Prepare For the End of Cash

By Tim Gamble

All my links: https://linktr.ee/timgamble 

The bad news: cash is going away. Our esteemed leaders in government and big business have decided this for us, and are picking up the pace in the move to a cashless, all digital economy. We can try to resist (and should), but at this point it is almost a done deal. 

The good news: cash isn't going away this year (maybe in 2025, depending on the election outcome). When it does go away, it won't happen overnight. It will take time to complete the move. This gives us some time to prepare for what is almost certainly coming. So, how do we prepare? Here are some of my thoughts.

Start by getting your financial house in order. Reducing your expenses and getting out of debt are very important steps to surviving a cashless economy. The fewer bills you have, the less dependent on the cashless system you will be. Check out my article Financial Preparedness: Back to the Basics for some great ideas on this topic.

Next, simplify your life. A big part of self-reliance is to simply need less stuff. Become less of a consumer. Don't participate in the "throw-away economy." Reuse. Recycle. Repurpose.

Get into the "do it yourself" mindset. Develop skills now. Learn how to produce stuff for yourself (ideas: gardening, canning & food storage, fishing, hunting, trapping, foraging, sewing, woodworking, leather working, beekeeping, raising chickens, blacksmithing, raising culinary and medicinal herbs, growing mushrooms for food and medicine, etc.). Learn how to maintain and repair what you have. Learn home repair skills. Learn auto repair. Learn small engine repair. Have the tools and supplies you need to do these things. (Note: Skills will make an excellent means of barter in the future Barter Economy.)

Put aside at least one year's worth of food (more is better) before being being forced into the all-digital system. You then can keep your stored food "topped off" without it being as apparent to their algorithms that you are stockpiling (or in their terms "hoarding") food. Same goes for cleaning supplies, hygiene supplies, first aid supplies, OTC medications, vitamins and supplements, and so forth. Do most of your stockpiling now, before we are forced to go cashless. Once they force you completely into the digital system, they will be monitoring for what they consider "unacceptable" expenses. 

Recommended source of long-term foods: Augason Farms (on Amazon).

Recommended source of first aid kits and supplies: Refuge Medical (you get 10% off at checkout by following that link to their website). 

Buy any guns, ammo, body armor, and other politically incorrect items sooner rather than later. I do believe they want to use the cashless, digital economy to regulate the second amendment out of existence. 

Prepare for the Barter Economy. Barter will become a major means of economic exchange for people not willing to fully buy into the new digital system. Do you know people you can barter with? Do you produce things that could be used for barter? Do you have skills you can barter? You can barter some of your supplies, of course, but eventually you will run out. What then? Now is the time to figure this out. 

Make contacts with local farmers and other producers, and start building your barter networks now. This way you won't be scrambling to figure this out after the fact. Another reason to make contacts and start building networks now is that you are going to need people you trust, and who trust you. Once government figures out that people are bartering instead of placidly joining the digital economy, they will make barter illegal. This will force us into an underground, black market. For this, we are going to need people we trust. 

Metals, such as gold, silver, and even lead (in the form of ammo), will also be a primary means of exchange for those wishing to avoid the digital system. Most of us probably can't afford gold at this point, but silver and ammo are still relatively affordable. You may be interested in my article Prepper's Guide to Junk Silver.

Copper pennies (1981 and before) and even nickels (75% copper, 25% nickel) will likely retain value and be used as a means of exchange for small purchases. They both are already worth more in metal content than their face value (copper pennies are worth about 2½¢ each and nickels about 6¢ each at this time). I've been collecting both in coffee cans for year's now.

The government may attempt to confiscate metals at some point (they did so in the past), but I believe that may push our unsustainable economic system over the edge into collapse. At that point, folks will pay little attention to the failed government and its authorities.  

Get out of the worldly economic system as much as possible. The most important thing to do, and the hardest. Become a producer, not a consumer. Buying land and setting up a homestead, where you and your family can be as self-reliant as possible, is a good way to go. Doing this with a community of similar folks also seeking self-reliance would be even better.  Consider moving to a small town or rural area with lots of nearby farms and country folk, or get together with some other families and start your own self-reliant community!

You may also be interested in my article, Biblical Agrarianism - A Way Forward?, which discusses building such self-reliant communities. This doesn't have to be done on your own homestead and doesn't require everyone to become a farmer, as the article explains. 

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