#7 Change your diet – To save money, eat less meat. Instead, eat more beans, which are inexpensive but have high nutrition. Try to eat food in season for your location. Buy food direct from farmers.
#8 Learn home canning – During the Great Depression of the 1930′s, my mother-in-law was a young child. She and her siblings would gleam from already picked farm field. Lots of food are left in the fields because pickers or harvesting machines are not perfect. My mother-in-law’s mother would do home canning from food in their own garden plus what was gleamed from neighboring farms. Often you can cheap buy pounds and pounds of green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, berries, and other vegetables from farmers markets. My mother-in-law mentioned that they were never hungry during the first Great Depression, because their basement often had several hundred jars of home canned foods.
#9 Sell your trinkets and toys – You don’t need a big screen television. Sell the toys, collectibles, and electronic gadgets. It is better to have gardening tools and long-term stored food.
#10 Regain your work ethic – It is hard work to tend to your garden and then go to full-time job. But that is how people lived just a 50 years ago. The concept of a paid retirement and 8 hour work day is rather new in society. Up until 50 years ago, people worked until they could work no longer. Then their families would take care of them in their old age. Take on odd jobs, cash jobs. Extend your work day from 8 to 12 hours. An adults needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep per day to stay health. That gives your 16 other hours to be productive in your day. One of the main reasons why the global debt crisis has gotten so bad is because the Western society has gotten LAZY!!!! My grandfather used to tell me as a young child, “A man who works hard never starves.” Take extra part-time jobs, when available. Even when you have a job, work extra hours or another part-time job. One month you might be working 18 hours a day, but then the next month you might not find any work at all. While you are working, always network with potential employers, in case you lose your job.
#11 Barter Clubs – In Argentina and Spain, many local towns have started barter clubs. Goods and services are exchanged for points. Points are used to obtain other goods and services. For example, grandma knits four wool sweaters. At the barter club, the sweaters sold in return for 25 points each. Grandma uses the 100 points to obtain two loaves of bread for 20 points and fresh gallon milk for 15 points.
#12 Take advantage of local charities – Don’t rely upon it, but use it if you must. If you can work, you should work. But some people can’t work, due to age or sickness. You must feed and clothe your children. Do what you must to. But if you do have employment, let the charities help those less fortunate.
#13 Your home – If you live in a big home with a mortgage payment, consider selling the bigger home to move into a small home. It is better to own outright a smaller home than have a mortgage payment for bigger home. If you feel like you can barely make your mortgage payments today, sell now, before economic collapse. Become a renter, which gives your more flexibility. Owning your home outright will give you some protection during an economic collapse. Governments are not likely to kick people of their owned homes because of late property taxes, when millions of other people are already on the street. Owning your home guarantees a place to live.
#14 Learn to do things for yourself – I am stunned about how many women these days don’t know how to sew a button on a shirt. I’m a guy, and I know how to sew a button. Learn to do everything for yourself. Change the oil on your car. Repair your own shoes and clothing. Do you own home repairs. Make your own jams and jellies. Wash and iron your own dress shirts. Cook your own meals.