LAWKI Day 6
August 25, 2010
Menu
Breakfast Wheat Waffles
Lunch Left over Chicken Pot Pie, Ramen
Dinner Spaghetti w/sauce and meatballs, Salad, Cantaloupe, Carrots, Cucumbers
A few years ago, a friend who was the emergency preparedness coordinator for our church talked about how she determined what was a year’s supply of non-food necessities. She labeled with a sharpie marker bottles of shampoo, laundry soap, dish soap, deodorant, toothpaste, etc, with the date it was opened and then she would know how long it lasted.
I have done that with many things. We use a big Costco box of Tide every 78 days. Michael uses a bottle of shampoo every 2 months. My tube of toothpaste was opened on April 10 and is about 2/3 gone. I fill the main floor bathroom with 8 4-packs of toilet paper every 2-3 months, knowing we use 3-4 rolls a week there, and plan for 2-3 rolls a week for the other bathrooms. (That is a lot of toilet paper to store! I have often joked that my food storage would be easier if I just had a basement full of toilet paper and traded with everyone else for all of my food needs.)
I think about all of the personal and household things I would hate to not have if life was miserable in so many other ways: shampoo, hand soap, toilet paper, tampons, toothpaste, deodorant, paper towels, light bulbs, laundry soap, cleaners, etc. In the LAWKI book series, they had the supplies they got on “crazy shopping day” and then began to raid abandoned homes for toiletries. They found empty bottles in most houses, but soon discovered that people would often have half jars of the travel-sized shampoos in suitcases and would take those. Imagine relying on free hotel bottles of shampoos. How miserable.
All of this rambling does have a point. Monday morning, day 3 of our experiment, Katie came downstairs and told me that the kid’s bathroom was out of shampoo. Boy do I feel dumb. I thought there were a couple of bottles of the big Costco ones, but as it turns out, me buying the shampoo and conditioner as a set only meant a huge supply of conditioner and no shampoo. I guess the boy to girl ratio on that shower means conditioner is over-rated. In the end, there was one extra bottle in the basement bathroom, but definitely not a year’s supply. It is now on the top of my stock up list.
On a lighter note, Katie ate a cat treat Monday night. She was bribing the cats to play nice with each other while we were playing a game. She made the mistake of wondering out loud what the treats tasted like. After much encouragement, and taking up a collection of 50 point chips in the game to bribe her, she ate it.
She does not recommend the clover flavored ones.
We are down to eating cat food....send supplies!
6 comments:
Ha! Funny Katie. We have more shampoo than conditioner...I guess we have too many girls. If I lived closer, I would trade with you.
My Katy actually only uses conditioner on her hair. We read this book "Curly Girl" and she said to try washing your hair with conditioner only. You scrub with it, as you would a shampoo and the curls are MUCH less frizzy and the hair is still clean. Shampoo is overated-for at least half of our family.
Here's a website that explains it better:
Intro to "no-poo"
Thanks Jenn. I just put that book on hold at the library. It is worth a try.
How come I didn't know about this blog? Lots of fun. Journaling it is a great idea - but you always have great ideas! Happy to trade with you anytime. (I buy 1 bottle of shampoo to 2 bottles of conditioner - guess that is due to a house full of girls.)
Do you have a roto-tiller? We could work out a trade. I am preparing for my garden next spring. Arrg!!!
I never thought about having a years supply to non-food items. I always make sure I have extra toilet paper and at least one tube of toothpaste and bottle of shampoo but I don't think that I have a years supply. Hmmm. I have a friend who's parents have lined the walls of their fruit room/storage room with toilet paper (floor to ceiling.)
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