This could cause panic in a household if there is no money for toilet paper
Many people are trying to find ways to make it from one paycheck to the other and some do not even have that paycheck.
I receive emails from all over the world and recently received an email from a reader here in the USA asking what I could suggest for a family of two adults that have only $25.00 a week to spend on food. I am going to do a page on food but that got me thinking and there are ways to increase that grocery money by buying less of other things so I am doing this article on how to spend less on other things.
Many people are truly struggling and saving even a small amount of change is difficult
There are things you can do and that is to stop buying products that you thought you could not live without. Some of these items are very expensive and you might be surprised that you do not even need them. Matter of fact people lived since the beginning of time without these items.
Toothpaste, toilet paper, paper towels, laundry soap and disposable diapers and wipes, shampoo and conditioner. If you don't buy these items you have more money for food.
Paper towels are simply a luxury and wasteful. We did not have paper towels in the past and did not need them. You can get by just fine without paper towels. Just use kitchen cloths and rags. For grease use a rubber scraper and scrape it into the trash. Save your junk mail and use it to absorb grease in the trash.
No Toilet Paper?
Take a wash cloth and cut it in half and zigzag the cut edges. This makes a perfect patting cloth since wiping is not good to do.
Toilet paper is not necessary and it was never used since the beginning of time and still not used in many countries. People that have been born and raised here in the United States seem to think that the way we do things is the way it is suppose to be. But people in the rest of the world do things quite different than us. You might be surprised to know that people around the world do not sit on toilets as we do but squat over toilets in the floor and they do not use toilet paper. For physical wellness their way may be better for our health. However if you have not grown up doing it this way it would be very hard to change.
So what do you use if you have no toilet paper? Old people would say, "We used catalogs, leaves or corncobs. I don't know if that is true but what you really can use is water and cloths. Keep a bucket in the bathroom and toss the used cloth in the bucket to pre-soak during the day.
I am going to get personal here.
You don't have to hit me up side the head but twice before I will do something about it. If you or a child has an irritation "Down There" and that irritation does not want to go away in this particular area you might want to make a change and stop using toilet paper and start using water and patting cloths. Just because we are made to think that toilet paper is the only thing to use we do have a choice. Toilet paper will flake off and those small particles absorb urine and feces and then will stay against your skin which can cause scalding and blistering. If you don't rinse this area after eliminating then an irritation can occur. This irritation can lead to other issues.
This is not something I like to talk about but sometimes you just need to mention common sense stuff since it is the intention of manufacturers to make you think you must have what they make. Some people go on for years using medications in this area I am talking about treating the symptoms when in fact a simple cleansing after an elimination could let that area heal. Our stores have isles full of these salves and medications for this area, you wonder why?
In the past People boiled their clothes to get the grime and very soiled items clean. Our ancestors had to make their own sanitary items. Women could not purchase sanitary pads, they did not sell them. They made their own cloth pads and would have to wash them. More information than you wanted? Well, it is true and it was not that many years ago when you think about how long man has been around. My point here is we spend our money on disposable goods because of convenience, not because it is necessary and if have to put back a food item because you need toilet paper then put back the toilet paper and buy the food.
Now we have modern machines and they clean our clothes fairly well. But then there are those that do not have a washer and cannot afford a laundrymat. If you stop purchasing disposable items and you do not have a washer you can simply boil or bleach items that need sanitizing. Buy and old pot at a yard sale or flea market that you can use just for boiling rags.
Disposable diapers. Just plainly put, buy cloth diapers and diaper pins. Or buy the new type of cloth diapers that are easy to put on. Disposable diapers are so wasteful. I never used disposable diapers with my children, they did not make them then.
Diaper wipes. This is something else that did not exist when my children were babies. Never heard of such a thing. I used soft cloths and that was it. I do not know what ingredients are used to make disposable diapers and diaper wipes but I would not want to risk that on my baby. Like I said those things were not even made when my children were babies. When you change your baby a little rinsing with warm water poured over them will help remove the urine and feces. Always remove the diaper as soon as it is soiled to prevent their skin from scalding.
Toothpaste. If you are trying to choose toothpaste or food, Baking soda and salt water will do fine. Make sure you floss every day.
I never buy shampoo or conditioner. I use very gentle bar soap for bathing, washing my hair and I rinse my hair with about two teaspoons apple cider vinegar in a cup of water and pour it over my hair, rub in the hair then rinse again. The vinegar smell goes away after your hair is dry. Your hair will be very shiny. I use kirks castile bar soap, grandma's lye soap, or Dr. Bronners bar soap for bathing, washing my hair, washing dishes, washing my clothes. Many soaps on the market today have ingredients in them that I do not want on my skin. If you do not like using bathing soap on your hair, JR. Liggetts makes a good shampoo bar.
You can grate soap into hot water or you can rub it into the wet clothes for washing clothes, you can bathe with it, wash your hair, wash your dishes and wash your floors with this bar of soap. People make things complicated when they come up with all kinds of mixtures so they can have liquid soap. You don't need liquid soap, all you need is a bar of soap and a scrub brush or a wash cloth.
Laundry soap.
If you hand wash the clothing and rags you soil each day and hang them up over a inside clothes line before you go to bed they will be dry or partially dry by morning depending on the time of year and climate where you live. If it is a nice day you can hang them outside or if you live in an apartment you can point a fan in the direction of the hanging clothes to help them to dry. For heavy clothing take a towel and lay it flat and put the item on top of the towel and then roll it up and wring it. The towel will blot out a good bit of the water. See my section on how to hand wash clothes.
You do not need to wash the clothes you wear every single day. You only wash what is soiled or smelly. At the end of the day hang up your clothing if it is not soiled and wear it again. We wash our clothes too often and this causes them to wear out.
If you buy solid color pants, skirt and tops you can always look nice and people don't notice you are wearing the same thing over and over. You can mix and match solid colors too.
I wash windows and glass with my castile bar soap.
My neighbor and I were talking one day and she was telling me how she wore the same dress to school all week long and it got washed on Saturday. She would come in from school and hang up her dress and change into play clothes. She wore the same play clothes for days before they would go into the wash. Many children today are being taught to be wasteful because their parents are lazy. These children will grow up and do the same thing. This is sad to me that this is happening.
We have become lazy and spoiled in our modern times and this also takes a toll on our budget. We can live perfectly fine without these things, without electronics, cell phones and such. Computers, cell phones, disposable goods did not exist when I was young and life went along just fine. We are basically being programmed and brain washed into thinking we have to use the goods but we do not and are probably better off without them.
If you are struggling with finances then use basic goods. Don??™t feel that you are being cheated or feel sorry but feel better because most things are toxic anyway. Look at it as being healthier and helping our environment.
If you are not struggling now you could be later on due to changes that you never thought would happen so saving for unexpected times would be a good thing to do. Grandma Donna
