PREPS PART 21: CLEANING EVERYTHING

OK fellow preppers........how do we clean the house with out electricity? We have touched on this subject here and there.
I remember someone talking about a push style carpet cleaner.....note to self, get one!

Let's hear your opinions on the best way to do all that
cleaning! Clothes washing, vacuuming (with no vacumn-arrgghhh) and other regular houehold maintence stuff, dishes, clothes, floors, dirty pots and pans, and another important one, getting stains out of clothes.
How do you clean down comforters? Wool blankets?
How do you get smelly dog smell from a carpet?
What products can we make for cleaning everything?
How will we bleach things if there are no lemons and the bleach has run out?
What about poopie diapers?

Come on folks.......let 'er rip. I am sure you have great ideas and more smelly dirty scenarios to discuss.

We got rid of the carpets when ashtma fired up on the little ones. The whole house is either tiled or wood floors.

So glad we did. They are so much easier to clean. Swifter and Wet Mops - industrail style work swell, The wet mop coupled with a industrial mop bucket DW got for $5 is easy to do. I use a 1-gallon garden pump spray [NEW - used only for WATER] with hot water in it, prewet the all the floors and come back in and mop. Prewetting really loosens up the dirt. We can sweep the floors with new dust brooms.

Carpets start out dirty and go down hill from there!

After a certain point I think most folks will be tearing up their carpets as you can not keep wall to wall carpeting without electricty long term. It has to be vacumed or it stinks badly.

Most folks will go with wood floors or stone floors though some may be able to get some kind of tiles locally from someone who works clay.

A good strong broom is what I have gotten. I have stone in my kitchen now and I sweep and mop it. Under the carpet is concrete which will get the same should the carpet have to come up.

If you have removable rugs what they use to to was take the rug out in the snow in the winter turn it upside down and all the kids jump on it squishing snow in it. Then beat the snow out bring it inside to dry if needed.

If you have hardwoods I do recommend getting a dust mop and some Endust spray. Several cans. When I was young we had hard wood on most of the house and that is how we cleaned them except vacuming them once a month then running a lightly damp mop over them. You don't want to soak hardwood floors wet or it will ruin your finish. If the are unfinished them scrub with a scrub brush if you like. In fact that is exactly what they use to do in earlier times. They would take pails of soapy water scrub the floor and have a drilled hole in the middle of the room so the water could be swept toward it to get rid of the cleaning water.

Learn how to make soap as you will need it.

I do suggest getting a big kettle to wash clothing in to heat the water if you can afford it and find one. If elect is out you won't be using your washer.

I am collecting many bottles of dawn dish washing liquid as I like it as it get rid of grease. I still remember washing dishes in the greasy water pre such liquids.

Shampoo is something else that I am getting several of. If things don't come back I will miss that as washing your hair with soap is the pits. I recalling doing that some when I was young and the shampoo was gone.

Learn to make vinegar as vinegar is good for cleaning many things.

Get several scrub brushes to have on hand as you may have to scrub once the wonder cleaners of today are gone. Use to to get something clean you scrubbed it. Now we have cleaners that disolve all kinds of stains and dirt.

Have cleaning rags as there won't be paper towels. Dish cloths last longer than sponges and have drying towels too that don't leave lint.

Have a dish drainer as the dish washer won't be working.

I have some already but strongly suggest getting some essential oils.
Once the spray cans of air freshner are gone we will have to revert back to a small bottle of nicely scented water with a rag in it pulling out the scent to freshen our houses. How many remember the old scent bottles with the wire hoop pulling up the rag in the bottle. My mother had one in the kitchen when I was younger.

I bought one of those Bissel push sweepers like the restaurants use for y2k. I have 3 dogs so there is a lot of hair and I have carpets in every room. They work pretty good as long as you empty the dirt catchers often. You can sprinkle some baking soda on the carpets to kill the doggie odor. I have cleaned carpets using sudsy water and a scrub brush. It's a lot of work and I hope I never have to do it again!
Hanging clothes outside on the clothes line in the sun will help bleach them. Peroxide will help bleach whites too.
As far as cleaning everything else, ammonia and water will clean a lot of things. I'm sure other people have recipes for cleaning products that they'll post too.
For laundry I would heat water and do the wash in the laundry tubs in the basement. I don't have a wringer so it would be a nasty job! I have done it in the bathtub in the past when my washer died and it's not fun! I ended up with a sore back and blistered fingers.
I'm anxious to see what everybody else comes up with.

