Here’s the #1 Reason I’m writing this blog post.
According to HealthDay Reporter (HealthDay News), Reporter Dennis Thompson (19 Feb. 2015 – Thursday):
“More than 13,400 hypothermia deaths occurred in the United States between 2003 and 2013, with unadjusted annual rates ranging from 0.3 to 0.5 per 100,000 persons, the report says. A statistically significant increase in death rates from hypothermia occurred over the decade.”
According to AARP Foundation: “Nearly 37 million older adults do not have enough money to make ends meet. That’s 1 in 3 seniors who simply can’t afford to pay for utilities, rent, medications, and food.”
I’m making a big guess, but at least several hundred of those deaths were caused because the elderly couldn’t afford to pay their utility bill, thus no heat in their homes. They died from KILLER HYPOTHERMIA!
And I may have a DIRT CHEAP solution to fight KILLER HYPOTHERMIA. But first let me give you 11 other uses of Throw-Away Trash Bags (TASBs).
Here are “12 Very Useful Uses Of Throw-Away Shopping Bags – TASBs” that I use that most folks throw away or recycle. Instead of paying for those small trash bags, gloves, boots, packing material,… SAVE MONEY and use those plastic shopping bags.
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Let’s start with Collecting & Trashing Cat Litter.
01) Collecting & Trashing Cat Litter
02) Packing Material
03) Water-Proof Booties
04) Snow Booties
05) Dew Proof Booties
06) Plantar Wart Preventor Booties
07) Wader Booties
08) Gloves
09) Cleaning Rags Container
10) Small Bathroom Trash Bags
11) TASB Pillow
12a) TASB Emergency Gumby Suit
12b) Emergency Newspaper Insulation
12c) Emergency Gumby Suit
12a) TASB Emergency Gumby Suit
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OK, let’s start with Collecting & Trashing Cat Litter.
01) Collecting & Trashing Cat Litter: I use TASBs to clean-out my cat litter boxes, use the TASB handles to secure everything and toss them in the trash can.
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02) Packing Material: I use several TASBs bunched-up together for packing. I usually place bunches of TASBs around the fragile items to keep them from breaking during shipment. These TASBs will save you money versus buying all those packing materials like bubble wrap,…
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03) Water-Proof Booties: Is it raining outside and puddled water on the ground? And you have no galoshes? Use them TASBs to keep your shoes, socks and feet dry while doing your work outside. I place each shoe in a bag and use the handles to secure the bag over my shoe with a square knot. Use a bag over each shoe. If you want, use double-bag protection, use 02 TASBs per left & right shoe. These home-made water-proof booties work real good, even when walking through puddled water!!!
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04) Snow Booties: Snow on the ground outside? And you have no snow boots or galoshes? Again, use TASBs to keep your footgear and feet dry and protected from the cold wet snow. I place each shoe in a bag and use the handles to secure the bag over my shoe with a square knot. Use a bag over each shoe.
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05) Dew Proof Booties: If you go outside in the early morning hours, odds are real good that theres dew on the ground. If you take just 30-steps, your shoes are already soaked along with your socks. Use them TASBs to keep your shoes, socks and feet dry while walking on the dew-laden lawn. I place each shoe in a bag and use the handles to secure the bag over my shoe with a square knot. Use a bag over each shoe.
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06) Plantar Wart Preventor Booties: If you get up at night and walk on the floor barefooted or even wearing socks, I don’t care how clean your floors are, you could get a plantar wart (bottom of foot). And those plantar warts are PAINFUL PAINFUL and hard to get rid of. So to avoid doctor bills, just slip-on a pair of Plantar Wart Preventor Booties (TASBs). Remember – ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’
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07) Wader Booties: When the water is cold, I wear waders when I get in my small 1,000-gallon watergarden to clean my home-made filters / aerators (See Note below). Most of the time, that cold water transfers its cold temperature through the foot-portions of the waders and my feet hurt. Today (06 Nov. 2019 – Wednesday), I got an idea.
Before donning my waders, I tied 02 TASBs over each sock. You know what happened? I was in the watergarden for almost 02-hours and both my feet felt warm and there was no throbbing pain in either foot.
Note: I got frostbite in both feet from the military. Many times my feet HURT when they get cold, even when I’m wearing socks & footgear and I’m indoors.
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08) Gloves: In Item 01, I told you about cleaning-out your cat litter boxes and collecting the debris using the TASBs. How about protecting your hands while cleaning-out those litter boxes? Wear a TASB in each hand. And to insure that your hands aren’t contaminated, discard the gloves by using the gloves themselves to toss each of them into the trash.
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09) Cleaning Rags Container: I no longer use paper toweling for cleaning. I SAVE MONEY by buying about 100 or so regular cheap wash cloths. This way I could clean-up and re-use them many times after I wash & dry them. I’ve saved a lot of money by using wash cloths instead of buying throw away paper toweling over and over again. I’ve stopped using paper towels for about 10-years and use regular cheap wash cloths.
Anyway, I’ve used TASBs full of wash cloths to hang in my kitchen where I can just grab wash cloths as I need them. I interlock one of the handles on a drawer handle and fill-up the TASB with a couple dozen wash cloths. The bag will last a year or so before it needs to be replaced. Yeah, it looks ghetto, but I ain’t paying several bucks for a fancy bag to do the same thing.
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10) Small Bathroom Trash Bags: I place a TASB in my small plastic trash container in my bathroom. It fits perfectly. Once its full, I grab the handles, tie a knot and throw it in my 13-gallon kitchen trash container. I insert a new TASB in the bathroom trash container. This keeps me from spending money on those fancy small trash bags. The TASB’s do the same job and they’re FREE.
