Grocery store shelves are being emptied all over the country...

I was going that far at first, but have since been talked down from that ledge. We're still insisting on delivery or curbside, haven't set foot in a store since early March.

Still haven't been able to get TP, but I installed a bidet seat. Suddenly it feels like we're wasting space on rolls.

 

Wife and I still go together, although there was word that they may limit to only one shopper. So we'll see.

 

Someone said there was a run on laxatives now: people are running out of space to store the TP.

 

I have seen those, but struggled to imagine them completely effective. Or completely effective without pressure-washer levels of power, which call to mind ... other difficulties.

In place of TP? Or just reducing use of TP? I guess I've never had Bidets 101.

 

There was a headline suggesting that some bidets may permit fecal matter to enter the water supply.

 

That would seem offhand like a poorly-designed bidet.

 

Of all things, my store is out of wax beans and grape jelly. I didn't know these were being hoarded.

 

A few weeks ago, and without warning, my regular store moved the grape jelly next to the peanut butter, which was already in the bread isle. Sometimes I can't keep up.

 

This is a delivery order, they just don't have any brands left. They also notified me they're out of saltine crackers.

 

I’n not sure if all shortages are caused by hoarding. There are also supply issues

 

Admittedly a leap of faith on my part. And if it were not for the fact that my better half had positive experience with one at her sister's house, I likely wouldn't have.

General observations:

Our house has ordinary water pressure, suburban shallow well pump setup. The device has an integrated water heater and came with a T-fitting so it shares the toilet's existing freshwater supply. Pressure has been appropriate to the task, at least for our diet. It's not going to take barnacles off a boat hull, but neither is "quilted northern." There are medical professionals ready for this.

It has considerably reduced the need for paper. Paper is now for drying. The unit does have a convenient warm-air dryer but that one feature just isn't effective in a useful timeframe.

Probably the biggest consideration I'd pass on to others is that the assembly does crowd an elongated bowl to the point where it feels like a classic round bowl after conversion.

This has historically been an issue with the hose + pistol sprayer type, when a child or pet accidentally knocks the spraygun into the bowl, where there is potential for something to get past the one-way valve.

The replacement seat type does not suffer this problem at all.

 

We've had the occasional discussion of bidets, but in neither of the most-used bathrooms is there a power outlet adjacent to the toilet -- an intervening shower stall in one, and an intervening vanity top and cupboard in the other. Neither of us is crazy about having cold water directed at the pertinent areas.

 

saw my first aldi tv ad tonight. seems like an odd time to start spending money on advertising

 

Yeah that's a biggie. The overall power usage isn't high, but it's got quite the surge demand when the water heater kicks up. We were lucky to have an unencumbered 15A receptacle close enough.

 

Ours is a much more basic design that has a bracket that mounts under the seat bolts. It's kind of clunky, but for me it saves on TP and inadvertent skid marks on the skivvies. My wife, though, doesn't trust it.

No heater on ours. Unless you run it a long time, the water is room temperature and that's fine with me. You do want to be careful in the summer, though. Our pipes go through the attic and, if it's been sitting up there very long, the cold is hotter than the hot. If you make the mistake of flushing and then using the bidet, you may scald your nether regions. I suppose that up north in the winter, it might be a different kind of shock.

 

You mean you are in the hot-seat?

 

I like how this thread is based on food availability and we have now ended up at the other end of the spectrum .

Now I know what it like to be a GI person .

 

My local grocery ran out of paper first and fastest. To the point where the entire paper goods aisle was stripped to the fixtures. Party napkins, paper plates, you name it. The entire thing was out to bare metal and stayed that way.

Later there were some other shortages, but toilet tissue, paper towels and facial tissue have remained stubbornly unavailable while everything else recovered.

We managed to get some of those heavy blue "shop" paper towels from the walmart. It's more expensive but it was the only thing available. We also switched to using more rags for household cleaning, cloth dinner napkins & doing more laundry.