Birmingham student makes website to tell you how much loo roll you actually need

A Birmingham student has created a website to tell you how much loo roll you actually need.

Dismayed with shortages and panic buying, Ben Sassoon decided to put his computer science degree to good use and make an online calculator to help people see sense.

After not being able to figure out how much loo roll he actually needed, and not finding any other resource online, Ben and a friend threw the calculator – which tells you how long your stocks will last, based on how often you go to the loo – together in an hour.

Found at howmuchtoiletpaper.com, the calculator simply asks you how many rolls you have and how many toilet visits you take per day.

From that, it tells you how long you’ll last in quarantine.

If that seems a bit basic, there are advanced options to help you really get your loo roll stocks right.

Savvy final year Ben added a host of sliders to customise how many sheets you use per wipe and how many wipes you do per trip.

You can also tell the calculator how many sheets each roll has, and how long you’ll be in quarantine.

“I think people are buying far more than they need,” Ben told The Tab

“Most users of the calculator have toilet roll that would last at least 5x the length of any quarantine.”

Ben himself came in for a shock when he used the calculator, however. “The calculator has told me I need more than I currently have, but Selly Oak has completely run out,” he said.

Shopping in supermarkets as people stockpile all around him has “become quite surreal,” Ben told The Tab.

“I never thought I would have to buy food in preparation of not being able to leave the house for two weeks.”

When they put it online, “it went completely viral, and in just three days it’s been used by almost 700,000 people.

“It’s been a great distraction from everything going on,” says Ben.

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