Too much toilet paper makes home look like a dump!

By Andrea Freedman

I once knew a woman who was obsessed with buying toilet paper. She never let a sale go by without stocking up on it, regardless of whether or not her cupboards were already filled to capacity, and that she probably already had enough toilet paper to last for another year.

As you are only usually allowed to buy a certain quantity of a sale item, each day the lady would purchase her limit, then go back to the store every day for the rest of the week and repeat the exercise until the sale ended.

The woman did not have unlimited storage space, so there were only so many packages of toilet paper that could be kept out of sight, especially after the space under the bed was taken as well as behind the couch.

Eventually her home began to look like the reality TV show Extreme Couponing. With barely a visible piece of floor space or furniture available to sit on, it was definitely not fit for guests; that is, of course, unless they needed to use the washroom.

I used to tease the woman that if there was ever an emergency and she was stuck inside at least she wouldn’t run out of toilet paper. Briefly caught up in the idea of having unlimited supplies at my fingertips, I almost let her obsessive habit rub off on me.

For a while, I too could not let a toilet paper sale go by without taking full advantage of it; otherwise, if I ran out and had to pay full price I felt like kicking myself for flushing money down the toilet.

However, when I asked my husband to pick up yet some more of the discounted toilet paper on his way home one day, he was a bit apprehensive. Although he usually doesn’t give a !@#% (pardon the pun) what other people think, he wasn’t thrilled about the fact that everyone who sees you loaded up with toilet paper immediately can’t help imagining you in the bathroom.

After I had stopped laughing at what my husband said, I could not say I disagreed with him. Whenever I have bumped into one of my neighbors and either of us was weighed down by toilet paper, somebody usually ended up making a joke about it. In fact, when I recently ran into one lady who lives in our building, she even commented when she noticed that I was buying air freshener. Imagine what she would have said if I had also been carrying a few packs of toilet paper!

As much as paying full-price for toilet paper really burns my butt, it did not take long for me to shake my head and get over this ridiculous fixation. Although I still resent paying full price for something that we all can’t avoid using every day, I dislike the idea of cluttering up our home even more. Not to mention, I’m sure my husband isn’t disappointed that I have stopped constantly bugging him to buy toilet paper.

Saving money is great. That is, as long as doing so doesn’t make your entire home look like one big pile of crap!♦

 

Copyright © by Andrea Freedman 2019