Besides the basics:
Water
Food
Shelter
A way to stay warm -

I think a way to stay clean is important too. I have always liked Lehman's as a source of non-electric goods. They have had this hand-washer for as long as I've known about them and yes, it's small, so if you have a family, it might not do. But, with others relying on wringer washers in a long-term scenario, this might be a reasonable option for some.

http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1600&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C679%2C673%2C674

Agree with you DFW that staying clean is very important.

Have you read Cody Lundin's "When All Hell Breaks Loose"? Fascinating chapter on hygiene.

I've been thinking about buying Lehman's hand-washer. Does anyone have experience with it?

thanks,
Nurit

Here is a site that reviews the wonder washer.

http://camping.about.com/od/campinggearreviews/gr/wonderwash.htm





Here is another way to wash clothes.

http://www.breathingwasher.com/index.htm

But a very inexpensive clothes washer can be had for $2.00. A bathroom plunger in a bucket like the item above will work great. I have used this many times on long camping trips.

On the boondocker and van living sites they talk about putting whatever is to be cleaned into a 5 gallon bucket with a good lid, then letting the sloshing while driving provide all the agitation to do the actual cleaning.

I'm thinking this might work on a boat as well.

BobS, thanks very much for the links and your excellent advice. I'd been hesitating on the wonder-washer because of its price and size. Even 12"x12"x16" is serious space to an apartment dweller. The breather-washer looks interesting and more practical for my situation.

Nurit

Before you buy the breather washer try a (new ) bathroom plunger. It really gets a lot of water movement. It’s actually harder to do then you first think, its tiring. But it does work.

A standard five gallon bucket and plunger will work. I have used this setup for extremely dirty work clothes and get good results.

I helps if you keep the load sizes small, use about a quarter the detergent you would in a standard sized washer, and dissolve the detergent into the water before adding the clothes. Two loads does a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved work shirt, two tee shirts, a couple of pairs of underwear and two pairs of socks. It takes about an hour and can be done while you watch TV.

Using a plunger I work one edge in a semi-circular pattern so the clothes roll over and they all get some action. The stroke is fast-in-slow-out as this keeps the clothes moving and suspended in the water. As opposed to beat down in the bottom.

I agitate for fifteen minutes, empty, wring out the bulk of the water, add water, work it for ten minutes more, wring and hang to dry.

A roller wringer or mop press makes the whole process less tiring. Wringing out jeans by hand gets to be like work. In fact when I had access to one I sometimes used the mop bucket and wringer setup. The bucket is a bit larger and the wringer is a plus.

I have one of those wonder washer gizmos. . . um. . . wouldn't buy another one. It is a bit cumbersome to store and actually quite small on the inside. I've done a couple light weight shirts in it. You could probably put in a pair of jeans, maybe. I'm not overly impressed with the cleaning either and I doubt it would clean very dirty items. It doesn't wring anything out and I found that hand rinsing outside the gizmo worked better. And its pricey.

The bucket/plunger/mop squisher would do as nicely I would think. Maybe spring for one of those nice buckets with the twist on covers. Put a hole in the top for the plunger handle. That way if you get overly excited while agitating, you won't slosh all over the floor.

$42.00 seems expensive???

it seems OK to me.

If you have a 12 volt wind or PV power source, then a low consumption 12 volt washing machine is worth trying.
"staber" are the well known brand, they are simple low tech and user repairable.
I believe that this product received a good review in "home power" magazine but cant find a link.

In bootcamp all we had to wash our clothes was a brush and some soap.

Will try the plunger

Bet it's not as tiring as 100 pushups.

What if you take another bucket (same size) and slide it into the bucket containing the wet clothes and then turn it upside down and stand/sit on it? It seems like that would expel a good deal of water with practically no effort.

Art and CBP, thanks!

Someone should publish this as "The Complete Guide to Tactical Laundry Bucket Operation, with Technical Annotations."

Adam, the Staber washing machine would be excellent if I had the space and the dough. Someday, maybe...

When my wife was a struggling single mom with her first kid (not mine), she used a washboard in the bathtub in the evenings, to clean their clothes and the dirty diapers. My mom used one in a galvanized bucket on camping trips when I was a kid. Not high tech, but they still work...

When using a toilet plunger for washing, get the cheap kind with the flat open bottom, not the high-power one with the narrower opening. If you have enough water available, you can use it in the bathtub. Sit on the edge with your (clean) feet in the water and go to work.

If you have clothes that have odor but not much real dirt, wash them in a baking soda solution, rather than detergent. It can handle the body oils and the odor. And it takes less rinsing than soap.

If you use the sloshing-bucket method (on a boat or other vehicle), don't fill it full. It needs room to slosh, so don't fill more than 2/3-3/4, counting water and clothing.

