Family Cloth-How To Make Reusable Toilet Paper For Survival
I want to talk about all how to make reusable toilet paper for survival. Now before you get all grossed out, let me explain. When toilet paper disappears from all the stores, now what? Do you want to know how to make reusable toilet paper for survival?
Some people may have a few rolls, or a few hundred rolls, stored away. Let’s assume we have an unforeseen disaster, one where the roads cave in or are washed away like we had the last few years on the East Coast and recently in Louisiana.
You Can Buy Cloth Toilet Paper
If you don’t have a serger, a sewing machine or the energy to make some you can also buy some so they are ready when you need them. I bought these: Thirsties Organic Cotton Reusable Cloth Wipes
I bought these because they are two-ply and 100% cotton. They wash up nice and they are 8 inches by 8.5 inches. They are not too big and not too small. Either way, I love these.
Reasons You May Need Reusable Toilet Paper
There may be many reasons that you need reusable toilet paper. If a natural disaster strikes such as an earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, tornado, or anything else that keeps you from getting to the store, you wouldn’t be prepared.
If SHTF or a virus spreads, the last thing you will want to do is worry about toilet paper. Sadly, you will still need to go to the bathroom, which leads me back to WHY you may need reusable toilet paper.
Alternatives to Reusable Toilet paper
Yes, you can save old phone books and tear a few sheets out or use leaves if you have to. Well, I will be using reusable toilet paper after my regular toilet paper runs out.
No worries, I have ways to wash it and not contaminate my other clothes that need to be washed if an unforeseen disaster were to happen. I have different mobile washing machines I will show you in the next few days.
How to Make Reusable Toilet Paper for Survival
If you have time to prepare and can prep in this way, then do it! I’m going to teach you how to reusable toilet paper for survival. You’ll love having these on hand in case of an emergency or because you run out of toilet paper at home. There is nothing better than being able to make these right at home!
No one wants to talk about toilet stuff. I get it. But here’s the deal, we need to talk about it. We all use the bathroom so let’s just lay all the cards out.
Number one, I want my own emergency toilet and I want toilet paper to go with it. Now you can save your old phone books and use those pages to take care of your business as well.
Step One
I am showing you how to make your own toilet paper cloths I call “family cloths”. I made mine in ten-inch squares.
Step Two
I’m going to use my serger to go around all the edges to keep them from fraying. I might sew them and turn them inside out and top-stitch. Please note: I made them single-ply so they would wash and dry faster.
Step Three
I bought a small garbage can and inside that can I have a zippered clothes bag to put the soiled family cloth in to wash later. I will add bleach to the water with my laundry soap to wash them.
Don’t Forget the Water Bottles For Rinsing
In the picture above you see two bottles. These can be filled with water and a drop or two of essential oil to rinse our private areas. It might seem really crazy to think about making your own cloth toilet paper.
Well, these are really soft flannel squares with zero chemicals and fewer trees will be cut down than they need to make regular toilet paper. My daughters grew up with cloth diapers.
Cloth Diapers
I think more and more young mothers realize how expensive disposable diapers are. I keep reading that some very smart young mothers are starting to use cloth diapers. Cloth Diapers
I also buy these Cloth Diapers to use for paper towels. They saved me so much money.
Grab Good Clothespins
Yay! The first investment is a lot, but so is a monthly disposable diaper bill, even with coupons. Be sure and get something to hang your wet clothes on and buy good clothespins. Kevins Clothespins
All we can do is take baby steps to be prepared for the unexpected, but we need to start today. I hope this post motivates you to really think about how much toilet paper we can really store.
Final Word
We can use my emergency washing machine to wash and rinse the toilet paper cloths. We will need a way to hang up our laundry too! My YouTube, using my Clothesline is on the Earth Easy Website. I love that clothesline! May God bless this world, Linda
I love this post I have been using Family Cloth every day for several years now,,, it saves a lot of paper… I started using family cloth when our finances were low and liked it so much I am still using it… When I first started I could not get past the idea of using it for some jobs, so I only used them for pee, because I pee a lot, it was worth it even if I still used paper for dirtier jobs… Baby Steps…
HI Karen, I have been making squares of it for years now. I never want to run out of toilet paper, so to you and I this is a great alternative! Hugs! Linda
Very good post….again! I did a display on potty alternatives during a disaster at our Stakes Emergency Fair. In my 2 bucket potties I had stacks of flannel square on display. People were surprised but understood. I bought flannel shirts for 99 cents at my thrift store, washed & bleached & cut to size. This also saves a LOT of space.
HI Debra, I think using old flannel nightgowns and flannel shirts will be used for sure if we all run out of toilet paper! Yes, they do save a lot of space! I’m going to go add your comment to my post, thank you so much! Linda
Linda, Recently I read how the pioneer did without toilet paper which by the way was only brought into daily use in the 20th century. Before that a bowl of water was beside the toilet for the user to dip his hand in and wash or wipe and clean himself. This was only done with the left hand. This was why the custom of shaking hands with your right hand became the standard greeting. Such interesting facts I find in studying history I wanted to share with you and your readers.
Hi Sharon, oh I love hearing stuff like this!! I have got to put this on my post! I love love love learning about the pioneers and what our ancestors did! Thank you for sharing this with me! Linda
You really kept it simple. Those little squirt bottles are cheap enough to buy one for everyone in the family or house. Otherwise, one of those pump water sprayers (People use to spray chemicals, insecticides and such) is another option. While there may be more work involved, it does seem as if converting to cloth is cheaper and it will really benefit your plumbing.
