Suggestions for finding disinfecting wipes, toilet paper, paper towels, etc.?

[CT-Scott]

I think I'd have to get pretty desperate before I resorted to reusing/cleaning cloth wipes, but I am strongly considering upgrading our toilets to have bidet seats at our next house.

FYI, my wife asked our friends if they needed us to give them some of our TP and it turns out that she's not completely out...they have some crappy (no pun intended) no-name brand they're using for now.

FWIW...The last few times I've been to some local grocery stores they've been completely out of TP and Paper Towels, with the exception of one store yesterday that had a small amount of one of those (I forget which) with a "one per customer" sign above them, and they were a crappy no-name brand. I just called the 3 different major grocery store chains we have locally to inquire more. Each gave me slightly different info, but the general theme was about the same:
- Shipments arrive at night (some stores get daily shipments, one was Mon/Wed/Fri), but they never know if that night's shipment will contain TP or PT.
- When TP or PT does arrive on a particular shipment, it can often be fairly limited
- First hour in the morning is reserved for senior citizens and high-risk individuals

So the best plan seems to be to:
1) Don't wait until you run out - plan ahead
2) When you get to the point where you need to re-add to your supply, call early in the morning to find out if they got some the night before and, if so, race over to the store as early as possible after the "senior hour" is done

[CT-Scott]

Diaper/baby wipes may be more available than TP. We bought them at chain pharmacies. The wipes have been useful for general cleaning but the wipes don't have the advantages of clorox and Lysol wipes. Should you use them as a TP replacement/supplement, DO NOT flush them. From newspaper stories, the wipes can clog your plumbing and the neighborhood plumbing. There have been several "bergs" in the news with the culprit being the wipes.

I'm getting kind of personal here, but we're big fans of the Cottonelle Flushable Wipes. As the name implies, they're flushable (I think they recommend no more than 2 per flush). We have a septic tank/field and I was worried about that, but they specifically claim to be septic-safe. I believe our recommended septic pumping is every 3 years, though I may increase that in our next house to every 2 years. Septic systems can be super-expensive to fix/replace should they ever fail.

[dualstow]

I talked to a friend today at lunchtime and he said that he was at the local Walmart this morning (6:30a 'senior hour') and they had ample supply of all of those. The store was limiting purchases to one of each per customer.

You're welcome.

Seriously: a bidet attachment is an excellent idea. It has come up in a few past threads. I've been interested in it since pre-Coronial times, but our tank is hidden in the wall so the best we could do would be a portable wand. I wonder if there is a run on bidet attachments as well? I haven't looked because my wife bought a bunch of toilet paper on Amazon in early Feb.

As for disinfectants such as rubbing alcohol: same boat. We have not seen any on the shelf since we bought ours.

Best we can do is stock up when the first wave is over and half of the population doesn't think this bug is coming back in autumn.
Thanks to Libertarian666, we know to buy isopropyl alcohol (stable) and not hydrogen peroxide (unstable).

[Maddy]

Here's a thought: aliexpress.com--the wholesale supplier of every fly-by-night online seller. Here's an example-- 50 rolls of toilet paper for $98. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000823 ... hweb201603_
You'll be set for a while.

[Tortoise]

Best we can do is stock up when the first wave is over and half of the population doesn't think this bug is coming back in autumn.

Shoot me now.

[Maddy]

That was only the first listing I saw. I presume that shipping times vary greatly depending on where the item is coming from. And if some predictions bear out, we've only begun to see the fallout of supply chain disruptions. Anyway, it's a resource.

[WiseOne]

i got an Amazon Basics non-electric bidet seat earlier in the year, and it's been a total lifesaver. Highly recommended and took me about an hour to install. I'll tell anyone who is interested in a PM how I ended up with an extra one, which anyone here is welcome to - first come first served. Elongated seat and requires a toilet with a standard tank. Also understand that it's COLD WATER.