For small items like socks and underwear, keep an eye out at thrift shops for a Salad Spinner for removing excess water. They are a plastic bowl with a basket inside that spins by way of manual power. Google Images will show you what they look like. (You can use them for salads, too, but then you might want to have two. Or not.)

Remember to rinse all clothing well, as soap residue and body friction don't work well together.

Sue

I would like to find a hand crank wringer that is portable and can handle a set of jeans. Hard to find.

Wringers remove 90% of water; spin dry only removes 45%. That’s a big difference!

Not expensive at all, if it worked well. It just didn't quite cut the mustard for me when hand washing would do just as well. I bought it for those few odds and ends clothes (okay pink) that might turn other things (like the husbands unders) an odd color.

Thanks Sue. If I ever find private hairs in my salad now I'll know the cook was just short on quarters for the laundromat.

Hadn't thought of that but it is an interesting idea. It would probably work at least as well as twisting by hand.

I'm thinking perhaps a bucket with holes drilled would allow it to drain more easily. The sequence might be to dump the washed clothes and wash water into the strainer bucket which is sitting where it can drain. Then the wash bucket, the one without the holes would be slipped inside and pressure applied by hand. Then the wet clothes would go back into the wash bucket and the drain bucket slipped inside. This is then inverted and would make a good seat while I work the second load in another wash bucket.

Those buckets are available for free at restaurants and job sites if you have connections. Various food products, drywall plaster and paint come in them. They also sell new ones at hardware and paint stores for about 5$ a pop. I might experiment on one and see if whole or drilled is better.

Now you're cookin' with natural ga... errr... now you're wringin' with man-made plastic!

Another idea is they make a cement mixer. It is a small plastic bucket about the size of a 5 gallon bucket. It has paddles inside for agitation. In essence you roll it around the yard to to mix. Might also work for cloths.

Used to be a small-batch cement mixer that was a poly drum, maybe eight or ten gallon size, with molded in fins to stir the mix. The intention was that you add the cement and water, put on the top and roll it around the yard. You could mix, perhaps, one or two cubic feet of cement at a go. I used to see them sometimes at the larger hardware stores. I always suspected that people underestimate just how hard rolling a drum full of liquids can be.

Once saw a brick man who had a mixer that was set up as a small trailer. Flip a lever and the wheels were geared to the drum. His helper would shovel in an appropriate mix of sand and portland, add water and tow the unit around the block to mix it up. Worked pretty well from what I could tell. Of course gas was cheap back then also.

Portable clothes wringer:
http://www.survivalunlimited.com/clothewringer.htm

Sue

I had one of those contraptions to see if I wanted to use it on our sailboat for longer trips, and got rid of it. It is too complicated and cumbersome. My vote is with the lower tech recommendations on this site. For lesser amounts of cleaning, I have found Rick Steves' two gallon zip-lock shaking and soaking method easy and effective. I think I will add the salad spinner idea to this when I am not travelling.

[quote=Fleetwing] I have found Rick Steves' two gallon zip-lock shaking and soaking method easy and effective./quote]


I do this with my Sea Line bags.

In regard to the Staber brand...

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/staber_industries.html

Put a barrel in the back of your jeep. Water, detergent, dirty clothes - drive around for a while. Change water to rinse - drive around for a while. Don't wring out your clothes, just drive over 'em a few times (hard flat surface preferred). Put now-wrung, clean clothes on your hood - drive around for a while. Voila.

I bet he can cook a mouth-watering chili in the engine compartment, too, while he's doing his laundry.

My mother always rolled sweaters up in towels to get the water out. I have used this method with other clothes as well. It is not a great method, but better then nothing if you can't just let it drip dry. And this method also doesn't work if you are washing a lot of clothes.

I heard that wonder washers are a disappointment. I wouldn't bother.

I have a washboard in case I ever need it. And I also have a plunger & 5 gal. bucket.

Scrubbing with a brush works well. But be sure to scrub lightly so you don't scrub the dye/color out of the material. I have ruined too many clothes doing this - even with a toothbrush (especially on light cottons).

Thank you for the info Sue! What "baking soda solution" do you suggest? Is this just plain baking soda, or do you buy the Arm and Hammer Washing Soda Detergent Booster? You said that it takes less rinsing then soap, so I guess if you mean the booster, then you don't use it with soap or detergent? Thanks!

Joy

Izzy, I'm having problems picturing your what you've described. Can you post a sketch?

-Blast

The agitator is the PVC pipes connected to the rod handle.

This is not news. Seriously. Cowboys have used this trick for decades when they're in their pickups driving around all over creation. (They don't drive over the clothes to wring 'em out, though. I made that up.)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/473033/ecoliving_truck_bed_clothes_washer.html
for example. Why go to the trouble of hand washing if you're driving over rough terrain?

