So today I decided to hang out at my house and get some cleaning done and just relax. I slept in and started my day with leasuire and so far it has been pretty relaxing. As I was working on my cleaning, I noticed how useful my 5 gallon bucket is so I decided to share that with you.
1. 1. One of the most frequent uses for my 5 gallon bucket is to collect and wash my clothes. I use it as a dirty clothes basket and then when the amount of dirty clothes builds up, I either wash them myself or bring them to the lady that washes my. If I decide to wash them myself, which happens every once in a while, I add some powdered laundry soap and then water. I let my cloths soak for about a half an hour. After the half an hour, I take the bucket down to the pila and pull out pieces one by one and scrub them by hand with a bar of laundry soap. After they have been thoroughly, I rinse them out and then wring them out. After I all of my clothes are washed, I throw them back in the bucket and take them back up to my balcony and hang them up on my line. I have been told by my old host sister that I can’t wash clothes very well. I think I am doing pretty well for only having a year of experience compared to her 10.
Most of my clothes however are not washed by me but I take a load weekly to a lady that lives down the street. She washes them for me in exchange for a small fee. There are women in the community that wash clothes for others to earn money. It is a very traditional society here in terms of gender roles. The women’s place is in the house and the man leaves to work and earn money for the family. The woman that washes my clothes has an alcoholic husband. He doesn’t work very much and when he does the money goes to buying alcohol, leaving little to nothing for the family of 7. She works odd jobs like washing clothes or dishes to earn money for to support her and her children. I don’t really want to wash my clothes all the time and if I can help this woman earn some money to support her family, all the better.
2. 2. The second use I have for the 5 gallon bucket is mopping the floor. I try to mop my floor weekly because I teach the importance of having a clean house and feel that I must practice what I preach. Things here just seem to get dirty a lot faster than when I was in the States.
3. 3. The third and final use for my bucket is for bathing. No, I don’t hop in the thing and wash myself but use it to hold the water that I pull out with a smaller dish to bathe. They don’t have big water heaters here but have a small device the more fortunate use to shower. I had one at my old place but am not as fortunate at my new place. The device is a larger shower head that heats the water that flows through it. I think I may have mentioned it before. Where I am now there are just shower heads but just the simple ones that you would find in an American home. I guess the landlord thinks that I like taking cold showers? So now instead of taking a cold shower, I heat up a big pot of water on the stove, pour it into my bucket and then add cold water to make it a comfortable temperature. I take my soap and bucket to where the shower area is and use a small dish to pour the water over myself to bathe.
So yeah, my bucket comes in pretty handy for life here in Guatemala and for how useful it is, maybe I should have more than one. Happy Saturday everyone! God’s blessings!
Kelsey
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