Part 10: Laundry & Cleaning
PREP 101: Part 10, Laundry & Cleaning
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Okay, the power's out, you don't know when it will come back on, and your sweat-soaked clothes are getting freaky.
The solution, of course, is to hand-wash. There are ways to keep this from becoming to great a chore.
You need:
Drying rack
Clothesline
Wooden or plastic clothespins
Broomstick
LIQUID laundry soap (powder won't dissolve well)
Two 20-gallon plastic tubs with rope handles. These are available at K-mart for about $7 each, and they run them on sale quite often. You need one for washing and one for rinsing. These have a million other uses when not needed for emergency laundry: toting gardening equipment, toyboxes, laundry baskets...whatever turns you on.
This is where pool water comes in handy. Water stores in an above-ground pool or in those big trash cans is used for this purpose. You can heat water in a large dutch oven or cookpot on the grill. (Check the canning or cooking department. You can get 12 quart speckled "granny ware" pots that are perfect for this)
Sort your laundry as usual and go to work washing. You can use the broomstick to stir and "agitate" the clothes as well as scrubbing the really dirty pieces by hand. A friend does an Army Laundress impression at Civil War reenactments. She uses a broomstick nailed into a small three-legged stool and uses it to "punch" and agitate the laundry. Works really well too.
Rinse in the other tub and hang to dry! This is hard work, but that fresh, clean, sun-dried smell is wonderful.
NOW FOR THE HOUSE:
You'll probably have a TON of trash until pickup resumes. Double-bag all your trash, and put some kitty litter in the bottom of the trash cans. This will absorb leaks and help control odor.
TRASH BAGS! TRASH BAGS! It is impossible to have too many of these in your prep stock. The big lawn and leaf bags are tough and they have a million uses. They double as plastic sheeting, and with a hole punched in them make a great rain poncho. Keep some in the car for those trips to the beach: they'll protect your seat covers from damp and sand on the ride home.
In the house, clean as usual, unless you've had floodwater. Everything must then be cleaned with bleach to disinfect it. Keep the house aired as best you can while the power is off. You don't want to find mildew growing in your closet after the crisis is over.
Plan for unwelcome invaders, such as rats and mice and bugs. You can't have too many cans of bug spray and insect repellant in the summer. Storing items such as dog food in steel trash cans helps prevent rodents.
BATHING:
Invest in a solar shower. Coleman's costs about 10 bucks. These work even in cold weather, if you have a light source. They hold five gallons of water and you can just go to town with a bar of Zest and the shampoo. It's amazing how clean you can get with a good washbowl. Rainwater from your rain barrel, or your pool water, is fine for bathing. Just be careful not to swallow any of it.