Should you get a Bidet, even without a bathroom renovation?

Yes, I am going there! This bidet has to have been one of my most surprising and best Christmas gifts ever! And I got one that didn’t even need a bathroom renovation.

A few years ago, I traveled to Japan to visit my son who was studying abroad for a semester. Bidets are the standard in Japan. Every toilet I visited during my stay from the train stations, hotels, airport, and museums had some sort of bidet set up.

I was initially quite amused.

You can choose which direction you want the water to come from, the water pressure, how long you want it to go and when you want it to stop. I’m not sure what the sound was for. The option to listen to music while in there? Photos were taken and shared with friends back home.

I had only heard of bidets as an extra toilet type thing in fancy rich people homes. I never really understood them and thought I never would need to. However, these bidets were attached right to the toilet seat. The challenge was reading the Japanese characters on the control panel. I don’t read Japanese but the pictures were helpful and once I got brave enough to push a few buttons, I was pleasantly surprised.

After a week or so in Japan, I was hooked. So instead of walking into restrooms with too little paper, that problem was solved with this ingenious invention.

In fact, using bidets is more sanitary. Water is used to thoroughly clean skin surfaces and crevices rather than wiping, which can lead to the spread of fecal matter. A steady stream of water cleans better on sensitive skin than toilet paper.

Bidets help the environment. According to Cottonelle, the average person uses 85 rolls of toilet paper made from trees each year. Use less TP, save a tree.

Also, TP can clog pipes and drains causing excessive plumbing bills. And don’t forget the cost of all that TP. If there’s ever another toilet paper shortage like we had in 2020, you will not be as negatively affected if you have a bidet in your home.

So why doesn’t everyone use a bidet here in the United States? Is it because we don’t like to talk about things that happen in the bathroom?

Historically, I read that when the soldiers came back from France after World War 2, their impression of bidets was that they were used only in brothels, not something their good wholesome American girls would use. Too bad for us.

When I came back from Japan, I told Pete all about these wonderful bidets all over the country. He looked into it and purchased one from Amazon that came with instructions for installation that he could do by himself.

First, he had to remove the old seat and cover. You keep the rest of the toilet. The bidet he purchased must be plugged into an outlet, so it was good that we had one right near the toilet in our New York home. In Florida, we needed to have an additional outlet installed by an electrician near the toilet since the little toilet room in the master bath didn’t already have one.

Next, the hose was attached to ensure fresh water each time. He was able to do that, but an easy job for a plumber to attach as well.

Now we have an affordable elongated bidet on our “comfort height” toilet. This is the one that we purchased on Amazon.com and I highly recommend it.

This bidet is so worth it. It has a 4.5 stars with 3,055 ratings on Amazon. It comes in round or elongated sizes with a remote control. We have the remote in a holder located next to the toilet paper holder.

Options include a heated seat, heated water, self-cleaning nozzle & oscillation: for her front, her back, and his back. The pressure and temperature levels are adjustable and the seat and lid are soft closing.

As we get older, we may/will have times when our bodies give us challenges. Last Spring, Pete had reverse shoulder replacement on his dominant right shoulder. Without going too much into detail, you can just imagine what a blessing it was to have this bidet function.

Just to see one in real life. Definitely one of the reasons we purchased a generator for this house. I couldn’t go 11 days without one anymore like when we didn’t have power after Hurricane Sandy.

Hope you enjoyed reading all about bidets today.