By Daisy Luther
As many of you know, we recently moved to a small home on a farm. Our house is about 900 square feet, and I live there with my youngest daughter and all of our preps.
One of my favorite things on Pinterest is the Home Tours. I really enjoy seeing how other people live and how they meet the challenges presented by their spaces. I thought you guys might enjoy a tour of our new place so that you can see how I stash all our prepper stuff in a very small house. We like to set things up so that we can easily shift to functioning off grid should the need arise, and we are also on a pretty tight budget. Because of the size of the space, we try to make everything as multifunctional as possible.
I hope this series gives you some ideas for your own prepper home, and that you enjoy the little peek into our cupboards.
Tour of the Laundry Room
Our laundry room is right off the kitchen. I hung some curtains that I can close to hide any clutter when it isn’t in use. The room serves multiple functions. It has, of course, a washer and dryer. As well, there’s a chest freezer, the kitty litter box, a wall-mounted hanging space for drying clothing, hampers, the pet food, and some miscellaneous storage. It’s a little warmer than the rest of the house, and one of our cats enjoys hanging out there.
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Off Grid Features
Since I prep, it only makes sense that I want my laundry room to be functional should the grid go down, either short-term or long-term. I have several items that would make that much easier. Some of them pull double duty, by being useful now, and others just look decorative and old fashioned.
The features shown in the photo make off-grid laundry simple. Going clockwise from the top left,
- Manual washing machine
- The washboard looks cute and decorative on the wall until it’s needed
- A place to hang clothing to dry, or, when the grid is working, to sort and hang a freshly dried load of laundry. (Because the room is so narrow, it rules out the standing drying rack)that I used to use. My yard is pretty dusty in the summer, so hanging on an outdoor line isn’t an option during that time of year.
- Industrial quality janitor’s bucket with a wringer (This is for wringing out clothing in an off-grid scenario and for mopping now.)
looks cute and decorative on the wall until it’s needed
)that I used to use. My yard is pretty dusty in the summer, so hanging on an outdoor line isn’t an option during that time of year.
(This is for wringing out clothing in an off-grid scenario and for mopping now.)Not shown: I have a 15 gallon galvanized steel tub
for washing things in during an off-grid scenario, but it’s pretty big so I store it in the shed.
For more details on how to do your laundry without electricity, CLICK HERE.
Healthy and Homemade Laundry Products
I try to use good quality products, but they can be pretty expensive. There are a lot of dangerous chemicals in conventional laundry products, so I limit my use of them. As often as possible, I use homemade or reusable alternatives. Improving the quality of your supplies is always a work in progress, particularly when your budget is tight. In this photo, you can see the items I normally use.
- Grater with large holes for making laundry detergent
- Original Dawn dish soap for grease stains
- Baking soda for a laundry supplement
- Soap nuts: A natural alternative to laundry soap. The nuts can be reused for 3-4 loads of laundry. A one pound bag will last through approximately 500 loads of laundry.
- Borax: This booster helps reduce dingy-looking laundry and is an ingredient in many homemade cleaning products
- Mrs. Meyer’s dryer sheets: These 99% natural dryer sheets are a much healthier alternative to conventional formaldehyde- and chemical-laden dryer sheets. They are expensive but you can get good results using half a sheet.
- Dryer ball – these naturally soften laundry and reduce static. I plan to replace them with these for a more natural option that will also help to remove pet hair
- Zote soap – this is my favorite for homemade laundry detergent
- Homemade laundry detergent – get my recipe HERE.
- Salt for scrubbing stains
: A natural alternative to laundry soap. The nuts can be reused for 3-4 loads of laundry. A one pound bag will last through approximately 500 loads of laundry.
: This booster helps reduce dingy-looking laundry and is an ingredient in many homemade cleaning products
: These 99% natural dryer sheets are a much healthier alternative to conventional formaldehyde- and chemical-laden dryer sheets. They are expensive but you can get good results using half a sheet.
– these naturally soften laundry and reduce static. I plan to replace them 
for a more natural option that will also help to remove pet hairNot shown: I keep a large stockpile of laundry detergent-making supplies. This takes up far less space than the liquid detergent I used to stock. I have many pounds of washing soda, borax, OxiClean, baking soda, and bar soap stashed away. Because laundry rooms can be humid, and many of these items come in cardboard boxes, I keep them in my storage room instead of the laundry room.
What are your favorite products?
What are your laundry room must-haves? Are you prepared to go off-grid should the need arise?
Stay tuned – we’ll be going through the rest of the house, room by room.
I see that you have a portable washer but have you tried the mobile washer? It looks like a plunger but works a heck of a lot better. For the budget minded, it is less than $20.
About the only thing missing in my own off-grid laundry preps is a wringer. One thing I have found is that when the humidity is up, nothing dries or, if it does, it takes days. My husband is old enough to remember his mother assigning the “wringer” chores to him when he was a kid.
For grease, I use ammonia. These days it gets a bad rap. I use it for my husbands greasy work aprons as well as the smelly dog blanket. It is also great for washing wool blankets. I crack open the back door a tad for the odor. Ammonia is used as a mordant in dying; it will not fade the fabric.
I do not use Chlorine bleach. Not only is it a deadly gas with ammonia, but it also toxic. For those really unusual purposes, it is keep in a special place.
My husband made me a drying rack that raises and lowers from the ceiling on a pulley system. Use it frequently.
My father, now 89yrs., was in the South Pacific during WW2 and talked about these hand made “automatic” washing machines when I was a kid. He always loved making things, so I am not surprised that the design impressed him; he said they worked well. They are perfect for off the grid if you have consistent wind, something that we do have a lot. I have waited too long. I am going to ask husband to make one for me for off the grid clothes washing. All that is needed is a wringer. The clothes lines are already in place. Don’t forget to purchase replacement clothes pins. I use spring ones indoors and peg type outdoors.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/build-cheap-washing-machine-zmaz76zhar.aspx
One thing I would add would be pegboards on the wall across from the washer and dryer and above the bins. Besides hanging items on hooks, you can also use baskets on it. Putting a multi-pocket over-the-door shoe bag up on that wall would give you more storage for small items that might get lost. High up, above the pegboard, you could have a shelf for storing more items that you wouldn’t normally use, bedding or seasonal clothing.
Oh, great ideas! That would get a lot more storage in there. 🙂
Thanks …. great article and some interesting ideas. I too have stored the basic laundry soap making supplies …. but, let me get this off my chest …. lose the cardboard. It wicks moisture, collects bugs, and will fall apart at the least provocation. You can store a good but of borax, sodium carbonate (washing soda) and fels naptha or zote in separate 5 gallon buckets. I also keep a bucket with measuring cups, graters, wooden stirring paddles and a big dedicated stock pot. Now, if I could just find a decent wringer at a good price …..
Excited to try your laundry soap. Great Information on the Safest Laundry Soaps. I decided to DIY. I chose to buy the Dr Bronner’s Unscented Bar Baby soap from Amazon because I could not find in store. I did want to mention that many Family Dollar stores carry LA’s Totally Awesome Oxygen Cleaner for $1.00 a container. I am also going to make it liquid.
Another great article. It does state that this is part one of the ‘prepper home tour’; are we going to see further pieces in this series, dedicated to actual preps in the home?