Dollar Store prep

So, regular readers know that I am into preparedness lately. I personally am preparing for worst case scenarios right now, and so I've been trying to write a little bit more about how I'm preparing that way.

Well, one way I've been preparing is by going to the dollar store.

I know, you say: ridiculous! Well, oh well.

Here is my reasoning:

If things ever get Bad, or "SHTF," as they say, money will be worthless and even gold and silver will be useless. Brigham Young has a lot to say about this in his Journal of Discourses. On page 250 he says, "The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat." On page 262, President Young mentions a friend's dream:

He dreamed that there was a sack of gold and a cat placed before him, and that he had the privilege of taking which he pleased, whereupon he took the cat, and walked off with her. Why did he take the cat in preference to the gold? Because he could eat the cat, but could not eat the gold. You may see about such times before you die.

Anyway, the point is, food and commodities will trump credit, cash, and even precious metals, hands down, in the case of an economic collapse.

I have yet to publish some of my drafted work on ebola, but one important thing to note is that we don't need an epidemic to destroy our economy. All we need is enough fear of an epidemic that makes people stay indoors. Can you even imagine? If the papers publish that there are, say, twelve cases of ebola in a certain city, it won't matter if the papers are correct; people will stay home out of fear of plague. With no one going into work, and no one delivering goods, it will only be a few days before things get crazy. Most people do not even store enough food and water for three days in an emergency situation. Try a 21-day quarantine period. Money will not matter then; having food and commodities is what will matter.

So, to get back to the point: the dollar store.

When I get a few random dollar bills now, I go spend them at the dollar store. This is a list of things I buy there and why.

- Gloves of all kinds. Winter gloves for warmth; vinyl and latex gloves for cleaning and dealing with possible contagious people. 

- Shower curtains. I was required to buy these for my homebirth, to spread on the bed underneath an old sheet. Dollar store shower curtains are waterproof and could be used to line beds or other surfaces that a sick person needed to use. Also, my research is indicating that you could use a dollar store shower curtain to line homemade menstrual pads if you had to make yourself some. Overall a useful product to have around in the case of a long-term emergency. 

- Sewing kits. Obviously being able to repair clothing and other textiles will be useful. Additionally, they could make great items for trade or charity. 

- Bleach. Cleanliness will be of utmost importance if our economy ever destabilizes. Also, ebola is killed by household bleach. 

- Candles. I initially had a hard time finding a better deal than those plain white candles that they also sell with Catholic saint pictures on them. I did find a better deal eventually on Amazon: 15 Hour Unscented White Emergency Votive Candles - 144 Bulk

Those may be the biggies I stock up on there. Another thing I get when it's there is chalk, but it's not consistently available.

I also stock up on water there, for better or worse. It seems if you're going to buy gallons of water, you can expect to spend at least $1/gal. Of course, you can always reuse your soda bottles to store water, but my family doesn't drink soda, so we usually end up just buying water for our home storage.

Do any of you stock up on commodities at the dollar store? What do you get and why?