How about a rocket stove, to heat the water that you need, not too hard to make, and uses very little fuel. The size depends on the need. Premanent stay, make a 16 brick or a cob type. All that you need is imagination and the will to do it. Google it.

You clean;
your body - your hair
your dog - animals
food
items - Porous and Non Porous

suggestions;
Borax
tea tree oil
make your own soap
use ashes from a fireplace

Clean Water - filters
your spirit - soul ;p

just some thoughts

Cleaning 101
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Lye
http://www.millersoap.com/castile.html
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-white-vinegar.htm
I have yet to find a suitable way to extract oils from plants for soap/candle making.

Cleaning 101
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Lye
http://www.millersoap.com/castile.html
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-white-vinegar.htm
I have yet to find a suitable way to extract oils from plants for soap/candle making.

I have to check my books but I used to grow an herb in my garden for a soap base although olive oil makes a great base. Lye or wood ash is added to the oil and then any "smellys" or additives that you may want. It has been a few years but I still have a few bars of "garden" soap that I made bthe additive in the soap is used coffee grounds. I have run out of my face soap which has powered milk and honey as the additives.

As for candles, I had one berry bush but it too many berries to make it worth the time and effort to make it. Now I just buy either cheap candles to use or by 5 pound blocks of wax.

The molds can be used for either candles or soap. It has to be something that can take a hot temp. Mind you I have made candles using empty milk cartons for a mold

I made some lovely olive oil, coconut soap from one of one of the recipes I posted, but I'm pretty sure olive oil will be tough to produce/aquire post WSHTF.

white vinegar....its cheap, it stores well and it kills almost everything! (my granny used to stink of it as she went around the house cleaning) ((she used to stink of pee as well))

I made some lovely olive oil, coconut soap from one of one of the recipes I posted, but I'm pretty sure olive oil will be tough to produce/aquire post WSHTF.

Sorry I must have missed your post

Ok so for the first time soap maker are these recipes a good start? they look easy enough to gather ingedients. I have been wanting to try it for a while, what do you all think? I would rather go for easy as a first attempt and then maybe move onto maybe a recipe that would use say ashes to make lye, you know with what would be available when SHTF easily.

Hope it all makes sense, I have only read about soap making thus far. 😀

I've been a "vinegar cleaner" for years - so cheap to buy, easy to use and no nasties to breathe in. Love the tea tree oil too.

I was more concerned with what chores require electricity that I may have forgotten.

er, vacuming...thats it really.

I've sprayed vinegar on the walls and carpet of an apartment that I was moving into to get rid of the smokers stink. The smell of vinegar lasted a day or two but the stink was gone as well as the ants.

6 boxes of Baking soda
12 liters of Vinegar
Box of Washing soda
Box of borax
Tea tree oil
Lavender Essential Oil
3 lbs of Salt

And I should be able to keep everything decently clean for awhile. 🙂
We have made our own laundry soap for years (saved hundreds doing it) plus, I use vinegar half and half with a couple of drops of lavender as a multi purpose surface cleaner. just spray & wipe off.

Yes I have, I purchased 20 litres of household bleach when it went on sale a few months back and also 20 bottles of dishsoap. That's a start and it did not cost me much because it was all on sale. We use bleach alot when we work at the retreat, I find it a really great chemical to have around. Good question. What else can we add to that though?
-c