Day 49
Today I did something I’ve never done before – ever. Chalk it up to doing too many things at one time or being rushed or not paying close enough attention. No, I didn’t rear end anyone or slam my hand in the car door … I included a roll of toilet paper in my load of laundry.
Yes, TOILET PAPER. A whole roll of white, squeezably soft TP. And as you can imagine … it made quite a mess. QUITE a mess.
I was restocking toilet paper in the upstairs bathroom when I suddenly remembered last night, while tidying up under the sink, a roll tumbled down the laundry chute into the basket below. Thinking I’d go retreive it I closed the cabinet door and the thought of that TP never entered my head again until I was restocking today … about 20 minutes after I started a load of laundry.
Eeeek!
I ran downstairs to see if I could pluck out the intact roll and when I lifted the washer lid I found something akin to watery, cooked oatmeal. Seriously, I just needed to sprinkle in some cinnamon and a few raisins and I could have had oatmeal for a crowd! Rats.
So – I scooped up what I could (not as much as you’d think … that stuff dissolves well!) … and continued the cycle – hoping that when I put everything into the dryer the lint trap would catch the rest of the mashed up paper bits.
And it did … for the most part. I do have to wash a few items over again and had to pick off random pieces from a decorative pillow but it wasn’t too awful. Just stupid.
And when I cleaned out the lint trap it looked like sheep had exploded! White fuzz an inch thick!
And this little lesson (in sorting out the laundry instead of dumping it into the machine!) made me wonder a bit about this product …
Josephy Gayetty is said to be the father of modern day toilet paper. His papers, introduced in 1857, were medicated, flat sheets and water marked with his name. Ooh, fancy! The introductory TP was marketed as “The greatest necessity of the age!”
Yeah, ya think?!
Toilet paper … or TP … is known by other names in countries than the U.S.. And though toilet paper may sound a little crass … it is also known as loo roll, bog roll, toilet tissue, dunny roll, 4 inch, TP and bum wad. BUM WAD? That’s terrible!
Good thing I didn’t throw a roll of bum wad in my washer! Egad.
About 26 billion rolls of toilet paper are sold in the U.S. each year, worth roughly $2.4 billion dollars. TP is made from chipped wood or recycled paper products. A single tree (virgin source) produces about 100 pounds of toilet paper and being that the average American uses 100 rolls per year (more than other countries) and at about 8 ounces per roll one is then using up about half a tree each year – for toilet paper! (Not great – but better than using a whole tree … or corn cobs!)
I guess I should do my part to try to conserve trees/toilet paper … I think I’ll start by not putting the rolls into the washing machine!