Nov 7, 2016 3 min read

You know, I pride myself on being a relatively frugal person. Some may say cheap, but that has a negative connotation that I don’t enjoy. My frugal nature basically means that I don’t mind buying store-brand products when I have tried them and know their quality is comparable to other brands.

I also believe that, in many ways, my frugality goes hand in hand with being “green.” You see, I don’t mind laundering dishrags and floor rags (separately, of course) rather than frequently using disposable products like paper towels. And I make my kids carry their lunches to school in lunch pails – using reusable containers – instead of tossing brown bags and plastic wrap into the trash on a daily basis.

It annoys them to some extent, but it seems to be the responsible thing to do.

But one area where I will not skimp, even if it meant we would have to go without milk or some other staple food for a day or two, is on toilet paper. If that means I have to give up my membership in the Frugal Club, so be it.

Oh, I’ve tried it. But I feel like inexpensive toilet paper is not really a savings because you are required to use so much of it to compensate for its thinness. If I have to use twice as many sheets of it for the same amount of hand protection, it is hardly worth it – especially considering that the price of cheap toilet paper is not cut in half to compensate.

Still, I try to instill a semblance of frugality to the use of said paper. There is really no reason to use 47 squares of paper at one shot. Even with the cheap stuff, 25 is adequate. Still, at least one of my kids uses enough – regardless of quality – to repair all the roads in Denver.

Oh, haven’t seen that story? The Denver Post reported this week that toilet paper was recently utilized in road-repair efforts in a town called Littleton:

“Officials say toilet paper was applied with a paint roller over freshly laid tar used to fill asphalt cracks. The paper absorbs the oil from the tar as it dries, keeping it from sticking to pedestrians’ shoes or car and bike tires.”

How neat is that? I mean, we all know toilet paper’s main and basic purpose is to help clean up cracks, but seriously? This is a new level of awesome!

The article goes on to say that Colorado officials believe that the paper will naturally biodegrade and disintegrate after absorbing the oil, and there will be no additional cleanup required. They also claim that over 120 roads in the area were repaired using this means. Being near Halloween, they advised residents of the practice to avoid angry calls about vandals and pranksters having TP’d the town’s roads.

I guess the only other question that remains is, did they load the toilet paper onto the paint rollers over or under?

Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.