Greetings from Tennessee. Something you need to consider is leaving a little bit of water in the toilet if you're on a city sewer system. This will prevent sewer gas from backing up into your house. Something Jonathan might want to touch on is if you're on a city sewer system you need to know where the shut-off valve is for your house because if you're down hill from the rest of your neighborhood and the transfer pumps aren't working guess where everybody's sewage from uphill is going to wind up!?! Keep up the good work folks and Merry Christmas.

I once visited some people who lived in a very desolate area. When the call of nature came, I was expecting a rather horrible experience with their 5-gallon bucket toilet. I was AMAZED at how efficient their sawdust bucket was - absolutely no odor and not even flies around it, even though it was in a semi-open greenhouse- type tent!!!! Think sawdust!!!!😋

Well big duh on me! I’ve been a long term prepper and even used a composting toilet years ago. I have a luggable loo and pellets to absorb, etc. But I never thought about use my existing toilet which is much more convenient and comfortable! Thank you!

Pro tip: Don't use DUCT tape. Use Gaffer's tape. It has a stronger hold than painter's tape, but won't leave a sticky residue like duct tape.

@1:41 You do not want to remove all water from bowl. Methane and other gases can travel from sewage system back into living quarters. In city sewage systems, even rodents have been known to enter homes this way.

Lawdy! I hope it doesn’t come to this but we fortunately have a very nice outhouse that my hubby built.

Excellent content. I will make use of the bag method exclusively for my wife. And I will do all of the totting of the waste to the outdoors. This, along with the wife only shower system is the least that I can do for her. I just can't picture her having to go outside to do # 1 or #2. We have prepped since Y2K & will surely do just fine. Unless of course the rapture comes first!

You'll need to put a baseball in a tube sock and buuuudge that ball in the throat of the toilet to keep raw sewage from backing up into your home before you do anything in this video... great video and great hack. Thank you to the both of you for being here on yt. My grown kids are watching you and learning so much for their own homes now.

I am rural and have my own well and septic system. If they are predicting a bad storm, where power may be off for a while, I usually fill the bathtub full of water for flushing toilet purposes. (large family fill two or three bathtubs up) And then I use a small bucket or large pitcher of some sort to dip water from the tub to flush the toilet. Keeps from having several 5 gallon buckets full of water sitting around in the way.Just make sure your tub drain/stopper doesn’t leak and your tub is clean. And also you have plenty of water for other purposes albeit cold, but better than nothing.🙂

I have 2 ideas 💡 from this: #1. I have the old toilets from renovations a few years ago sitting in a shed. These would be ideal for this. #2. We have a couple of disability commodes that would work well for this type of thing. One built like a comfortable padded (flip up of course) dining chair but more secure, has a typical small commode chamber pot with a lid ( ideal for urine). The other is like a cross between the above and a wheelchair (only little wheels) with sturdy wheel locks. It also has a flip up padded seat lid but takes a much bigger "load". It is capable in its design to have a 20L (5gal) bucket sit under it. Lined with a bag, or two if you want, using sawdust, it can be used several times before easily emptying. The latter was purchased for having a better, safer, sturdy and more comfortable camping loo. The first was for a disabled relative who travelled to visit after surgery. This was easy to use in their room without worrying about making to the toilet on time. The porcelain thrones, I obviously already had. The disability commodes, I got from the second hand stores along with the shower seat and shower stool. They were in as new condition and only cost $5- each! I brought them home and scrubbed, bleached and disinfected them really well a couple of times. They were fine. No sense being precious, after all, we go to the shops, we go to events, offices, travel etc and we use PUBLIC TOILETS. We hope they're clean, some of us have protectors but still....... hmmm. I know how well these are cleaned and scrubbed, because I did it. Hope these suggestions help some of you out there. All the best and have a great day from Australia 🦘🦘🙏🦘🦘

You can add a 1/2 cup of wood ash from your woodstove to keep the smell down, and it makes good compost. Thanks so much!

