When I started my Frugal Lessons from the Amish article series, I knew there was a lot I would learn from my new friend Amy who is part of that community. I knew that some ideas might have to be adapted to suit our modern life styles, but I was really looking forward to the learning curve and to sharing all of that great information with you. Little did I know, that I would soon, for two days, be living it!
Oh, I didn’t run away from my family and join an Amish community, but fate (and nature) sort of has a way of driving its point home. You see, earlier in the week, we were hit with a freak Nor’easter, a storm that brought with it snow, rain and hail. It also brought down the power lines and some trees, essentially making us instantly unplugged. For two days, we were without electricity, modern heat, phone, cable TV or internet and even water. We have a well, and the pump uses electricity to run. Oh, and of course no refrigerator or way of cooking as we are used to doing.
We did take advantage of some of the lessons in cooling food, and kept our perishables out on the porch. Living somewhat on crackers and dry cereal created lots of crumbs, but without a vacuum, the broom was very handy indeed.
For heat, we used a kerosene heater, and all camped out in the living room. It was actually very cozy. We do have a fireplace, but it has yet to be cleaned since we moved in two weeks ago, and I didn’t want to risk a chimney fire.
While we don’t have an outhouse, we had to be resourceful about disposing of our, ah, waste, since the toilets were without water. Tom stepped up with that one, grabbing up some snow in five gallon buckets and using that to fill the toilet tanks.
I have to say that by the beginning of the second afternoon, we have had enough and were hooking up a gas powered generator to power the basics, such as heat, water and the refrigerator. The Amish do use propane and gas power on occasion, but that is usually only for the power tools that they might need in their businesses, not for their personal home use.
Related Articles:
Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Mowing the Lawn
Frugal Lessons from the Amish: Going Goodwilling
Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Cooling Food
Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Growing Food
Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Giving Up Your Vacuum