Bidets are all the rage these days. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have been installing them in their bathrooms with surprising frequency. Sales of these ingenious bathroom devices are exploding, and people all over the country are awakening to the benefits of using them instead of toilet paper.

One common claim is that a bidet eventually pays for itself, since you will no longer be using toilet paper. But is this really true? And if so, how long before a bidet pays for itself?

The Initial Costs

Let’s start by looking at the initial costs.

Theinitial costs associated with a bidet are highly variable. If you install a premium, standalone bidet, you could end up paying $2,500 – or even more if you have to renovate your plumbing. However, this is far beyond what the average person would pay for in the modern era.

These days, it’s much more common for people to purchase bidet toilet seats or bidet attachments, which attach to your existing plumbing setup and can be easily installed, even if you don’t have much DIY experience. These attachments and toilet seats come in many different varieties, offering a wide range of potential extra features, such as toilet seat heating and pressure controls.

Still, you can purchase a very simple bidet attachment for less than $100. Even if you decide to splurge on a luxury model, you’ll still likely pay $300 or less. And if you decide to have a professional install the device, you might pay another $100 or so.

Toilet paper doesn’t have much in the way of initial costs.

The Ongoing Costs

Now let’s look at the ongoing costs.

The average Americanpays about $182 for toilet paper every year. Depending on your needs, and the type of toilet paper you buy, that may increase or decrease. Still, if you have multiple people in your family, and some of those people use a significant amount of toilet paper, you could easily spend hundreds of dollars every year on toilet paper.

A bidet is mostly a one-time purchase, but there are a couple of ongoing costs that we need to bear in mind. For example, bidets may require cleaning and maintenance, but these tend to be quick, easy, and inexpensive. Also, bidets use a small amount of water to clean you, technically increasing your water usage and water bill in the process. That said, this tends to be a very small, almost trivial amount of water – and it’s much, much less than the amount of water required to produce an equivalent amount of toilet paper.

How Long Before a Bidet Pays for Itself?

With these numbers in mind, how long before a bidet pays for itself?

Even if we take an extreme scenario in which you paid $500 for a bidet and you use a considerable amount of water from it, you should still save at least $100 on toilet paper every year, meaning the bidet will pay for itself after just 5 years of use.

However, it’s much more reasonable to expect that you’ll only pay $100 for your bidet – and you’ll save $182 or more on toilet paper every year. In this scenario, your bidet will pay for itself after less than a year, after which you’ll be in a position to save hundreds every year.

The Extra Benefits

Keep in mind that cost savings are not the only reason to get a bidet. You can also consider these benefits:

• Hygiene and cleanliness. Many people prefer using a bidet because they consider it more hygienic and cleaner. You’ll be able to clean yourself more thoroughly and prevent the spread of infectious illnesses this way.
• Personal comfort. Even if you’re not used to using a bidet, you’ll likely come to see it as a more comfortable alternative eventually. Wiping yourself with rough, textured toilet paper isn’t nearly as pleasant as gently washing yourself with a stream of warm water.
• Environmental benefits. Bidets are better for the environment than toilet paper, and for several reasons. They’re much less wasteful and more energy efficient.
• Health complication prevention. Using a bidet can also help you prevent certain health complications. For example, there’s clear evidence suggesting that regularly using a bidet instead of toilet paper cangreatly reduce your chances of developing hemorrhoids.

The Long-Term Vision

Bidets are better than toilet paper in almost every conceivable category. They do cost some money upfront, but they generally pay for themselves after less than a year. If you keep using one, you’ll continue saving money every year – and you’ll get to enjoy all the peripheral benefits in the meantime.