Tips for buying survival gear on a budget
Tips for buying survival gear on a budget
If you are like most preppers you don’t have exorbitant amounts of money to put toward your gear. If you take some time and look in the right places you can get a lot of your gear at bargain prices.
Flea Markets
Flea markets have lots of overpriced made in China junk, but if you are willing to dig through bins of rusty tools or poke through boxes that others are walking past you might find a gem.
Knives are my big find at flea markets. I have a Kabar I got for $1 plus a few old carbon steel blades for under a dollar each.
Garage Sales
Garage sales are even better than flea markets for the sheer variety and surprise factor of what you might find. You can run across anything from firearms to freeze dried storage food.
Antique Stores
I like antiquing, and I always keep an eye out for vintage items a prepper might need. Lots of old oil lamps, cast iron, non-electric tools and other things a preppers might spend retail on from a store.
Second Hand Stores
I picked up my insulated hunting boots at a thrift store for under $1. These boots sell new for over $150.
You can run across all sorts of camo clothing and sometime pick up tools and kitchen items that go well with your preps.
Dumpster Diving
I have found my share of things while out dumpster diving. Lots of food behind grocery stores can be put up in the freezer, fed to animals or dehydrated for storage.
I have also found ammo, tools and even cash money.
Online
There are several online resources for picking up gear that are available to you.
craigslist
Just about anything you could want can be found on Craigslist. Even banned items routinely make it on, and if you pay attention you can pick them up before they get flagged and removed.
ebay
The same thing goes for ebay. Many times things will get listed that may be banned on ebay but slip through the cracks. Contact the seller so they have your email if it gets pulled.
Otherwise ebay has almost anything anyone could want, just don’t pay more than retail, and don’t forget to count shipping.
freecycle
Freecycle is a yahoo group that allows people to list things they are giving away. If you watch you can get lots of things you might need for free. I have picked up several non-working chainsaws on their just by asking for broken saws.
forums
Last but not least are online forums. If you are a prepper you should be involved with an online forum for learning and interaction with others of like mind. Most of them have “barter” or ‘for sale” section. These folks already have prepping gear and offer extra or replaced gear for sale.
If you use your head you can find many places to pick up gear and save money.
Category: Uncategorized
