How much do wet wipes cost a household per year?

Step 1: find your price per wipe

Take the price of the pack and divide it by the number of wipes in it. A pack of 80 wipes at $4.00 is 5 cents a wipe. A pack of 40 at $4.00 is 10 cents a wipe. Multipacks and specials change this a lot, so use what you actually paid last time.

The prices in this guide are example figures to show how the sum works. They are not quotes for any particular brand or shop, so put your own numbers in.

Step 2: count how many you use

Count wipes, not visits. Many people use more than one wipe each time. Add up a normal day for everyone in the house who uses them. If you are not sure, count how many days a pack lasts and divide the number of wipes in the pack by that.

Step 3: do the sum

Wipes per day, times 365, times price per wipe, gives your yearly cost. Here is what that looks like across a range of usage and prices.

• 2 wipes a day (730 a year): $29.20 at 4c, $43.80 at 6c, $58.40 at 8c, $73.00 at 10c
• 4 wipes a day (1,460 a year): $58.40 at 4c, $87.60 at 6c, $116.80 at 8c, $146.00 at 10c
• 6 wipes a day (2,190 a year): $87.60 at 4c, $131.40 at 6c, $175.20 at 8c, $219.00 at 10c
• 10 wipes a day (3,650 a year): $146.00 at 4c, $219.00 at 6c, $292.00 at 8c, $365.00 at 10c

What toilet paper foam costs on the same basis

A 60 ml bottle of Foamie Gentle Toilet Paper Foam is NZ$19.95 and gives roughly 400 pumps. That is $19.95 divided by 400, or just under 5 cents a pump. One pump goes on three or four folded sheets of toilet paper for one wipe.

Shipping changes the number slightly. Orders over $25 ship free across New Zealand, so buying two bottles at a time keeps it at about 5 cents a pump. Buying one bottle at a time adds standard shipping: $4.99 to Auckland metro, $5.99 elsewhere and $8.99 to rural delivery addresses. That works out to about 6.2, 6.5 and 7.2 cents a pump respectively.

Assuming one pump replaces one wipe, here is the yearly cost of foam at just under 5 cents a pump:

• 730 uses a year: about 1.8 bottles, $36.41
• 1,460 uses a year: about 3.7 bottles, $72.82
• 2,190 uses a year: about 5.5 bottles, $109.23
• 3,650 uses a year: about 9.1 bottles, $182.04

So is foam cheaper? An honest answer

It depends on what you pay per wipe and how many wipes you use each time. If you buy wipes at around 5 cents each and use one per visit, foam costs about the same. If your wipes cost less than that, foam costs a little more. If you pay more than 5 cents a wipe, or you usually reach for two wipes where one pump would do, foam comes out cheaper, and the gap grows with usage.

One thing that doesn't change between the two is toilet paper. Foam goes on toilet paper, so you need paper either way. Most households using wipes buy toilet paper as well, so we have left it out of both sides.

Costs that don't show up on the receipt

A wipe that ends up in the toilet can cost a lot more than its price. Tauranga City Council's guidance is that blockages in private pipes are the expense of the property owner or landlord, so a plumber's call-out for a wipe blockage on your side of the boundary is your bill. Our guide to what to do if wipes block your toilet covers that.

There are public costs too. Water New Zealand has estimated that clearing blockages caused by wipes and other non-flushables costs at least $16 million a year, and Watercare says it spends about $5.5 million a year in Auckland cleaning up overflows caused by these kinds of blockages. Ratepayers fund that.

Using wipes properly means binning every one, which means bin liners and a bathroom bin to empty. Small costs, but real ones.

Run your own numbers

Grab your last receipt, divide the pack price by the wipe count, multiply by how many you use a day and by 365. Then compare it with about 5 cents a pump. If foam comes out ahead or about level, it is worth trying for the pipes alone. Foamie Gentle Toilet Paper Foam is on the product page, with a sign-up to hear when stock is back if it has sold out. For other options, see our wet wipe alternatives guide.

Questions people ask