March 20, 2020, 11:55 am | Read time: 2 minutes
We vaguely remember the COVID-19 era. The most sought-after household item besides pasta and flour was toilet paper. The motto of panic buyers: “The sky is the limit!” So, they hoarded numerous rolls of toilet paper at home–because no one knew when it would be available again. But the question that still arises today is: How long does toilet paper actually last? Two Britons, Ben Sassoon and Sam Harris, created the website “How Much Toilet Paper,” where you can calculate how long your private toilet paper supply will last.
How Can You Calculate Your Toilet Paper Supply?
To do this, you enter the number of rolls you have and the number of times you typically use the toilet per day. With a click, the website calculates how many days your private toilet paper supply would last under these circumstances.
An example: If you have ten rolls of toilet paper and go to the toilet three times a day on average, the supply would last for about 53 days.
Related: You panic buyers, what are you doing with all that toilet paper?
If you want to calculate it VERY precisely–after all, you shouldn’t joke about toilet paper supply!–you can also enter additional options into the calculator:
- How many people live in the household?
- How many sheets do you use per wipe?
- How often do you wipe?
- How many sheets are in a roll?
- How many days do you expect to be in quarantine?
Calculate Supply to Prevent Panic Buying
For many, calculating the toilet paper supply during the COVID-19 crisis primarily provided a bit of amusement. Others–namely hoarders–likely used it to acquire the perfect number of toilet paper rolls. However, the developers’ goal was to prevent exactly that with their calculator. “Our average users have 500 percent more toilet paper than they would actually need in a potential quarantine. We hope people use the site and realize they don’t need to go out and empty the shelves.”