# Testing our preps this weekend!



## jmcdonald (Jul 20, 2011)

When I get home from work tomorrow night the water and electricity gets turned off. They won't be turned on till Sunday night. The wife and kids aren't thrilled about this at all but I think it will be a good experience for us all. 

I'm glad it's only going to be in the low 90s. I know 3 days isn't long to go without water and electrify but it's a start!


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## md1911 (Feb 9, 2012)

jmcdonald said:


> When I get home from work tomorrow night the water and electricity gets turned off. They won't be turned on till Sunday night. The wife and kids aren't thrilled about this at all but I think it will be a good experience for us all.
> 
> I'm glad it's only going to be in the low 90s. I know 3 days isn't long to go without water and electrify but it's a start!


Congrat. Hope you learn a lot and everything goes well. Ecperiance is a good teacher


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Terrific! :2thumb:

Please be sure to let us know what you learn - we'll learn right along with you! :beercheer:


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## ROBIE (Jul 10, 2012)

The wife and I did something like this a few years ago. Befor my son was born. 

We had alot of fun, learned a few good ideas to help us be ready for the next time. 

I think the best way to do it is not to do extra prepping just for this even, but sorta spring it on them. Hope thats what your doing and hope you have lots of fun with it too. Great learning experiance!


Robie


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Awesome, jm! I can't wait to hear how it goes. I admire that you're willing to do this even though it's going to be in the '90s. You have the right attitude for surviving!


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## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

Yes, please post your "lessons learned" so we can all 'participate'.


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## jmcdonald (Jul 20, 2011)

Well we survived. 

I learned one thing, I need more shade trees around the house. Even though it was in the lower 90s, inside our house got to almost 100. The evening sun just pounds on the front of the house.

We did really well on food. I cooked almost every meal out side on the grill. 

We went through a lot more water than I thought because of the heat and by Sunday afternoon everyone was ready for the experiment to end. We used roughly 100 gallons of water. (Drinking, cooking, washing clothes, and flushing.)
I need to figure out how to store more water. We have a swimming pool and if we needed water we could use it to wash clothes and flush.


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## lefty (Sep 29, 2011)

good for you. IT is a great way to learn where the holes in the plan are. A couple months ago, I tested our get home ability to get home. The farthest from home we go is my sister in laws house. So on our last trip I ran a test to get home without stopping for gas or food etc. I carried extra gas (what I estimated it would take, I always keep the tank full espically on trips). So the morning we were leaving i told them about the test, wife and kids not thrilled. We used a different ( not main hwy) route and stopped to refuel etc only in out of the way places. Made it home wife was ticked off for a day but I found and tested a new route home and confirmed some theories I had.


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## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

jmcdonald said:


> We went through a lot more water than I thought because of the heat and by Sunday afternoon everyone was ready for the experiment to end. We used roughly 100 gallons of water. (Drinking, cooking, washing clothes, and flushing.)


Is it just me or does 100 gallons of water sound like a lot for one weekend...? Not judging; but if that's typical I got a LOT more water storage to do!!!


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## d_saum (Jan 17, 2012)

PrepN4Good said:


> Is it just me or does 100 gallons of water sound like a lot for one weekend...? Not judging; but if that's typical I got a LOT more water storage to do!!!


Yep... I was thinking the same thing. I use a lot less water than most people I think.. but honestly, between drinking water, cooking, and just washing up, if I used more than 20 gallons over 3 days, I'd be shocked!


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## emilnon (May 8, 2012)

Jmcdonald- how many kiddos? More mouths = more water


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## goatlady (Nov 7, 2011)

Also in a REAL SHTF situation one will not be taking a complete "bath/shower" daily as is the habit now days. Nor will hair get washed every day as many ladies do now. Years ago while camping for months in the AZ/NMex deserts I could take a really good "bath" using just a gallon of water sun heated. Stand in a very large stainless steel mixing bowel, wet washrag, soap it up, soap body all over, then starting at the top slowly pour the gallon of warmed water over the body to collect in the bowel. Nice and clean and rinsed and use the caught water for the potted tomatoes. Think out of the boxes, folks, and try to realize we cannot re-created life as we live it today after the SHTF! That old-fashioned habit of ladies brushing their hair 100 strokes every night was to help keep the hair and scalp clean and distribute the natural hair oils all through the hair strands out to the very tips. Wearing the hair in up-do's every day and/or keeping the hair covered also helped keep it clean by having less hair exposed to the elements, dirt and dust of daily living.