I removed the carpet in one of my rooms, and found beautiful hardwood floors had been there all along. I still have carpet in some rooms, so without electricity for a long time, I would just pull up the carpet in the rest of the rooms. I also have a non-electric carpet sweeper.

For laundry, I would just wash by hand. I have had to do that in the past when my washer broke down, and I would just do it again. Even though I have a dryer, I still hang my laundry on my outdoor clothes line when the weather is nice - love that fresh air smell

what about diapers? any suggestions?

Didn't someone mention Borax a while back? Where would you get that if you didn't have it in your stores?

What about stains on clothes? Any ideas? What could we do to get things really cleaned....boil clothes?

Who has experience with wash boards? Are the glass ones better than the metal?

Inquiring minds want to know.

LilRose, here's a detergent recipe with Borax if that's what you're referring to. It does work well, is easy to make, and makes quite a bit. It doesn't take much space to store the ingredients to have them on hand.

Measure 3 pints of water into a cooking pot. Add 1/3 bar grated Fels
Naptha laundry soap. Cook over medium heat until dissolved. Stir in:
½ cup Washing soda, ½ cup Borax. Stir until it thickens like honey.
Remove from heat. Pour 1 quart of hot water into a two gallon
bucket, stirring in the thickened soap mix. Stir and mix until well
blended. Cover and set aside for 24 hours. It will gel up.

A good all purpose cleaner can be gotten from Lehmans and is called Liquid Sunshine. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on laundry, hair, body, dishes or anything else. Because it's low sudsing, it doesn't take a lot of water to rinse things, and it does a great job.

Lehmans also sells a little washer that has a handle you turn to wash the clothes. Glad I dont' have to worry about diapers, but if I did, this little washer would become a treasure. For larger loads, a couple wash tubs and wringer would be ideal. If you didn't have bleach, vinegar would be good to have to clean the diapers better than with just detergent. Then, hanging in the sunshine.

Have also heard that leaving clothes hanging overnight or laying on the grass overnight will whiten them, but haven't tried it, and think when the SHTF, white isn't going to be a color of choice and doubt that we'll have the same standards or be worried about ring around the collar.

A couple durable washpans like you can pick up at Sams Club would work well for dishes, and they also have the cotton cloths sold in bundles that are as good as an old diaper for cleaning. Would be good to store a few bundles. Have found as many uses for them as for vinegar.

Oh bummer. Cleaning isn't a good topic.

Thanks for the soap recipe Splicerswife. I do believe that was what I was looking for. One question though..is washing soda just baking soda or something different?

I wish Lehmans wasn't so expensive. They do have the greatest products.

I am still hoping someone can answer my washboard question. I want to buy one and would love to know glass vs metal.

Also, those of you that raise geese for down........can a down comforter be washed or will this ruin the down? I will be having mine dry cleaned soon but if TSHTF I think a duvet may be in order....at least you can wash the duvet.

Washing soda and baking soda are not the same thing. Washing soda will be found in the detergent section. Finally found some, just have to make up a batch now.

Nana said:

Washing soda and baking soda are not the same thing. Washing soda will be found in the detergent section. Finally found some, just have to make up a batch now.

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Thanks Nana.......I will be on the lookout for it.

Where can you buy one of those mop bucket with wringers?

LilRose, I've never used a washboard, except as a child playing with my grandmas washing doll clothes. I remember reading that the metal was the best overall, but durned if I can find it now. After running a search and coming across this, I wonder if it's not so much the material as the construction? And I wonder too, how breakable the glass one is.

The washboards, which sell for $14 to $24, are produced in varying sizes with rubbing surfaces that include galvanized steel, stainless steel, brass and glass. Galvanized metal is the original choice, with a wavy crimp designed to keep the soap on the board so it doesn’t run down into the water. A coarse, spiral crimp surface is used for tougher pieces such as socks and pants, while a rounded, smoother area is best for washing delicates.
http://www.americanprofile.com/issues/20041219/20041219_4362.asp

After reading about it a little, I'm wondering too, why, if you were truly in need of one, you couldn't make it with wood? Maybe a solid piece of wood with some cross bars of wood that has been rounded, or even small tree branches with one side flattened?

Here's a link that will show you what the box of washing soda looks like. Once you know what it looks like, it should be easy to spot, but I'd do some price comparisons. I got my fels naptha soap for a dollar a bar and washing soda, I wouldn't think to be over 3.00. A few bars and boxes will last a long, long, time.
http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/

As far as the down washing, I wash our down coats on gentle cycle and dry with tennis balls. Noisy, but keeps the down from clumping. An alternative would be to check on it often and reposition the down. It's never harmed anything.

