That seems like a simple enough question, yet many people have yet to answer it to any satisfaction. Most people live their lives in day to day desperation with no more thought than to make it to the end of the month with enough money to spare.
What is your destination in life? Where are you going and how do you plan to get there? If you cannot answer these questions you will be forever lost on the highway of life and may never reach your destination. That is why so many people seem to go around in circles and never seem to get anywhere. They have no idea where they are going and no plan except to move forward and see where it takes them.
Many enlightened people see the destruction that is happening to this country and know where it will eventually lead. They have made their plans to get through it the best that they can. Even with limited funds they have a destination in mind for the short term and know where they want to end up. This is a good beginning but not a complete plan.
You really need to sit down and decide where you want to end up in life. This entails deciding what kind of home you want to have and the living conditions you are willing to accept. Everyone wants a mansion with a swimming pool and a fancy car but is that a realistic destination with your current income? Being realistic in the current economic environment is what will make or break you in the end.
You may need to downgrade your hopes for the future to something more realistic and doable. To decide on your future destination you need to determine the minimal standards you will accept and work toward that end. Once you achieve that, you may decide to upgrade based on your resources.
Here is an example:
You want to have a quiet peaceful retirement in the country that you can afford. You are willing to do certain things for yourself to decrease your expenses in the future. You develop a plan and list all of the items you will need to complete this ideal retirement package on the least amount of money.
1) You decide 2 acres of land will be sufficient
2) You determine a small cottage or trailer will provide you sufficient housing
3) You decide a certain number of solar panels will provide you with sufficient power for future needs.
4) You determine you will need certain canning equipment and supplies to last for a certain number of years.
5) You decide you will need a small garden tractor with implements to plant sufficient food.
6) You decide you want a certain number of fruit trees in your yard.
7) You determine you will need propane or wood for some of your energy needs and determine how much it will cost and how much you will store.
8) You determine you will need transportation and an old sedan and a truck will be easier and cheaper to maintain and operate for the limited uses you will have.
9) You decide if you will have any livestock and what equipment you will need for them to include how you will feed them.
10) You determine your clothing needs and how you will satisfy them. Will you buy later, buy now and store or make what you need later?
11) How much will you need in savings to live on every month and how many years will it last?
12) Will you have some way to earn extra money to supplement what you have saved?
13) What will you do for medical needs and how much will that cost?
These are some of the things you will need to answer and determine what the bare minimum will be for 
your planned destination in this example. Once you know what the destination is you will be better able to plan a route to get you there to insure you know when you arrive. Once the minimum is taken care of you can expand on this and add items to provide more enjoyment and comfort. Without a detailed plan you may miss the only exit and have a very bad experience that you will have to live with.
Your current resources and desires will dictate what your destination will be but in any case you need a detailed plan to get there. The lack of long term panning is the cause of hardship for many people today when a simple plan would have solved many of their problems. The conveniences available today make life much easier and enjoyable but they come at a price. If you are unable to meet that price you will have to either suffer hardship or develop a plan you can afford.
The way many people lived in the early 20th century is not glamorous but they had the basics to get by day to day. This is a basic level of living that should be a starting point for any economically challenged persons that want to relax later in life rather than go from one emotional problem to another. One item you must evaluate now is your ability to maintain your current living conditions. If you are living at the edge or beyond your means then this is your starting point in planning your ultimate destination.
You cannot get where you need to go if you have no excess resources now so it is imperative to reduce where you can to create the excess you need to fulfill your list of needs detailed in your plan. If you are unable to cut anywhere now and things get worse in the future you will be forced to reduce your living standard even more so a realistic look at how you would live under worse circumstances may help you reevaluate your current circumstances.Reality will soon visit the people of this nation and most are not prepared to accept or deal with that new paradigm. A small piece of land, a small comfortable cottage or trailer, a garden, a wood cook stove and an old but functional sewing machine are some of the items that will enable you to care for your family and endure a severe downturn while providing the basic necessities they will need.A small number of key physical goods will help you get to your destination and enjoy it once there. It is your job to identify those physical goods now and acquire them while you can in a manner you can afford. Your future years will depend on how well you mapped out your route and what destination you have chosen. Lack of planning will ultimately get you to a destination but it may not be the one you want or can live with comfortably. Your future is in large part up to you and you only have one shot at it so don’t miss.
When preparing for a possible barter situation that may develop in the future you must decide what products to stock. There are so many different things that can be considered useful or necessary it is difficult to develop a list that works well for everyone. Because of this it is necessary for individuals to assess their potential situation and surroundings to develop a list of items that will be in demand during or after a crisis that will be in short supply. With so many products to choose from it may be easier for many to limit their stock to just a few items and stock in depth.
