Basic Necessities
OK, so you have your
library, your swept out cleared area, and your shelves, and your generator, now
what? Well, food and hygiene are a good start.
Let us address hygiene
first.
Hygiene
Figure out how much soap you
use a week. The author goes through about 3 bars of anti-bacterial soap a
month. Using this as a guide it is reasonable to purchase 80 bars of soap per
person to cover everyone for a two year period. As you use your store of soap
replenish the store annually. This will give you a much better idea of what is
necessary on a yearly basis.
Shampoo can be largely
dispensed with unless you are a woman or a long haired male. 16 large bottles per adult should be more
than ample. Johnson’s Baby Shampoo is recommended. You can use it on children
and adults, it isn’t expensive, and it comes in large bottles.
Toothpaste and toothbrushes
are far more important than soap. You can get marginally clean in a running
river with no soap. Teeth are a different story. Poor oral hygiene isn’t just
foul to the nose, it can be painful and life threatening.
The author goes through 1
large tube of toothpaste every six weeks. This constitutes 18 tubes a year, but
get a little extra. Figure 40 tubes per person for a two year period.
Toothbrushes should be
stocked as well. Figure 6 to 4 brushes per year per adult and two to three
rolls of floss. You may have different needs, so get more or less as your
personal dictates demand.
Most men can get by on a
razor a week, shaving 5 times before disposal. Plan on a minimum stock of 120
disposable razors and 10 cans of shaving cream per adult, since the ladies may
want to shave as well. An intelligent
alternative is a straight razor. A good straight razor is expensive and will
require care to maintain, obviously, but it is also something than can be used
for decades.
Haircuts can be facilitated
by getting a Braun electric clipper that takes AA batteries. If properly cared
for it can last for years. To be on the safe side, get two, as well as 4 or 5
pairs of scissors.
Deoderant is something that
you can do without, as most of Europe plainly knows. You will most likely not
want to stink. Personal experience shows that a stick of deoderant will last 4
to 6 weeks. A can will last less long and it is harder to meter out the proper
amount. Because of that try to avoid the cans and get the stick type. Figure 24
sticks per adult for a two year period.
Antifungal spray. Get at
least 4 large cans. It is good not only for fungal infections, it also does
wonders when sprayed onto poison ivy or poison oak.
Toilet paper should be
overstocked due to its use as a barter item. During the Serb-Croat war the two
most sought after items were matches and toilet paper. Figure 1 roll per adult
per week, or a minimum of 100 rolls per adult for a two year period. Try to get
the roughest sandpaper you can find. This will discourage overuse by the women
of the house and will be better at removing waste.
Feminine hygiene products should
be figured according to how much the women use. Women do not have a standard
amount or period of menstruation. Some go for 3 days every month, some for 6,
some once every two months for a week. If you figure on 10 pads or tampons per
month then that comes to 240 per woman for a two year period. Even if the
ladies use tampons, get 100 pads or so. They will be useful barter items and
can be used as a sterile dressing for a large wound.
Laundry detergent can be
purchased in large bulk tubs. Figure ½ cup per load and two to three loads per
week, so 150 cups minimum. Understand that you will not be doing laundry with a
machine. The easy way to wash without a machine is to put water in the tub, add
the soap, throw in a load, and take turns stomping vigorously on it for 45
minutes or so. After that drain the water, twist the excess out of the
clothing, and repeat this process with clean water twice to get the soap out.
Getting the soap out is very important, since laundry detergent can cause
chemical burns if left on exposed skin. Some detergents such as Ivory do not
contain phosphorus and cannot cause burns, so this may be a better way to go.
There are two alternative
methods. One is to get a big tub and a washboard just like your great great
grandparents had, another is to get a hand cranked washing machine. The one
pictured does double duty as a washer and as a butter churn, believe it or not.
Bleach is necessary not
only to clean clothing but also to purify water in the event you cannot use a
filter. 2-3 drops of bleach per gallon is all that is needed to make water
potable.
Q-Tips should be stocked
for cleaning ears and guns. Four large packages of 1000 should suffice for a
good long time.
6 to 8 22oz bottles of baby
powder may come in handy at some point. It can be used as a deoderant in adults
as well as its normal intended use.
You will find that you
produce far less garbage in a SHTF situation, but you will still need to
dispose of it. Get large heavy mil plastic garbage bags, preferably 200-250 of
them. Plan on digging a midden to bury trash in the even that you will be
without services for a while. Understand that you can’t put it too close to the
house or place it anywhere that might contaminate ground water. This is where
that book on public health and basic sanitation will come into play.
Clean water is an absolute
must. More children die worldwide from dehydration induced by drinking bad
water and contracting diarrhea than from any other cause. It is a good idea to
hook up a water filtration unit with a 0.5 micron porosity under your kitchen
sink right now. They are very inexpensive and easy to install yourself. Have
more than enough replacement filters and change them however often the manufacturer
suggests. In addition there are showerheads that double as filtration devices
that will keep you from ingesting bacteria laden water when bathing. Plan on
showering instead of bathing for the whole family. It saves water and is a
better way to get clean.
Hot water is always greatly
appreciated. There are multifuel water heaters on the market that price for
very little. Naturally you will want to change your existing heater, if it is
electric, to a multifuel only in the event of a long term problem. You may wish
not to change to a gas heater so that your capacity to have hot water will not
be interrupted in the even of loss of electrical power. Make sure you get a gas
heater that uses no electricity, or it won’t work.
This is the author’s
multifuel heater. It can use diesel, kerosene, gasoline, alcohol, coal, wood,
or natural gas for heat. If it burns it can be used.
The heater can also be used
as a still, which can be used to make fuel, so you may wish to have two on
hand. Here is a still that is on the author’s father’s land. As you can see it
was found sometime in the 30’s by dry agents.
Water storage is only a
problem for the urban dweller, since most rural homes have a well as a primary
source or as a backup. Typically an urban dweller will not be able to store
water or to even get it in the even of a large scale service disruption. With
that in mind, be prepared to leave the city as soon as possible should water be
interrupted.
A well should preferably
have a 12 or 24V immersion pump. These pumps last longer and can be powered by
a battery charged by a wind driven battery charger. Ideally you should have the
cistern mounted in a tower or in the attic of the house if possible so that
there is adequate water pressure. An elevation of 30 feet should be more than
sufficient for adequate water pressure. An inexpensive alternative to a water
tank that can be held for a rainy day is polyvinyl barrels. 4 barrels will hold
200 gallons of water which if strictly rationed will be more than enough for a
family of four’s daily needs.
The problem with mounting
these barrels in the attic is one weight. A gallon of water weighs roughly 8
pounds. Each barrel will then weigh in excess of 400 pounds when full. A way to
avoid having your water supply come crashing down through the ceiling is to use
pallets. Placing each barrel on a pallet will more than double the surface area
of the mass and allow the rafters to better support the weight.
Hooking them together with
PVC pipe will allow you to access all of the barrels at once, negating any need
for constantly having to go upstairs to switch tanks back and forth.
Only one toilet should be
used if uninterrupted water is not possible. For those who do not know this a
toilet can be flushed using a five gallon bucket of water poured either into
the tank or straight into the bowl.
Flushing the toilet two to four times a day should be sufficient to
maintain good bathroom hygiene.
Previous Section – Main Menu – Next Section
©
2004 BOB-Oracle.com
All Rights Reserved