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Comment by Rhapso | Hacker News Reader

I own some land in rural TN, with a winterized trailer and access to spring water. that is backup water and shelter for minimal cost. A person/year of shelf-stable food (not fun, but indefinitely survivable) is about $1000. So if I am smart about it, and fall back gracefully, every $3k-$4k in savings is a year of "backup survival". I still need to make sure I have at least a year's worth of currency in a liquid form in case of infrastructure or banking collapse and ideally at least 6-months food dry-packed on site in case purchasing food while falling back is not viable.

just a reminder, there is a lot more to back up than your hard-drive.

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If banking fails your dollars are going to be in a world of hurt. Do you invest in gold/silver, too?

Unrelated question, what part of TN is your unprotected, cash filled trailer in?

My general expectation is to the contrary. I think people underestimate how psychologically ingrained the dollar is into the american people. Money will still be worth something, maybe not as much as I like, but something. People have so much faith in the system, that everybody will be hedging against "when things get better".

Even then "failure of banking" does not have to be universal. Maybe my assets are frozen or other similar, localized issues.

In the grand scheme of things, gold is also likely to be difficult to liquidate. It does not really have any intrinsic value at this point.

As to where: On a hill, by a lake, surrounded by paranoid gulf war vets with lots of guns.

In the Argentina bank crash, the government froze all assets, but they also printed a lot of money so cash went way down in value too, but yeah, I believe it would still be worth something.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998%E2%80%932002_Argentine_gr...

Edit: I think that other posters mentioning other practical barter-friendly alternatives to cash have a point (stuff like whiskey or soap)

I would personally stockpile hard liquor if I wanted to hedge for a social collapse. Whiskey never goes bad, it's always useful and a few ounces can go a long way.

> Whiskey never goes bad

As long as you keep it sealed in an air-tight container and in complete darkness. Oxygen and/or light will trigger chemical processes that result in undesirable flavor changes.

Just a heads-up, speaking from experience and research :)

Stockpile antibiotics.

lots of practical things have value other than money and gold, like ammunition and whiskey.

tennessee, remember?

You'd be surprised how effective simply burying something in the middle of the woods at a known location is.

How far away are you from the nearest large settlement (1000+ people)? This sort of stuff fascinates me, Europe is so densely populated this sort of thing isn't as viable.

Possibility to hunt and fish in the region too?

The region is wierd. I am about 20 miles from each of the 2 closest towns. Close enough to have hospital and walmart access.

I am right against a TVA lake, which makes for wierd geopolitics. As the crow flys, i am only a mile or so from my nearest neighbors, but between impassible terrain and foliage you have to actually travel 2+ miles. Natural lakes tend to have gentle slopes down to them, but the TVA lakes have many ridges jutting out into the lake and essentially only having 1 access road and cliffs over water on the other 3 sides. Parnoid crazy people like me do tend to like the region because of this. I make a point of spending some time with the neighbours who control the easements, retired vets mostly and they are more than happy to keep and eye on things in exchange for mostly absentee neighbours.

The deer and rabbits are almost at nuisance levels, and like most TVA lakes, the lake has both local fish population and is artificially stocked. Hunters wandering in through the hills or via the lake are my biggest hazard. Sustenance farming+ hunting is common out here.

Similar setup. Didn't get into it for backup but it could serve as that. Add a rifle to the mix for lots of reasons.

Edit: digital backup I'm less concerned. Have lost stuff and survived just fine. Most of my digital trail is ephemeral and not worth as much to me personally as I thought it was. Pretty much only some writings and many of my photos matter. It's really only about augmenting my memory. Plus NSA backups.

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