This will help those that have limited funds to focus on those items they feel are cost effective and useful for them. By focusing on a limited number of items you will be able to tailor your supplies to your community and insure you have what others may need insuring you have the ability to trade for items when you need to. This will allow you to stock some very cheap items and a few more costly items without busting your budget. If done carefully you can probably fit all of your barter items into a few foot lockers for easy storage and relocation if necessary.
Here are some headings and a few items for each that you might want to consider. You should use these headings and write your own list for each then select one or two items under each heading that is right for you to stock. The items you choose should be items that you can use yourself in the event you never need to barter with them insuring they will not go to waste no matter what happens.
Food –
Seeds
Flour
Cornmeal
Potato flakes
Beans
Rice
Powdered milk
Salt
Sugar
Oatmeal
Canned meats
Cooking oil
Organic honey, Garlic, Apple cider vinegar – for food or medicinal properties
Household products –
Bleach powder
Disposable razors
Toothpaste
Toilet paper
Soap
Laundry detergent
Candles
Matches or lighters
Duct tape
Batteries
Sewing kits
Medical products –
Aspirin
Gauze
Cotton balls
Bandaids
Surgical razors
Suture sets
Iodine
Blood stopper
Burn cream
Alcohol
Hydrogen peroxide
Antibiotics
Clothing –
Hats – cold weather
Gloves
Socks
Long underwear
Wool blankets
Hardware –
Locks
Nails
Screws
Glue
Plastic sheathing
Tubes of caulking
Tubes of roofing tar
Misc items –
Alcohol
Wine
Tobacco products
Condoms
Chocolate
Ammo
Once you make your list of five or six items to stock you can seek out the cheapest place to buy them. With a small list you can purchase a few items every week until you have the desired amount.
Your stock may look something like this.
100 lbs. of rice divided into 1 lb. bags
5 gal. of bleach powder
10 bottles of aspirin 100 tablets ea.
20 pr. Cotton gloves
10 rolls of plastic sheathing
10 pints of bourbon
The more you can store the longer you will be able to barter. The depth of your stock will be determined by your finances and how much you think you will need. The more funds you have available the more items you will be able to add to your primary list. While not considered necessary the items on the misc. list may be the most desired during a long crisis and will be relatively easy to trade just about anywhere. Some may decide that stocking just these items will be sufficient. Whatever you decide to stock, give it sufficient thought before you buy to insure you are making a good choice.
The purchase of used items should not be overlooked as well. Visiting a second hand store or a garage sale may present items that will become more valuable in the future. Items such as good used clothing or hand tools will be needed just about everywhere and used items may be very valuable due to disrupted supplies of new items. Children outgrow clothing very fast and as a result there is usually a lot of childrens clothing available for sale in almost new condition. This is an item that may be very difficult to find if supplies are disrupted for any length of time. And do not overlook old clothing you have that you may be debating on throwing out or selling now. The four main items needed by people are water, food, shelter and clothing. These are the first things people seek out to live day to day and offer the most opportunity for trade.
In an urban area, water supplies may become contaminated due to lack of functioning equipment to treat it so the ability to produce clean water may offer you the asset you need for trading. The storage of antibiotics goes well with this item. If people are getting sick from contaminated supplies they will need to find clean water and medicine to stay healthy.
There are many potential situations where necessary goods could be cut off and will be in high demand by the population. It is difficult to plan for every situation and have every possible item you may need so the storage of a few high demand items will insure you have the means to trade for those items you lack should things become desperate in the future.
Books can be your best pre-collapse investment.
Old Time Wisdom ( Timeless Bits of Wisdom on How to Grow Everything Organically, from the Good Old Days When Everyone Did you can prepare yourself for war by moving to the countryside and building a farm, but you must take guns with you, as the hordes of starving will be roaming. Also, even though the elite will have their safe havens and specialist shelters, they must be just as careful during the war as the ordinary civilians, because their shelters can still be compromised.”)
The Lost Ways (Learn the long forgotten secrets that helped our forefathers survive famines,wars,economic crisis and anything else life threw at them)
Survival MD (Best Post Collapse First Aid Survival Guide Ever)
Conquering the coming collapse (Financial advice and preparedness )
Liberty Generator (Build and make your own energy source)
Backyard Liberty (Easy and cheap DIY Aquaponic system to grow your organic and living food bank)
Bullet Proof Home (A Prepper’s Guide in Safeguarding a Home )
Family Self Defense (Best Self Defense Strategies For You And Your Family)
Survive Any Crisis (Best Items To Hoard For A Long Term Crisis)