Laundry...The Way Granny Did It: An Emergency Preparedness Handbook
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Review of
Laundry...The Way Granny Did It: An Emergency Preparedness Handbook,
by Kylie Jordan

Reviewer: Mark Lamendola, author of over 4,000 articles.

Governments have been using tax dollars for "re-elect me" programs rather than infrastructure. And they will continue to do so, due to the political climate. The New Zealand blackout some years ago didn't teach anyone any lessons. The USA underwent an enormous blackout in 2003. The underlying problems aren't even in the beginning stages of being addressed as of early 2004.

Water mains throughout the United States (and many other countries) are very  old, due to the same forces that caused inattention to the causes of the blackouts. These mains are leaking. Municipalities are reporting record numbers of repairs, each year.

As if all this weren't bad enough, the solar cycle is off. Consequently, we are having very unusual weather on earth. 2003 was supposed to be a "down year" in the 11-year solar cycle. But in July, the sun hit us with energy from a solar flare that was 50 earth diameters! We saw record temperatures immediately following that. And it happened again in August. Coronal holes have also been unusually active. This means more storms and more droughts. Throughout the midwest, drought conditions have reached so far down into the soil that watermains are being moved or crushed as the earth contracts around them.

If you don't think you need to be prepared for a loss of power or water, you are in serious trouble.

This book provides you with information to prepare you for one of your most critical needs--how to clean your socks, towels, underwear, bedding, and other washable items when you are without power or central water. Many people now in their retirement years remember the pre-washing machine days. Not so fondly, but they remember. People who grew up with washing machines might wrongly  assume those devices will always be available. They won't. And with this book, you can be prepared.

What about the non-emergency aspect to this book? Here's something to consider. Did you take a class on how to do laundry? If so, you are one rare individual! How do you really know how much detergent to use? Most of us use way too much. Do you know the difference between soap and detergent and which to use?

Do you know why you must wash some things in warm water? Do you know the chemical reasons for this? Do you know why you must wash some things in cold water? Did you know that getting this wrong can mean permanent stains?

You'll learn all this and more from this book. You'll also learn the how and why of sorting by color and separating loads by fabric. None of this information is rocket science--you just have to know it. All of it applies to machine-washing as well as hand-washing. So, it's useful right now--emergency or not.

And, of course, the book holds true to its emergency-preparedness theme by providing you with information on the various kinds of manually-powered laundry equipment, where to get it, and how to use it.

Don't order one copy. Get several and give them as gifts. The people you care about will be glad you did.

Ms. Jordan, we should all thank you for this wonderful little book. Well done!