My solution has been this:
Live very cheaply. I owe not one penny of debt. I live so simply that many people would be horrified. I still don’t have hot water - hub will get to installing the on demand propane hot water heater eventually; in the winter I always have about 4 gallons or more heating on the wood stove in large pots. I heat the house (ahem - cabin) with a used wood stove that cost $50, and it’s our own wood. We use wood that to heat with that most people would put on an outdoor burn pile, we burn everything burnable to save wood.
I cook everything from scratch except an occasional jar of salsa or canned pumpkin. We eat simply, two meals a day usually. We never, ever eat out or need “entertainment”. We read out loud to each other, play our own music and so on for our entertainment.
I make almost all house hold personal care stuff - I buy Kirks Castile soap from the manufacturer by the case - 50 bars per case - and have enough for the rest of my life and to share. I use it for washing my hair too, and rinse with diluted white vinegar, works better than any expensive shampoo.
I make my own tooth powder, skin oils, sink cleaner, salves, and treat hub and myself and clients with herbs.
I buy pretty much all food supplies in bulk, mostly from Azure Standard. I have enough bulk basic grains/beans etc for at least 2 years, and this includes helping others. We have enough to pay property tax for a few years if need be. Any vehicle we ever buy we get used, very cheap, and hub fixes them.
Hub got a straight razor for shaving, hasn’t used it yet, only shaves every so often since his beard isn’t super heavy and he looks nice in a short bear; he cuts his own hair and I but my own if need be.
He buys shoes when they’re on sale so he has extras, since he works outside most of the time he wears them out. I have tons of extra guitar strings since I love playing my guitars.
The bottom line is - our needs are few, our wants are simple, and we already live as though the economy is totally collapsed, have for some time.
There are a few things I’d like - a laptop in case of elecrtic outages, and a hand pump for the well. We have a lot of water storage capacity and only run the well to fill them up.
Most people could reduce their personal expenditure tremendously by cutting out things they consider necessities but don’t in reality need at all.
A couple of other things people should consider are developing skills that are marketable not necessarily to employers, but to the local community. For instance - hub went and bought a van for $400 as a parts van (we have two like it) and the man he bought it from runs a bike store in a town bout 85 miles from here. He is going gangbusters selling bikes, used bikes, fixed bikes, bike trailers. So anyone who knows how to fix bikes, for instance, or other useful items, will have something that can bring in money in hard times.