Samantha Biggers
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For this post, we are going to tackle a subject that some people do not want to think about and that is what do you use when the toilet paper runs out. There is a lot of situations where this might happen. I know some people pride themselves on stockpiling a lot of toilet paper but no one can stockpile enough to get through a long emergency without sacrificing space and money.
Personally toilet paper is a luxury I hope to never give up. I lived without indoor plumbing for years while we were building our house. It is times I will always remember and I am glad we did what we had to do to have our house but I cannot imagine how hard it would have been to give up the toilet paper.
So I guess my point is that there are no great and convenient alternatives but sometimes times get tough and you have to improvise. My vote goes for a bidet bottle for the most useful and convenient toileting device you can put back. It hardly weighs anything, is inexpensive, and it is small enough to be convenient for travel or bugging out.
A bidet bottle can double as a cleansing device and give you some water pressure for staying clean otherwise. Plenty of people use them when injured to help keep all areas of their body clean without the assistance of someone else.
Toilet Paper Alternatives
Abedoe Hand Held Bidet Toilet Sprayer
Brondell GoSpa Travel Bidet
Tibbers Home Bidet
Bidet Bottle
These are very inexpensive and they work far better than you would ever think. A larger bottle holds about 14 ounces of water which is not much compared to a low flow toilet that takes around 1-1.3 gallons per flush. The pressure created when you turn up the bottle and then squeeze offers a stream of water that will leave you clean. It is easy to fill and keep clean and you don’t have to plumb in a real bidet.
A Bidet Hose
These don’t require a lot of plumbing knowledge but they offer an alternative that is more usable than just a bidet bottle. For a more luxurious bathroom experience, you can get them that can be plumbed into hot water. A bidet attachment can drastically reduce the amount of toilet paper used. A lot of people have installed them as a result of the toilet paper shortages that are occurring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Traditional toilet paper may, unfortunately, continue to be rarer then it has ever been in modern times.
In Bowl Bidet
Another version with the same idea. A jet of water cleans you where you need it with no toilet paper needed.
When it comes to altering any plumbing, make sure you turn off the water where it needs to be to avoid a deluge of water. After all the work is done, be sure to check for leaks. Even a slow leak can cause trouble over time.
Cloth Wipes
Although washing dirty clothes is not something that bothers me, I don’t think I am interested in going the “family cloth” route. This is when you use designated clothes for bathroom visits and then wash them. A lot of people use pinking shears to cut flannel or old t-shirts up and then use those.
A few people have given up toilet paper entirely by using these cloth squares cut to size and then washing them with very hot water and plenty of detergent. You can also buy washable baby wipes made from flannel that are hemmed and made for the job! They are surprisingly inexpensive.
Some people throw them into a bucket with vinegar and water for a presoak before putting them into the washing machine. Personally, this seems like it would be hard to deal with. In a survival situation, you may not have a good way to do laundry, and boiling rags with feces, or even just traces is a bit time-consuming.
If you were going to implement this course of action, I would recommend treating them like cloth diapers and also using concentrated powdered potassium bicarbonate (Oxy Clean) to further sanitize. Making sure any traces of bacteria are gone are very important.
If these are being used by women to wipe and there are remaining bacteria from feces it can lead to infections that require antibiotics. This is the same thing they are talking about when they tell girls to wipe front to back in hygiene and health classes. I don’t want to use a cloth wipe unless I absolutely have to especially for any length of time.
Corn Husks
In the old days, families grew a lot of corn on their own so corn husks were saved and used for all kinds of purposes. You can dry corn husks and use them for wipes in an emergency.
I know it sounds odd to bring up GMOs talking about toilet paper alternatives but I have to say that I would find another way to wipe before I used a corn husk that had been sprayed consistently with Roundup and other pesticides and herbicides.
Back when the old people were using corn husks that stuff wasn’t around. If you are concerned about the dioxins and chemicals in your paper products and feminine hygienic products now, then you should consider what you are wiping with when SHTF.
Leaves
There are a lot of leaves that can work pretty well for toilet paper alternatives and then there are some that you don’t want to go anywhere near.
Large Leaf Maples work well because they have a lot of surface area. Hickory leaves can work. Any oak leaf will work but they are a bit too toothed and incised to offer a lot of coverage.
Scrounged Up Paper
Since so many magazines and papers are mostly digital now it is harder to find free sources of old paper. What paper is out there often gets sent to the recycling center. During a survival situation, however, you could even use the paper from old books or some food packaging. Paper grocery bags might seem a little rough but they are far better than something you have to wash later.
I don’t think many used books will survive if people need them for fuel or toilet paper during SHTF.
