While there are tons of articles and video’s out there discussing all the aspects of preparing for the inevitable SHTF, I’ve never seen anything mentioned about post-SHTF entertainment. Other than an infrequent mention of putting away several boxes of condoms for the occasional romantic interlude, never seen the topic discussed. In order to maintain some resemblance of moral and psychological health – entertainment that can distract and get the mind going in a direction away from the stresses of reality would be in order.
I’ve been accumulating a massive library of movies and TV shows specifically for this purpose. In a future article, I’ll share how I’ve been doing this as some of my methods have been risky, to say the least. I’ve also considered selling my library(in excess of 2 terabytes of videos) but at this point – no dice. Technically doing so would be “illegal” and offensive to some. Somehow I take a great amount of joy by “sticking it to the man” by obtaining most of my movies and TV shows for pennies versus the often ridiculous dollars demanded for a 1.5-hour movie and a 30-minute sitcom. The fact that most of Hollywood is full of hypocritical assholes….well, that’s a bonus.
(The Magic of Belle Isle.……great movie!!!)
My main method of viewing video files includes transferring movies and tv shows to a USB and watching them on modern televisions via USB drives. For post-SHTF using tablets and laptops is a very capable method to watch a few episodes of The Flintstones or go to a mental escape and watch Iron Man. Both tablets and laptops – especially tablets are easily charged via inexpensive portable solar panels and are very energy efficient.
While these movies and TV shows are rather modern and require electricity and such other methods of entertainment are certainly available. Board games are a great item to stock up on and many can be found for pennies on the dollar at thrift shops and yard sales. A deck of regular cards as well as the classic UNO can be a great addition.
A shelf full of books can also provide hours and hours of entertainment.
Any thoughts on entertainment after the SHTF?
Take care all!
Rourke
Yes having sexual protection is important if you are in that time of life -stage
or for those who are who are living with you. Child birth can be deadly.
Yes our home has abundant reading
material,board games etc. Musical instruments and sheet music-
craft supplies- art, yarn, knittiing needles,coloring books, crayons- pencil sharpener and extra pencils etc. are all good to have if you have the room. Arlene
Thanks for sharing Arlene!
We collect DVD’s for such times. Any films stored in the cloud or via any subscription service are prone to censorship for content as well as corporate control. Also have a hard drive with content as well. Have the solar capability to run it all. A great place to get used DVD’s are thrift shops. You pay 1 or 2$, it goes to a good cause, local charity and you have a movie that cannot be taken away. We got a bunch from a video store that closed, tremendous selection and cheap. Books are the other treasure and our library is always growing. A caveat, we learned that if you ever lend out a movie or book, always get something in return that will help ensure the recipient returns the item.
JR, I too have downloaded movies from free sources and put them on a USB drive. Any thoughts on the possibility of sending you a thumbdrive to “lease” some of your movies and sitcoms?
I have a stack of board games and a handful of jigsaw puzzles that I kept after the kids outgrew them. Every now and then, we pull one out and play after a holiday meal. They’re really not that expensive and simple to store. Just keep them dry.
Books have always been important to me. I have a wide variety of both adult and children’s fiction, histories, how-to’s, medical books, plant guides, old cookbooks, and elementary readers from the early 20th century. Shades of Arlene, I have knitting & crochet needles as well as a small hand loom. The musical gene passed me by, but if it’s necessary I can keep rhythm with 2 sticks!
A dart board and a ping pong game that can be set up on the kitchen table
will be a fun way to pass some time before your guard duty shift.
I recently found my sugar canister empty so I went to my craft/DD closet and pulled out a saved Food Saver bag of sugar. I had 3 pounds stored and was dated 03.03.2012.
I cut it open and the air swooshed out of it. I filled the canister and resealed the remaining bag to put back in the closet.
I have also gone thru the rice and beans so I will spend another day redoing them.
So my math tells me this saved sugar was about 12 years old and doing fine.
I also have a box or two of purchased items like this.
My kitchen pantry is full because I have been stocking up on food there because of high prices and some grocery shelves being empty.
It’s a good feeling to know I pretty well prepared.