With the bidet, my toilet paper usage is low enough that even though I didn't score any during the Great TP Run, I'm good for at least a month. Last weekend though, I found some at a small local grocery. So maybe try small, out of the way places with a limited customer base?

[dualstow]

OP, i forget to mention that a lot of distilleries are making sanitizer instead of booze.
A crime, i know, but you’ll be able to turn normal wipes into sanitizing ones, if necessary.

...
Go to www.camelcamelcamel.com to find the historical price at which your particular item has sold on Amazon. (You'll need the ASIN number, which is under "Product Details.")
...

I’m a big fan of that site. They have been so helpful with getting a good deal at Amazon.

[I Shrugged]

My wife ordered toilet paper on Amazon today. It says Amazon brand, Presto. Tonight it is out of stock.

[Kriegsspiel]

OP, i forget to mention that a lot of distilleries are making sanitizer instead of booze.
A crime, i know, but you’ll be able to turn normal wipes into sanitizing ones, if necessary.

...
Go to www.camelcamelcamel.com to find the historical price at which your particular item has sold on Amazon. (You'll need the ASIN number, which is under "Product Details.")
...

I’m a big fan of that site. They have been so helpful with getting a good deal at Amazon.

Skip the middle man and take a page from those kids on spring break. Pour a shot of liquor down your butt crack.

[vnatale]

OP, i forget to mention that a lot of distilleries are making sanitizer instead of booze.
A crime, i know, but you’ll be able to turn normal wipes into sanitizing ones, if necessary.

...
Go to www.camelcamelcamel.com to find the historical price at which your particular item has sold on Amazon. (You'll need the ASIN number, which is under "Product Details.")
...

I’m a big fan of that site. They have been so helpful with getting a good deal at Amazon.

I was told tonight that a few small alcohol makers in our area have now turned to making sanitizer.

Vinny

[Kriegsspiel]

OP, i forget to mention that a lot of distilleries are making sanitizer instead of booze.
A crime, i know, but you’ll be able to turn normal wipes into sanitizing ones, if necessary.

...
Go to www.camelcamelcamel.com to find the historical price at which your particular item has sold on Amazon. (You'll need the ASIN number, which is under "Product Details.")
...

I’m a big fan of that site. They have been so helpful with getting a good deal at Amazon.

I was told tonight that a few small alcohol makers in our area have now turned to making sanitizer.

Vinny

Disgusting. With such an alcohol shortage throughout the country, this is incredibly irresponsible. Hopefully they are commanded by the government to manufacture liquor before something awful happens.

[vnatale]

OP, i forget to mention that a lot of distilleries are making sanitizer instead of booze.
A crime, i know, but you’ll be able to turn normal wipes into sanitizing ones, if necessary.

...
Go to www.camelcamelcamel.com to find the historical price at which your particular item has sold on Amazon. (You'll need the ASIN number, which is under "Product Details.")
...

I’m a big fan of that site. They have been so helpful with getting a good deal at Amazon.

I was told tonight that a few small alcohol makers in our area have now turned to making sanitizer.

Vinny

Disgusting. With such an alcohol shortage throughout the country, this is incredibly irresponsible. Hopefully they are commanded by the government to manufacture liquor before something awful happens.

We are getting Prime Time of you tonight!!!

Vinny

[WiseOne]

Interesting article in the NY Times this morning:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/opin ... idets.html

The especially good part:

Before paper was invented, or readily available, people used leaves, seashells, fur pelts and corn cobs. The ancient Greeks and Romans used small ceramic disks and also sponges on the ends of sticks, which were then plunged into a bucket of vinegar or salt water for the next person to use.

Seashells...OUCH!!!!!

Leaves...let's just say that's familiar to every backpacker on the planet. When I was in Kenya and went to visit a local family, I got to use an outhouse that was basically a hole dug in the ground near a tree with thick, soft, wonderfully scented leaves. That's their toilet paper tree (I wish I knew the official name for it). Best TP alternative ever apart from a bidet.

