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Preppers

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Original poster

My prepping worked!!!

24 replies

AtlanticWaves · 01/01/2018 15:15

Last night there was a fire in our building (we celebrated new year listening to firemen running up and down with hoses).

A water pipe burst so all water was turned off at 2am. It won't be repaired until Tuesday morning at the very earliest.

I told DH I had a stock of water (a 20l bag thingy) and although he laughed (as with all my prepping things) he admitted it's useful.

We went to my parents for a shower and to fill up the container again. DH laughingly asked me if I had another...I pulled one out of the cupboard! DH was

Still not great but better than nothing. Fortunately the heating and electricity works but we really need the water back on.

It has made me realize though that I'm not at all prepared for a worse situation.

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cozietoesie · 06/01/2018 16:08

Well done. Small steps can oftentimes be very effective.

InfiniteSheldon · 08/01/2018 18:32

Well done we had a mini financial meltdown and lived off our prepping stuff last summer now rebuilding but I know what we will and won't eat!

user187656748 · 08/01/2018 18:35

I was annoyed to find that we were not prepared as well as I thought for a recent power cut. We have all the kit but nothing was where it should be. Torches in particular seemed to have migrated to the DCs bedrooms and the back up chargers for laptops etc had been used in the car and were not charged. V annoying.

hevonbu · 08/01/2018 18:41

Better luck next time! Maybe get one of those torches that you leave in the socket and they start to glow when there is a power cut? "Emergency lighting"

shhhfastasleep · 08/01/2018 19:32

I scrabbled around for a torch recently at about 2 in the morning.
It had wormed its way far under my bed and the batteries were down too.
Serves me right!
It is now reinstalled with fresh batteries but also have a couple of cheap hurricane lamps off eBay in the garage for longer term problems.

Original poster

AtlanticWaves · 08/01/2018 19:34

Yes we think we're prepared but not so much.

Our main problem was the toilet - we couldn't fill the cistern up, only pour water in the bowl. So I need to look at chemical toilets but I think they'll be too big to store in the flat.

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Original poster

AtlanticWaves · 08/01/2018 19:35

I've got windup torches and lamps rather than batteries.

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shhhfastasleep · 08/01/2018 19:48

I may not have been able to find my torch but I have a camping loo in the garage- kampa khazi or something similarly droll. It doesn't take up a lot of space. I have a roll of bin bags and some chemical loo stuff. Small enough to secrete somewhere in a flat.
I've also entertained myself with learning about composting toilets if needed longer term. Apparently they used them after the Christchurch earthquake.
Lots of videos on YouTube with people saying how manageable and no -stink they are. Obviously not met my lot!!!

shhhfastasleep · 08/01/2018 19:52

And yes, windup torches etc are the thing to have. Worth giving them a "charge" wind fairly regularly lost all credibility with the lost torch

catsofa · 08/01/2018 19:57

Wow, well done! Someone learned of my 2 litre bottled) water stash recently as it had to be moved to make space for something. Felt a bit embarrassed at the time, but it's SO worth it!

Going to check on my torches this evening, I know one got used as a bike light.

Original poster

AtlanticWaves · 09/01/2018 10:40

But how do you get rid of the chemical toilets when the water comes back on? Can it be flushed down ordinary toilets?

I've spent a bit of time on amazon and have found some simple buckets with toilet seats and covers, that reviewers use (on a daily basis as their house doesn't have an upstairs toilet ) with cat litter. That might be a possibility for us.

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shhhfastasleep · 09/01/2018 12:42

If I had to go the chemical toilet route, I would only use a small amount of chemical, bag it all up and put it in refuse when collections came back. If it looked like they were never coming back I would still use a bin bag but use stuff like sawdust or other organic matter to put as a layer on top of each "deposit ". When it was 3/4 full I would empty it onto a compost pile that wasn't for use on veggies. I know a spot on my very small drive for said pile. I'd need a helluva lot of buy-in from the rest of the household and would probably need to tweak my plans a bit here and there.
You don't need a camping loo like I have. If it was just me, I'd have a bucket, a swimming waddle thing cut for a seat and something to cover the set up up. But my family would freak out and I'd need them to adjust so a camping loo that looks like a loo is what we have.
It's a gruesome thing to think about but it is an idea to think about it. Look at YouTube videos about composting toilets and see what you think.
Let's hope we can add loo preps to my "nah, you won't really need that" list of things to consider.

shhhfastasleep · 09/01/2018 12:49

Cat litter is a great idea too - we have an indoor cat so can't store excess litter beyond what I need for her ... or can I ?!
Whatever ... don't flush litter down the loo. "Deposits" maybe as long as there isn't clumped litter on ... them. Depends on how the sewage system is. You really don't want a back up of stuff coming into your home.

