The little things in life

Sticky_Fingers

As the title says what are the little things in life that we currently take for granted which may be difficult to come by in the future. Thinking back there have been many instances where I've run out of loads of things, whilst not vitally important they do serve to improve the quality of life.

How many of us have struggled to squeeze a tiny pearl of toothpaste out of an exhausted tube whilst running late in the morning. How about getting a few replacements for that tatty old toothbrush you've been using for the last 4 months?

Have you ever discovered that you've run out of disposable razor blades and must suffer an itchy face for the day?

What about you ladies, I'm sure at least some of you have run out of sanitary products at some stage in your life. Even if your a bloke but have a daughter perhaps you should take matters into your own hands or ask your wife/partner to take care of it, she may be too mortified to even broach the subject with you

Have you ever hunted around your house for a pen because the one you were using gave up the ghost?

If you are a smoker have you ever lit a cigarette off the stove because your lighter finally died?
How many times have you run out of fags, if you can't/don't want to quit then maybe you should buy a few spare cartons just in case.

I'm sure that there are hundreds of small cheap little things we take for granted and use everyday. At the moment it's not really a big deal if a light bulb blows and you don't have a spare but there may be an occasion where popping down the shops in the morning is not an option.

So guys, what are your suggestions for the "little" stuff that may be forgotten about in the mad dash to stockpile pallets of food and barrels of water.

Grizzly 45

You are talking about the comfort supplies??..Things that help you get through the day/night of the disaster.Whatever you love the most and feel it would help you in a tough time.That would be for me Jack Daniels whiskey,and some good Swiss chocolate,and some Backwoods Cheroots,cant get them in Irl for love or money.

krissovo

Mine are as follows in order of preference:

1 - Toilet paper, from experience nothing is more satisfying than being able to wipe your bum and keep it comfy I have a stock of the tissues in small packets and baby wipes. The military switched to these tissues in the mid 90's from issue toilet paper and most soldiers since the late 80's always have baby wipes to keep them "fresh" in that area.

2 - Food flavoring, Tabasco, Worcestershire source, chilli pepper, salt etc. Survival Food soon becomes bland without having some kind extra ingredient to keep it interesting. Studies have shown that you soon become bored of repetitive food and that effects your intake. I have forgotten the term used but I will rack my brain for it. Tabasco is probably the most popular given its small size and big impact to flavor.

3 - Hot Chocolate, When your cold and wet or just pissed off a cup of hot chocolate really brings you back and gives you a nice energy burst.

waterboy15

Yes Krissivo i believe it's called appetite fatigue:).

Dumbledore.

I would say disposable razors. They tend to be difficult to procure when out in the wilderness.

Grizzly 45

Grow a beard{itchy affair] and then learn how to singe it into shape with a hot knife blade as men did in days of yore.Saves on disposable razors.
Or try and find a good old cut throat and somone to teach you how to use one.It takes shaving to a whole new experiance,and for some reason a cut throat shave lasts alot longer than a disposable scrape.
Old saftey razor blades can be re edged if you roll them with your thumb backwards and forwards along the inside of a waterglass tumbler.

Mahatma coat

the Safety Razor is a far better investment than disposable, Serioulsy how could anyone consider a long term straegy around anything with the word 'disposable' in its title.

one Razor and the blades take up a lot less space than any of the modern options

William Powell

Mahatma coat wrote: »

the Safety Razor is a far better investment than disposable, Serioulsy how could anyone consider a long term straegy around anything with the word 'disposable' in its title.

one Razor and the blades take up a lot less space than any of the modern options

Some people might include disposable razors in there survival stratagy for bartering. I'd never bother using them but they are cheap and some come in sealed plastic bags so can be stored indefinitely, a few euro spent on a couple of bags of saftey razors and you've got something valuable when looted supplies run out or the looters start to realise the value of the simpler things in life.

I think an old fashioned manual hair trimmer would be a useful item and keep my beard in trim without going to any of Grizzly 45's extremer measures.

To add to krissovo's hot chocolate if you have to have something decent to drink you need something decent to drink it from so add in a China Mug. No point slumming it!

Mahatma coat

These Trump yer Lah-Di-Dah China cups :D:D

had 3 sets of these in the Cruiser for years, very handy, especially when the ither option presented to you is a Flatish rock for a plate and whatver dingey plastic container contains the least Diesel.

