I recently misplaced my wallet. Reasonably certain it was in the house somewhere and would turn up, I didn't bother canceling my cards.

Other than the nagging worry that I was wrong, I was surprised at how little this inconvenienced me. Not only do most of my day-to-day transactions not require cash, plastic cards are also rarely needed. Just a wave of my phone suffices.

I suppose some 'junk silver' (US coins from 1964 or earlier, when they contained 90% silver) would come in handy, but everything in my loose change jar is of a newer vintage.

What will they think of next? Some kind of mark on your right hand or forehead?

'World Made by Hand'

At any rate, at the time I happened to be reading James Howard Kunstler's excellent postapocalyptic novel, "World Made by Hand." What makes the novel so compelling (along with its three excellent sequels) is its thought-provoking focus on the more mundane struggles of post-collapse life.

While the chain of events leading up to collapse are kept vague (a combination of peak oil, war in Israel, nuclear terror bombings, and the split of the USA into warring territories), its consequences are clear: mainly, no more electricity. (Yes, one character has some generators, but these break down, and once they do, parts are hard to come by.)

The series focuses on the residents of a fictional small town in upstate New York called Union Grove. The town has reverted to an 18th-century agrarian life, and one of the pleasures of the series is watching the residents' detailed attempts to rebuild civilization on this more modest scale. These scenes have the added benefit of giving Kunstler the opportunity to criticize the inefficiencies and waste of contemporary consumerism.

That is not to say there are no roving bands of marauders or some of the other excitements we expect from dystopian literature; its just that the books are honest that the most pressing dangers would be the more pedestrian ones: lack of food, medical care, and adequate shelter, to name a few.

Also plain old despair. Some of the characters just can't seem to adjust to the drastic lack of conveniences they grew accustomed to in the before times; it's all too easy to give up.

Paper dollars or real money?

One thing that's become rather harder is paying for things. There is still paper currency, but it is largely worthless.

Consider the scene in which some Union Grove townsfolk travel to Albany by boat in order to engage in trade. Once there, their first order of business is to secure lodgings from an innkeeper named Slavin.

“Now, how do you boys propose to pay for your rooms and meals? Paper dollars or real money?”

“Silver coin good enough?” Joseph said.

"We take that here. Two bits each, bed and a meal. One dollar for the horses. Drinks are extra, of course.”

Joseph took out a leather drawstring purse and dropped a handful of old quarters and half-dollars on the wooden bar, where they rang musically. Slavin looked impressed. Whatever the other failures of the U.S. government were, it had managed to print an excess of dollars which, combined with the collapse of trade and communication, had severely eroded the currency’s value. People always liked silver better, if it was offered. Gold, on the other hand, was rarely seen. People tended to hoard it.

This made me think of my missing wallet, and it did give me pause. What use will my iPhone's digital wallet be when SHTF? What would I use instead? Like Joseph, I suppose some "junk silver" (U.S. coins from 1964 or earlier, when they contained 90% silver) would come in handy, but everything in my loose change jar is of a newer vintage.

As for actual gold or silver ... am I supposed to carry around bars of the stuff?

Bite-sized bullion

Prepper Bar

The American company Prepper Bar has come up with a solution to make life in post-fiat-currency world a little less cumbersome. It sells slim, credit-card-sized bars of silver and gold that can fit in your wallet.

Minted in Nevada, each bar is 66.2 grams and can be broken up like a candy bar into smaller units.

Unlike Swiss competitor Valcambi, which also offers divisible silver and gold bars, Prepper Bar allows for division into different units: 7.776 grams (roughly 1/4 troy oz), 3.11 (1/10 troy oz), or 1.555 grams (1/20 troy oz).

Prepper Bars are IRA-approved, but keep in mind that you do pay a premium for the convenience Prepper Bars offer, making them better as a supplement to your precious metal stores rather than the main source.