Original poster

AtlanticWaves · 09/01/2018 12:54

"Let's hope we can add loo preps to my "nah, you won't really need that" list of things to consider."

Lol. I thought that. Until we were without water for 30 hours. Which isn't a huge amount but there were 4 of us using one toilet that we could no longer flush (although pouring water down it does make the worst of it go away).

I wouldn't flush the litter, just throw it away in bin bag as though we had a very big cat (yuk).

However, we live in the centre of Paris - I know that in a SHTF situation we wouldn't survive very long at all.

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Kursk · 09/01/2018 13:26

Well done, small events like these can be very helpful as practice drills. Now you know where you need to improve. Each time you will get better.

shhhfastasleep · 09/01/2018 13:36

I used to live in Russia and both water and heating would randomly be cut off during early spring - district pipe repair. I would reuse water with the last use being flushing the loo. By, reuse, I don't mean drink/pee/use pee. I mean e.g boil veggies or whatever, save the water (if not too gross or can be strained) to wash clothes or even self. Collect it for flushing the loo. Amazing what you put up with when you have to.

hevonbu · 09/01/2018 15:08

I'm unfortunately not surprised from reading about the "randomly cut off" events. Good idea you had there, of it's an emergency I suppose it could be a good idea.

cozietoesie · 09/01/2018 15:36

Throughout the years, I've experienced loads of 'cut-offs'. Some weather-related and some not.

In every case of water going down, toilet use was the big thing. Nowadays, I'd go round immediately and mask handles with tape - people's hands reach automatically for the toilet handle in order to flush. (Whether it really needs it or not.)

It's worth remembering that toilets are likely to go down or back up - as well as water - in the event of a prolonged power shortage as well. (Unless you have your own soakaway or tank.) I have no advice on that one, I fear.

Original poster

AtlanticWaves · 09/01/2018 15:37

Yes we poured the washing up water down the toilet too.

However, it has made me ever so slightly anal about being on top of the clothes washing and the washing up....

I'd been ill for 3 days before the water was cut off so hadn't tackled the laundry as it wasn't urgent.

DH hadn't washed up his saucepans/plates etc. from the night before.

We don't flush the toilet once the DC are in bed unless it's a number 2.

Then suddenly no water...

I've now vowed to not leave the washing undone (to be fair I'm usually totally on top of it). And I flush just before going to bed now.

Little steps! lol

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Original poster

AtlanticWaves · 09/01/2018 15:39

I was just amazed at how often I wash my hands. I was ill so was vigilent anyway, but DC would hand me a banana skin, I'd throw it in bin and automatically go to wash my hands for example.

Fortunately DC are still fairly little so we have babywipes.

Definitely going to look at getting a back-up toilet.

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cozietoesie · 09/01/2018 15:55

Remember to throw those baby wipes away and not to 'flush' them?

Original poster

AtlanticWaves · 09/01/2018 16:30

Oh yes! I always throw in the bin.

As I said - I'm in central Paris. My building is nearly 100 years old. I do NOT want to block pipes!!!

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cozietoesie · 09/01/2018 16:34

BiddyPop · 31/01/2018 11:33

We had water pipes burst all around our area (luckily none in the house) in the bad snow of 2009/10, and the water reservoirs were already at very low levels. So we had weeks of no water, or water being turned off intermittently while they fixed leaks and allowed the reservoir to recover.

We learned to only flush for #2s, where possible. Flushing (when water was off) meant using the water in the attic tank and hoping it refilled to following day. But we also had a bucket of water beside each loo (we have 2) to try and use that instead. Mostly refilled when the water was on, but refilled when water off from the water butt in the garden. Although that had run out before the end (I think we actually refilled that from the house tap when the water was on one day - but only needed to once). I have always tended to keep the watering can full from that as well, as the water gets well used in the garden so I want to keep it as full as possible when it does rain.

We kept the water from the condensing tumble drier for similar uses, and would do washing up once a day using a basin. And we'd share a basin of water for facecloth washing (and make sure we grabbed short showers whenever the water was turned back on).

I found my 5l containers (I had 2) leaked around the tap, so they used to have to sit in a roasting tin when full. But we also filled up the 2 large stock pots every day, kept the kettle full when the water was on, and had some bottled water on hand too. And used antibac solution for handwashing most of the time.

(Since then, I have better camping gear so a 10l container that works. I have also become a scout leader and have access to the Den. If the water has similar issues again - I intend going down and grabbing at least 1, maybe 2/3, of the troop's stock of 20l water containers - there are about 30, but there probably are about 30 leaders with access!).

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