I recomend you Spring for the Rubberised ones, its so much easier to drink soup when the bowl is not sliding of down the bonnet of the Ute

Tonyandthewhale

I would say never underestimate the importance of having cutlery and a bowl or plate of some sort to make you feel human and civilised. Toilet paper is similarly important although you can't expect your stockpile to last forever so probably best not to get too attached. Warm dry socks are another thing which I hold dear to my heart, I've got a lovely pair of seal skin (brand name, not actuall seal skin) socks for on the bike at winter and I wouldn't dream of leaving them out of a bug out bag if **** hit the fan.
A scissors is another thing, cut your hair, trim your beard, cut up bandages, trim your nails, make patches for fixing clothes, rudimentary poking weapon, you won't live long in a post apocalyptic world without a decent scissors.

eth0

Couple a them boxes will keep me sorted

Hal Emmerich

^^^^ Is it just me or is Tea after getting very expensive???

€3.19 for 80 Barrys Tea bags in Dunnes?

You'd really want to snap them up when they're on offer in Spar, 40 for a euro.

eth0

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

^^^^ Is it just me or is Tea after getting very expensive???

€3.19 for 80 Tea bags?

You'd really want to snap them up when they're on offer in Spar, 40 for a euro.

I cant remeber how much one of them boxes cost me but it was less than they were at tesco

Builderfromhell

Way cheaper to get tea leaves and use one of thoses steel strainer things to make tea.
a packet of tea could last for months while a moire expensive packet of tea bags won't last a few weeks.
Tea leaves have better flavour in my opinion.

slowburner

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

You are talking about the comfort supplies??..Things that help you get through the day/night of the disaster.Whatever you love the most and feel it would help you in a tough time.That would be for me Jack Daniels whiskey,and some good Swiss chocolate,and some Backwoods Cheroots,cant get them in Irl for love or money.

A good cheroot.......aahh. I used to smoke a lovely Tobajara cheroot from Fox's in Dublin. There were two varieties 'Brasilia' and 'Sumatra'. No longer imported, alas. Now I'm stuck with Henri Winterman's half coronas. More widely available and quite good - must remember to stock up.
How do folks rate zippo lighters as a survival tool btw? Good in the wind but bad in the wet. Must stock up on flints and fluid too, come to think of it.

alanmcqueen

Well with the power out the net would be down thus denying us access to an information portal par excellence. So a good supply of old fashioned magazine pornography would be a must:D

slowburner

alanmcqueen wrote: »

Well with the power out the net would be down thus denying us access to an information portal par excellence. So a good supply of old fashioned magazine pornography would be a must:D

No Sir. That is not the way of survivalism - energy must be conserved at all costs.
Might keep you warm though.

psychward

Builderfromhell wrote: »

Way cheaper to get tea leaves and use one of thoses steel strainer things to make tea.
a packet of tea could last for months while a moire expensive packet of tea bags won't last a few weeks.
Tea leaves have better flavour in my opinion.

I see fancy teas sold loose in ''organic trendy yuppy'' stores but haven't seen regular ''black Irish tea'' leaves sold loose in any of the supermarkets for years and years. Do they still sell them or do you get them elsewhere ?

Hal Emmerich

psychward wrote: »

I see fancy teas sold loose in ''organic trendy yuppy'' stores but haven't seen regular ''black Irish tea'' leaves sold loose in any of the supermarkets for years and years. Do they still sell them or do you get them elsewhere ?

Dunnes. Lyons Tea. Small box. Green.

Misty Moon

slowburner wrote: »

No Sir. That is not the way of survivalism - energy must be conserved at all costs.
Might keep you warm though.

Also very important to keep morale up.

Misty Moon

As someone else mentioned, using anything with disposable in the name of it wouldn't really be a long-term feasible option in a post-fall world. So one of the best things you can do to prep is to try and stop using disposable stuff now and learn how to use non-disposable methods or products. It might be good for the purposes of this thread to differentiate between things you want for yourself and things you might like to have to use to barter with.

Spices and herbs would be very high on my list of the little things that would make a huge difference. And chocolate.

Haven't used disposable toilet roll or sanitary towels for years now. Nor shampoo or conditioner either. No need to do so when there are perfectly good alternatives. Haven't ever managed to kick the toothpaste habit (while we're at it, stockpiling toothbrushes might not be a bad idea) but I do try to have a good supply of bicarbonate of soda on hand, which can be used instead. I don't think I'll ever have a big enough supply of bicarb on hand though. Too many ways to use it.

Another of the little things that I think is very important and which I haven't paid a huge amount of attention to in my preps is music. I have plenty of sheet music from choir and can sing any number of songs (when I was a kid I used to happily spend hours with a tape and notebook, rewinding over and over every few seconds until I had all the lyrics written down) but don't really play any instrument. Must buy a ukulele - maybe I'll get one from the christmas market this year.

slowburner

Misty Moon wrote: »

As someone else mentioned, using anything with disposable in the name of it wouldn't really be a long-term feasible option in a post-fall world. So one of the best things you can do to prep is to try and stop using disposable stuff now and learn how to use non-disposable methods or products. It might be good for the purposes of this thread to differentiate between things you want for yourself and things you might like to have to use to barter with.

