When the toilet paper runs out

This brings back memorries of having to change my little sisters diaper and taking it to the toilet to rine the nasties off before it went in the wash. So glad thats over with, but if I had to rag and alot off bleach would do.
Never thought of coffee filters. Their cheap to!

 

Soap water and personal washcloth just for that "specific" job !!!

 

A new bookmark. :thankyou:

 

I've heard that in Greece they used sponges and bowls with wine vinegar in them.

Any fabric (old towels, sheets, blankets, curtains, even old clothes) can be cut into squares and used. Throw the used ones in a bucket with a lid, then wash like one would wash cloth diapers. They could be boiled in a kettle just for that purpose, too. Maybe even outside on a fire if you didn't want them on your stove. Then hang in the sunshine for further sterilizing. Use them over and over. This came up on another thread on this forum recently and someone said they were hemming their "squares" as we "talked". I have mine cut but haven't hemmed them yet. I have a treadle sewing machine, and knowing me I'll be hoping to get them hemmed before my storage TP runs out, when the time comes! lol They can be used un-hemmed but will start to fray and be hard to wash and hang.

 

I'm trying to avoid the need to use cloths, sponges, leaves and hands.

My plan for if the toilet paper runs out is to use the center-pull paper towel dispensers (and the paper towels that go with them). These are the dispensers and towels you see in commercial bathrooms. The dispenser mounts to the wall and you pull the paper towel out the bottom center.

The paper towels I get are a decent quality. They're strong and pretty soft/thick. 1-2 towels "per wipe" is all you would need.

I can get a case of 6 rolls for about $50.

I forgot the math (comparison price of these vs. Charmin Extra Strong) but thought it was a substantial savings.

A case is similar to the 36-pack of Charmin so it stores in the same space but there's a lot of paper towels in there. In rough numbers, 5 cases is probably enough for 10 years of potty use (for a single person).

 

I think if the TP is gone, so will the napkins and paper towels be...

I read once before a post from someone who's keeping a stack of old phone books, and that makes sense to me. Doesn't take up much storage space and is fairly thin paper.

In a crisis situation, I'd like to postpone hand-washing (especially adult) doodoo out of washcloths and sponges for absolutely as long as possible!

 

My post wasn't clear.

I'm saying that if/when my cache of TP runs out, I'm then going to use my cache of the paper towels. I didn't mean to imply that I was going to go shopping for paper towels. If the TP & paper towels run out... well, necessity is the mother.

The thought of running out doesn't sound good so I just picked up 288 more rolls of TP and will place an order for a few cases of paper towels.

 

Yikes, you guys are putting to much emphasis on toilet paper, when most of the 3rd world countries look upon this as an unnecessary luxury, and with which they seem to get along just fine without. Ones left hand fingers work just fine, get over it and wash your hand and don't eat or shake with it.:dunno:
Worry about the three B's more.
I'll probably be using it more than you because I have stored more to eat.
I have stored a few cases also but that will have to do, do.:sssh:

 

Booze, butts (smokes) and broads???

I have a family of 4 and am left handed... :surrender:I don't want to run out.

 

Adding up our kids, their spouses, and our grandchildren, plus my husband (mosquitomountainman) and I, there are 19 of us.

How much TP would I have to store for...how many years? How much space would that take up?

How much more things could I buy and store with that money? Important things, like food and medical supplies?

No, I think we'll use cloth square and boil them in a kettle outside. Stick my hands in there? I think not. I'll use latex gloves (and reuse them until they get holes) and a stick.

We already do ALL our laundry outside in two wash tubs with a hand-cranked wringer between them, so the laundry/washing business won't freak me out or get me queasy.

Most Americans will have a LOT of culture shock to deal with if this stuff really happens (SHTF).

And if we get tired of that, since we'll probably be doing all our gardening and firewood-cutting with hand tools, plus hunting, fishing, and foraging, then we'll assign grandchildren to gather large leaves or baskets full of grass, and handfulls of those could be used. The covered bucket of used leaves and grass could be hauled to the far end of the property and dumped (composted), or buried if necessary.

