Thursday, April 14, 2011

Tips from the Trenches: On Toilet Paper

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A little tip from the trenches today. In an effort to be more frugal and also because some folks gave us some toilet paper, I decided to no longer be married to one brand of toilet paper. I listened to the frugal folks. They say, "Buy what's on sale; buy generic; don't be loyal to brands."

So I did just that. I switched to a cheaper brand.

Not only did I get less expensive toilet paper, I also received some great, new parenting advice through the experience. I haven't seen it in any parenting books or expert columns and certainly not upon the frugal blogs that gave the tip about not being loyal to brands. I understood that brand loyalty gets you in trouble with the frugal bottom line.

I have a problem, though. The great parenting advice and the frugal advice have a conflict.

Frugal says: Buy what's on sale.

The pretty azaleas in our front yard.

Great parenting advices says: Don't switch toilet paper brands if you have kids.

We have used a brand that is quite thin. For years. I have four children.

I switched to a thicker, softer toilet paper. It was cheaper but the frugal skeptic in me wondered if it would last as long because it was thicker.

Did I mention that I have kids?

They didn't make an adjustment to how much toilet paper they were using.

A plunger now lives next to the toilet.

Do I need to say more?

I am brand loyal again to the original toilet paper that I used to buy and the plunger still lives next to the toilet.

The things they didn't tell me at my baby showers! Don't switch toilet paper if you have kids.

But now I know. And so do you!

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I am linking up with Leila & Rosie at Like Mother, Like Daughter today. It is a favorite blog of mine and is on my sidebar. Leila is a homeschooling mother of eight (she has launched 7) with practical, real advice.

Welcome to any visitors from Like Mother, Like Daughter and to all who stop by today. Thanks for reading.

The link-up is suppose to be more pictures of happy, pretty, funny, real and not necessarily words. But, we don't have a digital camera so time sensitive photos that tie-in into my blog posts just can't happen easily. But I thought that this story would tie into being real and funny. I did add a picture of the azaleas in our front yard from last spring. But that same bush is blooming right now!

I hope you enjoy linking up and enjoying other stories of pretty, happy, funny, real. Come and join us!

Also linking up with the Coffee Company girls at Home Sanctuary. I truly enjoy the camaraderie from this group!

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And to tie back into my blog post:

How about you? Do you have any tips from the trenches of life?

14 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! Thanks for the tip. These are definitely words of wisdom.

    Blessings, Debbie

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  2. Yes, that is Real and Funny -- and you made quite the word picture! I can relate! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. love your post :) my only tip from the trenches, which i learned after having my third baby, was to not overwhelm myself with a to-do list. i would repeat over and over "just do the next thing" all day long and that got me through lots of tired days, sleepless nights and cranky afternoons with my three :)

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  4. LOL! Such a wonderful tip!! Thanks for sharing...Happy Spring!!

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  5. Ha! I agree wholeheartedly! We switched brands once recently when it was on sale, but it definitely got used up MUCH faster.

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  6. Oh no! We try to be frugal around here, but there are some brands that we just have to stick with. I'll remember the TP tip.

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  7. Too funny! We live in a VERY old house and the plunger is my unfortunate friend.

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  8. I love it! Definitely, cheaper isn't always better. We ran out the other day and I couldn't get to Walmart. Having to go to the more expensive store, I decided to go with the store brand. We went through 8 rolls in about 3 days! 8 ROLLS! I am back to my original brand too...may even go buy it in bulk! :)

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  9. We have 4 as well, and this made me laugh out loud!! We have had the same brand for over 8yrs!

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  10. too funny!!! My littlest one can unroll an entire roll directly into the toilet in seconds! I have become fast friends with the plunger! The things we were never told about parenthood!

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  11. Hilarious! I am not brand loyal, but haven't had this problem...yet!

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  12. This cracked me up and it is so true!

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  13. Ironic. I unstopped our latest toilet today. Unfortunately, the plunger lives in MY bathroom (even though we have four in the house. Five if you count the one in the basement that does not work...) but my five-year-old prefers to use mine and since she does not seem to know what TWO squares means I am constantly unstopping the toilet. Hmmm...This reminds me of something that happened the week after we got married. I'll have to blog about it.

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  14. Thanks everyone for sharing in the laughter! Yes, the things they didn't tell us about being moms!?!

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Thanks for being part of the conversation...I love hearing from you. Kathleen

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