SURVIVAL TIP : Great Recipe For making CHEAP Emergency Candles

I got one at KMart for around $15. Those are GREAT. You crank for about 2 minutes and it lasts for a loooong time. It gets dimmer over time, but that is okay.

Also, the hand crank radio, but I found that it runs down fast, I would recommend ear buds so that it wouldn't use up the power so fast. Mine is the orange Black and Decker, combo radio, flashlight, weather radio and regular radio. Also a connector to charge your cell phone, by hand cranking. I wouldn't think it would do much more than for a minute or so on the phone, but that could mean a lot in an emergency. I was pleased with that.

Also, I found a 2 burner Coleman stove on sale for $14.99 last year at Kmart. In the sporting goods section. They had 2 paks of Coleman propane on sale at the time, and I got two of those. I just don't want to have to cook outside, so I looked at a thread about alcohol stoves which you can use inside and it is clean.

I had a hand crank LED flashlight that I put into a juice glass to hold it upright sort of like a candle, and left on all night during a week long wintertime power outage. It gave me a LOT of comfort. A little light during a wintertime/cold power outage means more than I ever would have thought. Important for children, I would think..

Important to note. Those little tea lights can burn for a long time, but I found out that in the extreme cold (it got down to freezing in the house), they didn't last long. Also, I had lighters, and my fingers REALLY hurt in the cold trying to get them to light. Get a long barrel lighter thing and also, wooden matches.

I had a gas hot water heater and the water was on...so I filled up 2 liter pop bottles with hot water to put under the blankets with me, and small ones in my coat pockets.
Hope this helps someone.

In a disaster or collapse when the sewers or septic doesn't work, then your community will have to plan for this contingency. You all will need to pick a site for privys because if you don't then the result sanitary issues will leave to cholera and terrible dyssentary.

Solid waste is seperated from liquid waste. Urine makes excellent fertilizer. Solid waste should never be mixed with liquid waste as the proper bacteria to degrade it will not form and create a long term stench issue.Very few tribal societies compose human manure as it creates disease.

People all burying it in backyards is a terrible idea. If you do that, then usually you add lime to degrade it, that and straw. If you have a community section, then if you need to dig a well, it will be easier to plan a site. If not then anyone's runoff will contamiate the well.

Many people have propane for grills. You can purchase an adaptor so you can use propane from those larger tanks on your coleman stove.

Many people store their coleman stove and then when it comes time to use it, they can't get the pump mechanism to pump. The reason is the interion piston is made from leather. You can rub the leather with oil, and get then get it to pressurize again.

I suppose fat dead bodies could be used as candles as well.

I burn some beeswax candles; I'll never go back to GMO soy candles.

Anyone besides me lose their power while reading this thread???

What's so special about beeswax candles???

Thank you!!!! Good info. Need to research this some more. Hope we always have water and can flush....

[link to img.wikinut.com]

Thanks...good info.
I need to get that adapter and also try it out before it's too cold and miserable and I'm veryyy hungry.
Thank you.

[link to www.overstock.com]

Solar yard lights. Each light is its own power unit with its own solar cell(s) and its own battery pack.

They all use LED lamps and if you do not keep them outside all the time they will last for decades.

I have a collection of them. Instead of using the plastic spike, I used dowel rod from Home Depot along with rail cap/post cap:

[link to www.northtexasfencebuilders.com]

A drill hole, a screw and you can mount the dowel on top of the cap, then insert the lamp proper into the cap. A bit of paint or stain and you have a nice base.

I keep a couple three solar lights in windows and under regular lamps charged. I keep about ten in a drawer with their battery packs removed. If the power goes out I have a couple three for light the first night, and can pull out the other ten, hook up the batteries, set outside for the day then have plenty of light all through the night.

[link to www.grandpappy.info]

Is this what you're talking about? How many to light up a room?

[link to www.walmart.com]

They smell really good, they last longer, and they don't make my air cleaners turn black (they used to get black when I burned parafin candles and even when I switched to soy candles).
And I am not supporting GMO soy agibusiness.

On the Dollar Tree website they have these christmas ones for only $1.00 a piece! Wow! I"m going to get some of these, but how to turn off the automatic sensor? I want to store them away for power outages.

[link to www.dollartree.com]

That site says you can add human poop and shredded junk mail to your compost.
I don't think I would want poop, especially from anyone taking meds or eating crap foods in my compost.
And what about the bleach/dioxines in the mail-wouldn't that kind of kill off any good micro orgaisms in the compost?

No, I get the bigger ones.

