any alternative to loo roll...................

guineapig

I used to have a bottom line:o price of 25 p per loo roll, I wouldn't pay more than that.
However, prices have gone up so much that, it isn't very realistic.

So like my American cousins I have dabbled in "Family cloth", I call 'em tinkle cloths.
I cut up lots of old cotton t.shirts and had a clean box and a "used box" both in the bathroom and both with lids.

I had enough cloths that I could fill a box until there was approx one washer load.

I tried them for ahem, both and these are my conclusions:

For ladies, if you are at home all day like me, you might get through quite a few loo rolls, just er, "powdering your nose".
I got through about 4 rolls a week myself.

Using "tinkle cloths" I made one extra washer load at a cost of about 43 pence, to wash.
When used just to er, dab damp:o they do NOT smell I have a strong sense of smell and my nose was tuned in to this particular experiment. The biggest pain is hanging them up to dry ( I use a multi peg hanger, the kind you find in the £ shop for socks etc.)
I washed them at various temps and found they washed out with no ill effects at 30 degrees.

I am an ex Surgical Nurse and and a germ freak so I take cleanliness seriously.

When I used them for er, everything, the goal posts changed a bit and I admit I put them to soak in borax right away( to prevent smells) this meant having more buckets in the already-crowded-with-buckets bathroom.
I did wash these at higher temps as faecal matter needs to be treated as a possible contaminator.

My conclusions are, that you can reduce costs, transport costs and production costs by using old cloths, some of this will have to be balanced out with the cost of washing, laundry products etc.( I only use soda crystals).
What do I do now?
I compromise, I still use my super soft tinkle cloths for pee's and and I am happy to have found Tesco's dirt cheap toilet rolls ( were 38p for 4 last time I got some) which does for the big jobs:D
I use about 1 roll of this cheap stuff a week at most ( it's true to say it's thin and cheap, but look what it's used for:p )

The thing is I now know that I have tried this system and I can survive, without toilet paper if needs be,it helps save money and creates a feeling of potence:)at the moment I choose to compromise by using the above method, we all have to decide what's important to us and how far we are willing to go, in order to save money and/or the planet.

choccyface2006

I am in danger of really embarrassing myself here but here goes.....:o

Avoid newspaper if you can, my mum used to put it in our bathroom when she ran out of loo roll and we used it (the loos in those days had better flush systems than now!;) ) and then one day I had trampolining lesson at school and everyone saw my black bottom :eek: from where the dye had tranferred.................of course they didn't know it was dye, thought it was something much worse and I was too mortified to tell them.

Even 20 years later I am still remined now and then about that!

Sarah x

teedy23

ceridwen wrote: »

Some cultures used to use sponges - I gather that includes yer Ancient Romans (having had a quick google):rolleyes:

I think others used moss.

I can see me now, running my bum along the garden like a dog with worms,:rotfl:

trying-very-trying

Reading this thread has cause me to use more toilet paper than save it :rotfl:

trying-very-trying

Actually, you can buy a toilet that washes and blow dries the nether regions totally hands free, so no loo roll required, but I don't think it would cover the environmental issues.

~Chameleon~

I've tried several different brands of loo rolls from tesco value to Andrex to try and find out which ones give best value for money, and believe it or not Andrex came out tops! :eek:

The rolls are much thicker and better quality so last a lot longer (one roll lasts me a week) than the cheaper flimsy ones, which are also rolled onto the cardboard inners much more loosely to try make them look normal size. One way to check is squeeze the rolls and the Andrex ones are solid but the value ones squash down by over a half. The inner tubes are also wider and the roll size is smaller

It's all an illusion to trick people into thinking they're getting a bargain

shadowdragon

Well im very anal when it comes to toilet roll/kitchen roll, I look at the Square meterage and the cost and work out how much per Square meter and decide my purchase based on that!!!

Magentasue

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

I've tried several different brands of loo rolls from tesco value to Andrex to try and find out which ones give best value for money, and believe it or not Andrex came out tops! :eek:

The rolls are much thicker and better quality so last a lot longer (one roll lasts me a week) than the cheaper flimsy ones, which are also rolled onto the cardboard inners much more loosely to try make them look normal size. One way to check is squeeze the rolls and the Andrex ones are solid but the value ones squash down by over a half. The inner tubes are also wider and the roll size is smaller

It's all an illusion to trick people into thinking they're getting a bargain

A combination of branded loo roll and my children blocked the loo. We go through a roll a day :eek: (smartprice) or a roll every two days (Andrex/Charmin etc) so the cheapest still works out cheapest for us. And saves getting out the drain rods ...

ceridwen

choccyface2006 wrote: »

I am in danger of really embarrassing myself here but here goes.....:o

Avoid newspaper if you can, my mum used to put it in our bathroom when she ran out of loo roll and we used it (the loos in those days had better flush systems than now!;) ) and then one day I had trampolining lesson at school and everyone saw my black bottom :eek: from where the dye had tranferred.................of course they didn't know it was dye, thought it was something much worse and I was too mortified to tell them.

Even 20 years later I am still remined now and then about that!

Sarah x

ooohhh! how embarrassing!

Actually - more to the point from the viewpoint of a householder paying the bills....i do wonder whether if one used cut-up newspaper there might be a problem with the loo bunging up when one goes to flush it. Visions of plumbers bills floating in front of my eyes:eek:

Rowan9

We've switched the cheapie stuff and DH is used to it now so I wouldn't go back to Andrex. It's working out cheaper for us.
You know, I am tempted by the cloth idea for quick dabs. I can't believe how much I am changing in my old age!!!
w