Maybe this goes without saying, but keeping a flashlight by the toilet is a real good idea. When we were in a wildland fire and the power was cut, it was pitch black!

Never thought about using my existing toilet, but it makes perfect sense. We have multiple bathrooms and may consider trying to keep one for urine and one for the other stuff. That way we could isolate odors etc. Just a thought.

here in good ol' blighty i have whats known as a bucket and chuckit which is a large very stable bucket with a toilet seat attached and a closeable lid.. great for camping etc luckily I live in Wales quite a rural area so I could always do what the bears do 😅 🇬🇧

Glad we live in the country

We have a septic but I also have a bucket with a walmart bucket toilet seat, bags will fit easily on the bucket and the toilet seat is like a normal seat, peat moss and containers for the liquids. I would also suggest you could use a bedside commode, easy to find at a resale shop and some people throw them away.

Great suggestions! After emptying the water out of the toilet bowl, you might also want to plug the toilet bowl drain (with a 3.5" ball inside the toe of a knee sock that is coated with petroleum jelly on the outside) to prevent possible sewage backflow into your home.

Thank you for the video. I’m a general contractor. It’s a good idea to plug up the drains if you’re going to remove the water. The water at the bottom of the pea trap is to stop the methane and other sewer fumes from entering the building.

Lime powder is helpful too!

I bought a cottage 25 years ago that has an outhouse. I remember being surprised how it didn't smell very much.

If you plan on dipping all of the water out of the bowl, you need to plan on using something like a 2" inflatable test ball to prevent the sewer gas from coming into the house. If the concentration is high enough, it can be lethal.

I'm not an expert on this but I think when you take a plastic bag with waste in it outside to bury it you should not bury the plastic with it. The plastic will not decompose and will keep the waste wrapped up in it and prevent it from properly decomposing into the ground.

I have dug a hole in a corner of my yard I work on as I get to it. It is now about eight foot deep by about three foot accross. The plan is to dump the human waste only in the hole. At this time it is well covered and safe. I may never need it, but it is there if I do. I bought a potty chair from Amazon because the bags are much smaller and the lid keeps the aroma contained very well. The bags for the potty chair are made to hold the poop. Those kitchen bags are NOT designed to hold the poop. They leak and take up a lot of room with the wasted wads of plastic. Also the chair can be moved to other areas, maybe near the wood stove for the elderly. A bucket of lime from the big box store near the hole with a good scoop will deal with the waste.

Thanks to the people who have suggested putting something in to plug the hole for keeping the sewer gas out

A one gallon ice cream tub is a perfect for a toilet. Pop it in and drop the ring. Line with one of the following - piece of newspaper, couple handfuls of sawdust, an inch of water if available, couple cups of Tidy Cat, chopped up cardboard. Do whatever needs doing, lift ring, remove ice cream tub, take to predug hole and dump. Rinse and sanitize tub. Replace in toilet. Literally rinse and repeat. Toss a cup of lime in. Works amazingly well. We had a flood in the last place we lived (lots of KZfaq vids about it, Wimberley flood) and we were literally stuck in the house for weeks, 9 weeks or so until we got power back. My, usually overly, fastidious husband was delighted. I keep 4 in the shed for emergencies. You MUST keep water in the toilet and every sink. Very dangerous to let the traps go dry.

For suburbanites.... make sure you already know where you can or cannot dig especially if you have gas lines... rain water catchment techniques, post-hole shovel, 4 -6 inch pipe in width, piece of plywood to cover hole, lime or sawdust, 5 gallon bucket, outdoor handwashing station nearby the outdoor waste disposal area is very useful... note: keep everything clean and dry. Always cover the waste.

EXCELLENT IDEA NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THAT TOPIC

Good content as always, guys. Thanks for being part of the solution 🙏

I bought my home on a river so my septic allows me to bucket river water in to the bowl. Think about your water sources long run.

I'm scared now. This showed up on my feed and I wasn't even looking.😧 Glad it did. Thanks so much for this info and for the post.

