Why Toilet Paper You Hoarded During the Pandemic is Probably Expired

Remember all that toilet paper you fought off hoards of people only to get the final rolls on the shelf during the pandemic a few years ago?

There is a chance your four-year-old TP could be expired if it's still sitting around your house.

How To Find Your Toilet Paper's Expiration Date?

When it comes to toilet paper, expiration dates can be fairly inconsistent. It all depends on which brand you have in your home.

We checked several brands to find out where they list expiration dates.

Some brands will print expiration dates on the inside of the cardboard tube in the middle of each toilet paper roll. Other companies opt to put the date on the outer packaging that is on the rolls when you first buy them at the store.

To complicate things even more, some companies will instead print the date the toilet paper was manufactured on the roll. There's even a few who don't print dates at all on their packaging.

Does Toilet Paper REALLY Expire?

If you can't locate the expiration date, there isn't an immediate need to panic. That's unless you are improperly storing your toilet paper stash.

When the pandemic rolled around in 2020, people were snatching up toilet paper at a record pace. No place to store it? It didn't matter. People were sticking rolls of TP wherever they could in their homes.

One of those places happened to be their damp basements.

Home and Around, a blog dedicated to home improvement and gardening, took a deep dive into the topic of toilet paper shelf life. Their findings showed rolls of TP lasted more than their expected shelf life of three years when they were stored in a cool, dry place in the home.

"Keeping toilet paper high and dry is crucial for its longevity," the website reports.

Moisture in a damp basement or living area can cause the toilet paper to degrade over time. It's basically what happens when you toss TP into your toilet bowl, but over a much longer period of time.

If you're stuck with a damp basement being the only available place to put your 175 rolls of toilet paper, an airtight container like a plastic storage tote might be your best friend in this situation.