Let’s Talk Toilet Paper

Empty toilet paper roll

Let’s get the big question out of the way. Let’s talk about toilet paper.

What do you do if you go to the store and you’re not one of the lucky few who can pick up a package of toilet paper?

I have to admit when I started seeing pictures of empty shelves in the toilet paper aisle, I laid awake at night.

I was trying to figure out what we would do if we were not one of the lucky few that could get a package of toilet paper rationed to us the next time we visited the store. 

I’d like you not to have to stay up at night wondering this question, so I’m going to share the thoughts that occurred to me that night.

The first thing I said to myself was “people have lived without toilet paper in the past, I’m sure I can figure out how to live without it myself.” I started thinking, “Alright, what are all of the things I could use? I’m going to just list them all out in my head and keep them as a backup plan that hopefully will never need to be used.”

There are items that can’t be flushed but we can still dispose of after doing our business, so what are those items?

Napkins, paper towels, magazines, and old books (if you must). If I ran out of all those things what else could I do? I have heard about something called a “family cloth” – something I would not go for under normal circumstances but, in an absolute emergency, rather than sitting on the toilet for the rest of my life, I would be willing to use a cloth. 

Going back to my backpacking days I remember using big leaves and roughed up pine cones!

So there are a number of options out there!

We don’t have to panic just because we can’t get that next roll.