potatoes can keep your ass alive and can dead ass be grown in buckets and sacks. They’re not picky plants, either. Just watch a couple YouTube videos to get your bearings, go buy a couple potatoes from the grocery store, and plant those bitches. You’re probably going to want to try and get potatoes that haven’t been treated to keep them from sprouting, or else give them a good scrub and let them sit on the windowsill till they start sprouting. You could also go and buy seed potatoes, but that’s really not needed and it’s a higher up front cost. Plant them literally anywhere. Plant some french marigolds alongside for a good edible flower that will help control the pests that like munching on potatoes.

Learn to Forage this one takes some time, dedication, caution, and research, but you would be absolutely blown away just how much you’re surrounded by edible weeds and unrecognized fruit trees. Get in the habit of identifying the plants that you see (plant net is a helpful tool) around you, learning about them, and spotting them elsewhere as you go through life.

Ditch the car if you can. Shit’s expensive, yo. Especially if you live in a city, a bicycle, e-bike, or motorcycle can do most of what you need out of a car most of the time if you get creative.

Skill up start learning the simple stuff- how to patch and darn tears in your clothes, how to cook on a budget (there’s great depression cookbooks around that are pretty good), how to repair and service stuff, how to jam and can your leftovers, how to entertain yourself cheap with card and dice games or drawing, and a really huge underrated one is how to talk to other people. If you’re terrible at dealing with other people, get to fucking work on it yesterday and thank me later. I found the book Verbal Judo to be enormously helpful.

NETWORK bring small gifts to your neighbors when you can, share your good fortune with them, ask them how you can help, start getting involved in the lives of the people around you and get to know them. If you don’t have some kind of regular meeting you go to with otherwise unrelated folks, find one. This is a way to build resilience, because there’s going to be times where things aren’t so rough for you, and times where things are extra rough. That’s true for everyone. If you have other people who can lean on you and you can lean on, we can all help smooth out each other’s journeys through the downturn.

Don’t be afraid to get ghetto. Do what you’ve got to do. Summer’s hot, man, go ahead and put foil on cardboard and put that shit in your windows. Winter’s fucking cold; it’s easier and cheaper to heat small spaces than big spaces, just don’t catch your shit on fire or give yourself CO poisoning (NO combustion indoors, that includes using a kitchen stove for heat! Make sure the heater is completely by itself on a non-flammable surface). You can’t eat a lawn; fuck that grass, plant potatoes, onions, and marigolds. Will some people find it impossible to mind their own goddamn business? Certainly, but it’s a small price to pay for surviving. Need a coat? Go to Goodwill, go to a garage sale, shit, ask your neighbors if they have one they don’t want anymore. Don’t be above asking for help. Don’t be a fucking thief, but keep your eyes open for opportunities; people throw all kinds of good shit away all the time, even during downturns. If something breaks, prioritize whether it needs to be fixed now, patched now, or if it just has to wait; if it’s just about keeping up appearances, it can wait.

Start prepping now set aside an emergency stash of:

• Cash (my rule of thumb for rock bottom minimum is ~$100/person). This is cash for absolute emergencies, treat it as a non-renewable resource. I would say not to use it trying to stay in your mortgage even though you don’t have a plan for the month after that.

• Food: brown rice, dry beans, macaroni (whole grain is best), and bulk powdered potatoes will get you a long way. Learn to use these ingredients before you actually depend on them, and have a bulk supply on hand. Also, set aside some salt and pepper to keep you from completely losing your fucking mind. Each of these individual things can really help you stretch your meals or tie together a few other random ingredients into something edible. They’re not a complete nutrition source on their own, but they’ll just about keep your ass alive. Add to your food stash as you see fit, but try to keep it cheap, flexible, and durable.

• Luxuries: if you like coffee, set aside a couple containers of it. It doesn’t have to be great; Folgers will rock your fucking world once you’ve been without coffee long enough. Same deal with chocolate or candy. Basically, give yourself something to look forward to.

This is hardly a comprehensive list, you know your own unique needs and situation better than I do, and there’s going to be other better or worse advice for that here. Go with what fits for you.

I hate to say it, but things get worse than you think in a downturn. Lots of people get depressed and blame themselves for what’s happening. Please remember that the way you feel isn’t the way you’re always going to feel. Shit sucks, and everything is temporary.

I’ve been asking myself that question for years. My wife and I thought the best solution for us was to leave the country. We don’t have a good outlook for the future of the US. We moved to Germany last spring and have been enjoying a healthier and better quality of life. It’s not easy but it is very rewarding. The cost of living here is less than half of what we were paying in the US. Groceries, rent, utilities, insurance, everything is cheaper except eating out at restaurants (that costs pretty much the same). For what it’s worth, we moved from Denver to Frankfurt.

Spend absolutely no money that you don’t need to. This saves money for you and keeps it out of people’s hands that don’t need it. The faster the collapse, the more equal it will be.

