"Sensitive" Issue

This one is for the ladies. Let’s be blunt, OK? Tampons and feminine pads. What did your grandma or great grandma use? Disposables are all we in the US know. Check the calendar (yeah, right) and see that it is nearly your “time” and you make sure to pick a box up at the store. But what if the stores no longer had them? What if they were sold out of your brand or cost $100 a box?

While there were all manner of gadgetry available 100 years ago, most women made their own. Simple, folded cloth held in place by underwear was the norm. Some women made their own using cotton wading stuffed between two sheets of fabric.This was especially important after giving birth. But none of us has an endless supply of fabric for this purpose. So what would YOU do?

You can stock up, but those boxes take up a lot of space and many women are very private when it comes to these things. You can count on using some cloth each month, I guess. But how much spare cloth do you have laying around and how comfortable will it be? Plan ahead on this one, ladies.

There are many places online you can buy washable, custom made pads. Gladrags is a great place to buy re-usable pads and tampon cups, but there are several other places you can use or you can make your own. I have seen some re-usable tampons, but, frankly, I worry about them since they are inserted into the body, so I don’t recommend them. Be warned, they are expensive and you need to buy good soap for laundering, but they are built to last. Especially if you are “bugging in,” this is a good alternative. I’ve even seen where some women soak them in water in a bucket as they replace them with fresh ones, and then pour the water and such into the garden beds later.

At minimum, keep a few months worth of these items in your CHTF stockpile.