When the SHTF, this is really good information to know to keep safe and literally keeping the "S" from HTF...

Nicely covered! One suggestion, if you are on a city wastewater system, double bag with dirt in the bottom bag to cover the flush hole. This will keep you from receiving the contributions for everyone around you that are at a higher elevation. Remember, shit flows down hill.

We live out of the city limits. Having a bucket 🪣 always ready to GO in the enclosed porch...with compostable bags and horse pellets. We have a burn barrel to burn leaves and small tree limbs so we could burn the waste. We always have it ready so it has never happened. Your video was very informative!

This is really simple and yes, sitting on a toilet is much better than a bucket! Sharing! Thank you!

You are right, don't mix pee & poop. For a guy, save an old laundry bottle as pee bottle since we pee standing up, that laundry bottle has a built in handle for holding. Had a power outage in Texas and city water pumps quit working, no water for a week.

I've been through numerous hurricanes and always lose power including to my well equipment meaning I have no water for at least one to two weeks weeks. I caught on to this idea prior to Hurricane Ian and was grateful for it. Thank you for sharing.

Ice storm 07. 10 1/2 days no power or water. Used a plastic coffee can lined with store bags set in toilet . Peed outside. Worked great! Love the pee insert, I have one but didn’t realize how great it could be utilized! Ty!

Make sure you*can*turn off your water to your toilet. Many older houses, like 15 or more years old, the knob is rusted shut. So if you can’t get it working now replace it now so you can turn it off if you need to. second note the plunger you used in your example is a kitchen plunger. The toilet plunger is shaped a bit differently. Specially, for newer toilets.

I've been using the Humanure Composting System for the past 9+ years that I've been living off grid, with no adverse issues, using sawdust as a cover. No water needed and it makes excellent fertilizer, after it has composted, for trees, shrubs, and the flower garden.

These are GREAT ideas! My mom and I have talked a few times about what we need to do to prepare for this situation. This is absolutely perfect. Thank you!

Great plan, I also have several portable toilets from medical supply houses that can be used in this same way

Thank you for the MANY PRACTICAL ideas/solutions you give us!

I have several used five-gallon buckets double lined with 13 gallon trash bags, then with another bag filled with sawdust inside, three rolls of toilet paper and six extra trash bags covered with a sealable lid. These are my emergency toilets. The sawdust covering your liquid and solid waste will help keep the smell down. When the bag is nearly full just tie it up (twist ties) and bury it at least 200 feet from your residence and three feet down. Also, look up Humanure (on Y-tube) for long term SHTF situation. All critters poo and Mother Nature turns it all into fertilizer when conditions are right!

This was right to the point, helpful, and practical, especially for city apartment dwellers. Thank you. ☺

I'm going to suggest you keep the toilet plugged with the rubber from an old plunger (auger) for 2 reasons. One, to help block sewer gasses and two, if that plastic bag breaks with saw dust or kitty litter in it, you're going to mess up your toilet once services resume to normal. Keep that hole blocked!

Thank you. I'm so glad someone finally suggests a way to have a solution for going to the bathroom. Nobody ever talks about this basic need. Having heat and food is essential but so is having a toilet option. We usually just put an ice cream bucket in there but this makes more sense

Marvelous video - shows American can-do is here to stay, - God bless us all! And not to mention, the additional helpful comments, below:

I have a bedside commode, like for hospital use. Because my powerchair doesn't have room to easily navigate in my bathroom, I use the commode even now in my bedroom, which has a non-carpeted floor. No problems!

I have bought disability -type toilet chairs from yard sales. You could use the bags in them. Use them indoors, over existing toilets. Or, outdoors, with any kind of "screen" - even a simple tarp for privacy. We live in the country with no close neighbors. We do what we want. Those in 'burbs might need modifications. City dwellers will have fewer options.

Hallo, mein Tip ist den Abfluss mit einem Wasser befüllten Kondom oder Luftballon dicht zu verschließen. grüsse aus Deutschland 🎈

Very important life saving info. Definately putting two kits together. Thank you.

