Catie George

I spent several months using a modified toilet plunger to clean clothing in my bathtub, upgrading to a pail with the plunger, which workes better since there was more water depth, before upgrading to a used portable washing machine that connected to my sink, because laundromats can be so incredibly pricey to use(for me, it was $40 in cab rides, and $40 in fees, every time I used one!).

It's doable to wash without a washing machine, but drying items is the tricky part since wringing by hand is so difficult. The portable washer was a huge improvement. I think I paid $150 for it, and it paid for itself after 2 missed trips to the laundromat. I ended up only needing the laundromat a few times a year, to wash things like duvets.

There are many stages to washing clothing:

1) wetting clothing
2) agitation with soap
3) Draining, and partially wringing out soapy water
4) Refill water
5) Agitation in plain water
6) Drain, and partially wring out soapy water
7) Repeat steps 4-6 another 2-4x, until soap goes away.
8) Wring out clothing well (lifting, twisting, and squeezing each piece repeatedly)
9) Hang to dry.
10) Check and move clothing around repeatedly to ensure all bits dry
11) Put away dry clothing.
12) If required,  repeat steps 1-11, because you discover that things didn't dry soon enough  (especially if drying indoors) and things became musty smelling, so you need to rewash!

This gets almost exponentially more difficult as items get larger - a sock is trivial to hand wash. A large bath sheet is a chore.

Stomping on the laundry while you shower is unlikely to do much good, as it would only cover the beginnings of agitating with soap - I was shocked at how difficult rinsing and wringing clothing was.

I won't say not to handwash clothing - but I would never dream of asking someone to handwash clothing (and it would be a relationship -ending request if someone suggested I start).

As for homemade detergent - I wouldnt try it in a high efficiency washer but for a portable washer or handwashing, it should be fine. Bar soap is unlikely to be strong enough to act as laundry soap, as it's usually formulate to NOT strip all the oil from your skin. You can buy bar laundry soap for handwashing.

I really enjoyed working through this book:

https://www.thisisclassicalguitar.com/free-classical-guitar-method-book-pdf/

As for a new fridge - I hope to get a used fridge this summer when I can remove my trailer from the snow bank it currently sits in (if I can find someone to help me move fridges).

Or buy a new one I suppose, from a company that does free removals, but I really would rather use the money for a number of other things on my list that would bring me more long term joy than a fridge. Fixer upper houses are expensive!!

The 'keep in another room' idea is a really good one to try.

I heat mostly with a pellet stove which I turn off overnight, so my kitchen fluctuates between 14C-22C on a daily basis. Horrible for keeping veg out, even potatoes. I seem to be able to keep fruit (apples, oranges) on the counter for about 1.5 weeks.

The bedrooms are further away, from the pellet stove, and colder. I could maybe put a box in my office/spare room, which I normally close the door to and is probably more like a consistent 10C (except when I go away and turn on the boiler, but if I'm away I set the boiler to 13C-14C anyways...) I struggle to go downstairs and grab veg from the cold storage area, but the office would be much more convenient! And then, by late April when that room is likely warmer from the sun, since it is south facing ,I will have the start of fresh garden produce.

Maybe my issue with coolers is I usually use them in high summer and use way more ice than I'd need to indoors in the winter? Worth trying my cooler with only 1 or 2 ice packs.

The main area of the fridge doesn't freeze thankfully, it just dehydrates things at it attempts to defrost itself, and then drips water on the shelves.

Any recommendations on how to use a cooler for up to 3 weeks, to keep veggies cold without freezing them?

I do have an old cooler and an abundance of ice packs, but I seem to remember veggies going slimy after a couple days from getting too cold on camping trips. Maybe I just haven't mastered using a cooler?

As for what I want to eat more of - I am craving  greens, and brassicas, celery, cucumbers, and carrots. Obviously I tend to eat through the more perishable stuff first.

Part of what's going on is I've discovered I'm probably intolerant to nightshades, so my frozen and canned tomatoes and peppers are suddenly useless to me.

I'm afraid my porch is far closer to freezer temps than fridge temps! Not consistently above 0C even in the day yet here, with most nights still -10C, and -17C in the forecast.  I can probably finally tap my maple trees this week...

I do have a cold basement - generally 5C to 12C, so I keep garlic, squash, onions and potatoes there.

But I need a fridge to get things like carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, to last a few weeks...

My fridge is dying, and I don't want to spend the money to replace it right now after a bunch of expensive things going wrong all at once.

It still cools, but the electronics are fried so I can't set a temperature. Anything in the bottom vegetable drawers ends up frozen in 1" of ice. I basically use the crisper drawers only for milk bags at this point (yes, I am in Ontario, why do you ask?)

Is there a way to store fresh veggies in the other areas of the fridge, and not have them go bad quickly?

My vegetable consumption has plummeted because veggies either go bad quickly in the main fridge, or freeze and go bad in the crispers. Without fresh veggies, I feel less inclined to cook.