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11) TASB Pillow: The following you won’t believe but It’s true. Here’s my R & D. I took 07 TASBs and stuffed them full with 15 bunched-up TASBs and used the handles to close them all shut. I then took the 07 TASBs and inserted them in a 13-gallon trash bag. I pushed-out all the excess air and tied-off the 13-gallon trash bags at the neck using the plastic draw strings. I then placed this 13-gallon bag of 07 stuffed TASBs in a regular pillow case and BAAAAM, I got a comfortable TASB pillow.
1st Note: The reason for the 07 stuffed TASBs is constant even distribution of ‘stuffing’ throughout the pillow at all times, especially while sleeping. The 07 stuffed TASBs will re-inflate in the pillow case. I used this TASB Pillow and found it to be comfortable and firm. It turned out to be much longer, wider and higher than my other pillows but still comfortable.
2nd NOTE: I know what you’re asking. Where the heck am I going to get all these TASBs? I do this all the time. When I go the self-check-out, I always double bag my items. Plus, at the entrance of most Walmart stores they have their recycle totes for TASBs and soda cans. After doing all my shopping and paying for all my stuff at the self-check-out, before leaving the store, I’d ask one of the Walmart Associates if I can take some bags of TASBs. They ALWAYS tell me – ‘Yeah, go ahead.’
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12a) TASB Emergency Gumby Suit: You just read about the TASB Pillow. The following is an emergency use of TASBs to fight-off going into hypothermia (lowering of body temperature below 98.6°).
Before I tell you about my own TASB Emergency Gumby Suit R & D, let me tell you about:
- 12b) Emergency Newspaper Insulation
- 12c) Emergency Gumby Suit
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12b) Emergency Newspaper Insulation: I was stationed at Fort Bragg, NC, in the 1970s and 1980s. That wet NC humidity will put a real hurtn’ on you, especially in cold temperatures. I was talking to this one Senior NCO (Sergeant) who rode a motorcycle most of the time. We were talking about motorcycles. He told me he was on leave (vacation) and trying to get back to Fort Bragg on his motorcycle.
The weather turned bad and the temperatures unexpectedly dropped like a rock. He had to get back to Fort Bragg and had no cold weather clothing to wear on his ride back to Fort Bragg. Whatever the cold temperature, it’s a lot worse when doing 55mph on a motorcycle. Those cold temperatures could send you into a hypothermic state.
The Sergeant got an idea and rode his motorcycle to a nearby store and purchased a newspaper. He took the sheets of newspaper and placed some pieces of newspaper in each shoe. He placed some small pieces in his socks.
He tucked his pants in his socks and started stuffing his pants front and back with sheets of newspapers. He tucked his shirt in his pants and stuffed his shirt front & back and all the way up to the neck with sheets of newspaper. And he stuffed some pieces of newspaper in his leather gloves and some in top and back of his motorcycle helmet.
Bottom Line: The Sergeant completed his freezing cross-country motorcycle ride with no hypothermic effects because he stuffed his clothing with sheets of newspapers.
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12c Emergency Gumby Suit: The Bearing Sea is one of the most unforgiving areas on Earth. In this area, approximately 25 – 30 die from the wrath of Mother Nature (harsh freezing winds, 20-foot waves, super cold water) each year (early 1990s). The US Coast Guard Station located at Kodiak, Alaska, flies 300 – 350 SAR (Search And Rescue) missions each year (early 1990s) attempting to save lives in these harsh weather conditions.
And thanks to the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act of 1998, each fisherman is now required to have access to their own “Gumby Suit.” A Gumby Suit is designed to fight hypothermia, protecting the survivor while immersed in the super cold waters of the Bearing Sea. The Gumby Suit is made of neoprene. Neoprene is a durable & flexible synthetic rubber material and can be purchased at your local super hardware store (Home Depot, Lowes).
And the Gumby Suit really works and has already saved lives. According to Captain Mont J. Smith of the US Coast Guard at Kodiak, Alaska “These suits have kept people alive for 12-hours in water so cold it can paralyze you in minutes. It was the Wives Association that pushed for them, not the fishermen. They were tired of hubby not coming home. We owe them a lot.”
NOTE: In the 2006 AASN (Newsletter), I told you about a man I named the “Human Penguin.” He made a similar suit designed for cold weather. His suit was made of 1/4-inch foam rubber. Can you make your own cold weather suit? Sure you can. See Super Cold Weather Survival – The Jim Phillips Way in the 2006 AASN. (National Geographic – October 1992)
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12a) TASB Emergency Gumby Suit: Now let me carry-on with TASB Emergency Gumby Suit. The TASB Emergency Gumby Suit is not designed to be used while submerged in cold water. Here’s my own R & D.
Ingredients: Approximately 90 TASBs, sweat pants uppers and lowers, t-shirt, briefs, shoes and socks (no ankle socks).
Note: Sweat uppers and lowers should have elastic bands around the ankles, waist and wrists to hold-in the TASBs.
Step 01: Stuff 30 TASBs in the right sweat pant leg so they cover all-around the right leg from the ankle to the waist.
Step 02: Stuff 30 TASBs in the left sweat pant leg so they cover all-around the right leg from the ankle to the waist.
Step 03: Tuck the sweat shirt into the waistband.
Step 04: Stuff 30 TASBs in the stomach, chest and back area into the sweat shirt and zip it up all the way to the top.
I chose to do this R & D today (14 Feb. 2020 – Friday) because the high today for Cutler, IL is 28-degrees Fahrenheit. I had absolutely no central air (heat) for the house. I wore the Emergency Gumby Suit indoors and outside.
When outside, the below freezing breeze was not felt in the legs nor above the waist. When indoors, in just a few minutes, I could already feel the heat building-up in the legs.
The drawback is the TASBs felt a little uncomfortable. The TASBs in both sweat pant legs started to settle downward.
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