Lehmans is expensive on a lot of things. There's an Amish grocery store a couple doors down that sells some of the things, like 1/2 gal. jars for a whole lot less. As far as the liquid sunshine soap, I don't see that it would be that hard to make it yourself. Will experiment with that one of these days after catching up on gardening, and report back.

Cardinal said:

Where can you buy one of those mop bucket with wringers?

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Cardinal, you can get one at Sam's Club, and Harbor Freight. Forget if they're 29 or 39 dollars.

Cardinal said:

Where can you buy one of those mop bucket with wringers?

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I saw them at our Walmart Super Center. I didn't look real close at them, so I don't know if they'd be big enough to do much. I think people were getting them at Sam's Club too before y2k.

Cardinal said:

Where can you buy one of those mop bucket with wringers?

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I got mine at Wally world for $29

Thanks for the link Splicerswife.....very helpful. As usual.

Dinghy said:

I saw them at our Walmart Super Center. I didn't look real close at them, so I don't know if they'd be big enough to do much. I think people were getting them at Sam's Club too before y2k.

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I got mine strictly for wringing out clothes...wash and rinse in a larger tub and use the bucket wringer for getting them squeezed out.

LilRose said:

I got mine strictly for wringing out clothes...wash and rinse in a larger tub and use the bucket wringer for getting them squeezed out.

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Are they big enough to do a pair of jeans? That's what I had the most trouble with when I had to wash by hand years ago.

Women used to boil clothes to get them clean, they would lay them out on a tables or a rock and paddle the heck out of them to get the dirt out. I think the Foxfire books have some of the info on how it was done.

The indians used to put their furs and stuff out onto ant hills where the ants would pick off all the stuff dropped into the furs over the winter. Could certainly be done with area rugs also. Pioneer woman beat the dickens out of rugs.

I read somewhere that those brown ear type mushrooms that grow out of old wood are good for getting grease out of leather-you rub the stain with it and it absorbs it.

I know the Lowes here has those floor buckets with mop wringers for something like 29$ or 39$. Believe me, you do not want to be trying to wring out jeans. Get LOTS of clothespins.

Cleaning: Good old-fashioned elbow grease

I don't use swiffers or any of that new-fangled stuff. I don't even use a mop. I've found that nothing gets your floor cleaner than a bucket of warm, soapy water (I use plain old Palmolive with a splash of bleach) and a cheap sponge. I wash my floors BY HAND, on my knees.

Rugs and carpets: take 'em out, throw 'em over a clothesline, and beat the dust out of the suckers.

Laundry: Go to K-Mart. They have large, 20-gallon plastic tubs with rope handles. You need two of them, one to wash and one to rinse. When not used for disaster relief, they make great toyboxes or carriers for gardening equipment.

Fill one with hot water (yeah, heat some on a campfire!) and some soap (stock liquid laundry soap, the powder doesn't dissolve well) and the other with clear water for rinsing.

Soak the laundry well. Use a broomstick or a baseball bat to agitate. In the 19th century, women often nailed a 3-legged wooden stool to a broomstick and used that to agitate their laundry. Does a great job. I don't recommend the metal scrubbers because they're very hard on fabric.

Dry on a clothesline or wooden laundry rack.

I've been known to use liquid dishwashing liquid to do my laundry when I was broke. Palmolive does well, and nothing beats Dawn for getting grease out of clothes!

Smells? Learn to dry herbs, or use evergreen branches. You'll have that nice Christmas smell year-round.

I'm with a lot of folks...by the end of the summer, all of my carpeting will be replaced with laminated wood floors. Give me a broom and mop anyday!

I stock up bigtime on vinegar and bleach...along with Dawn detergent. Those three things should cover almost any cleaning need. For laundry, well...I have a big tub and a bathroom plunger plus a mop wringer. Not fun, but gets the job done.

For hot water and dish washing I use my grandma's huge old teakettle...about 3 gallon. If I need more water, the pot from the canner works well. (Hot water for plucking chickens comes to mind! )

Dinghy said:

Are they big enough to do a pair of jeans? That's what I had the most trouble with when I had to wash by hand years ago.

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I am sure they are...you might have to wring one leg at a time and then the body but it would surely be possible to do jeans.