Remember the Great Toilet Paper Wars of 2020? Yes, the days when toilet paper was as valuable as gold and the aisles of CVS and Walmart were home to some of the most intense standoffs in recent memory. What if I told you that I was safe at home just watching the chaos unfold with a secret butt-cleaning weapon? A stroke of luck had it that in 2019 I installed a Toto Washlet bidet onto my toilet. You see, after a trip to Japan in 2017, I was completely sold on the advanced technology and superior cleaning power of Japanese toilets over toilet paper alone. Flash forward three years and the bidet I installed may just be the best investment I ever made and I am now convinced that bidets are worth it.
I work entirely from home now and would honestly hate to have to settle for terrible office bathroom toilet paper ever again. The truth is that bidets are totally worth it if you work from home. They offer health benefits, are better for the environment, and just plain get you cleaner after a number 2. I honestly don’t understand why more Americans don’t opt for bidets in their homes. But now is my chance to convince you!
The top ten reasons bidets are worth it over toilet paper
1. Bidets use less toilet paper
Did you know that the average American uses around 140 rolls of toilet paper every year? This adds up to somewhere in the ballpark of 36.5 billion rolls used by Americans every year. That’s way too much toilet paper! The truth is that you simply do not need to be using so much of the stuff. Installing a bidet will drastically reduce the amount of toilet paper you go through every day. You are really only using it to dry up a little afterward after all. Once you break up with toilet paper you will quickly realize how silly it was to begin with that you had to buy it so often on grocery runs. And when the next toilet paper war starts (perhaps during a global pandemic) you will be comforted by the fact that you have a nice bidet waiting for you down the hall.
2. Bidets get you cleaner
Now, this is the big elephant in the room. How weird is it that Americans use dry paper to clean their behinds yet use water to wash their hands? I never really thought about it until I used a bidet for a couple of weeks while traveling in Japan. Japanese toilets, which almost always have a space-age bidet attached, simply did a much better job of cleaning. Think about it: Why in the world would you expect paper to do as good of a job as a jet of water? Probably the biggest change in my personal hygiene has been the addition of a bidet.
3. Bidets are better on the environment
Perhaps unintuitively bidets will actually save water. This is due to a couple of reasons. First is the fact that the production of toilet paper is actually very water-intensive. Second, many people tend to use too much toilet paper which requires either multiple flushes or larger flushes (if you have 2 settings). According to Treehugger.com, the production of a single roll of toilet paper uses “1.5 pounds of wood, 37 gallons of water and 1.3 KWh of electricity.” This is a significant environmental impact that can be significantly lowered by using a bidet.
4. Less clogged toilets
We’ve all been there. The water level keeps on rising and we panic! Say goodbye almost completely to clogged toilets when you use a bidet. This is largely because you will use a fraction of the toilet paper than before, vastly lowering the incidence of clogged toilets. So if you are sick of calling the plumber, perhaps consider picking up a bidet for your work from home setup.
5. Heated toilet seat
I live in a cold climate and nothing is better than having a pre-heated toilet seat waiting for you on a cold winter’s morning. This may seem like a luxury at first, but you’ll quickly look at a heated toilet seat as a necessity. Seriously you must try this if you haven’t before. This is a feature on washlets (toilet seat attachments) like the Toto Washlet and won’t be available one more basic bidet attachments, but I think it is totally worth the extra cost.
6. Heated water
Many bidet “washlet” style toilet seats also have a reservoir to heat up the water before it is sprayed. In my opinion, this is one of the best features of Toto Washlets. Cold water spraying up your butt isn’t exactly an attractive proposition. Warm water on the other hand… Now you have my attention. Seriously though, heated bidet water is a game-changer.
7. Bidets can clean multiple body areas
Many higher-end bidets have attachments that can be “aimed” at different body parts. This is especially useful for women during that time of the month. The unit that I have on my toilet actually has saved settings for two people so it knows exactly where to spray the water.
8. Deodorizing
Again, higher-end bidet toilet seat attachments include deodorizing functions. This is essentially a little vacuum that sucks any smell into a small carbon filter to limit odors. And it works! What kind of sorcery is this…
9. Pre-misting
For some bidets, they will “pre-mist” the toilet bowl when you sit down. This basically makes the toilet bowl slicker and limits any “matter” from sticking to the side of the toilet. Not something I thought I needed to be honest. I also didn’t think I’d be writing an article singing the praising of butt sprayers 12 months ago but here we are!
10. Customized to you
As mentioned briefly above, some bidet units that are attached to toilet seats called “washlets” actually feature digital memory onboard that allows you to store profiles in the unit. This adjusts things like the nozzle direction, seat temperature, water temperature, and nozzle intensity specifically for you.
There it is! I hope I was able to at least get you to consider adding a bidet to your home. When working from home it is important to take bathroom breaks and having a good bidet makes it just that bit nicer of an experience. The cost savings and environmental impact are also major reasons to consider a bidet. But what kind should you get?
Best bidet: Toto Washlet C5 Bidet Toilet Seat
A bidet toilet seat that features a seat warmer, water temperature control, deodorizer, a pre-mister, and one of the most customizable remote controls on the market. And it just fits onto your existing toilet! Toto is the company that basically converted the whole country of Japan to using bidets. If you want to “do it right” when buying a bidet, we strongly recommend checking out the Toto Washlet C5.
Types of bidets
There are three main types of bidets on the market.
- Full toilet replacements – These are generally very high-end and cost a lot of money since you are buying a toilet with extra water connections and electronics built-in. If you are building a new home this might be a great option for you to start with.
- Washlet toilet seats – This is the next step down, and in my opinion is the best option. These are replacement toilet seats that retain all the bells and whistles of the above toilets but at a fraction of the cost.
- Basic bidet attachment – These are generally simple sprayer valves that connect to your water supply and clip to the side of your toilet. You’ll see these advertised all over the place now. While they are inexpensive, you lose all of the great additions like heated water, heated seat, deodorizer, user settings, and more.
In my humble opinion, I would strongly consider checking out Toto’s line of Washlet bidet toilet seats. They have several models with different bells and whistles to fit your budget. But these will give you that amazing “Japanese toilet” kind of experience with a remote control and multiple customizable settings. I personally saved up a bit more money and opted to go this route and I think I would have regretted going in the direction of a more basic unit.