Cob: Re: No money but not the Blues

[Charmaine R Taylor]

Hi Pat, you points were well spoken and not preachy. I too hesitated to
say even "we are responsible for ourselves", but did, because I have
learned and seen that anything that is given for free.. when it shoould
be earned is not ultimately appreciated.   I get the same reactions
about "stone age"from people because I choose not to own all the modern
conveniences, or buy everything the minute I need it and in general do
without.

I like to pretend I have absolutely NO money, and what can I do to get
what is needed. Scavenging, trading, asking around, offering to barter
and just making do with lower level solutions work almost all the time.
Do without and waiting until the right time forces one to find OFTEN
better solutions than just going ahead and buying new.

Right now I am tickled to have gotten a 50's wringer washer, in good
shape for $40. I was going to use it for papercrete mixing ( this is the
rage in NZ I hear, just dump in the clay and water and fiber/paper and
let it agitate for an hour..doesn't shred, but does pulp well...so I
will be trying that.)

Then I got the bright idea to paint the machine black, put in tap water
in the am, and sit it out in the sun till the water is hot (ala solar
cooker pot), dump in the clothes and agitiate for a while. I had a
discussion on solar "undie" cooking on the SB list that gave me the idea
to try this. Clothes really just need to soak in water, with a small
amount of  soap and  agitation.
Hot water kills bacteria, so it's necessary too for grimy stuff. So I
will be experimenting with this machine as a clothes washer too, and see
if it can do double duty maybe : >    I'll keep ya'll posted!

Charmaine  Taylor/ Taylor Publishing
PO Box 6985, Eureka CA 95502
707-441-1632
http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com