It takes all types of moms to keep a large family bathroom going.
And by going… I mean clean, usable and stocked.

I’m talking about Toilet Paper here folks. I’m talking about the dreaded fear of ALL moms everywhere.

The fear of RUNNING OUT OF TOILET PAPER. (Queue the horror movie scream.)

While we all have the same fear, we are NOT all built with the same TP psyche. We go about our toilet paper lives in many different means and modes.  I’ve been doing extensive mom TP research (Okay, I Facebooked a few friends) and I’ve come up with:

8 Toilet Paper Mom Types

• There’s the TP Hoarder Mom — She stocks up on sales. She uses coupons. And currently she cannot fit the family wagon in the garage, because it’s filled to the rafters with cases of toilet paper.  This family will never run out of TP, however I’m not sure it’s possible to live on Quilted Northern alone?
• Have you met the Celebrity TP Mom? — She insists on toilet paper with BLING. It must be embedded with diamond dust and imported. This mom is most often found in overpriced shopping malls or watching the Housewives of Orange County.
• We all know the Forgetful TP Mom — You show up to her guest bathroom and realize there’s no TP in sight. After checking through multiple cupboards and drawers, you’re forced to dig through your purse and use a receipt. This mom has sticky notes stuck to her forehead and STILL forgets to buy more TP!
• There’s the stealthy Double Agent TP Mom — She is stingy and deceptive. She tells the family the TP stocks are low- when in fact there are secret stashes in sealed off compartments and behind false double walls. And beware, the secret stocks are all implanted with micro-trackers. She WILL find you if you sneak one.
• Do you know the Neurotic TP Mom? — She keeps a stash of flushable wipes in her purse. She must use her own TP and rarely uses public potties. She wipes 3 or 4 times (to be sure) and her whole family is on alert for signals that she might have a TP breakdown. They’ve taken to stashing extra rolls in trunks of family vehicles and at pre-appointed stops along the way to work and school.
• The Whatever Works TP Mom — You name it, she’s used it. Burger King Napkins? Newspapers? Leaves? You know… whatever works!
• The Recycle TP Mom — Eww… ‘Nuff Said.
• Last but certainly not least, the TP Mom Sergeant — “Did you use more than 3 squares?!” She counts the rolls daily. Rewards come in the form of extra squares. And lest you think you’re brave enough to cross her on the TP issue, she WILL take your TP rations away for a week!

There you have it.

Which type are you?

I am somewhere between the TP Hoarder and the Double Agent TP Mom – even in financial lows, I still buy in bulk and I’m a Charmin Junkie, Double Rolls of course!

I better NEVER catch you wasting it!!

***
Full Disclosure: Toilet Paper World asked Carissa Rogers to write a guest post in exchange for TP, after they saw on GoodNCrazy.com that she is willing to Blog for Toilet Paper. And she just did.

In a former life, she was a molecular biologist. In her current life she is the chief researcher of blogging karma, parenting dos (and some don’ts) and for spice she pretends to be a photographer…a mom of all trades. Please find her on Twitter, she’s happy to talk mom TP types with you!

Are you using wet wipes or moist toilet paper instead of dry toilet paper?

Last year we discussed on the blog whether flushable wipes were safe for flushing. Disposable wet wipes are in the news again, but this time for causing allergic reactions.

Researchers from The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota published a report stating that painful rashes and other allergic reactions that four people suffered from were caused from a chemical called methylchloroisothiazolinone or MCI found in moist toilet paper. MCI is used as a preservative. People with rashes and reactions did not realize that the wet wipes were a part of the problem.

Although not everyone is allergic to this chemical, about 3% of people do have adverse reactions, according to the Reuters article.

Healthmad reported that “MCI, is well documented as an allergen in Europe. In fact, Europe restricted the use of MCI because of the increased sensitivity they were seeing.”

So what should those who use moist toilet paper wipes do? Try using a dry product that does not contain the allergen. Or check the ingredient label for MCI.

ConsumerReports.org has just released a new, comprehensive report on Toilet Paper. They tested many of the biggest national and store brands to look at strength, softness, price, quality, and disintegration.

In terms of price, you can save over $100 dollars a year by purchasing store brand toilet paper from places like CostCo and Walmart, if you don’t mind sacrificing strength and softness.

In terms of softness, Charmin, Cottonelle, and Quilted Northern are still the choice of most consumers. The amount of plies doesn’t matter so much anymore, since innovative technology means that Charmin technically only has 1-ply, but the same thickness as a 3-ply toilet paper.

Flush-able wipes have become very popular, but they might not be so popular in your septic system. These flush-able wipes performed very poorly in their disintegration tests and may damage or back up your sewer or septic system. The advice is to throw them in the trash after you use them (but here at ToiletPaperWorld.com we think that sounds pretty gross…)

Lastly, they tested the top recycled toilet papers again- Marcal Sunrise and Seventh Generation. Last year they performed horribly on softness but have since been reformulated. The tests concluded that although both are a inexpensive green alternative, they don’t hold up against the traditional favorites in terms of softness or strength. However, a little bit of sacrifice on your bum might be worth it to save the trees. You can see the rest of our eco- friendly products at ToiletPaperWorld.com.

Though flushable wipes are marketed as a safe alternative to toilet paper, many people are still questioning whether or not these innovative wipes are the best choice for their pipes. To test this question, reporters for News Channel 5 of Cleveland, Ohio, took toilet paper and flushable wipes by a couple of leading paper companies and compared them.

To see how these claims hold up, a recent Consumers Report put three wipes, along with plain old toilet paper, through a disintegration test. It simulates what may happen when flushing and gives consumers a look at how the product could affect their pipes. Toilet paper tends to break down in about eight seconds. In contrast, flushable wipes lasted well beyond 30 minutes.

Kim Leman of Consumer Reports said of the experiment, “Although they say flushable, our disintegration tests show they don’t break down easily, which could pose problems with your plumbing or septic system.”

A spokesperson for Kimberly-Clark Corporation, which manufactures Scott and Cottonelle, defended the use of flushable wipes and said in a recent statement, “The Consumer Report article does not identify which test method was used to rate the various tissue products, and the story also indicates that further tested needs to be undertaken. There are industry-standard flushability test methods, which have been peer reviewed and accepted by both tissue manufacturers and public works authorities. Kimberly-Clark has performed extensive testing of our flushable wipes products using these methods and all our flushable wipes products pass the relevant tests.”

A Charmin spokesperson also said Charmin Wipes have been tested and are flushable and compatible with functioning household drain lines and sewerage and septic systems.

So what’s your take? Are flushable wipes a better way to do your business, or is classic Toilet Paper a better choice?