When my husband and I decided to move and commit ourselves to learning how to be self-sufficient... We had so many PLANS. We PLANNED on growing our own food, raising our own chickens and making our own much-used dairy products (probably 80% of our protein and fat consumption is from dairy products). The problem with succeeding with your plans is that you actually have to DO them.
So, first, the things we planned on doing that we are actually making steps towards doing.
1) Stop using paper products and use unstead reusable ones. We have achieved not purchasing any more paper towels, and use regular ol' terry cloth washcloths instead. We are using washable rags for wiping (pee only!) in the bathroom, but only part of the time, it hasn't really stuck as a habit yet because we ARE still providing TP for the OTHER business and guests... Planning on looking up reusable TP for all use and the care thereof this week, so I'll update about that when we succeed. We are using cotton handkerchiefs instead of tissues (this is a BIG money saver for me because I have pretty severe allergies and go through boxes and boxes of tissues in the spring and fall). We had been using cloth diapers instead of disposables until our drier broke a few days ago, and now I've reverted back to the hateful disposables. Naw dang. I've been thinking about this one a lot because not only do I want to stop using disposables that I hate, but I want to have already considered how I'll be drying our diapers when we don't have any electricity and it's winter... We don't currently have a wood burning stove here, so I can't just put a drying rack up by the stove... We recently tried putting up a line across our living room, but it took one load ALL DAY to dry, so that's not a very practical solution.
2) Stop purchasing bread from the store. This we've been working up to since moving and now it's become a real practical part of our lives. I make bread for the hubby's lunches every Monday, and make the whole weeks worth. The only part about our current routine that I don't like is that I'm still using instant yeast. I've been growing a wild sourdough starter for a few weeks, but so far I'm not thrilled with the texture. It's real... cakey. We're discussing my taking Wardeh's online sourdough course.
The other things we're working on are of course, growing our own food and getting ready for our new animals, but that's a whole other post.
Thanks for reading! Be thoughtful! Be blessed!
I have to say I love that you are trying family cloth. I know that it isn't exactly an easy habit to get into, but once you do, it is seriously worth it! We cloth diaper as well, but like you have no wood stove. In the spring/summer I hang the laundry outside, in the winter, I use the dryer. We are hoping to get our wood stove installed this fall, so that will definitely help out! You should look at Nourishing Traditions, there are a lot of really great recipes in there, and a great sourdough recipe.
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