Anyway, rather than beating people up for the last sheet of toilet paper, perhaps we could do things that might really work. Remember: you can wipe your butt with anything, just don't flush it.
With a humanure bucket toilet (which might be a good idea to start...and which I thought I had blogged but can't find a post so maybe a blog on that) I don't have to worry about clogs so as long as I'm not using plastic bags to do the job, my wiper can go in the system.
If you're rich, get a composting toilet and paper that decomposes easily should work.
I ran into this video on one of my favorite YouTube channels. The lady has passed away and her advice is still good. With so many people off work without benefits and the congress busy gutting the benefits bill, frugality NOW will help you both be and feel more in control of your finances from here on out. (I hear that that "feeling" bit is important to some people. Not my bag but whatever. I'd rather be in control than feel in control.)
Her basic tips:
Family
Have a garden
Use and re-use
Make your own meals
Eat healthy
I figure "friends" count as family too as does the neighborhood. So I emailed my phone number to my across the road neighbor (she was easy to find as she is a college professor). We don't really chat because neither of us is like that. But when I was waiting on a tow truck, she hollered over asking if I needed a ride. When I go to the community band concerts where she plays the kettle drums, I say hi and chat about nothing for a minute. We're both cranky so I assume we're both effective people.
She's older than I am and may end up not allowed out. I can drop some groceries to her if need be. Or meds.
As for the garden...check. Do plant one. Lots of libraries now have "seed libraries" and may be able to get some to you even if they are closed. Stores are open and seeds are cheap. You don't need the best and brightest to get started. Cheap radishes are good. They grow fast and are tasty and pretty. Kids and old people love them. You can dice up the greens and put them in fried eggs or use them in salads. Let a few good looking early ones go to seed. Replant every week.
In my raised bed, I had lettuce coming on and a volunteer kale (not because I meant to keep seed...because I was lazy). We had a cold snap that might have killed them but it was nice to see something get started.
Lettuce is fast too. Carrots are pretty easy to get going and you can use the tops like parsely.
As for Use and Re-Use...maybe don't reuse the TP unless you've gone with butt-cloths and you wash them between uses.
As for food...buy the whole version of veggies. Carrots with tops. Celery as whole bunches. Skip the sliced and the diced and the trimmed. Cut off the carrot about an inch down from the top. Cut off the green bits (the tops) and use as parsley. THEN, put the carrot nubbin, top side up, in a shallow container of water and watch the top regrow. You can usually do this once. Sometimes twice. With celery, cut the stalks (not "stocks" as I keep seeing in stores...cripes) off about 1 inch up from the bottom. Set the bottom in a bit of water. Little celery stalks will grow up. Remember to dry the celery leaves by laying them on a bit of paper (not that precious TP). Use as a soup seasoning or in salad dressing when you don't have actual celery. There's more. Google it or tell those kids to figure it out with all their out-of-school free time.
As for the Make Your Own Meals...yes please! I just gave a co-worker a recipe for homemade egg noodles because she couldn't find macaroni and wanted some. She isn't much of a cook but has a pack of kids at home so it might be something to try with them. One of them must have a knack for cooking. Here's the video I sent her...with a note to skip the food coloring:
https://youtu.be/W2JzYzut_FE
Making your own meals is healthier and cheaper and will keep the kids busy. Kids need to do real things that really help when a family or whomever they live with is/are going through a rough time. Telling them to stare at a screen or play in the corner tells them they are ineffective and that carries through to adulthood. Helping cook, garden, regrow a carrot top, find out how to do something, help with laundry, etc...let them help; it's all good for their stress level in the moment because they are making life better for their family/group and in the long run because each kid knows that he/she CAN make things better for themselves and those around them by DOING stuff. There's research on this. Look it up.
As for Eat Healthy, well, obviously. Bingeing on sugary crap to make yourself feel better won't work. A sugary diet makes one more susceptible to infections of all kinds. Never mind the sugar-crash that can fuel bad "feelings" that so many of you find so important. I do not understand why "eating healthy" is left off of the lists of things to do during this pandemic. Worrying about not getting fastfood if you have a kitchen or even a hotpot or a wood stove and a pan (this does not apply to the homeless, destitute and others with so few resources...you get to eat whatever you can get your hands on safely), but for the majority of us, it is important. Making your own meals makes it easier to eat healthy than to eat crap.
Thanks to Clara in the first video for her tips and for her family for putting the little video out yesterday from what they'd already filmed.
Her cooking and recipe videos are excellent and fun to watch. Easy to cook along with.
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