I don’t want to advise this, but I’m pulling all my money from the larger of my 401(k). (Keeping the smaller just in case it turns out I’m crazy, and if I am, I can always reinvest, with only some minor losses in time)

I bought a couple ATVs with trailers, with camo netting, working on filling those trailers with supplies and a lot of gas. I also bought an old jeep CJ7, with a trailer for the ATVs. Think lighters, camp stoves, portable solar panels, blankets, water filters, a good axe or hatchet, a couple knives, some emergency rations.

This is America. There’s more guns than people. Make sure you have at least one.

The economic hardships, you won’t be able to escape. When we lose hegemony/petrol dollar, it’s likely to be the fastest collapse in history.

This is just a quick summary. Some of us have been planning for something like this for a decade or more. There’s no way to be able to give you anything much more specific without knowing where you live or your current circumstances, experiences, or skills. But rely on any skills, training or knowledge you do have. Emphasize them and try to improve them. Make yourself a useful member of a rebuilt (small) society. I.e. growing, sewing, defense, engineering etc.

Whatever you do, do not give up. And be creative. Lighting a fire, and putting some seriously hot peppers in the fire can be a good area denial defense, light the fire and travel in the direction the wind is coming from.

Remember your local community is one of the most valuable resources. Get to know your neighbors, invest in your social capital.

I remember coming across post in a /r/collapse on reddit that poked fun at a lot of peoples plans. He stated he was in a war torn country and found a lot of plans revolve around personal survivorship instead of community based. And the immediate local community is the one that most people fall back on and the one that often times helps out the most.

I’m going to say a few things about food and also assuming prices will go up and not quite reach an economic collapse:

Secure your food, learn to prepare cheaper, more plentiful foods in a way that is tasty to you (look to rice and beans). Consider purchasing or creating emergency food reserves. Consider purchasing more canned foods which can last for years. If you have freezer space, consider vacuum sealing food to keep them for longer.

Generally, look for ways to reduce extraneous cost and rely more on yourself and your immediate community. (This will be difficult to do, no mistaking it)

As another has said, strengthen your local ties. In the event of a collapse, we’re all going to be affected in one way or another. I think the biggest thing is fostering a culture of cooperation rather the competition. That means avoid prepping, avoid emptying store shelves, avoid hoarding goods en masse in your basement or shelter.

I think a good first step would be to look for local mutual aid groups. Just Google your town or state + “mutual aid”. These groups are already out there directly servicing those most in need, and are the most ready to spring into action when a disaster strikes (here is some testimony about mutual aid group action during Hurricane Helene)

Oftentimes these groups are open to volunteers or donations and will be active during natural catastrophes, and I’d imagine economic ones as well.

Friend, you need to be a pepper!! I feel so good having extra of everything I need!

Emigrate? …or maybe stand for office.

As a teen we went through the collapse in the 80s when (in Canada) mortgage rates hit 21%. So Get your mortgage rate locked in now and don’t have a renewel pending in the next 2 years.

For my family in the 80s it meant most income was going to the mortgage and we had to be very frugal. We ate a lot of potatoes and beans, no restaurants ever, and no extras. My dad also hunted, left over meats went into soups.

We are currently living frugally for reasons. We buy bulk dried chick peas, kidney beans, lentils (various kinds), frozen peas, rice. We stock up on potatoes , carrots, onions and canned tomatoes. With a large selection of spices and occasionally other ingredient we can make a wide variety of dishes. Weekly grocery shop is around $35-50.

I expect for those in the USA the luxury of lavish meals will need to become more like my frugal diet.

Drop extra services…do you really need more than one streaming service, could you go without and scour the thrift store for BlueRay / DVDs , the libraries have free rentals of new releases.

Carpool. Barter between neighbours to exchange services.

Quit being poor, works 100% of the time.

Just don’t take out your paperwork and you are guranteed free passage to a better country when ICE raids your neighbourhood!

Don’t spend on anything besided essentials, keep an eye on the news to see if any of the long running institutions Americans use to save their money are being sacked and take your money out accordingly.

The less individuals contribute to the economy the worse the effects of this administration will show.

Build a garden if you can, join community efforts like mutual aid, and form or join a union. We are strongest together.

Do any vehicle maintenance you can now. Look up common issues for your vehicle and maybe buy those parts as they might be extra expensive due to tarrifs. If you need to you can sell them later.

Secondary used markets are going to be huge, so set aside anything you think people will want in the future. Buy an ebike just in case driving becomes too expensive. Download as much media as you think youll want because theyre trying to ban piracy sites and free options may dissapear.

For anyone that wants it, here’s a local copy of this page with all the replies included: https://mega.nz/file/2IdilIiI#cprrG2E58S1Wg2kp5YNEjfLMBh1hPHiQzuWMpsXI3dk