Heya Dave

Washing your clothes with a bucket and sponge is an option too. For us its more suitable to use a washing machine for a few reasons. There are usually a minimum of three people in our house, and very, very limited water access. Three peoples washing in one big drum plus 4-8 buckets of water is more water efficient than using several buckets of water per person to do their own hand wash. I also need to take the other two people in my house into consideration, they do not want to do their own hand washing as they have other projects they find a more valuable use of their time, which is fair enough. So a bicycle washing machine is a solution everyone is happy with. Another option is a plunger washer, it is a much simpler contraption that could be made on a larger scale. My partner is not quite as interested in self sufficiency as I am, and hes mad about bikes so a bicycle washing machine is a nice way of making it fun for him :) I guess its all about what suits you in your environment

Thanks for a little more info about the course, I think i found it online and theres one on 3-5 November. It does sound like alot of the course content could be learnt from survivalist and preppers websites, but i find reading online isnt the same depth of learning as experiencing so i will look into it more

talk soon

amber