I maintain that useful, helpful comments left on blogs benefit everyone, and in my case often end up leaving more information in the comment section than I originally put out in a post. Let me show you what my previous post, "If Monday is washing day..." could roughly have looked like (minus some of what I would have also still included if this was the original post) if I had had the comments people left before I wrote it:
(As Gen-IL Homesteader's reminds me) In the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ma's daily chores were:
Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday.
I read and read and did I mention read these books when I was younger, so what better excuse do I have to wait until at least next Monday to use this:
Yeah, it's a plunger, but it's a plunger for washing clothes. My dad came up on Friday from out of state and brought a bunch of emergency preparedness stuff (thanks Dad!!) which will probably be mentioned here and elsewhere, but today the plunger gets the place of honor.
And this is no ordinary black rubber plunger. Not only is it blue, :) but is made of what appears to me to be hard plastic, and has a slightly different shape and a really different bottom which you can see in (you can thank Sondra from over at Clean Frugal Living for prompting me to be a better blogger by including) these pictures:
I am very glad to have the plunger, and the plan at the moment is to use it in a food storage bucket when the power goes out. You could use it in a tin tub, I suppose, but seeing as how we don't currently have one of those in our possession, a food storage bucket will have to do.
(Thanks to Kymber over at Canadian Preppers Network, I have learned about) This post over at Yukon Territory Preppers Network is a great source if you are thinking about the importance of clean clothes in an emergency situation. Written by Jennifer of New Mexico Preppers Network , it details her methods on washing clothes without electricity. I highly recommend reading it--lots of wonderful ideas, and she has more (and better) pictures... :)
And finally, you might even be able to get even more convenient accessories for washing without electricity as most of us know it if you keep your eyes open for a deal, and it will definitely be easier to keep clothes clean in an emergency if you have thought things out ahead of time. A good example of this (thanks to Carl, who leaves great and informative comments) can be found here:
"I bought a gavanized metal version of the Laundry Plunger over Lehmans for somrthing like $12.00. I had my Better half test it and she says it works fine for small loads.
I also bought a couple of metal bushel and a Half buckets to heat wash and rince water in over an open fire if required.
In the middle between our 25 speed automatic washer and dryer, I bought a 50's style Hotpoint wringer washer at a garage sale for $50.00
The advantage of this thing is that it has two speeds, fast and slow, the motor draws about 300 watts, which my solar system can handle. The wringer is a bit to learn to use, but I am sure the average 3rd grader can figure it out."
So, you could just hand wash, which was my original plan until I got my new little blue plunger "washing machine". You could use some of the ideas in Jennifer's post that I linked, and/or look around before there's a problem and find some really good options for reasonable prices or think about ways to heat water like Carl did. Whatever the case, it is going to ease stress if you know what you will do with dirty clothes before you find out that you have run out of clean ones, and the methods you employ now are no longer an option....
Ok, wasn't that better in terms of just plain old wonderful and useful information? Just an example of how much you miss if you don't read the comments. And how much others miss if you don't leave yours.... Thanks to Gen, Sondra, Kymber, Jennifer, and Carl--your comments and sharing of knowledge are much appreciated!