Sponge
I think using a sponge and sanitizing after each use sounds horrible. Sponges have so much surface area and although they can be sanitized by soaking and/or boiling if you miss anything it can create a major breeding ground for bacteria. This is a very time-consuming method, and I honestly think it would be easier to keep clothes cleaner and bacteria free than a sponge.
Microfiber Towels
Some claim that using microfiber towels that dry out fast is a solution for toilet paper on the trail. I think it would be too much hassle and slow you down, especially if you are really trying to make good time.
For at home use, they may work better for you than flannel if you want something that doesn’t retain a lot of moisture. One thing about microfiber is that you can get a huge pack of them for a very low cost.
Scrape With Smooth River Rock and Wash As Needed
For this, you are going to need a very smooth river rock stone. Scrape and rinse the stone and then rinse your bottom with water from a bidet or irrigation bottle.
Dealing With Moisture From Using A Bidet Or Washing Method
Care must be taken to make sure your skin dries out sometimes. Women that allow too much water to remain in their private areas can be more likely to develop yeast infections that can make a survival situation that much more hard to bear. You don’t want to put a tight layer on with a lot of water still on your nether regions.
I recommend that any woman puts back a few treatment packs of Monistat or similar for a long emergency. Fellows if you are the main prepper person in the family, think about this when you are putting together that medical kit for SHTF.
Wipes
Some types of pre-moistened wipes could be used for bathroom hygiene but you need to be very careful. Some wipes have ingredients that could irritate sensitive areas if used very often. Baby wipes are best because they are made for sensitive private areas.
You get a lot of wipes in the tub and you can cut off half of one to conserve if you are not in need of a lot of wiping action. Remember that there is a big difference between flushable wipes and those that are not. If you must flush, make sure to stock up on wipes that say they are the flushable kind or you will wind up with a clogged toilet and possibly a backed-up septic tank! Buy the right type of wet wipe for your needs.
Combining Methods For Simplicity and Comfort
Part of me feels that you should look for ways to stretch out your toilet paper usage over time in SHTF as well. Just because you have a 100 rolls put back doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consider using bidet bottles to reduce how much you have to use each visit.
Hygiene Is Very Important During A SHTF Scenario
Medical services could be limited or non-existent during a bad situation. Even those that have sufficient supplies of antibiotics on hand should not slack in the slightest when it comes to disease and infection prevention. Remember that not even 100 years ago people were dying of water and hygiene-related illnesses.
You don’t want to have to take antibiotics for something that can be prevented by good toilet habits and practices. Men might not be as apt to suffer from some of these by women need to be especially careful as we are prone to all types of urinary and yeast infections.
Being Realistic
I know that toilet paper is one of those conveniences that it is hard to give up in any way shape or form but you can do it if you need to. Everyone talks about “how it will really be if SHTF” and the truth is that we can make a guess but the total circumstances are impossible to know.
Some of the options I have discussed in this post are only really possible with running water. If you are bugging out then the stone and the bidet bottle are going to be your friends. Without running water and staying in place it is going to be impossible to use reusable cloth and keep any resemblance of hygienic conditions. Hot water and good soap are not an option in some survival situations.
I suppose if you have sanitizer and some quick dry camp towels it is possible but something like that is going to slow you down. Leaves or moss are your friend in the woods but be sure that you are using leaves that are not known to cause skin irritation.
This gal ain’t giving up her toilet paper without having to but wants to be ready with other options just in case. You should consider an alternative too and plan ahead so you can stay healthy during any long emergencies ahead. What have you got planned for this everyday part of life? What alternatives did I miss?
Author Bio: Samantha Biggers lives on a mountain in North Carolina with her husband and a pack of loyal hounds in a house her husband and she built themselves. When not writing she is working in their vineyard, raising Shetland sheep, or helping her husband with whatever the farm and vineyard can throw at them.
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36 Responses to “Best Toilet Paper Alternatives For a Long Emergency”
Most people who use the family cloth method wash their behinds with soap and water first so there shouldn’t be any feces on the cloths. Also, you toss them into a bucket with water and bleach after use. At the end of the day you throw it all in the wash. It is hardly like dirty cloth diapers for babies which is an entirely different rigmarole.
Toilet paper isn’t good for any septic ststem or sewer system.
People managed for thousands of years without indoor plumbing and TP and plenty of people still do to this day.
We live in a desert with only 6″ of rainfall a year. During an long term disaster, water will be our most scarce resource. A bidet or bidet bottle isn’t an option for every bathroom visit. We have a lot of TP stored but of course it would eventually run out. Then would have to go the cloth route and hope there would be enough water to wash them. Wouldn’t use leaves, moss, etc., except as a very last resort, due to the potential for insect eggs to be transferred from the plant matter to your nether regions where they could hatch. Checked with a PhD in entomology and he said that is a definite possibility. Ugh!
