The purchase of this household essential is costing UK households hundreds unnecessarily – and experts say there is a way to help cut the costs when doing your weekly shop
Experts say you may literally be flushing money down the drain – as Brits are urged to make one change to their toilet roll to help save money. Research shows that the average family forks out a whacking £428 annually on toilet paper, but it’s possible to slash this cost dramatically.
A study by Victorian Plumbing, which looked deeper into the habits of 1,000 Brits, found that people typically use eight sheets per trip to the toilet. This adds up to a whopping 56 sheets daily and the research put own-brand toilet rolls from major supermarkets head-to-head against the nation’s favourite brand.
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On average, these store brand sheets rack up a cost of 21p each. In stark contrast, the most beloved brand in the UK could set you back more than 150 per cent per sheet compared to the average supermarket’s own brands – that’s an astonishing annual saving of £184.32 per household, as reported by Bristol Live.
And for those bargain hunters amongst us, Amazon’s cracking out some top deals on bog roll – like 72 rolls for only £23.99 (price correct at time of going to press).
Bathroom specialist at Victorian Plumbing, Alex Woods explained: “With inflation, supply chain pressures, and raw material shortages all pushing prices up, the humble toilet roll is starting to no longer be the minor household expense it once was.
“While costs may be rising, there are still simple, practical steps we can take to reduce usage and the costly impact. When one small habit costs the UK nearly £3 billion a year, every sheet really does count.”
Cheeky Wipes, a reusable toilet wipe brand suggested: “Instead of adding a 9 pack to your weekly shopping (average household of 4 usage), buy in bulk if you’ve got the storage space. Comparing on Ocado, buying a 9 pack of Cheeky Panda works out at 88p per roll. By comparison, a 24 pack of their loo roll will work out at 83p per roll.
“Shopping at wholesale type spaces such as Costco etc can obviously save even more,” and further advised: “Another cost effective way to save money on toilet roll is to use less of it. If the ‘average’ person uses 8 to 9 sheets of toilet paper, reducing it by 2 sheets per visit will save 25% off your annual spend.
“Of course let’s be honest. Most men will only use loo roll for a poo. And women shouldn’t need to use anywhere near that amount for a pee. So are some people really using 20 sheets per poo?”.
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