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  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Preparedness
    • Where to begin
    • Bug-Out Bags
    • Basic Disaster Supplies
    • Car Preparedness
    • Medical Issues >
      • Medical Supplies
      • Health Preparedness
      • Disaster First Aid
    • Water Storage
    • Long Term Food Storage >
      • Food Shelf Life
      • Stocking Up
      • Food Preservation
      • How to Store Food
      • Where to Store Food
  • Survival
    • Cooking without Electricity
    • Gardening Basics
    • Sanitation & Laundry
    • Personal Hygiene
    • Security
    • Outdoor Survival
    • Starting a Fire
  • RESOURCES
  • SHOP
    • Books
    • Cooking Supplies
    • Emergency Kits
    • Food & Water Storage
    • Food Preserving
    • Sanitation
    • Medical Supplies
    • Gardening Supplies
    • Security

Sanitation & LAUNDRY

SANITATION
We don't talk about sanitation much when discussing emergency preparedness, but if the water stops running after a disaster then flushing the toilet will very quickly become a messy problem! If you choose to remain in  your home after a significant disaster then you'll need to know your options:
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Indoor Sanitation
With a few modifications you can use your own toilets as emergency potties
  • Empty the water from the bowl
  • Put a heavy duty 13 gallon (or larger) garbage bag into the bowl
  • Secure garbage bag with duct tape
  • Duct tape the toilet handle to remind everyone it doesn't work
  • After each use pour a small amount of kitty litter, sawdust or Quicklime into the bowl and close the lid until next time.
  • Change the bag when needed, carrying the "full" bag outdoors in a bucket.
  • Discard toilet bag in an outdoor garbage can, garbage pit or somewhere suitable.
  • Provide a way to clean hands after using toilet (alcohol gel, or soap/water/paper towels)
Outdoor Sanitation
Bucket Toilet
  • Use a 5-gallon bucket with a toilet seat on top
  • Put a heavy duty 13 gallon (or larger) garbage bag into the bucket
  • Secure garbage bag with duct tape
  • After each use pour a small amount of amount of kitty litter, sawdust or Quicklime into the bowl and close the lid until next time.
  • Change the bag when needed, and discard in an outdoor garbage can, garbage pit or somewhere suitable.
  • Provide a way to clean hands after using toilet (alcohol gel, or soap/water/paper towels)
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Pit Latrine
  • Locate the latrine in a spot that is at least 100 feet from rivers, streams, lakes or wells, and is downhill from water sources.
  • Location should be well drained and above flood level.
  • Hole should ideally by 6+ feet deep.
  • Make a latrine cover that includes a hole no more than 6 inches in diameter.
  • Throw kitty litter, sawdust, ash or Quicklime onto waste after using latrine to decrease flies & odors.
  • When the waste is 20 inches below ground level it is time to build a new pit. Cover the first pit with soil.
  • Provide a way to clean hands after using toilet (alcohol gel, or soap/water/paper towels)
Toilet Paper Alternatives
Eventually it will run out....and THEN you can use:
  • Other soft papers (napkins, paper towels, facial tissue)
  • Other paper (printer paper, newspaper, wrapping paper)
  • Water irrigation (via a spray bottle) perhaps wiping with a clean flannel or cotton cloth, afterwards (then put cloth in a bucket and wash them when the bucket fills up)
  • Leaves , including leaves from corn husks, Big Leaf Maples, Large Leaved Asters and Cottonwoods. 

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LAUNDRY

How will you do your laundry without power?
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  • Shake out clothing before washing
  • Apply a small amount of Shout to any visible stains and then scrub with a brush
  • Use a small amount of laundry detergent with your wash so the clothing doesn't take so much water to rinse. 
  • To make your own laundry  detergent, mix together:
                 - 1 cup Borax
                 - 1 cup Washing Soda
                 - 1 cup grated bar of soap
          then use 1-2 Tablespoons per load of laundry
  • If you have an emergency manual washing machine like one of these, follow the directions
                  - Wonderwash
                  - Laundry Pod​
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  • If you have neither of these, you can use a 5-gallon bucket, put hot water and detergent into the bucket, add your clothes, and use one of these cleaning options:
             1) Seal it with a Gamma Seal Lid
                  - Then shake the bucket back and forth for several minutes. 

             2) Agitate clothing with a "Breathing" Mobile Washer, or you can just use a plunger
             THEN: - Drain out the soapy water
                           - ​R
inse clothing by repeating the process with fresh water
  • How to wring out the clothes?
                  - Do this by hand, with a mop wringer or with a hand-cranked laundry wringer. You can also use a
                     large (5-gallon) salad spinner to spin your clothes dry(ish)!
  • Finally, hang your clothes to dry on a clothesline or a drying rack.
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"Breathing" Mobile Washer
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Hand-Cranked Laundry Wringer
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    Please share your ideas for Emergency sanitation!

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Photos used under Creative Commons from Evan Didier, Sustainable sanitation, pixelgerm, GorillaSushi, procsilas