Sanitation

"Sanitation"

If you have food to eat, you have a sanitation issue, from personal cleanliness to food preparation. This is a most critical area of concern especially if we are in a disaster type situation. If your family gets sick from poor hygiene or poor habits, it won’t matter how much food you have stored.

"After awhile, even gold can lose its luster. But there is no luxury in war quite like toilet paper. Its surplus value is greater than gold." (Sorry I can’t find the author of this truism! After the info I present to you, I think you will agree with this assessment!)

Toilet paper is a recent luxury, so what did all our ancestors use???
- Corn cobs soaked in a rain barrel

- Mussel shells

- A "gompf stick" that was kept in a container by the privy, but this was late period

- Irish and Scandinavian ancients used moss

-Romans washed up with water

- Both linen and wool cloth scraps have been found in ancient privies, scraps from old clothing

- discarded locks of sheep's wool, which would make sense from skirting fleeces

- Hay-balls
- Straw

-smooth rocks

- sailors used the ends of frayed anchor ropes On Frontier House, they said settlers in the 1800's each used their own rag and washed it after.

A little about the corn cobs - Old privies had a hole in the side wall to dispose of the corn cob and this was called a "corn hole." Now you know where the expression ("corn holed") comes from. To prepare the cob, you take two dried corn cobs, and rub them together so as to make a nice soft frayed surface. Then you use it and dispose of the cob through the corn hole afterwards. Those were plowed under since there was such a small percentage of offensive material in them.

When I was a little girl my grandparents lived in Gem, Kansas. They didn’t get an indoor bathroom until the late fifties. They had the coolest three hole outhouse, two adult size and one little one built for my mom and her sister. I remember toilet paper out there but my mom says when she was growing up they used the prior year volume of Sears Catalog. It was made at that time of the same paper that phone books are made of. The idea was to take a page and smash and rub it in your hands to soften it up.

What do people use now if they do not use TP?

The Europeans have had this down for a while, they are called Bidet's.

Others use a damp cloth, and then wash the cloth. Use a diaper pail or something until a washing load is ready. By the way, half diapers are great - dampen one end, wipe, and use the dry half to dry. (Make sure not to use these cloths to wash your face) Some cultures use their left hand; their right hand is for eating. Other’s use leaves, (be watchful for poison ivy!)
I myself would put toilet paper high on my storage list!

How much Toilet Paper do I need to store?
It has been suggested that each person needs a roll per week. The best brand of TP I have found so far to be the best value is Scott. Try to buy a big package of it every time you go shopping, or buy it on sale. It is bulky and cumbersome to store, but that is ok!

Babies and Diapers
Since most people use disposable diapers, many do not have cloth diapers in storage. If disposables were not available, you would need cloth diapers, pins and plastic pants. You need to make note of how many diapers your baby goes through each day. You need at least 3 days worth of diapers. You also need to have 2-3 pairs of plastic pants per day and at least 4 sets of pins. I don’t like to mention store names, but Wal-Mart is the only store that carries these things regularly.) You also need to make sure you have a rash cream for your baby; you need 20 oz for every year of age your child is that is in diapers.

Baby Wipe Recipe
1 cup warm water, 1 tablespoon lotion, 1 tablespoon baby wash. Mix well. Put soft paper towels that have been cut in half in air tight container and cover with liquid.

Waste Disposal (It shows how blessed we are that we really don’t know how to deal with this subject and turn our noses up at it.)
What would happen to our world if the toilets no longer flushed? Few things can spread disease faster; attract more flies, vermin and rodents than the improper storage of human waste. It has been speculated that some of the deadly diseases of the Middle Ages in Europe were spread mainly by the inadequate sewage systems of the time. Failure to properly dispose of human waster can lead to epidemics such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery, nausea and diarrhea.

This is a very brief outline of these things.
So how do we deal with this waste?
Toilet - No running water. We could still use our potties if there weren’t any broken sewer lines. The water uses the gravity system. You would need to use grey water to flush the toilets. They would have to be flushed less often to save on water use.

Toilet - Can not flush Place a one gallon bucket inside the empty toilet and a plastic bag inside the bucket. When the toilet is used, tie up the bag and dispose of. You will need to bury it, if garbage services are not available. Buckets - This is the easiest thing for an indoor waste disposal system if the toilets couldn’t be used. Put a heavy duty trash bag inside a 5 gallon bucket as a liner. You will need a bucket for urine and a bucket for excrement. After each use add a little dirt, kitty liter, or sawdust. When they are full, pour out the urine in a location far from your water source. Use a shovel to dig a hole and bury the excrement. You can even add a comfortable toilet seat to the bucket. A family of four will fill this in about 4 days.
Portable Toilet - Portable toilets are available in the camping section of your local retail store and are miniature versions of a porta potty. They hold a reservoir of water that flushes the waste into a storage container. (Keep in mind you would have to empty this often. When we were at girl’s camp we had 200 people and we filled about 4 full size porta potties in 4 days.)
The Outhouse - This is very efficient and low cost. Find a place away from your water source, dig a hole, place a protective covering around it, with a with seat with a hole in it. and it is ready to go. This is one that you don’t have to worry about sanitation and moving waste from in the house. Make sure that everyone washes their hands after. (Also make sure the door has something on it a leather strap split to go over a nail or whatever to keep little children from wandering in and falling in the hole.) (Lime can be used but must be used with caution to keep the smell down.)
What if I Run Out of TP - You can use a cake pan that has a sealed cover on it. Put several layers from magazines, newspapers, telephone books etc. Add a little water to the paper and seal it up. It softens the paper and moistens it just a bit so there isn't the irritation that too rough of paper can create.
Other ideas - duplicate what has been done in the past.
Preventing the Spread of Disease
It is vitally important to wash your hands after using the bathroom, particularly if there are water shortages. If you have to use outside facilities like an outhouse you might want to hang a water bag filled with water with bleach in it to rinse your hands after going potty.
Other suggested items to be stored would be:
Antibacterial soaps
Baby wipes
Bar soap
Liquid soap with pump
Hand towels-(you will need more than you normally do)
“Rags” for cleaning up messes
Paper towels for the short haul
Used with permission from Marcia Lind Maple Valley Stake, WA