to the math portion of this whole supposed covid relief bill which actually means bail out every other country on the planet except leave us with jack squat. So we are borrowing money to give to other countries – anyone at all see anything wrong with that? Just asking for a friend.

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