WHEN TO BUY CHEAP TOILET PAPER

We've had toilet paper issues at our house for several years now. The main problem is how fast the stuff disappears. I've been known to accuse the kids of eating it.

Miraculously, and totally by accident, we seem to have solved the toilet paper dilemma. My husband, Fred, is pastor of a church which was formed by two churches merging. They finally sold the unused church building this summer, and various church members have been getting stuff out of it before the new organization takes possession.

We found a bunch of toilet paper, still in paper wrapping (you know, the institutional kind that they put out in public bathrooms) sitting in a furnace room and decided we might as well take it home. No one else seemed to want it.

Suddenly, a roll of toilet paper was lasting easily four times what it used to. Wow. It's been a couple of weeks since we brought home The Stash, and I still haven't had to buy toilet paper. Normally, I would probably have bought it twice since then. And we still have a big stack of rolls on the shelf over the toilet.

Fred says it's because it's a cheaper paper than we usually buy, and it tears more easily. So before, the kids would merrily rip off long strips. Now, they have to unroll it carefully or it will tear, and they are taking smaller pieces. Plus, this toilet paper does not roll by itself. Used to be, about every other day I'd find that someone was not careful, and the toilet paper was all in a puddle on the floor under the roller. This stuff won't do that.

So we have ample toilet paper, for a change. I'm going to see if the janitor at church can order us a case of this stuff when we run out.