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## ROBIE (Jul 10, 2012)

My thoughs are: :bullit:Everyone will be supprised by how much water they use/waste. 

Yes I said waste! Stop and think about how you use your water and when. 

Also I dont think we drink as much as we should. I drink alot according to my wife, but I feel the need for more. 

:bullit:Cooking out side is a great idea. Keeps the heat out of the house (other than what Ma Nature puts in) and cookouts are great in the summer. 

:bullit:The heat of the summer days... there's something to think about. Should be plenty of infromation to be found now, seeing as how part of this nation was stuck without power for a week+, during a heat wave. 

:bullit:How did the food storage work out without having power to keep the fridge cool? 

:bullit:If you could, would you please give us a more detailed journal of your weekend? I think we would all like to learn something from your experament. 

Good job! hope you plan on doing something like this again someday! 

Robie


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## rladams (May 3, 2012)

ROBIE said:


> My thoughs are: :bullit:Everyone will be supprised by how much water they use/waste.
> 
> Yes I said waste! Stop and think about how you use your water and when.
> Alot of people give no thought to how much water they use, small things like leaving the water running while shaving or brushing your teeth, doesnt seem like alot of water until you have to carry that water from someplace else.
> ...


Over all a good thing to do, helps eliminate some of the unforeseen issues that might come up.


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## Fn/Form (Nov 6, 2008)

jmcdonald said:


> ...We have a swimming pool and if we needed water we could use it to wash clothes and flush.


If you have your own septic system and plan to use it long term--remember most treated pool water will kill the good bacteria.

Wise effort on getting more water storage. Some things, such as having plenty of water for short duration emergencies, will help a LOT with family members that don't like "camping". ;-)


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

Good on ya!
I would also like to hear how you used 100 gallons. What was the biggest water use? That seems like an awful lot!
What was your terlet setup?
Shower/sanitation setup?

These tests are great, please share details! 
I only have 100 gallons of clean water, plus some misc bottled water for drinking, but we have one of those little (50-75 gallon?) fish ponds outside that if shtf would get cleared out immediately (plants). Theres also a lake less than a mile away that I plan on exploiting.


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## musketjim (Dec 7, 2011)

Sounds like you learned quite a bit. Way to go. We will be at our bol this weekend starting Friday coming out Sunday.:2thumb: Should make a lot of progress on our root cellar, drop a few more trees and check on garden and our oats. Haven't been in about a month. Will cook some outside on firepit as usual but also with propane. Pistol work as well as fishing and fire building. Still working on improving comm.:gaah: Always look forward to heading up.


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## lefty (Sep 29, 2011)

musketjim said:


> Sounds like you learned quite a bit. Way to go. We will be at our bol this weekend starting Friday coming out Sunday..


for us down here all of Alaska is a BOL 

water was always my big concern. One of the reasons I picked our current house was 1 it has its own pump (granted for the sprinkler system, but I have a hand pump and filter for it) and 2 there is a stream that runs across the back of the property. what I need to do is get a way to pump it to the house if the grid goes down.


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

As for more shade trees, how about a couple of fruit or nut bearing trees in the mix for a food source. GOOD JOB!


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## jmcdonald (Jul 20, 2011)

Our water usage was close to 100 gallons for 4 people. The break down

20 gallons for drinking and cooking

10 gallons for washing clothes (we wasted a lot of water here but it was our first time)

15 gallons for flushing toilets. (we wasted a lot of water here)

20 gallons watering the livestock

35+ gallons watering the garden. We live in Arkansas and we are in the middle of a drought. We have a 1 acre garden. We pulled this water from our soon to be dry pond. The garden could have used 100+ gallons if we would have watered it they way we do now.


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