How to make extra
money for your prepping supplies
Most preppers I know aren’t made of money. We all wish we
had more to devote to our preps. Some of us will have spare time we could
devote to a money making project if we could only figure out what.
One thing about your time; some business gurus will tell you
not to waste your time at a low paying endeavor because you only clear say $1
an hour doing it. I will advise if you would otherwise make nothing, $1 an hour
will add up and allow you to put back preps you normally wouldn’t have been
able to afford.
Start a Part-Time
Business
People don’t like to work anymore, so a service business of
some sort can be worthwhile. Find something to do that people don’t have time
or no longer want to do. If you enjoy doing physical work, you should be able
to figure out something people in your area will pay for.
If you are in reasonable health and in an area where people
have lawns, a mowing business can pay enough over your investment to be considered
profitable. Other things to think about are woodcutting, landscaping, painting
and general hauling.
Use a SHTF skill
When you are practicing one of your primitive skills (and
you are learning one, right?) make something useful and sell it.
Some people carve wooden spoons, chopsticks and other
utensils. Others are into primitive pottery, brain tanning of furs, flint
knapping and wildcrafting. All of these things create products that many are
willing to pay good money for.
I personally like making cordage in my spare time. I can
sell natural candle wicks or fine cordage to be used for stringing beads in
jewelry. I can turn it into a dream catcher, or I can just list a three foot
piece on Ebay and sell it that way. If I get ambitious, I can make some strong
fine fishing line and create primitive fishing kits to sell.
Sell online
Selling online is easy with auction sites like Ebay and
Etsy, or you can list on Craigslist or
trading posts on Facebook and the like.
To get things to sell, start hitting yard sales, Ebay and
Craigslist looking for bargains. Freecycle is a great place to pick up things
to sell, but be sure you are honest about getting them for resale.
List your own handicrafts, art or wildcrafted items for
sale.
Run a Trapline
Fur trapping is a great way to learn about how animals
think. It not only will pay you now with a monetary reward for the fur; it will
pay you later with a valuable skill that will produce meat and fur in the event
of a collapse.
Fur trapping is a skill that with modern technology can be
learned mostly online. Not to say watching videos and reading books will
prepare you completely, but they do provide a good tutorial that some of us had
to learn through trial and error.
Write
If you have knowledge, you can share it through writing
about it. You can start a blog or even do some freelancing on the side.
Start by joining an online forum that caters to the topic
you want to write about. Start posting on the forum and work on your writing
skills. If you start a blog, you have a perfect place to polish how you write.
When you feel you can put together coherent information, start looking for
other bloggers to exchange posts with and expand from there.
Don’t worry too much about not being able to write. I almost
flunked out of high school English. When I started posting online it was mostly
one liners. Gradually, I posted longer and more in-depth information. Now I
write feature length articles, ebooks, and am working on a novel (isn’t every
writer?).
Writing is a skill that can be learned by anyone, and like
any other skill the more you practice, the better you get.
Any or all of these things can be used to earn extra income.
If you are diligent in keeping the money separate from your regular income, you
will soon find you have quite a bit of extra for building up your preps.