One idea, by M.D. Creekmore is to place the small towel or your piece of cloth into a small container filled with bleach and leave it there to soak. Of course I imagine it would be best to rinse it out before soaking and naturally before using again to avoid risk of irritation. Also, I would be worried that if the bleach has no water in it and is diluted adequately that it would eat the towel or cloth away leaving holes and eventually destroy your cloth toilet paper. Seemed like an easy way to handle it, but I’ve seen too heavy a use of bleach ruin clothing. I have been meaning to watch his video and ask him about it. He’s a good guy and I’m sure he’ll explain and clarify for me. Seems like a brilliant idea, but I have some issues with it.
Another guy on YouTube who camps, suggests using a towel and then rinsing it in a stream of pond. Then leaving it out in the sun to dry. Of course one would require soap or anti-bacterial gel to clean their hands and wash out the towel or risk using a not entirely clean towel or spreading germs on their hands. But he advocates using a towel or bandana and not carrying toilet paper which is hard to do with the limited space and capacity of a backpack and not the best choice environmentally speaking.
Hi Frank, I would worry about the environment as well. I wonder about the bleach eating through the cloth rags as well. When I had kids in cloth diapers, I put the diapers after empty the residue in the toilet and placed the used diapers in a bucket with a lid as I remember. It wasn’t fancy or anything. We may all have to go to family cloth sooner than later, we may as well be ready with some squares of cloth ready and some spray bottles. We can do it! Stay well, my friend, Linda
I started using these a few months ago as we are planning to homestead off grid. My husband is disgusted by it but the kids are warming up. I make them double-ply whatever fabric I have on hand. I purchased the thursties wipes for babies and we use those too. I like the feel of the organic cotton. Whatever works that keeps us from going to the store. I keep a small trash can filled with water and my diy dish detergent. No bleach no borax. Then they go in the washer.
Hi Leslie, I love hearing you are planning to homestead off-grid. I agree, the less we have to buy from a store the better. Linda
Family clothes are a great idea. Just a heads up on using disposable diapers. I was using cloth diapers until we had our t son. He was was very allergic to the cloth ones due to having to wash them al the time. No matter what I put in the water, his skin got a rash. I switched to disposable and the rash was gone. I used them from then on.
Hi Cheryl, OHHHHH, that is so good to know. I always think cloth will work in an emergency, but it sounds like we better all stock a few boxes of disposable diapers as well! Good to know! Linda
Hi Linda,
After the great toilet paper panic we’ve all been through ( and may do so again given that the machines which make toilet paper need some form of fuel or energy to run) I thought this might be relevant.
When my children were in cloth nappies ( known as diapers to Americans) I found they developed rashes if the nappies were dried in a dryer. But when dried in the sun there were no rashes. Presumably the same would apply to toilet cloths?
Also records of ship journeys prior to the 20th century show they used toilet cloths which, after rinsing and washing, were dipped in vinegar before being hung to dry. Maybe chemical free vinegar would work in place of bleach?
I can understand why some of the disposable nappy generation are squeamish about the idea of toilet cloths but one way I found of dealing with the ‘ripe’ ones way to fling them on the grass ( never near fruit trees or veggie gardens) , stand as far back as practical and hose them with a strong jet of water. As a bonus the grass gained free fertiliser.
Hi Carol, I like the term cloth nappies!! Yes, we call them cloth diapers here but either way they work and save money. I love the vinegar idea and hanging them out to dry!! I hadn’t heard toilet cloths, interesting tidbit, thank you. Great comment and a good reminder we may not have toilet paper in the near future. Linda
Hi Linda, your link for cloth diapers isn”t working. Would you mind sending it to me? Love your articles!
Hi Chava, thank you for letting me know the link was broken, I really appreciate it. Thank you for your kind words, Linda https://amzn.to/3FIxvBc
Hi Chava, give me a few minutes those are 27″ by 27″, those are not the ones. Linda
Hi Chava, here is the 14″ by 20″ size, Thank you for your patience. https://amzn.to/3QsArqq Linda
I’m all for cloth wipes if my two year+ supply of TP gets depleted.
But, I’m certainly not using white or light colors. Are people out of their minds? If we don’t have TP, washing is going to be tough. Think “stain” removal.
I already use only dark colored wash cloths for washing and I have all the washing machine power and water anyone could want.
Simply put- you can bleach the germs out of cloth, but often not the stains. How’s that for delicately put?! Vinegar is as good for bacteria as bleach. Just not good for viruses (which you can wash down the drain like you do with hand washing).
My cloth wipes will be of some dark color…probably just old, thin wash cloths (as stated already dark grey).
Hang them in the sun for extra germ fighting.
Wash cloths are already finished around the edge. It’s hard to even find thick ones now. Most of them are “cotton,” but it’s like tuna cans. The fish is tuna, but read the label- 49% soy in the can..unless you buy the special stuff, which I think we all do…anyway.
Towels are now polyester of some sort with cotton spun around the thread. When the cotton is gone, you have “microfiber” wash cloths.
Stack those things up for rags and when the TP is gone, you already have your “free” supply.
Hi CAddison, I always buy white wash cloths, in bulk from Sam’s Club or Costco. Now I will look for dark ones, great tip, my friend! Now that I’m in my new home I need to stock up on more vinegar. Life is good when we have what we need! Linda