How much toilet paper should I store?
I see that again and again on blogs, survival sites, prepper sites, heck, even FEMA mentions it on their site.
GET REAL, PEOPLE!
If the crap hits the fan, whether you have stockpiled enough toilet paper or not will be the LEAST of your worries!
Face it, toilet paper is a relatively new invention.
Leaves, moss, cloth, corn cobs, etc were used for a long time before Charmin rolled off the assembly line.
I (personally) think that spending limited *prep* funds on 4000 rolls of "quilted softness" is a waste of money.
You can't eat it, use it as ammo (unless you are t-p-ing someones house), or use it for much anything other than...well, toilet paper.
I have lived in situations where I used an outhouse or a crude outdoor latrine. I rarely had the extra funds for a luxury such as toilet paper.
(I hear you saying "Ewwwwwwwwwwww"...bear with me, there are solutions!)
My solution has always been cloth, usually terry cloth.
When towels get worn to the point they are pretty much useless as towels, I cut them up in washcloth sized squares. Two buckets with lids (diaper pails are great for this)
The clean bucket contains the clean *wipes*. I always moistened mine and wrung them out really good. The *dirty* bucket contains water, Borax and/or bleach and some laundry powder.
You get a clean one, wipe and then deposit it in the *dirty* bucket. Put the lid back on, please!
At the end of the day, or every other day (depends on the size of your household), drain the dirty bucket and dump the dirty wipes in the washer. Wash and dry. TAAA-DAAA!
You could also buy some inexpensive bundles of wash cloths at Family Dollar or elsewhere and squirrel them away in your long term storage.
I am not advocating going to this method RIGHT DAMN NOW (as my dad used to say), what I am saying is that it is an eco-friendly and sanitary alternative to hordeing toilet paper for the *what if* situations in the future.
It doesn't hurt to keep a few rolls of toilet paper stocked, but I do think it is foolish to spend money on massive amounts of that rather than a few extra cans of wheat or honey.
Maybe to you, it is worth it to be hungry for a few days as long as you can wipe your bum with 3 ply softness.
It isn't to me.
As they say online...YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)
No...tell us how you really feel! (heehee). I have to say that I agree - then again, I'm a holdout for a bargain. Every now and then one of the big companies will put out a coupon for $1 off TP, and a store in my area will have 4-packs for $1, so I gather as many coupons as I can get my mitts on and load up on free toilet paper. So, while it might look like I stocked enough for some sort of disaster, it's just me saving money.
ReplyDeleteThere are such vast differences between what is necessary and what we think is necessary. I think a prudent reserve of supplies is important, but knowledge (and practice!), and a fit body are all, in my opinion, of higher priority than having huge stockpiles of this, that, and the other. But hey, that's just me. :)
-Laura at TenThingsFarm