Posted: 12/22/2008 10:49:55 AM EDT
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I used the search function and couldn't find anything so:
I see lots of helpful stuff on storing food and water but what about soap, toothpaste, laundry soap, dish soap etc.? Does that stuff keep pretty well or are there considerations for its storage or do most folks just plan on being stinky? In addition to the sanitation issues it seems that staying reasonably clean would go a long way to keeping your morale up. Thanks, John |
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Ditto the hotel stuff... makes a good stash for just incase and also works great in making BOBs ...
Go to Sam's club or similar and buy in bulk... they have 4 tubes for like $6 ... buy about 3 or 4 or how many ever.. and you're all set... same goes with deodorant etc... SHTF will be hard enough... you don't want to add bad hygene to the situation ! |
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Quoted:
Got my lot of toothpaste. Working on more bathroom products. Up to a few moths currently. TP is # priority. Only down side is its size and wife asking "do we really need 100 more rolls?" you can feel free to store your extra 100 roll packs at my place and i'll send it when ya need it. my wife buys home made soap in ten pound blocks, we have a few of them, no idea how long they last. she is also learning to make soap. she has also made toothpaste out of baking soda (or powder not sure which). it didn't taste bad and it seemed to clean well. |
| I go to walMart every week on payday and pick up the non-food supplies that we need at the house. First, I made an effort to have a backup of everything that we use regularly (soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, dish soap, laundry detergent, etc.) I'm now working on having two backups in the linen closet for everything. It's nice because I never run out of anything. And if I'm not able to make it to the store for an extended period of time I'll be able to function normally. |
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Anybody else like Dr. Bronner's magic soap? It is a very concentrated liquid soap, and a little goes a long way. Just ignore all the hippy writing on the label...
The peppermint soap is really great during the summer. It really cools you off and always left me sort of feeling like a giant york peppermint patty. The citrus is also pretty good. You can probably pick it up at any health food store. A smaller bottle will last a couple of months. http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/LS.htm |
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Quoted:
Anybody else like Dr. Bronner's magic soap? It is a very concentrated liquid soap, and a little goes a long way. Just ignore all the hippy writing on the label... The peppermint soap is really great during the summer. It really cools you off and always left me sort of feeling like a giant york peppermint patty. The citrus is also pretty good. You can probably pick it up at any health food store. A smaller bottle will last a couple of months. http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/LS.htm my wife will pick some up every now and again. works well, although i can't report ever feeling like a peppermint patty of any brand. we gave a gallon to my FIL one year for xmas, he used it as shampoo, shaving cream, soap and probably something else i'm forgetting. |
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When stuff goes on sale we stock up.
I'll come home with 8-10 bottles of $1 shampoo or a couple of bundles of soap. TP stores well enough but beware than heat can break down some of the agents that make the paper pliable and the local Food4Less will put huge packs of the stuff on sale. Toothpaste stores very well but isn't cheap but a bit goes a long way. I use roll-on antiperspirant and the stuff does go bad after about a year - turns to jello. Come the SHTF I plan on sporting a fresh scent, a slick do, and a healthy mouth. 
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These are the kinds of posts that I find the most interesting. Mrs. Mountaineer and I started recently pondering future needs in the way of hygiene and decided to set up a separate storage container for toiletries.
Every week she buys a few extra items and puts them in the box, and an extra 12 pack of TP to store under the beds. We have lots of places to store something like TP out of the way, so I am guessing we'll have a few years worth pretty soon! We will use from the stored item and restock it, rotating the stock in the process. Bryan |
| What I did was bite the bullet and bought several months worth of bath and laundry soap at once and put it into our prep storage. Now when we shop. We buy what we need to use and rotate it into our storage so we always have a fixed amount stored that's not too old. |
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I usually buy a month's worth at a time (or what I figure will last at least a month) of bar soap, toilet paper, paper towel, and laundry soap. If I have some left at the end of the month that's just more I have. I can't go with the cheaper toilet paper though. I either need Northern Ultra or Cottonelle. I've spoiled my ass and just can't turn back. I need to have about 30 years worth before SHTF or I'm really gonna suffer. Maybe I can grow silk worms and make toilet paper out of silk?
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My dentist frequently reminds me that flossing is much more important than brushing and most of the benefit of brushing comes from the brushing itself, not the toothpaste so much. I'm pretty sure floss will last forever in halfway decent storage conditions.
That isn't to say you shouldn't stock up on toothpaste. If we're gonna try to re-populate the planet after a terrible disaster fresh breath may make all the difference Just don't forget the floss, too.
