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No More “Product” – Frugal & Sustainable Beauty and Hygiene

Frugal BeautyI’m in the process of weening myself off of store-bought beauty and hygiene products. There are a lot of reasons for this; for one thing, it’s saving us a lot of money. Products are expensive, and even the cheaper alternatives like Suave or generic brands add up to quite the chunk of change over time. The natural alternatives I’m switching to tend to be much more frugal, and they tend to be things we keep around the house already.

Store-bought products also tend to violate the survival rule of only packing or storing items that have at least two or three different uses. Oh, sure, a bottle of hairspray can double as fuel for fire starting in a pinch, and as a flame thrower if you find yourself under attack by a zombie horde, but most other beauty and hygiene products are pretty much single use. Also, if TEOTWAWKI ever happens, it’s not like I’ll just be able to skip down to Walmart for new shampoo and toothpaste when I run out. Natural alternatives tend to be a little more sustainable, and by switching now, at least I’ll stand a chance of being able to keep up my beauty routine after the poo hits the fan.
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By Jean Marie Bauhaus, ago

Grasping The Muse

Kiss of the Muse

Kiss of the Muse, by Paul Cezanne

First, some updates: today marks the official launch of Bauhaus Online Creative, my new freelancing site that is replacing The Web Wrangler. So now I can stop being preoccupied with that, and start being preoccupied instead with my next big personal web project, which will be to build a custom theme for this here blog. Excitement!

Also, today I finally started using my Google+ profile, so I guess it’s no longer pointless to add me to your circles.

And now to the real reason for this post. The other night I dreamed the beginning of my next novel. I woke up from that dream and turned that strange scene over and over in my brain until not only did it make sense, but I had an entire plot to go along with it. And after two days of scribbling furiously in my notebook whenever I could grab some quiet time, I now also have a five page outline, and I can’t wait to write this book.

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By Jean Marie Bauhaus, ago

Survival On a Budget

One question I see pop up from time to time in preparedness forums and comment threads is, “What can I do to prepare if I have a limited income?” Another variation of this question is, “So really, am I screwed?”

The problem with a lot of budget-conscious advice is that it always tends to assume that there is some luxury you can easily give up to help meet your goals. But what if you’ve already given up all the luxuries and you are already surviving on a diet of Top Ramen? Do you just plan on stockpiling as much ramen as possible and hope for the best?
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By Jean Marie Bauhaus, ago

Daring To Dream In Uncertain Times

Warning: Uncertain TimesHello there, fellow preppers! I’m back after an unexpected hiatus that was forced on me by my “day job.”

Part of the reason for my absence is that I’ve been working toward my survival goal of getting out of debt and acquiring some land by overhauling my freelance business–niching down my services, raising my prices, overhauling my web site, researching marketing strategies, that sort of thing.

Any time I start giving serious attention to the structure and operation of my business like that, I eventually find myself starting to dream big, and this time it’s no different. Suddenly I’m having visions not just of improved income, but of someday growing my little web design “studio” beyond just me and my laptop to something that includes partners and employees and posh office space.

And then I remember that our nation and its economy are on the verge of a meltdown, and I reel it back in.
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By Jean Marie Bauhaus, ago

Easy Survival Prep: Get Dressed

I’ve been a work-at-home freelancer for the last three years, and in that time I’ve developed a pretty bad habit: most days I rarely bother to get dressed unless I plan on leaving the house. This habit is common among most stay/work-at-home types I know, so much so that it makes me think that people who actually get dressed just to hang around the house all day only actually exist on TV. After all, getting to work in your PJs is part of the whole appeal of working at home, right?
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By Jean Marie Bauhaus, ago

Why We’re Preparing For Survival

1999 was a strange year. Nostradamus’s famed prophecy that the world would end at the end of the last century seemed like it might have some kind of truth in the dreaded Y2K bug that was sure to cripple computers on New Years Day 2000, when the computer clocks that were only programmed with two-digit dates rolled back to 00 and interpreting that as 1900, thereby crippling the grid and bringing about the end of the world as we know it.
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By Jean Marie Bauhaus, ago

The Bear Grylls Survival Knife and Adventures In Fire Making

Right now I smell like smoke and, as my husband keeps pointing out, I need to take a shower. That’s because I just came back from an afternoon spent in the back yard getting acquainted with my Bear Gryll’s Survival Knife. My husband got this for me about a month ago, as an early Christmas present, but today was the first time I found time to get out there and practice with it.
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By Jean Marie Bauhaus, ago

Preparedness Goals for 2012

Happy new year, fellow preppers! At least, here’s hoping that it’s happy and all of our concern about the economy, et al, fails to pan out.

A new year is always a good time to take stock and set some goals, and Casa Prepper has plenty of goals for the coming year, not the least of which is simply to survive it. To that end, here are the things we’re working toward this year:

  • Getting in shape. While this goal makes the top of most people’s new year’s resolutions, for preppers it takes on a higher degree of importance, as being healthy and in good shape is a vital component of survival. After all, having a garage full of freeze-dried food and water won’t help you much if you’re unable to run for your life if need be, which I’m not sure I could do successfully at the moment. We also face the possibility of having to bug out on foot, hiking for miles over uncertain terrain while carrying many pounds of gear on our backs. And working on strength training so that I won’t be easily overpowered by “zombies” is also on my to do list.

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By Jean Marie Bauhaus, ago