I was quite pleased with the results of the weekend challenge a few weeks ago. Some of you took the challenge and some of you simply learnt from those that did. That is almost as good.
Taking the idea from the Stress Tests the banks are currently undergoing I’ve now made it a series of test which should enable you to test your preparedness as much as you can without going off grid for three months. I’ve added the link to the Get Started Here page and I’ll be adding tasks to test certain areas of preparedness to it when I can. If you think of any suggested tests then let me know.
So this next test is much simpler but I suspect will be an eye opener. A water test.
Just how many liters a day is that we can use?
I find only the washing of clothes to be the roughest factor, next bathing, next dishes. If I don’t have to worry about them can sail by grandly.
But I guess if there is dish water, some bath water and what is gleaned from washing a few undies could flush the toilet at least once during the week.
Other than those going to work, ol’ grungies can be worn all week and worry about washing them after the test.
I better get on it and wash clothes and take showers till Sunday. Better go wash some soda bottles out to hold my supply.
Ellen,
Use what you need for the first test. Remember we are assuming that we can live on 6L per day. This test will show how much you really use and what you use it on. From this test you will see where it is going and if it is a lot we can look at what we can do to reduce our usage. For example if you find you drink 3L but use 20L to wash your dishes then you need to find a way to reduce your usage on washing dishes. If however you drink 7L then you need to consider how much water you actually store.
You can repeat the test with targets but for the first try don’t. Using it from a bottle will cause you to use less anyway. Running taps are wasteful by default.
Stress is the right word, I’ve been living with very limited running water for about 6 weeks now, 2 of those weeks were with no running water at all. I’ve cut my hair short and sacrificed my potatoe crop so I could manage on limited water. One thing you need to think about is heating the water, it takes a lot of time and energy. My kelly(storm, volcano) kettle was a God send when it came to doing the dishes.
Half,
I didn’t envy you when you mentioned that before. Good luck with that.
It isn’t a problem about heating. This test is just to see how much water you consume and where to concentrate your efforts.