Comments on: Stop Using Toilet Paper: Strange Ways to Save Money

By: Armitage

Armitage — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:40:33 +0000

I am afraid that there is a terrible misinformation about the use of the bidet (especially in the US as it seems)
I am Italian. Here we have a bidet in every house and nobody would ever think to live in an house without one.
The important point to understand about bidet is the following (please repeat with me):
The bidet is not a substitute for toilet paper at all!

You first clean yourself carefully with toilet paper and only afterwards you clean yourself even more with the bidet and a towel (and possibly soap).
Bidet is just a matter of hygiene, it is not for saving paper, water or any other natural resource.
Bidet is also very important for women’s hygiene (it is used the other way around).
I encourage everybody outside of Italy to try it. You really feel clean and at ease after you use a bidet.
Once I lived in the US for one year and the absence of the bidet was really annoying (I had to take an half-shower every time I went to the toilet)

By: Lalala

Lalala — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:21:07 +0000

I work in an adult care facility where we do use rags instead of toilet paper or baby wipes when changing people. We obviously have to put the rags through the wash and let me tell you, my company has burned through sooooo many washing machines because the smell of poop gets into the machine drum, then comes out onto regular clothing in later cycles (just the smell, not actual poo). And there’s no possible way to clean it out, either. So save your money and your machine and stick to regular paper.

By: toowisetocare

toowisetocare — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 09:31:52 +0000

@georgethomas – thanks to your antics, your hinder part will surely be saved. As for yourself, you will have to rot in heaven and you will never need a roll of TP!!

By: georgethomas

georgethomas — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 22:15:28 +0000

I keep a bible on the toilet tank lid and rip out a page every time I need to wipe the caca.
This “saves” me money, and for soap I use a potato cut in half which works very well but there is no lather.

By: Gail

Gail — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 03:14:59 +0000

Thank you, no. I look for sales on the only brand of TP that I will use and I try to never have less than 2-3 12 packs on hand at all times. I do however use hankies for my nose (so does hubby) and rags for cleaning. One roll of paper towels will last about 2 years. But toilet paper will be the last thing to be eliminated from my budget.

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:10:02 +0000

Please realize that buying, installing and using the needed energy for warm water in a bidet is counter-productive. The cost of electricity and natural gas is about to go up in my area.

I did my share of washing cloth diapers when my two children were in diapers. Now that I am an empty nester, I have no inclination to replace household tasks with something as pointless and unsanitary as washing cloths used for this type of very misleading frugality.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:43:15 +0000

I’m frugal, but not cheap! Besides, I live in America, not Afganistan.

“You don

By: Isabelle

Isabelle — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 09:23:22 +0000

Many years ago I had a house full of young women, nieces and daughter with friends. They used toilet paper like it was going out of fashion!

Then a supermarket brought out a VERY economy brand which was not so soft and user friendly for make up removal and nose blowing.

Result! Consumption dropped.

Rags – no, not for me. I think the washing (done on their own in the machine) and drying costs must come near to the cost of cheap paper.

By: supra92

supra92 — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 03:49:44 +0000

love bidets, but they seem especially foreign to Americans and I rarely see them here — and I’ve lived in New York, North Carolina, and Texas. That said, fully concurred with both brian (#4) and scfr (#5). I would think that the installation of a warm-water bidet, aftermarket in an existing house, would cost more money than probably a decade’s worth of TP…

By: scfr

scfr — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:55:21 +0000

Studied the bidet option extensively. Cold water bidets are … very cold … like the setting of your cold water faucet, NOT room temperature. No thanks. For one that heats the water, you need an electrical outlet that is safe to have around water, next to your toilet. Think about where the nearest outlet to your toilet is. Having a cord running across the floor or dangling across the room is NOT a safe option. We would have had to have an electrical line dropped through the walls and an outlet installed. And for an appliance with the “juice” to heat up water we would have had to do some sort of upgrade to the wiring in our bathroom even tho this is a new house. Don’t ask me the technical details; I forget. Bottom line was it was very expensive. We decided to stick with paper. I think if a bidet is installed when a home is built, it’s a reasonable option. To add one after market is not a frugal option.