Surviving and Thriving Without the Middleman

As I was jotting down some notes for this article a few days ago, a couple of memes came to mind.  You’ve probably seen both of them numerous times:

“You’re about to find out why your grandmother washed her aluminum foil and saved her bacon grease.”  And “Grandma survived the Great Depression because her supply chain was local and she knew how to do stuff.”

For the past couple of centuries, Americans have worked to expand their businesses and streamline production to increase profits as well as leisure time.  Technological advances permitted farmers to grow more food, freeing other men to work in factories, assemble cars, teach, etc.  Bakers provided fresh bread, appliances made food preparation and cleaning faster so that women could focus more time on their children taking them to music lessons or sports practice.  Unfortunately, most manufacturing was offshored in the past couple of decades and Americans focused on growing a service economy.

Everything was fine as long as credit was freely available and utilized.  Unfortunately, our productivity peaked a while back and we’re now on the downward slide as credit contracts.  Inflation is skyrocketing.  Weimar Germany, here we come.  Like it or not, most of us need to economize like never before.

There are loads of helpful suggestions on how to save money by eliminating the middleman and doing things yourself.  What people fail to realize, however, is that they don’t have a choice about whether to eliminate the middleman and DIY everything.  That’s because the middleman is already gone.  The goods might still be in stores for a little while, but that’s soon coming to an end.

Too many people refuse to work.  Manufacturing plants can’t source essential supplies.  Repair parts can’t get shipped.  The carbon dioxide shortages mean that produce can’t be kept fresh as long.  Drought means that barges transporting grains and beans can’t move.  No wheat means no cute boxes of pancake and brownie mixes.  No corn getting moved affects everything that has corn in it—and that’s all the foodstuffs, plus fuel, toothpaste, crayons, plastics.  Wow, the list just goes on. 

Every step in the supply chain has a cost associated with it.  The more steps you can eliminate (or that are eliminated for you) the more money you can save.  Of course, there is the cost of your time, and we all see that leisure time evaporating.  At least, I do. 

Maybe take it in steps.  Instead of going out for a pizza, get a take ‘n bake or something from the grocery store.  The next step would be buying a pizza crust, sauce, and toppings.  You try that for a bit and then decide you can make your own crust and sauce.  I’m not to the point of making mozzarella (working on it) or pepperoni or sausage yet.  King of the Picky Eaters has started hunting, so maybe he’ll be making sausage someday.  What about the sauce?  Start by making your own from store-bought tomato sauce and paste.  Then you move on to growing your own tomatoes.  And finally, starting your own tomatoes from seed and processing the harvest into tomato sauce that you then preserve for later use. 

Look at what will save you the most money and begin there.  Condiments and salad dressings are pretty expensive and at the same time can be made pretty cheaply at home.  What’s cheap mayonnaise running now?  Five or six dollars a quart?  It’s just a couple of eggs and some vegetable oil and a little bit of vinegar, salt, and dry mustard.  Allow 15 minutes max for making the mayo and cleaning up.  Ketchup and other tomato products are about to be in very short supply.  Growing and making our own will be the only way to have it going forward.

Learn to make your own cleaning supplies for pennies on the dollar.  Save the cleaning spray bottles you already have and use those for window and bathroom cleaners.  Laundry soap is very inexpensive to make as well. 

Then we need to learn to make things last longer since resupply is going to be difficult.  Wear aprons to protect clothing whether working in the garage or the kitchen or cleaning the house.  Learn how to mend clothing and socks.  Save worn out jeans to patch other pairs of jeans.  If socks are beyond repair, turn them into soap socks to make your soap bars last much longer in the shower. 

Naturally, some will object that such efforts to economize are going to wipe out the middlemen in our community.  However, the fact is that they are already almost wiped out.  Without credit to permit them to acquire goods and supplies to stock their stores or permit them to run their companies, they are out of business.  Without their customers having access to easy credit, they are out of business again.  We need to prepare for that eventuality now, to learn new skills while the internet is still available.  And while it is winter and we’re stuck inside and unable to garden to any appreciable degree. 

Of course, not all suggestions will be applicable to everyone.  But we can probably all do more than we have been to economize and prepare well for the coming challenges.  It’s prepare or perish.  Because the middleman is almost gone and he won’t be back for a while.