Ubuntu – Humanity towards others

First of all let me thank you for spending your valuable time reading my random musings about things going on the in world that interest me. You guys have left some really nice comments on your thoughts about my views on some of the issues going on around us. This has prompted me to let you know more about the reasons why I started this blog. One of the most important lessons I have learned in life is to never stop learning. Many of my new ideas, concepts, perspectives, and thoughts often come from combinations of old ones that others have shared with me. I have learned than when issues arise at home or at work there are often several perspectives of looking at the situation. I have often said to family members, co-workers, and employees that have approached me with a complaint about something that someone else has either done or neglected to do, “There is more than one side to every coin”. For instance take just about any hot button political topic you hear about today and listen to what both political parties have to say. After listening to both sides of the issue you will probably realize that while they are talking about two different sides of the “coin”, they are really talking about the same “coin”.

Ubuntu is an age-old African term for humaneness - for caring, sharing and being in harmony with all of creation. As an ideal, it promotes co-operation between individuals, cultures and nations. In the past year several subjects have caught my attention: Our national economy, the importance of eliminating personal debt, having a good supply of stored food, and using alternative energy sources are just a few on my list. When I take a look at some of the problems in the word today I also feel a need to start looking towards finding some solutions and even alternatives to these problems. I know that I don’t have all of the answers to these problems, but I know that a lot of other people do have some of the pieces of this puzzle that can help with finding the answers. When I am able to put some of these puzzle pieces together I feel better about my own place in the world and I feel a deep need to share what I have learned with others. When I stumble onto something that helps me lead a more productive or more secure life I want to share that something with others. Knowledge is power, but how much power does my knowledge really give me if I don’t use it or share it with others so that we can all live better lives.

Value-for-value. The concept of trading something you have that has value, for something else that has value is a very simple concept that is very old. With that in mind you might ask why I would spend my time (something that I value) and give it to you in the form a free blog (getting nothing in return). You see that the equation really is in balance when you look at the big picture. The time that others have taken to share their wisdom with me can only be repaid when I combine their wisdom with my own thoughts and then share that combined wisdom with others. In keeping this value for value equation in balance, when I give you something of value by sharing ideas with you that can, and will, help you lead a more secure and self sufficient life, I expect you to give me value in return by using these ideas and sharing them with others to build a better community for all of us. You see, I can sum this entire post up in a single word, and keep the value-for-value equation in balance; Ubuntu.

Copy canning

In past posts I have written about storing food. The wisdom of storing a little extra food in your pantry and having a couple of months of living expenses in your savings account really makes sense in today’s economy. When you ask most people why they work the most common answer given is that they work to keep a roof over their family’s head and food on the table. In today’s economy with the national average of ten percent unemployment, what would you do if you lost your job next week? A lot of families live pay check to pay check. There are a few government programs out there to assist you if you lose your job and there are a few local food pantries like the one we have at our church to support the local community. The reality of cutbacks and layoffs becomes larger every day, but just think of the security you could provide for your family if you had three to six months worth of food storage available in your own pantry, and enough cash saved up to keep your house for a few extra months until you find work. That would certainly blunt the harsh psychological impact of losing your income knowing that you can still provide for your family. Even if your job is secure, having food stored and cash available can help you weather some of life's other emergencies such as getting snowed in for a few days, having to replace a tire or water pump on your car without using a credit card, or even something as simple as feeding a few extra unexpected guests without having to run to the store.

A couple of questions keep coming up about food storage. What foods should I store? And, With today’s food prices how can I afford to store a month’s, six month’s, or even a year’s worth of food. The answers are a lot easier to find than you might realize. I too wondered about the cost of storing a couple of month's worth of food supplies and it took a while to understand some of the basics. After working at this for a while, and making a few mistakes, I learned some techniques that I would like to share with others.

What to store and how to afford it. If you had a lot of cash burning a hole in your wallet and you wanted to store a years supply of food that doesn’t taste very good and has a shelf life of only a year, you might go out and by a pallet of military surplus MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat). A lot of people have done that, and a lot of people have thrown away a lot of food because of this “Panic Mode” style of storing food. The best advice that I have been given is the old adage of “Store what you eat, and Eat what you store”. I could give you a list of what I have stored, or you could go on the internet and find someone else’s list, but you would probably find that what works for me (or what you find on the internet) will not work for you. There are various methods of determining what you eat regularly which will help you understand what you will need to purchase for storage. One method is to keep a diary of the meals that you prepare at home and stock up on the non-perishable items on your list. This works if you keep up with the location of the list and you keep up with the documentation of the items you eat. I know that when I started storing food I bought a lot of canned goods that we haven’t eaten yet. So I kept looking for new methods and I kept learning.