We have the buckets with toilet seats on them and all the supplies to go with it.

Most important solution in your preps for long-term health of you & your family.

I have been thinking about this for a while now. I so appreciate this video. I have my own septic and water which makes life a little easier but waste removal is still an issue.

Great idea!!!Double bag the toilet so you always leave one in there ( the one with the tape) and it acts as a back up too if the other bag has a hole. Plus you save on your tape👍Best absorber for smells and liquids are horse bedding pellets. Can get very large bag for $6.99 at Tractor Supply. Love the pee collector up front like that. Let’s you see how dark your urine is and if you need more fluids.

Main drain backed-up for past two weeks. Excellent suggestions. Fortunately, I have porta-potty purchased after house hit by tornado a few years ago and all power and water unavailable for a week. I also have jugs of water with bleach stored. Nothing like being prepared even in these modern times. Thank you for this video.

If it becomes necessary, we will be digging a long narrow shallow trench along the far edge of our backyard where we will deposit our waste and cover it over with organic matter (compost, leaves, wood chips, cat litter, lawn clippings, etc). Adding a bit of garden lime (not builder's lime) as we go will help it to decompose faster. Then, once the trench is filled, we will start a new trench next to it and repeat the process. Digging the trench ahead of time will allow us to do our business inside, then carry it outside as the weather allows. We definitely don't want to be digging in freezing or sweltering weather, so having it all ready ahead of time will make life easier. My grandmother had an outhouse behind her trailer in the country and she had an enamel pot with a lid in which she would store the waste during the night. Come morning, she (or we) would carry the pot to the outhouse and dump it all into the hole then rinse out the pot. We won't be building an outhouse figuring a trench will serve the same purpose. And in case the toilet issue lasts for an extended period of time, like months or years, we won't be buying plastic bags and duct tape, simply because of the cost and the need to find a way to dispose of all that plastic and tape. I figure that after about a year, those filled trenches will become a great place to plant some vegetables. In case of a short-term toilet outage, we have a porta potty and a few containers of chemicals designed to break down human waste to the point it can be disposed of in the trash. As long as any trench we dig is located at least 20 feet from natural water sources (rivers, ponds, lakes, drainage ditches), contamination should not becomes an issue.

Thank you for this, as you know that we are going to be needing to know this information sooner than we ever thought!

I get these buckets free from a cake decorating store. I have about 20 stored. When SHTF, if I cant go outside, and there's no power and water, I'll poop in a bucket, cover with sawdust, and replace lid. I'd store the buckets until it's safe to go out. I have lots of sawdust ready. I would bin the used toilet paper separately. When ok to go outside, I'd probably burn the toilet paper.

I thought about for a brief minute, but that’s yet! Thank so very much!

We used saw dust and cat litter in our garbage bags to minimize odor.

When the grid went down here in Michigan, I was still working in the hospital in Detroit. We nurses did this exact same thing to toilets. What was hard was bedpans…try cleaning those out with bottles of water (the hospital brought in cases of bottled water)

Thank you for this video. I didn’t think of this issue. I am going to set up a kit for my home.

Pine bedding is super inexpensive,looks like pellets, soaks up water or urine and slowly turns into damp sawdust as more liquid is added. You only need a little bit. I use 1 dog food scoop in my multiple cats' litter box. It's good for an entire day.I dump it once a day, rinse out the box and add another scoop.I made a toilet, lined with a garbage bag,put pellets in the bottom so it's ready when I need it. I made a box for it with a standard toilet seat on top.I plan to keep sawdust mixed with fresh step cat litter next to the toilet to cover feces, while the pine pellets will be soaking up urine.Will be solid, so easy to dispose in a trash can.

Thanks for talking about this potential issue! I've been on top of this topic since Y2K✅

I’m rural, with a well and septic system. I flush it with my collected rain water. For folks in the city, this is useful information for them. 👍🏻

Great idea when in a grid down situation. Thanks so much!