Good plan(s) of action.
Another worthy consideration might be to practice ahead of time, folding techniques to conserve paper.
Often, during the time prior to paper use, we are simply sitting, with nothing better to do anyway, right? During such occasions over the years, I have worked out a system of folding that reduces my usage to 6 squares/visit.
Most importantly, I am completely clean after. If not, I totally could not stand using this method.
Tear off a length 6 squares long. Fold in half, so that you have a (doubled over) 3 length strip. Trifold, along the dotted lines. Wipe. Fold the soiled area upon itself. Wipe again. Fold and repeat until clean.
Seriously, it works and I almost never have to tear more paper off the roll.
One caveat: This may not work so well for “messier” situations. Under normal conditions however, at 6 squares a day (per family member), imagine how long a roll might last.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I would be posting a “How To:” on toilet paper conservation. But your blog has truly inspired me to bare my soul, if not my bum!
IF you use leaves…know what you are picking up and what is growing around the leaves. A buddy and I were out hunting, nature called him and he used some leaves. What he didn’t notice was…there was some poison ivy or oak that was also growing where he grabbed the leaves. No real problems, at first, but about an hour latter…well you get the idea. I took him to an emergency room…about 2-3 hours away as we didn’t know just what happened. All we knew was that a ‘sensitive area’ of his was on ‘fire’. The doc figured it out pretty quick and even though he tried…he couldn’t stop laughing…actually he was ‘cackling’ he was laughing so hard…so were the nurses. Valuable lesson learned.
My wife has taken this problem to heart. I believe we will run out of food before we run out of TP. Don’t forget, if you cut a roll of paper towels in half, you can use them tho may be a bit rougher.
I’d try sturdy rubber gloves for #2. People in the Mideast are known to use their left hand for wiping, so a glove would be an improvement over that. You could keep a bucket of water nearby to rinse the mess off before taking off the glove, and then remove it and clean it further. Also, I tried a coffee filter and found it worked fairly well. The filters are very cheap and you can store a huge number of them in a much smaller space than is taken up with toilet paper.
Three comments: 1. I’m allergic to baby wipes. Anywhere they touch my skin, I get a nasty rash. So don’t stock them until you find out if they give you a rash.
2. The ‘family cloth’ idea is a very, very poor one, to my way of thinking. Each member of the family should have her/his own color and no confusion.
3.I have used cloths (for urine only) and they work just fine if you hang them up to dry (a clothespin or similar hanger, over the bathtub) – no smell. Then when you do the laundry, just toss them in. I don’t use them any longer, I’m old now (74) and do not want extra laundry! But I used them for a long time. My reasons were partly ecological, partly budgetary.
It makes zero sense to buy organic non-gmo corn for this purpose. At least the non-gmo part. Non-organic could have trace toxic chemicals.
I put in the part about Non GMO because that lets you know that it is not Round Up ready corn. Just an organic or a non GMO label is enough to know that it isn’t Round Up Ready. Some readers have pretty strong opinions about using anything GMO due to the pesticides and herbicides used so I try to discuss things to suite their needs as well. There are some that are very concerned about chemicals and dyes that are in toilet paper and feminine hygiene items and don’t even want a trace touching them. Personally, I wouldn’t worry about it as much as some but I try to include the whole picture for those that have those concerns.Under the right circumstances a lot of people would have to make some compromises or do without. Thanks for reading Bruce!
Still doesn’t make sense to me. Round Up Ready means it’s resistant to Round Up. So Round Up wouldn’t be used. How is using Round Up Ready corn a concern if you’re using it for toilet paper. And GMO products tend to need less pesticides and chemicals because they are bred to be more hardy and productive.
Actually, Round Up ready gets sprayed a lot because that is how they keep competing plants and weeds from growing around the corn and soy. There are some plants that are popping up that are annoying anyway because they have developed a resistance. Pigweed is one example. No matter how much Round up is sprayed it has started to be a major problem for big agriculture so they are trying to find sprays to deal with that too. Some people just don’t want anything that has been sprayed a lot near them. To each their own.
That’s true. I rescind my last reply.
Great article. I’d never heard of the portable bidit until now. Combined with the family cloth is more appealing than the cloth alone. I’ve hand wash cloth diapers, not interested in going there ever again. If we loose use of the toilet in a SHTF situation, it’s likely we’ll loose the washing machine too.
If you use plant material as TP use great caution. Many insects lay eggs in almost any organic matter. You don’t want them hatching in your private areas. We’ve stocked up on TP, baby wipes, and have cloth wipes too. But ultimately someone would be responsible for washing the poo rags. YUK.
You’re also right about water borne illness. According to the CDC food and water borne illness has always been, and still remains, the #1 killer in the world even today. We in the US have forgotten what a risk it is.