Fun!

Yesterday was so beautiful here! Yes, I had to work an early morning shift at the bakery (4 AM comes e111arlier than I'd like), but the sun was shining, my tax refund check came, I finally got a new laptop charger cable for only $30, I paid all my debts except my student loans, and everything I wanted to pick up yesterday was on sale!



I bought a camp solar shower a few days ago as a part of hot water rationing plans for the Silence of Mary. It's just a 5 gal. black vinyl bag with a hose and small shower head -nothing fancy - but if you lay the bag in the sun on a sunny day, the water gets to about 105 degrees. My general plans are to fill the shower bag with warm tap water to start off, and tell each person in the home that they can take a shower, but only using the water in the bag. Then in a few weeks we can buy a few more and tell them that on sunny days, they fill their shower with cold tap water and lay them out in the sun. They can take their showers in the evening. The big step will be when they start filling their showers from the rain barrels! Yesterday, that's what I did. I use old pantyhose feet over the openings of the rain barrels to filter out roof debris, so the water is pretty clean, and I showered (indoors) with the sun-warmed rainwater. I was shocked - I keep forgetting how hard our water is around here. Usually after a shower I need to use some moisturizer or baby oil - not this time! The rainwater left me feeling so soft and CLEAN!



I've also put in an order with the Healthy Grocer to get a Diva Cup. I've never had one before, and I've wondered for ages how it would work for me, a gal who was terrified of tampons till the age of 21. A $30 item, even if it is reuseable, was beyond my reach until I got my tax refund. Now I have the money, so I figure an item that will last one year AT MINIMUM is totally worth the investment! I'll post once I get a chance to test it out - I hear there is a bit of a learning curve, and I want to get it right before I opine about it. :)



If I can shower and bathe the kids for free, not have to buy feminine products, wash and dry our clothes for only the cost of the (homemade) detergent, use the solar lights from Ikea, and grow, cook and preserve food, then all I'll need to work on is heat, sewer and the few things we can't make! I'm hoping to get a solar laptop/cell phone charger and a treadle sewing machine, but one step at a time!



Watch this nutty quest to live free for free!