[Kriegsspiel]

One day while out for a drive in Afghanistan, I got a call on the radio telling me that a MAM was being observed doing something under a bridge that we were approaching but they had lost sight of him. So we stopped short, figuring he was emplacing an IED, and "assaulted" the objective on foot. The TOC was relieved (heh) to learn that he had just been taking a shit under the bridge, and egressed via the wadi.

He used rocks.

[flyingpylon]

When I was a kid, my father used to regale us with stories from his days in the Greek army during WW2. There were repeated anecdotes about being lucky to find old newspaper or leaves to use as TP most days. The implication was that we were soft, spoiled American kids who had as much TP as we needed, and to quit using more than 2 squares per wipe.

Slightly better than that but still sub-optimal, the TP you get with a military MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat) will train you well for times like these. The photo shows two packages but you only get one with each MRE.

[Kriegsspiel]

Slightly better than that but still sub-optimal, the TP you get with a military MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat) will train you well for times like these. The photo shows two packages but you only get one with each MRE.

That's more than enough when you're eating MREs

[Mountaineer]

My dad, WWII vet, used to tell me a story that I was never quite sure if it were really true. He showed me how to use one square of TP. Fold in half, then in half again. Tear a small piece off the inside corner of the folded paper. Unfold. Place middle finger through the hole, wipe butt, pull paper off finger to wipe the finger. Use the small piece from the inside corner to clean under fingernail.

[flyingpylon]

Slightly better than that but still sub-optimal, the TP you get with a military MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat) will train you well for times like these. The photo shows two packages but you only get one with each MRE.

That's more than enough when you're eating MREs

After a couple of days that is certainly true!

[dualstow]

I remember Willing in ‘The Mandibles’ enumerating a lot of those historical tools, like the vinegar sponges of Rome, and shitsticks for east Asian royalty. Michael Crichton mentions strips of linen in medieval Europe in ‘Timeline’, which sounds pretty luxurious.

In Moscow, I occasionally had to use newsprint. As you can imagine, the locals say that’s all it’s good for.

[WiseOne]

I remember Willing in ‘The Mandibles’ enumerating a lot of those historical tools, like the vinegar sponges of Rome, and shitsticks for east Asian royalty. Michael Crichton mentions strips of linen in medieval Europe in ‘Timeline’, which sounds pretty luxurious.

In Moscow, I occasionally had to use newsprint. As you can imagine, the locals say that’s all it’s good for.

Brings to mind the time I was visiting the USSR (touring with a group) and we ran out of t.p. Tried to buy more, but realized that 1 ruble notes were priced lower than the toilet paper. So...one ruble notes it was!

[dualstow]

Couldn’t do that here even if the numbers were favorable. It would cost to much to pre-clean the bills!

[Mountaineer]

Couldn’t do that here even if the numbers were favorable. It would cost to much to pre-clean the bills!

[Hal]

Interesting article in the NY Times this morning:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/opin ... idets.html

The especially good part:

Before paper was invented, or readily available, people used leaves, seashells, fur pelts and corn cobs. The ancient Greeks and Romans used small ceramic disks and also sponges on the ends of sticks, which were then plunged into a bucket of vinegar or salt water for the next person to use.

Seashells...OUCH!!!!!

Leaves...let's just say that's familiar to every backpacker on the planet. When I was in Kenya and went to visit a local family, I got to use an outhouse that was basically a hole dug in the ground near a tree with thick, soft, wonderfully scented leaves. That's their toilet paper tree (I wish I knew the official name for it). Best TP alternative ever apart from a bidet.

Reminds me of this story I was told when I was a child.

https://curiosity.com/topics/the-suicid ... curiosity/

[dualstow]

{ gympie gympie }
Why does Australia have such poisonous flora and fauna?

How can I make this on topic- And,have you ever encountered a poisonous spider on your roll of TP?