Note - I grocery shop about once every 2-3 weeks. I know it won't be a big deal once my garden gets going again, and I start storing veggies for 1-2 days max...

Brody Ekberg wrote:

Michael Helmersson wrote:

Brody Ekberg wrote:

Our walls, from inside out are drywall, fiberglass insulation, plywood sheathing, tar paper then aluminum siding with that backer board.

No vapor barrier then?

Not unless the fiberglass insulation backing or tar paper counts. And actually our walls arent just drywall. They seem to be 1” thick made of 2 separate layers. The layer closest to the outside seems like drywall but the layer we can see inside the house seems different. Its harder than regular drywall. Can’t pound a nail in without busting chips out. Its like drywall but harder. And not all uniform thickness. The 2 attached pictures were taken from a single piece I cut out of the wall and theres almost 1/8” different in thickness

I admjt to being lazy about reading this whole thread, ans this might already have been answered, but it looks like plaster over rocklath. I have it too. It was kind of a intermediate step between drywall and plaster, with all the advantages, and disadvantages of both. I actually really like it (when I am not trying to hang something from the wall).

Very off topic but to pound a nail, predrill. Cut any holes with a diamond tipped saw and expect a ton of dust. Do not use drywall anchors. To find studs, buy a 'Stud Pop's magnetic stud finder. The rocklath is secured by nails over the studs.

Back to your actual question...

My solution to uneven heat in a house I try to spot heat with a cheaper source, (pellets/wood), while keeping cold and moisture in check, is to run my boiler for a few hours each day, usually first thing in the morning to bring the house up to temp after I let it cool off overnight and restart the stove. In my case, I do it to prevent freeze, but it would also likely help your moisture issues. I dramatically lower my oil consumption by doing this, vs. running just oil, and IMO the house is more comfortable. Seeing those pics, I wonder if the discolouration in the floors of the two back bedrooms is from the previous people doing what you were doing...

Long term, I plan to add mini split heating to that side of the house, but this works for now and is cheaper than mold issues or a frozen pipe in my basement.  If I were you, and considering installing a basement woodstove, I would put it on the opposite side of the house from the upstairs stove - I have one in the basement and one on the main floor, both on the same side, which STILL leaves the back bedrooms cold even when I run both.

Also - for circulation with fans, push cold air along the floor towards the stove, with fans at floor level, not towards the bedrooms. For warm air, run ceiling fans to wash it down the walls, or fans in the top corners of doorways, pushing warm air to the bedrooms, which, as it cools and sinks, gets returned by the lower fans. You want to create a circulation pattern of air.

I'm also considering insulating my rim joists. I've been mulling just Rockwool, since I also have concerns about spray foam and rot in a humid climate with a house with no vapour barrier... Plus, Rockwool is inflammable and doesn't offgas. Other sources say my plan will CAUSE rot because it causes condensation on the surface of the joist, so I keep mulling it and haven't done it. So this is certainly not advice.

Depending on where you live in the world, your soil has different minerals.

Here in Ontario, for example, my soil is mostly 10 000 year old ground up rock dust, pulverized by glaciers and deposited in a lake bed. Very nutrient rich.

Much of the southern US is on soil that is from millions of years of rock decomposing insitu, which may be less rich. Unless you're in a river Valley, or a drained lake, or ....  It depends!

Over time, water can move soil nutrients lower, and wash them away - or crust them to the surface in excess. Once those nutrients are gone, it's hard to recover them even with the best compost and they might be absent in a large geographic area.

I don't know where you are, what your soil contains, and what types of minerals it was made of, but I have seen people amend with rock dust (glacial or volcanic), which I'd consider if I was worried about soil mineral content.

I would want to have a good idea of what's missing though, as I'm personally not a fan of amending without good reason. I would want to match the compositon of the rock dust (or other amendment) I chose, with the actual deficiencies in my local soil. For example, dolomitic limestone has magnesium, pure limestone has much less. Or volcanic rock would have a wider range of minerals... Etc. you may even want to combine a few amendments.

I'm someone who insists on mixing native subsoil into raised bed mixes, because I believe the minerals in the native soil are important.

You might not even need to pay for a soil test, if you can access local agriculture data (this is where I would personally start).

You may also consider adjusting the pH of the soil, as that can affect nutrient availability, particularly if overly alkaline.

I made relish for the first time this year, and have been eating a ton. I think it's the first time I've ever canned a 'convenience food' that I actually use. I found relish easier to make than pickles, and more useful, to boot!

Some things I use it for:

Relish + mayo + tuna/leftover meat = tuna, chicken, or pork salad sandwich. Also great with rice instead of bread.

Relish + mayo + potatoes - potato salad!

Relish + mayo + eggs - egg salad!

Etc.

I've also been enjoying it when I overcook a roast to make the roast easier to swallow, or on sandwiches, burgers, etc.

I made dill pickle relish and mustard relish. Both delicious, both uniquely flavoured enough I feel like there is variety.

Which made me wonder - are there other relish flavours I could make next year?