One important thing every good storage should have is bar soap. It’s portable and would be essential in a disaster or an emergency if there was no running water. The ability to have thoroughly clean hands would be a great asset in preventing the spread of disease and other illnesses. It is hard to plan how much soap to store for a year, however, if you know how much you use now, you’d have a pretty good idea. A good tip you might consider however, is aging your soap to make it last longer.
A fresh bar of soap is soft enough that you can make a dent in it with your finger. At that time it contains more water than if it is allowed to age, dry and harden. The longer you allow soap to dry before initial use, the longer it will last. The scent and color may fade with age, but this does not affect the quality of the soap. In fact, the soap will last longer if allowed to age. The scent will return when the bar is wetted.
Never store soap in plastic or airtight containers- it cannot dry this way. Store soap in a box, in brown paper, or on a shelf with your towels to make them smell nice. Direct sunlight will fade the color of the soap, but will not affect its quality. Some soaps are aged before they are packaged and sold but most are not.
The life of a bar of soap can be extended between 25 & 50% by aging them, unwrapped before use. There is no need to age all your soap at once, just a bar or two at a time.
Hand Sanitizer is another good item to store. It is cheaper in the large containers but less portable. It would be invaluable for short term emergencies if running water were unavailable. It might be a good idea to buy it in larger containers like at Costco or Sam’s Club and refill smaller bottles for daily use and 72-hour kits and it carry in purses and diaper bags, etc.
One item that I’ve always included in our storage is disposable razors. I’ve heard many comments over the years saying that if there is ever an emergency people would just go without shaving. That might be fine for a few days, but if you are ever faced with a long term emergency, people always find that they just feel better when they are cleaned up and able to have a small degree of normalcy. So having razors in storage is an important thing to do.
The downside of that is, however,that the price can add up and they can take up a lot of space if you have to store very many. Here is a money saving tip that will enable you to store less.
Did you know that razor blades can be sharpened and reused? Our grandfathers and great grandfathers probably used a leather strap to sharpen their straight edge razors. Some people use a sharpening stone or different methods. Here is a quick tip that will save you money.
When your disposable razor become dull and you are ready to throw it away, try sharpening it yourself. Just rub the razor blade BACKWARDS up your forearm about 10 times using a medium pressure. That is going the opposite way you usually pull your razor. It works like magic! Your blades are sharp again. You can sometimes make the blades last up to 2 years (depending on how often they are used and the thickness of a beard etc.) It’s worth a try! It also appears to work running them backwards 10 times on denim, but your arm is right there with you in the shower and easily accessible.
This method may not keep your blades sharp forever but if it doubles or even triples the life of the blade you are saving money not to mention the number of blades you’ll need to store will be less.
The options of what to store for a man to shave with are up to you. One of the easiest things to store, in my opinion, is the mug-shaving soap-shaving brush option. They take up little room and store well. Check it out. They used to be readily available. Check out your local drug store. If they are not in stock, chances are they can order some for you. They are always available on-line. Any other ideas?
Pay special attention to the toiletries you use each day and think about the amounts you’ll need to have on hand for a comprehensive year’s supply.
1 comment:
A good informative post and really appreciate your work of sharing it.
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