How Much Toilet Paper? – The Coronavirus Toilet Paper Calculator | Hacker News Reader

How Much Toilet Paper? – The Coronavirus Toilet Paper Calculator

howmuchtoiletpaper.com

75 pointsdsego60 comments

I find https://got-paper.com/ much better in terms of functionality and UX.

Can't have <1 poop per day, it seems.

Probably need to stockpile some more fiber if this is an option you are looking for!

It isn't necessarily about fiber. I don't eat much because I've been trying to keep off all the weight I've lost over the past decade. Consequently I have a lot less volume to deal with so I don't poop much.

Got Paper author here.

I didn't account for that!

I guess you could approximate with less wipes.

Do you use so little toilet paper you don't need a calculator anyway?

Same <1/day 'issue' here. Perfectly regular, just nicely consolidated~ ;)

The answer is yes, and since I always buy in bulk, I literally go years without purchasing more. I was running lowish, but even the few I have remaining should let me weather this storm.

Everyone is moaning about availability of toilet paper. The solution to the pandemic is so obvious.

Just stop the sale of all toilet paper,

  1. Handshakes will become a thing of the past.
  2. People will do a much better job of washing their hands.
  3. Social distancing will increase.

Isn't that what everybody wants?

Kudos to the creator for building this tool. Personally, I wouldn't trust it. Men and women use drastically different amounts of toilet paper.

Then it's up to you to average the number sheets and toilet visits, appropriately weighted to get the correct results!

the calculator doesn't handle that because how _many_ times you go is not a valuable metric. The question is more how many times do you _poo_ in a day. Because pee uses little to none (men) or little to some (women).

then there's the question of how many sheets you use, on average per poo. Some folks use way more than others.

this is a pretty useless calculator.

Did you tried the advanced options?

Live example of male bias in the tech industry! :)

Diversity is a desirable thing sometimes.

Try this one: https://got-paper.com

That was totally my thinking as well. It's fine for me, but if my girlfriend is staying with me I should expect a 4X increase in need.

Neat. Can you please add a link to a Bidet search on Amazon. No one needs to fight over TP.

If people can adopt the Namaste they can do the Bumspray

Most if not all bidets are sold out on Amazon

Yeah, that's generally how this has gone. The first reaction stockpiling happens, then after that runs out people figure out alternatives. First hand sanitizer went, then rubbing alcohol and aloe vera later. First toilet paper went, then bidets. First water bottles went, and I wouldn't be surprised if we have a run on water filters too.

But as things start coming back into supply, I'd expect it is easier to get a bidet and a water filter than toilet paper and bottled water.

Wet wipes, tissues and kitchen paper are closer alternatives to toilet paper

You’ve never been to 3rd world countries, they’re very creative there.

in addition to https://staythefuckhome.com there needs to be a https://justwashyourass.com EDIT: damn already registered :(

people really should be stocking up on psyllium husk powder (metamucil). one roll of TP will go a lot farther when your bathroom is experience isn't "like wiping a felt-tip marker"

This is a difficult problem. During WWII the Army of the United States calculated the amount of toilet paper required to win the war in Europe at 20 squares per soldier per day. The British did the same calculation supplied their troops 4 squares per soldier per day.

You know how much toilet paper you need? As much as you normally get.

As much as I would normally get is enough for 4 people who are out of the house from 7am - 6pm every weekday.

I've been saying this for years -- I've worked full-time from home for the last 9 years. One of the first things I noticed was TP consumption went up considerably.

I didn't realize how much of my employer's TP I really used prior to that.

Then stop using ten squares to wipe your butt and restock slightly sooner than usual. Still no excuse to buy excessively more than you usually do.

But that's not the same number as the amount you should buy. Given the non-zero chance that you go out to resupply and it's sold out, you need to buy enough so that you can last until the next restock. For most people, just going out to buy it sooner than they normally would is likely enough to give them leeway. However, that still means they will have more stashed than they normally would (since they don't allow themselves to get as low).

That's why you go out and resupply anything before you run out of anything, that way you can retry later.

If you get one of those $60 bidet attachments, your tp usage goes down significantly. You can also do without if you use towels.

If you're getting a bidet, I recommend getting a heated one.

I used to, but don't anymore. TMI, but my first one was heated because I thought we needed it. Second one wasn't (we didn't have a hot water tap near the toilet) and it's turned out to be fine. You get used to it. YMMV though, if your area has super cold tap water like Colorado it may not be tolerable.

Two tricks we should all be adopting: 1) Bidet 2) Wet toilet paper

Cleans much better. And less abrasive.

But yeah, two squares isn't really realistic.

The “advanced” options could use some better defaults.

For example, does anyone actually use “2 sheets per wipe”?

I'm surprised at the number of people who use a real number confidently. I just grab enough to feel "safe". I'd guesstimate 4-6 on average of the double thick rolls but never stopped to count.

This might be TMI - and i'm totally serious - but in my case I suffer from severe bleeding if I do dry wipes. I purchase the "ultra-hard" (no flakes) variant of TP, dip about 1/4 of it into a cup of water, fold it in half, and then I wipe. Anywhere from 4-8 wipes, with the last wipe being a dry sheet to pat dry the area. This makes buying "standard" TP problematic for me, because that 1 sheet now turns into 2 or even 4 in order to prevent tearing up the TP during the wipe.

If you only use one sheet you risk poking a hole.

I would guess 3 is a closer to average.

Isn't "poking a hole" the intention?

Unless you fold said single sheet in half.

yes, 2 sheets folded together

4 sheets crumpled up gives much greater surface area, as well as perpendicular folds, with which to grab the target material. Wiping with a flat surface makes no sense at all, and likely requires multiple wipes to achieve the desired result.

I wish there were statistics on the commonality of various wiping techniques.

Yes, but multiple wipes per BM - about 6-8 sheets for me on average.

We use bidet! Don't need much toilet papers as long as we have water.

should add support fpr multiple ppl in households

The target group is nerds.

Well, just add up how many times they go to the toilet?

that's not really accurate since everyone is using different amount of wipes

can you add a kleenex toggle?

You can last infinity without toilet paper using this one weird trick I learned in India.

Yes, the trick of soap and water, it is surprisingly powerful.

whatever happened to the tricks that weren't weird?

They lost the war of headlines.

But then you need soap... which might be as tricky to procure as toilet paper these days. And for good reasons. Without it, disinfection ain't really happening.

I don't know how it's over there in the US but here, the hard soap (with "72%" stamped on it) is extremely cheap and overabundant. It's not very glamourous and pleasantly smelling but it foams and cleans and has bactericidic effect.

waffle stomp?

Indian genius got fired by his boss for inventing this weird trick.

Tp makers hate you

The toilet paper industry hates this trick.

The hero we need.

HN is clearly in a tail spin. From fairly intelligent discussions in its early days via fairly unintelligent ones on politics now down to commenting on peoples stupidity? Time to leave, methinks.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com