Store what you will eat, and not spend very much right now. The best method for storing food that I have found lately is called “Copy Canning”. I found this method from reading an article by Karen Hood. This method is just one step beyond the grocery list that you probably already use. The idea is simple. When you use something from your pantry, say a can of beans, you add beans to your grocery list to replace the can you just removed from your pantry. When you go to the grocery store you need to buy TWO cans of beans instead of ONE. The next time you use a can of beans you repeat the process until you have accumulated the number of cans that you feel meets your total storage needs. This works for most any non-perishable storage item that you normally store in your pantry. This method sets up an automatic rotational system that spreads out the useful life of your stored goods longer than if you just go out and buy several cases of food at one time. It also spreads the cost of stored food over a longer period of time so you don’t break the bank when you start storing food. It can also eliminate the temptation to put a lot of food on your credit card instead of just adding to your normally budgeted grocery money. You do have a budget don’t you? You know what I say, one thing leads to another. It looks like I found another week’s blog topic right there.

If you combine this copy canning idea with my last weeks topic of using coupons and finding BOGO (Buy One; Get One Free) deals you might find that you can double your food storage without spending twice the money. Don't forget about storing food for your four legged family members as well.

Throwing Cash in the Trash?

How many commercials have you seen in the past couple of weeks that claim to save you money. “The More You Spend – The More You Save!” I find the idea of saving money by spending money is absolutely absurd. You might spend less money than you otherwise would if you buy something you were going to buy anyway, if you find it on sale. There is just no way in this world you are going to save money when you buy something, even if it is on sale, if you were not going to buy it anyway. The reality is that the more money you spend the less money you have to save.

If I told you that you were literally throwing money away nearly every day you would probably not agree with me, but you really are. Most people think of money as cash, U.S. Dollars, greenbacks, etc., and coins as change. I found another source of money just as real and just as valuable as the U.S. Dollar that many folks just throw away. You see, the U.S. Treasury Department is not the only game in town when it comes to printing money. Let me explain.

My wife really grabbed my attention a couple of weeks ago. I had been reading some of the tin-foil hat folk's ideas of what our currency should be if/when the U.S. economy completely goes under. I'm not so sure that it will go under and if it does it may be many years from now. There are a lot of ideas out there now for alternative currency in the future. Some of these ideas are ridiculous and some make some sense. I really like the barter system of trading value for value, and I like the American Open Currency Standard system of using solid copper and silver coins as barter currency. While reading more on those ideas, my wife threw me a curve ball. She ran into someone at the grocery store that had a thick binder full of coupons. The lady purchased about $200 dollars worth of groceries for about $10 and a hand full of coupons. After talking with the lady about her system my wife was so impressed that she took a few minutes over the next few days and collected a few coupons for things that we always use and needed. She was able to cut our grocery bill in half by spending just a few minutes a week going through the coupons that we get every day in the mail and in the weekend paper. That combined with paying attention to some of the buy one, get one free, sale items and we really took a chunk out of our grocery bill. We have even run into a few buy two, get three free, sale items that we normally pay full price for.

Those coupons are printed by manufacturers and stores every day just like the U.S. government prints dollars, and the coupons spend just as good as U.S. dollars do. While I just can not agree with the spend more – save more crowd, I can really get on board the spend less – get more train. I also have trouble swallowing some of the far fetched alternative currency ideas out there on the internet, but I have enjoyed spending the alternative currency we get in the mail box every day.

Don't forget to vote in my "What is a Shadow Catcher?" poll.

The Value of the U.S. Dollar vs. Precious Metals.

Several months ago I started investing in Silver bullion as an addition to my investment portfolio. The idea of investing in precious metals is not new as metals have been used for thousands of years as a form of currency. Investing in silver can be kind of fun as there are numerous ways to buy silver. Most countries mint silver coins that are absolutely beautiful as they are stamped/minted with extremely intricate artwork quality designs. Bullion rounds and bars from private mints can be found that are equally detailed. In fact a lot of people refer to these bullion medallions as "Art Rounds" due to their quality. The most popular way of investing in Silver now is basically paper stock trades.

Since silver was taken out of U.S. coins after 1964, and Richard Nixon abandoned the Gold Standard in 1971 which had backed the U.S. money supply, the U.S. dollar became what is known as Fiat Currency. Like I said before, often one thing leads to another. I had not heard the term Fiat Currency before, so I looked it up on my favorite information web site, Google. I was shocked to find out that our current U.S. monetary system is really just a fancy version of Monopoly money. After a little bit of web surfing I learned that since the Federal Reserve System was put into place in 1913 the value of our U.S. dollar has been continually shrinking. Most of the time this shrinking is referred to as inflation. What is really going on is the purchasing power or value of our dollars is just evaporating. Prior to 1913 the U.S. dollar would purchase whatever the value of 0.77344 troy ounces of silver would trade for. Today's (2010) U.S. dollar will only purchase about 4 cents of what that 1913 dollar would trade for. Having started in investing in something solid has made me feel better about my family's future and my ability to provide for them.