By the way, we have an outhouse. ONLY an outhouse. We purchased a composting toilet, which will be installed this summer for our first time ever indoor "facility". (Other than a nighttime "chamber pot" (bucket) in the winter.) But that's mainly so we can get around the county's requirement for a septic tank. They'll accept composting toilets.

We don't want to fill the outhouse hole with grass and leaves, and have to dig a new hole sooner. That's why we'd haul the grass and leaves away. We currently bag the TP and burn it.

 

Agreed! Anything that's not reusable or made locally will have to be purchased or stored ... for a lifetime! If you have lots of storage space and money to spend then buy truckloads of toilet paper and paper towels store phone books and whatever else is an "acceptable" substitute then go for it. But if things get really bad you may want to have some recipes on hand to turn it into food 'cause the person who stored food and grows a garden isn't going to be so squeemish (unless he has tons of excess) that he'll want to trade something that sustains life for something that caters to a person's vanity. They might just wait for you to die then take the toilet paper you didn't need.

What will you tell your kids and loved ones if you run out of food? You're sorry, you thought they'd rather wipe their bottom with Charmin than eat? Am I against storing TP? Not at all. Just get the priorities in line. In a complete EOTWAWKI situation, if you aren't already self-sufficient you're going to be struggling just to meet your essential needs for the first three years. You aren't going to have time or energy to learn how to make your own Charmin TP.

Every level of preparedness should be addressed beginning with a BOB or emergency kit for home for short emergencies (2 weeks or less) then work up from there until you could be completely self-sufficient for three generations. (By the third generation you can be assured that future generations will be self-sustaining forever.)

It really pays to study other cultures, especially primitive and third world cultures, for ideas. If things get really bad we will be a third world country.

 

GS & MMM,

I understand where y'all are coming from noting that there may be better things to buy and store. I don't limit my preps to TP. Of the main categories of preps, I add proportional amounts to each on a regular basis.

That said, and limiting this conversation to the topic at hand, here's why I don't mind getting more TP:
The price of TP has almost doubled in the past 2 years. A single roll on sale was about 25-cents. It's now about 50-cents. Where's it heading?
Space is not an issue.
If SHTF, rags or leaves are an option but given the choice (again space isn't an issue for me), why not have TP instead? Oh, leaves are seasonal where I live.
If nothing does happen, all I did was keep my shelves stocked. OK, so what if I have a few years worth of TP & paper towels?
Call it a "creature comfort" but it's a nice reminder of civilization.

 

I'm stealing a line from someone on another place I visit....

Why invest in something I'm throwing away?

I've got cloth squares made for that reason, buckets with lids, etc. TP? nah, I'm gardening.

Good question, though, its something most people don't think about when prepping.

 

bczoom, it makes sense for you to store TP and paper towels. We actually have enough of both stored without buying any at all, for about a year. We watch for sales and buy the large packs.

I was talking (up above) more about a long-term situation that lasted longer than a few years, as far as cloth squares or other options. Plus we have a lot more people in our expected crowd of family and friends, so storing enough for more than a year doesn't make sense. We have a barn and a few sheds, so storage space, per se, isn't the issue.

In our case, limited funds require that we lean toward that which is necessary and sustainable.

We all have to learn, prepare, and stock up according to our own situations and needs.

 

Well..... if worst comes to worst, I suppose you could always sit on a dung beetle nest and wait a little while... ...maybe a long while. :nuts:

Sorry... best one I could come up with on a Tuesday. :shtf: (Bring on the dung beetles!!)

 

Thanks for the laugh, HarleyRider!

 

Short term, I have several big cases of TP. Long term, I invested in a bunch of brown washcloths.......... Won't see the stains so badly then.
The ancient Romans used a big swab stick, and kept it rinsed in a bucket - we can do better than THAT I'll wager......

Worse comes to worse, the hands are there - "In with the right, out with the left!"

 

Is that something like "wax on, wax off"?

 

Allen idaho commented on this in a thread awhile back, it got pretty wild, shows how obsessive the Japanese are with toilet paper and personal hygiene products. http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f32/toilet-paper-machine-2487/