LG. |
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With any liquid you can have issues if you let it freeze. I had some dish soap that was old and had frozen and it had seperated somewhat, thawing it out and shaking it made it close to usable but it still looked odd.
I use speed stick solid deadorant and have not had issues with it sitting around for a year or two. I use to use the gel stuff but got away from it after messing around in higher temps for a bit and not being happy with the gel becoming thinner. With liquid stuff I find the plastic bottle is often what will die first, laundery soap or dish soap seem to live forever in many cases. Bars of soap can dry out and crack. They are still fine to use they just don't look so good. Shampoo is back to the plastic bottle cracking before the shampoo has any problems. Toothpaste seems to keep forever and I would think dental floss can keep forever. A decade or so ago my parents moved to a new house and kept the old one for a while. I was kind of in charge of cleaning out the old one and we had a lot of old shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and similar stuff. I used most of it up with zero issues. These days I do kind of keep an eye on the new stuff since anything being reformulated means it might not handle storage as well as the old stuff did. With any of the aboe keep in mind I am a single guy and will not be buying the really expensive or oddball stuff with lots of fragrances or oils or other stuff in the product. For laundery soap I use normal liquid detergent at the laundromat and if I do anything at home by hand or while out camping I use some of the liquid laundery soap walmart keeps in the sporting goods department. Wait for it to go on clearance and read the directions. There are directions on the net to make your own powdered laundery soap, it winds up being very cheap to do but with walmart talking about doing away with all their powdered stuff I am not sure about availability of all the ingredients. Overall, you can store lots of this sort of thing but you really have to pay attention to the original package since it may be the weak link. |
Dollar Tree
Best place to buy extra toiletries that I have found. 4 pack of toothbrushes=$1; 10 pack disposable double blade razors=$1, 6 (or maybe 8) pack irish spring or dove=$1, etc... i buy extra shampoo and soap and just leave it under my bathroom sink. Figure i have enough white rain shampoo and Irish spring to last over a year for less than $10 
Speed ETA: I buy the real 'ultra' Dawn at a regular store. that stuff is great; you can use it for all kinds of things. |
| With items like soap, toothpaste, etc., when you go buy new items, place them in the back of your stash, and remove a new one from the front when its needed. That way, you are rotating your stock, and no item is going to be more than a year old, if you are keeping a years supply of stuff. If you buy and just stash away, and then your everyday items are just bought and used as needed, things will go bad. Rotate and you won't ever have to worry about that. |
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I get most of my stuff free from work.
Razors Body wash soap toothbrushes I have stuff over a year old and it still works fine. I think people would be surprised how little they need. I use a shampoo squirt the size of a dime and completely clean my hair. I just rub a bar of soap on a scrup brush and can clean my whole body. A hand held scrup brush will save you a lot of soap. In scouts we used to take all of the small leftover soap pieces and put them in a nylon stocking and hang it from the shower head. Is the best way to store soap pieces that would have been thrown out. |
| When I open a new bar of soap, I get the little leftover piece wet, then take my shower with the new bar. At the end of the shower, I press the old into the new until its stuck together, and place it on the rack. The next day, its literally fused together, and that way I use every bit of the soap bar. Getting the little piece wet and letting it sit that way while you shower, makes it stick together better. |
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Quoted:
Anybody else like Dr. Bronner's magic soap? It is a very concentrated liquid soap, and a little goes a long way. Just ignore all the hippy writing on the label... The peppermint soap is really great during the summer. It really cools you off and always left me sort of feeling like a giant york peppermint patty. The citrus is also pretty good. You can probably pick it up at any health food store. A smaller bottle will last a couple of months. http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/LS.htm +1 on the Dr.'s good soap. I like both Peppermint and Almond. Make you minty fresh too. I keep a gallon on hand and in use and another gallon as backup. These get rotated out when 1 gallon is finished, the 2nd gallon goes into play and we go get a fresh gallon. You can dilute it as per the instructions on the bottle. A gallon can go a long way. ETA - I travel a lot and always keep the soaps and shampoos from the hotel stays. Have a very good little stockpile of these. |
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You could also stock up on plain old Arm & Hammer baking soda. Baking soda can be used as foot powder, tooth paste, anti-acid, and baking. It also makes a great metal polish for pots and pans. I have used it to remove crud from the chrome rims on my truck.
Just pour a little in your hand and add enough water to make a paste. You can use this paste to brush your teeth or polish metal. |