Think about prepping on multiple levels. Solar patio lights do two things at once: 1)charge a battery 2) in the absence of light, emit light from their LEDs.

This means that they are a rechargable battery source too. That's a very handy property in a disaster or post-collapse.
See:
Thread: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF (Page 4)
That's the thread I frequent and have authored about 500 some posts on coping with disasters or collapse issues.
(Last minute tips for parents after the SHTF)

Grandpappy is a very good site. There's nothing wrong with the information, it's just that in order to compost human manure, it takes planning and communication. Everyone living in a densely populated area must follow a plan for human waste composting to work, else they will get sick. You can't have lots of little composting manure going on with those population levels. That won't work. It has to be intentionally planned, just as burials must be intentionally planned. Both issues will pollute the ground water and then the wells you dig. Many people will dig shallowpoint wells, ones not that deep, and so these wells especially can be contaminated.

Many of these issues have been intentionally though out and plans made for such events. Granpappy is one such site. I've posted answers here to everything I can imagine as well.
Thread: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF

We send Peace Core volunteers to 3rd world nations, as well as other nations doing the same thing in order to teach villagers how to provide good sanitation. Human being when living to events themselves don't plan because they don't have the specialists who understand these issues. Some communities may have those specialists, but left to their own initiatives won't plan, but it will happen eventually.

There's a link over there, one I carefully researched that provided the most safe human waste composting based upon bacteria counts and scientific testing on the water supply. If I can find it, I'll post it here.

My favorite electricity-out light. Good for the younger ones I don't trust with open flames.
[link to homesteadsurvival.blogspot.com]

Just go buy some candles............

Seems to be quite a delicate process for composting human waste safely and effectively. I think in short term emergency situations... I would just use a 5 gallon bucket with a secure lid. I've been in situations where this has been done during the winter... because walking down some path to the outhouse in blizzard conditions wasn't everyone's idea of a good time. :)

Funny you mention this, because i was going to add this wisdom as well. In a long term situation, well, we have no choice but to go back to good old outhouses. I did live for four years off the grid once, without a lot of fancy solar conveniences etc. We had a nice outhouse , but we do live in Montana, and believe me those winter nights and outhouse trips just aren't an option. So we would keep a 5 gallon bucket in the mudroom for over night , and we just had a toilet seat lid sittin' on top. Nice and comfy...then the next day some lucky person got to pack the whole thing to the outhouse. One tip though, never start with a dry bucket, YUK...put some water in there. Not too much though. Anyway, we did this for four years with two little kids, and it wasn't bad.

This all sounds like good advice ...thanks for these tips

Will that work ? A popcicle holder ? YOu mean stick ? ? ? Thanks for adding your two cents !

well , yeah, a person could do that, but the point being that candles can be very expensive. Especially quality long lasting ones, so this is an inexpensive way to stalk up. I also shop at the second hand store all the time and if they have candles, I but them. And I always keep all of my old used up candles , then re-melt them for new candles, been doing that for a while. I just throw the used up ones in a drawer. Then usually once every four years or so I have this big making candles in whatever kind of container will work , work day. And it is fun and you feel extremely good about it. I do anyway, love recycling this way. Seems like a waste to throw perfectly good leftover candle wax away, just cause the wick is used up.

Back in the day it was no big deal to use the 5 gal bucket. Or have two branches straped to two trees for a seat and back rest with a hole dug in the middle. The well and power would go out for weeks, somtimes months.

Now days, C diff is epidemic. It is a deadly fecal bacterial fungus spread by spores in the air, ONLY killed by bleach, can live outside the body for years, not killed by heat and cold. Urine is amonia, you do not mix with bleach. But you do need a bleach solution in a spray bottle for washing. I live an isolated, clean freak, rural life and I got it some how. No one is immune. What do I do wash all my food with bleach before eating? It is a crazy world we live in. We all know how toxic bleach is.

I need to get a good suply of powder bleach.

Much easier to dispose of a buket of wast than a bag.

PS I use candles for heating tea, soup etc, Cut holes sround top of a can for air with candle inside, the can will support a small pan.

Gosh that is a great idea. Such a simple idea but I would have never even thought of it.

It is amazing how warm a few camdles can keep a sealed up small room.

I have been stranded in a few vehicles during snow storms and break downs and kept warm and cooked with a few small candles. I never leave home without them LOL

Definetely good advice. Especially if the winter is going to be as bad as some people are saying, "big snow winter". Have never been stranded myself, but there is a first for everything, probably better put some in the car, why not ! Better safe then sorry.