Why You Should Stop Using Toilet Paper for a Year

We tend to think of toilet paper as the only realistic option for cleaning ourselves, but the fact is, toilet paper doesn’t do a very good job – and it’s associated with some negative health outcomes as well. 

The prospect of abandoning toilet paper altogether, especially if you do it permanently, is intimidating. But if that transition is too much for you, consider stopping the use of toilet paper for a single year.

Why is this approach so potentially beneficial and how can you make the most of it?

The Problems With Toilet Paper

Toilet paper has a long and interesting history, and it makes sense that it’s still the dominant form of bathroom cleaning in the United States from a historical perspective. But there are several inherent problems with toilet paper, including:

•       An unreliable clean. Imagine spending time in your garden, digging your hands into the soil without gloves. By the end of this experience, your hands will be filthy. Would you prefer to wipe your hands off with a napkin or wash them in the sink? Overwhelmingly, people intuitively understand that washing with water is a much better way to clean yourself than wiping yourself off with paper. This premise holds true in the bathroom as well; toilet paper tends to result in an inconsistent and unreliable clean.
•       An irritating, unpleasant experience. While most of us have gotten used to the process of wiping ourselves with toilet paper, the reality is, this is an irritating and unpleasant experience. Even the softest toilet paper is a bit rough, and if you aren’t careful, you could end up in a very uncomfortable position. You could even end up with hemorrhoids.
•       Excessive costs. Toilet paper isn’t an expensive commodity, but we use so much of it that the costs add up. If you can eliminate the need for toilet paper, you can strike this entire line item from your budget.
•       Paper waste. Globally, people use 42 million tons of toilet paper every year. While the paper industry has grown to become more sustainable than ever, we still need to be conscientious about how we use natural resources.

The Solution: A Bidet

A bidet in your bathroom solves nearly all of these problems. Cleaning yourself with a jet of water is much more thorough and much less irritating than cleaning with toilet paper, it allows you to spend less money, and for the most part, it’s more sustainable. Best of all, installing a bidet is relatively inexpensive and easy, especially if you choose a model that uses your existing toilet and existing plumbing.

Many people are reluctant to use a bidet simply because they’re not familiar with the experience. And truthfully, your first experience may feel unpleasant because of how unfamiliar you are with this type of device. But once you get used to the experience, you may never want to return to toilet paper.

A One-Year Commitment

Permanently swearing off toilet paper is a commitment most people aren’t ready to make, especially if they’ve never used a bidet before. That’s why we’re asking people to only make a commitment of a single year. Can you challenge yourself to spend an entire year without using toilet paper, or at the very least, using a very minimal amount?

Reasons to Try

There are several incentives for you to try this challenge:

•       A potentially beneficial lifestyle change. There’s a possibility that you don’t enjoy the experience of cleaning with a bidet, but if you like or at least tolerate the experience, you could see some major lifestyle benefits – and enjoy them for the rest of your life. You’ll feel cleaner, you’ll have less irritation, you’ll be less susceptible to hemorrhoids and other negative health outcomes, and you’ll protect the environment at the same time.
•       Cost savings. The average person spends about $182 on toilet paper every year, which amounts to more than $11,000 over a lifetime. Even if you only commit to a single year of reducing your reliance on toilet paper, you can save a couple hundred dollars – and probably pay for your bidet outright.
•       An easily achievable goal. Swearing off toilet paper for a year may seem daunting at first, but realistically, this is an easy goal to achieve. Once you get used to how bidets work, this will form into a consistent habit, and before you know it, an entire year will pass.
•       Knowledge and certainty. There’s a chance that you end up hating the bidet experience; by the end of the year, you might switch back to using traditional toilet paper. But even if this does unfold, you’ll benefit from more knowledge and certainty that this is the best approach for your needs.

You don’t need to commit to a major lifestyle overhaul to see meaningful improvements in your life. Sometimes, all it takes is a relatively brief experiment to showcase the benefits of a new approach. Once you’ve had some experience using a bidet rather than toilet paper, you may be ready to make a bigger, more permanent change.