Thank you for the tip on a subject we forget to plan for.

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you and yours! Thank you for your good work! I’ve learned so much from your channel!

I used to take a potty chair and trash bags when we went on trips when our kids were young so that I didn't have to take them into public bathrooms. A bedside commode would be another possible solution.

Thank you so much for telling about this type of disposal of our waste!! you guys are the best!! Blessings.

Thank you. I needed this information.

Thanks for the tips!

Thanks so much! Although there is a possibility of such a thing I never ever thought of a remedy. Thanks a lot for bringing it to my notice. Have a lovely Christmas!

This is important information. Thanks so much!!🇨🇦

What a great idea that people need to know about. Thanks.

Great idea, thank you. Another idea can be using disposable bed pads and a baby diaper disposal, both methods combined, your method and this one. The pad can go in the plastic bag in case the plastic bag tears. A baby diaper disposal the type that seals each diaper with plastic, can help with the smell.

Great advice,Thank you!

I thought about exactly the same thing about a year ago to deal with this issue. For me, it would be trash bags in the toilet, with deep kitty litter, the scoopable. As soon as it was used, the waste would be scooped out to avoid smells, into a small bag which would be disposed of however I could do it. Litter can be sprayed with any number of things to kill bacteria (vinegar, bleach, disinfectants). No excuse for stinky toilets. With my cats, if I scoop every morning, the litter doesn't smell. More litter can be added at any point, and baking soda is a champ at killing odors, too. I think also that putting a toilet seat over a large bucket like you had there is also an option, with the bottom removed from the bucket, and a very deep hole in the ground outside. Buckets can be stabilized with wooden, plastic or steel spikes, even pieces of branches on four sides hammered into the ground. For bucket flushing, any body of water should do that you have access to - sea water, rain water, pond/lake/reservoir, creek).

Thank you! Merry Christmas to you all!

that is an amazing idea that I never ever thought of thank you for this

Amen - thank you. Beautiful music.

Excellent info! Thankyou!

I didn't expect to learn anything from this video because I have been prepping for a long time. However I can't believe I never heard of poo powder. I looked it up on Amazon and you can get 30 packs for about 10 dollars. So, good for you guys...we learn something new every day don't we. So get the 👍 and Maybe I'll sub the channel. God bless, stay safe and keep prepping cause it ain't getting LESS weird out there.👍🧡✝️🇺🇸🧡👍

This is a great idea! When we have storm predictions, I always fill buckets with water for the toilets. We also have a porta- potty. I really like the suggestion of using the toilet for a porta-potty. We will get supplies that you suggested. Thanks for the info!

I’m going to purchase these things to prepare for this. I could have used this instead of a bucket when my sewer was backed up. TY

Thanks for the video I love this idea!

I’ve never thought about this! Valuable information and thanks for sharing…..🙏🏿

Great ideas, thank you!

Very good !!! In situation #1 ,do not put water directly into the toilet. Put the water in the toilet tank. It dispenses the right amount, which is a lot less than a bucket full.

They make seats that go on a regular 5 gallon bucket too and bags that fit it properly. Thats what i have.

Great kit to make.

Thank you!! I bought a 5 gallon bucket type toilet, but this looks so much more comfortable than that, being an old woman, would prefer to use the existing toilet.

Thanks for this very helpful.

Very smart. Thank you.

Good ideas! Thank you!

Yup, as long as the sewer is accepting you just need a bucket and a water source and flush away. A swimming pool you wouldn't want to drink from can provide a seemingly limitless amount of water for flushes. Plan B, a five gallon bucket and kitty litter, or dig a hole and use the kitty litter. Hopefully we all learned our lesson during covid to pre-stock large quantities of toilet paper.

What a great idea! Your both genius' I'm going to get all these supplies and keep them on hand for if the SHTF. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

Hello, from HOUSTON, TEXAS, THANK YOU, SO MUCH FOR THAT INFORMATION.

Thank you I enjoyed that video!