There are charts all over the web showing the current value of silver, gold, platinum, and palladium. The charts bounce all over the place on any given day. There are charts that show how the value of precious metals has changed over the last day, 30 days, year, and even multiple years. I began to get nervous about my silver investments after seeing these rapid market changes. This led me to wondering about why the value of precious metals changed so often and so drastically. After a little pondering on this matter a light bulb suddenly came on over my head as I had a sudden understanding of the ups and downs of the precious metals markets. THE VALUE OF THESE METALS WAS NOT CHANGING AT ALL! What these charts are really saying is that the value (purchasing power) of the dollar is what is changing constantly, not the value of the metals.

What led me to this conclusion was so simple and obvious that it is easily overlooked if one is not paying attention. I went down to my local coin shop to purchase a few 90% Silver pre-1965 coins. When I asked the price of Quarters, I was a little dismayed at first as $3.15 seemed like a lot to pay for a non-numismatic quality "Junk Change" Quarter.

Back when I was a kid and there was real Silver in our money, a U.S. Quarter would by a loaf of bread. While no one would sell a loaf of bread to you today for a Quarter, they would probably sell you a loaf of bread for about $3.15. That is when it hit me. The value of the silver in the pre-1965 quarter did not change at all. The silver in that pre-1965 quarter that purchased a loaf of bread in 1960 would buy a loaf of bread today. The value of the U.S. Dollar is what has been changing, not the value of precious metals.

Cogito Ergo Sum Formica

My parents have always had a garden. My mom cans and freezes a lot of food that they grow. As a kid I had often wondered why we spent so much time putting all of those vegetables away for the winter. My parents grew up during the depression era and know firsthand what it means to do without. I never thought much about this until just a few months ago. In watching the economy race towards the sewer, and having experienced a few days of not being able to get fuel, I started seeing the wisdom of keeping my gas tanks full and the wisdom of having a little bit extra in the pantry.

When you ask most people about they think about when they hear the word “survivalist”, they think about guys that dress up in camouflage clothing and go out and buy a bunch of guns, ammo, and pallets of survival foods that they will either never eat, or find that the food does not taste good (if they ever get around to eating it before it goes bad). There is nothing wrong with doing that if you are into that sort of thing, but it is just not for me. I have started thinking of myself more along the lines of being a “Prepper”. Preppers are families that just store more of what they would normally use anyway, but have enough to last for at least a few weeks if some local emergency hits their area. Emergencies do not have to be of the “End of the World as We Know It” scenarios that some people go nuts over. It could be just a couple of days without power, a snow storm that keeps you at home for a few days, or even a short term trucker's strike that keeps food away from the grocery stores for a week or so. In most cases if you are prepared for a short term small emergency, you are pretty much prepared for most larger, longer term emergencies as they all have many things in common.

Some time around 600 BC Aesop penned several fables that still hold just as much wisdom today as they did over 2600 year ago. I think of this one as a children's story written many years ago for adults of today:

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Once there lived an ant and a grasshopper in a grassy meadow.

All day long the ant would work hard, collecting grains of wheat from the farmer's field far away. She would hurry to the field every morning, as soon as it was light enough to see by, and toil back with a heavy grain of wheat balanced on her head. She would put the grain of wheat carefully away in her pantry, and then hurry back to the field for another one. All day long she would work, without stop or rest, scurrying back and forth from the field, collecting the grains of wheat and storing them carefully in her pantry.

The grasshopper would look at her and laugh. 'Why do you work so hard, dear ant?' he would say. 'Come, rest awhile, listen to my song. Summer is here, the days are long and bright. Why waste the sunshine in labor and toil?'

The ant would ignore him, and head bent, would just hurry to the field a little faster. This would make the grasshopper laugh even louder. 'What a silly little ant you are!' he would call after her. 'Come, come and dance with me! Forget about work! Enjoy the summer! Live a little!' And the grasshopper would hop away across the meadow, singing and dancing merrily.

Summer faded into autumn, and autumn turned into winter. The sun was hardly seen, and the days were short and gray, the nights long and dark. It became freezing cold, and snow began to fall.

The grasshopper didn't feel like singing any more. He was cold and hungry. He had nowhere to shelter from the snow, and nothing to eat. The meadow and the farmer's field were covered in snow, and there was no food to be had. 'Oh what shall I do? Where shall I go?' wailed the grasshopper. Just before starving to death he staggered to the ants' hill and saw that the ants had plenty to eat stored away.

Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare now for the days of necessity that might come in the future.

I'm starting to put a few extra supplies away for a rainy day, but I'm also thinking carefully about what I store away. I'm trying to "Store what I eat, and eat what I store", so that nothing will go to waste. I'm also trying to urge others to do the same so that they will also have enough to get by on if they happen to encounter one of life's little emergencies.

Cogito Ergo Sum Formica – I think therefore I am an ant.