Out of Supplies to Trade With? Your Skills Have Great Barter Value

by Brandon Hunt

It’s not all about the supplies you have when preparing for emergencies.

Expand your thinking beyond the stockpile of goods. You may think you have everything you could possibly need. 

But then you’ll discover you don’t have everything and there’s no way you could have absolutely everything for every kind of emergency…and, therefore, you may have to barter to get what you need.

However, do you really want to barter with your hard earned supply of goods? Probably not.

This is where the lightbulb appears over your head and you say, “There is another way.”

And in your state of expanded thinking you realize you have skills, you have knowledge, and you can barter with them.

Suddenly, in a world trying to rebuild (assuming this is a complete collapse scenario) you have value…in a way you never thought of before.

Huzzah! Those ancient basket weaving techniques you learned at the community center will finally pay off. 

Don’t sell yourself short — You Have Skills

That’s right, you got skills. 

You might know something others don’t. 

You might have a lost skill…a practical skill set…or an obscure yet useful skill.

It all comes back to knowing yourself. What knowledge do you have? What skills do you have? 

I bet you have a skill that you could barter with.

In a disaster, it’s all about working together, or trading, for mutual benefit and survival. The way people did ages ago.

Your Skills Add Value

I imagine if our society, our country, goes through a complete collapse, bartering and trading will be the new economy for surviving. 

Bartering for goods is a reality for thousands of people right now. One example being Venezuela.

Remember, money or currency as we know it, once had value because it represented physical assets, like gold. Now days our fiat money has value only because everyone is pretending it does. 

Look back in time far enough and you’ll find that bartering items of value was the earliest economic system. So, in a way I guess we would come full circle if we end up returning to bartering again.

For something to have value it doesn’t strictly have to be a physical item. Skills have value and could thus be traded for. The doctor has skills in medicine; the carpenter has skills with woodworking; the outdoorsman has skills in living off the land. See the value?

The good thing about bartering is that both parties can come away satisfied they both got a good deal.

A list of skills could be quite long. The skills listed below are by no means comprehensive, but are meant to get you thinking of skills you might already have or want to obtain. Obviously I can’t list every kind of skill, so….just keep that in mind.

Roll your dice and choose five skills you can barter with

• Security/Military/Defense training or services
• Carpentry/Wood working
• Gardening
• Animal Husbandry
• Medical/Herbal knowledge and services
• Hunting and trapping
• Mechanics
• Writing (preserve knowledge and entertainment)/Teaching
• Construction skills
• Sewing
• Cooking
• Blacksmithing
• Masonry
• Timber craft/Tree felling/Logging
• Butchering
• Foraging
• Preserving Food
• Well Digging
• Soap Making
• Root Cellar Construction
• Shoe Making

Better to Have The Skills Than Not

The above list is merely suggested skills and is by no means comprehensive. You may have some skills not listed, and that’s fine. 

Take time and think over what you know or possess by way of skills. Having an in-demand skill would be a form of security, something of value you can trade.

Whether the worst happens (like a total collapse) or not, obtaining or honing any kind of skill is valuable.

In any kind of emergency, those who prepared beforehand and have the skills, pull through in better condition. 

In conclusion, the more you have to offer, whether its supplies or skills, puts you in a good position for bartering.

And remember, when bad things happen, we’re all better off when we help each other in dealing with the disasters. The skills you have could save lives.

We’re all in this together.