More bleach (shelf life)
Unfortunately, the average shelf life of liquid bleach (being stored between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit) is around 6 months. After that, bleach will lose 20% of its strength at around the year mark and then 20% each year after thatLiquid chlorine bleach is a solution made from mostly water and 3-6% Sodium Hypochlorite. The homemade variety is made from Calcium Hypochlorite which you can easily find as “pool shock” at your pool-supplier store or Walmart.
The major benefit of using Calcium Hypochlorite over Sodium Hypochlorite is shelf life. Calcium Hypochlorite (pool shock) is sold in a solid granular form and has a 10 year shelf life when stored in a cool, dark place. This will easily meet your long-term storage needs. The other benefit is the amount of available chlorine. The concentration of chlorine is much higher with Calcium Hypochlorite. For example, a small 1-pound bag of calcium hypochlorite can disinfect up to 10,000 gallons of drinking water. That’s around 5 gallons/day for one person for 5 1/2 years! Not bad for only 1 lb of granules. One needs to use calcium hypochlorite that has around 70% available chlorine.
If you’re buying pool shock, on the back of the bag it will tell you what percentage of chlorine is available. The one I use is called “Zappit 73 Pool Shock, it is pure calcium hyphochlorite that contains up to 73% available chlorine and sells for around $5 for a 1lb bag. To make the homemade chlorine bleach concentrated solution, you’ll need to do the following:
• Mix 2 level Tablespoons of Calcium Hypochlorite to 3 cups of water.8 drops of the concentrated solution per gallon of water. Just like normal household bleach!
So the 3 step process is as follows:
1. Place 8 drops of homemade chlorine bleach in 1 gallon of water
2. Let stand for 30 min
3. If water is still cloudy, repeat steps until clear; otherwise it is ready to drink
It should be noted that once the homemade chlorine bleach is made it will follow the same shelf-life limitations as standard household liquid bleach. So be sure to only make amounts you will be using within that time frame (to save shelf space).
Thats how I have been doing it as well. Dont get me wrong, we still have bleach, but we use it for a lot around the house so it gets rotated pretty quickly.. for water cleaning and sanitation we are now stocking the pool shock. Stuff works great. I rotated out 2 55 gallon barrels last weekend and treated it with this. Much easier to store than bleach.
I was realizing the other day the many uses simple paper can have besides as writing or drawing material. It can be used as a simple funnel for transferring grains, herbs, etc into other containers, wrap food, can be a clean surface to work on, and can make clothing or object/manufacturing patterns with it.
A roll of white butcher paper is useful for a host of applications, as well as reams of simple printer/letter paper.