We're all spending enough on shopping these days without literally throwing money down the toilet. That's why, with the cost of groceries and household items soaring, we've been checking the budget stores to see where's cheapest for the essential in all our lives - toilet roll.
It now seems a long time ago when shoppers were stockpiling the stuff, fearing a shortage during the pandemic. And it seems even longer when you could actually buy the stuff without breaking the bank.
Read more: Mum regrets buying cheaper loo roll after needing ice to soothe pain
Places like B&M used to have offers on their 18-pack rolls where you could pick up two for a fiver. Sadly that's no longer the case and the cost of one pack alone is now heading towards that £5.
But, our comparison of B&M, Home Bargains, Quality Save and Poundstretcher shows there is still a big difference depending on where you shop.
We picked those four stores as all sell the same-sized packs, consisting of 18 rolls of two-ply paper. Anyone splashing out on scented, three-ply, coated in coconut oil or whatever else loo paper during a cost of living crisis needs their head testing as far as I'm concerned. Either that, or they have money to burn.
Home Bargains and Quality Save, which we revealed last week sell the same items for the same price, both have their 18-pack of Comfy Soft rolls for sale at £4.79 - a price that's risen from £3.59 since our comparison of household items in October.
B&M's Gentle Touch packs have also increased by exactly the same amount, with the current £4.79 price having shot up by 30 pence in the last seven weeks alone.
The cheapest is Poundstretcher's Softesse, which, while increasing from £2.99 to £3.50, is still a whopping £1.29 cheaper a pack than rivals - and you can buy two for £6, which means you're paying pretty much the same price as back in October and saving £2.58 on the price of 32 rolls elsewhere.
It's not just the price you have to consider of course, the size of the rolls differ too. The packs from Home Bargains and Quality Save are the only ones that stipulate how many sheets you're getting - a total of 220, with each sheet measuring 11.5cm by 10cm.
With the other packs we had to count. At B&M you're getting 170 sheets a roll and at Poundstretcher it's 155, with a sheet size of 10.5cm by 9.5cm from both retailers.
Don't worry, we've done the maths for you. Basically it's costing you 1.2p for 10 sheets of the stuff from Home Bargains and Quality Save, 1.5p for 10 sheets from B&M and 1.07p for 10 sheets from Poundstretcher - if you make use of the two for £6 offer that is.
The sheets from the first two are slightly wider - and in my opinion a bit thicker too - but whether that affects how much you take off the roll in one go is for you to decide. I know it would make little difference in my house.
Have we gone into too much detail about toilet roll? Quite possibly. But it proves that when it comes to spending a penny, there are precious pounds to be saved.
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