Spices and herbs would be very high on my list of the little things that would make a huge difference. And chocolate.

Haven't used disposable toilet roll or sanitary towels for years now. Nor shampoo or conditioner either. No need to do so when there are perfectly good alternatives. Haven't ever managed to kick the toothpaste habit (while we're at it, stockpiling toothbrushes might not be a bad idea) but I do try to have a good supply of bicarbonate of soda on hand, which can be used instead. I don't think I'll ever have a big enough supply of bicarb on hand though. Too many ways to use it.

Another of the little things that I think is very important and which I haven't paid a huge amount of attention to in my preps is music. I have plenty of sheet music from choir and can sing any number of songs (when I was a kid I used to happily spend hours with a tape and notebook, rewinding over and over every few seconds until I had all the lyrics written down) but don't really play any instrument. Must buy a ukulele - maybe I'll get one from the christmas market this year.

Sound thinking that - weaning ourselves off disposable stuff.
If you wouldn't mind, what are the alternatives you mention to toilet roll and sanitary towels? Simply saying you haven't used either for years, is open to misinterpretation :eek:

Misty Moon

slowburner wrote: »

Sound thinking that - weaning ourselves off disposable stuff.
If you wouldn't mind, what are the alternatives you mention to toilet roll and sanitary towels? Simply saying you haven't used either for years, is open to misinterpretation :eek:

Ha! Don't worry, I'm quite clean and healthy, I assue you.

It's nothing too dramatic. I use a combination of cloth sanitary towels and mooncup when I have my period.

And instead of disposable toilet roll I use what are called wee wipes or cloth TP. Just cut up squares of towel ('cos I'm lazy see - there are better materials to use and hemming is a better idea too but I've never gotten around to it and my pinking scissors is crap and won't cut through towel so I just pull off the frayed bits when they get too bad). I keep them in a tupperware container and then once or twice a week just wash them in an ordinary wash. Not all that different from cloth nappies if you think about it and people have been using them for a long, long time. I do have paper toilet rolls in the bathroom - don't force visitors to use cloth. And I haven't gotten so bad yet that I'd bring my own cloth ones to work - just use whatever is on hand when I'm out and about.

Doc Ruby

slowburner wrote: »

How do folks rate zippo lighters as a survival tool btw?

Avoid, its basically completely useless and loses fuel even while its not in use. They must have spent a lot of money to get all that placement in movies.

Doc Ruby

Misty Moon wrote: »

And instead of disposable toilet roll I use what are called wee wipes or cloth TP.

...or just do what we and everyone else in the tropics did and splash water on your bum from a bucket. Very effective and sanitary.

psychward

Doc Ruby wrote: »

...or just do what we and everyone else in the tropics did and splash water on your bum from a bucket. Very effective and sanitary.

I don't fancy being second in line to put my hand into the water of that bucket to create a splash no matter how well it was washed out ...even assuming Domestos wasnt in short supply.

Doc Ruby

psychward wrote: »

I don't fancy being second in line to put my hand into the water of that bucket to create a splash no matter how well it was washed out ...even assuming Domestos wasnt in short supply.

Ahaha, well thats assuming a supply of new water... I'm not sure how you'd get the water back in the bucket even if you wanted to...

slowburner

psychward wrote: »

I don't fancy being second in line to put my hand into the water of that bucket to create a splash no matter how well it was washed out ...even assuming Domestos wasnt in short supply.

Or do as the Romans did - use a communal stick - hence the expression "to get the wrong end of the stick"

psychward

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Ahaha, well thats assuming a supply of new water... I'm not sure how you'd get the water back in the bucket even if you wanted to...

Yeah but the hand would go back into the bucket...

slowburner wrote: »

Or do as the Romans did - use a communal stick - hence the expression "to get the wrong end of the stick"

Is that where the expression really came from ? lol

I just figured it out. A water pistol... or a hand pumped water shooting rifle for those people with big problems . Bucket not even needed. But then you never know what someone did with the pointy end.... but seems handier than a bucket and portable enough for everyone to carry their own. If there was a drought it would also hold a sip of (unused) water

slowburner

psychward wrote: »

Is that where irt really came from ? lol

I just figured it out. A water pistol... or a hand pumped water shooting rifle for those people with big problems . Bucket not even needed. But then you never know what someone did with the pointy end.... but seems handier than a bucket.

Yep, that's really where it comes from.

Great idea you've just invented - the bidet

Doc Ruby

psychward wrote: »

Yeah but the hand would go back into the bucket...

Nono, you just pour it vigorously on the relevant area. A jug or something with a spout is best. I think we could all learn a few lessons from people who go through survival situations every day!