When people imagine hard times, they picture running out of money. But money is just a stand-in for the things we actually need — and when it gets tight or stops working the way it should, the people who do best aren't the ones with the fattest wallets. They're the ones who know what else they've got.

Here are five things you almost certainly already own that hold their value when cash doesn't.

1. Skills. The ability to do something — fix a leak, sew a tear, cook from scratch, grow a tomato, cut hair — never runs out and never needs restocking. A skill is the one thing you can trade over and over without ever giving it away. If you think you don't have one, you're probably just too used to it to notice.

2. Time and hands. Plenty of people have resources but no time, or a job that's too big for one person. An afternoon of honest labor — hauling, stacking, watching kids, digging — is worth real value to the right neighbor. You always have this to offer, even on your brokest day.

3. The ordinary stuff in your cabinets. Extra batteries, a spare lighter, canning jars, seeds, medicine, coffee. In normal times these are clutter. In tight times they're currency — small, easy to trade, and always in demand. You don't need a stockpile; you need to notice what you already keep.

4. A working relationship with your neighbors. This is the one people skip, and it's the most valuable of all. A community that trades favors, shares tools, and shows up for each other is worth more than anything you can buy. It's also the one asset you have to build before you need it — you can't stockpile trust overnight.

5. Knowing what things are actually worth. When money is the measuring stick, prices do the thinking for you. Take money out and you need a different kind of sense — what a dozen eggs is worth in firewood, what an hour of your work trades for. That instinct is a skill like any other, and it's learnable.