Something like this, cut a hole in the top of a bucket and stick the PVC through it, glue PVC together and hand crank it with the clothes and water and soap in it. Then rinse. You would need some type of pin on the bottom that the PBC could set in to hold the X frame centered while washing.



It would work better with some type of fins on the bottom X-frame, but that would add a lot of stress on the PVC.

I like the design and idea, for the fins, perhaps something would work with fins of different heights or simply taking the agitator out of a washing machine.

I've watched an agitator go back and forth enough to note that it does not rotate except to go back and forth through 45 or so degrees. However, the fins work laundry up and down through the water.

If you had took the main spindle made and istead of the cross at the bottom used a few "t" sectons. I'd want four pvc fittings like: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=13670&product%5Fid=18403

At the bottom, the joint would tie into the bottom of the barrell. The two pipes that extended from that would be tied to fins that were not on the next fitting up but on the one that was second from the top. The two other fittings would also be attached.

All this seems like a lot of work. Wouldn't it be just as effective to have a barrell, fill it with water and detergent, add a couple clean smooth rocks or something else solid to agitate, and then roll it all around. When done, rinse either using the barrell or not. Use a detergent designed for sensitive skin, youor rinse is likely to be not that effective, so something that does not irritate is better as a detergent.

Finally, be careful with and where you dispose of the wash water and rinse stuff. You need to pick what places you intend to use to consider as contaminated.

John Steinbeck describes that "cowboy" manner of washing clothes in "Travels with Charley."

Izzy and BobS,

Got it. I remember looking at one of those little washers a long time ago. It'd be pretty easy to duplicate with a 5-gal bucket and a gamma seal.

-Blast

Joy, not the washing soda (it's kind of caustic), just the regular old Arm & Hammer kitchen baking soda. It's cheap, and very useful for a lot of stuff.

It's good for having a birdbath and you don't have to use soap, just a heaping teaspoonful in a quart of water, wash and dry. Don't use more, or it will leave a white film on your skin.

Add a couple of heaping spoonfuls to a pot of very warm water and stick your hair in it, massage your scalp, then comb the longer hair while it's under the soda water, rinse and dry. It really does get the grease out.

Take the hair out of your hair brushes and drop them and your combs into a bowl of soda + warm water and let them soak a few minutes, rinse.

It makes a good dry underarm deodorant (not antiperspirant) and you can brush your teeth with it, and use it as a mouthwash.

And you can even put out small fires with it, clean car battery posts, and put it in your ashtrays to absorb smoke odors.

Talk about multipurpose!

Sue

Hi Susan, thank you for your response! Although I was meaning to ask about using baking soda for washing clothes. I guess I wasn't quite clear enough. Yes, I have used regular Arm and Hammer kitchen baking soda for brushing teeth and other things, like cleaning water barrels, etc.

But you said "If you have clothes that have odor but not much real dirt, wash them in a baking soda solution, rather than detergent. It can handle the body oils and the odor. And it takes less rinsing than soap." So I was wondering if you were talking about the Arm and Hammer booster msde for use with detergent. But it sounds like you also mean the regular kitchen baking soda for washing clothes too?

I hope that makes my question more clear.

I'll have to try some of the others ways you mentioned to use it - like for washing my brush and combs. My first husband used it for car batteries like you mentioned. Thank you for sharing!

Joy

That little washer from Lehman's won't wash enough clothes to do you much good. All you really need is two or three buckets. Put soap in one, and then one or two for rinse. Let the clothes soak for a maybe 30 minutes or so. Gently rub each item of clothing against itself to get out the dirt. You might have to rub harder to get out any tough dirt. A wash board would help. Squeeze it out, then put in the first rinse bucket. Rinse, squeeze out, then put in the second rinse bucket. Rinse again then hang to dry. When the soapy water gets too dirty, pour it out and add soap to the first rinse bucket. I used this method for over two years once, it's tried and true.

For washing your body, you can use a bucket or a shallow basin. Use a cup or your hands to scoop the water over you. Get wet, soap up, rinse off. It takes a little practice, but it will get you as clean as any shower, just takes a little longer. It doesn't use much water either, maybe two gallons. One of those solar showers will use even less water if you have one.

One trick I used was to boil some water in a kettle. I'd set the kettle in my wash basin being careful not get any wash water into the kettle. This would cool the water in the kettle while heating the bath water. So I'd get safe drinking water and warm bathing water while using a minimum of cooking fuel.

Yes, Joy, just regular old baking soda in the laundry water.

Michael C, the problem with bathing using soap is the rinsing, which takes quite a bit of water to do it right. A heaping teaspoon of baking soda in very warm water will do the same job without having to rinse. You can do a whole 'birdbath' with one quart of water.

Sue

It's not a mentioned use or really on point, but I like to mix baking soda with water and use it as a mouth rinse sometimes. It's what I do when I have had a cigar or two and the taste is still lingering in my mouth, either later that or the next day.