Keep a roll of toilet paper in your car's trunk

[Arizona Hot]

[attach=#]

Some interesting posts in this thread. Reddit, so NSFW.

Keep a roll of toilet paper in your car's trunk

[40hz]

Wouldn't a nice box of tissues be a little more versatile and less...um...blunt about it?

[wraith808]

Strangely enough, tissue doesn't work as well. 

[IainB]

With two children now (aged 2½ and 11) and a propensity for having picnics wherever we go, essential equipment in our car includes least-cost materials:
1 lu roll in the car.
1 lu roll in the boot (trunk) as a backup supply.
1 kitchen (tissue) roll in the car.
1 kitchen (tissue) roll in the boot (trunk) as a backup supply.
2 plastic shopping bags in the car.
1 plastic bucket in the boot (trunk) as a standby.
1 compact steel-and-wood utility shovel in the boot (trunk) for when needed.

It's surprising how these things can make life so much simpler and stress-free. The lu rolls and kitchen rolls are great for cleaning-up snotty noses, and cleaning messy hands/faces after picnics in and outside the car, and for necessary roadside toilet-stops. The plastic bags are for urgent/unexpected vomits, and the bucket is for if anyone is looking like they might be about to vomit - you can't always stop the car safely in sufficient time to let them get out of the car to do it. The shovel is for burying the waste evidence with earth, so that it is tidier and decomposes faster.
So there's never any need for panic or trauma when a natural bodily function urgently kicks in.
Famous quote from our daughter after her first urgent roadside stop:

"I can't believe I did such a good poo on the grass by the roadside!"

The bonus with the bucket and spade is that they are dual-purpose - most often, they are used to make sandcastles when we stop at a beach!    

[wraith808]

^ That's pretty cool

[Target]

The bonus with the bucket and spade is that they are dual-purpose - most often, they are used to make sandcastles when we stop at a beach!

plus you don't have drive around with that body in the boot trying to find a hardware or garden supplier...

[IainB]

^ Ah, you spotted that, did you?

[cranioscopical]

you can't always stop the car safely in sufficient time to let them get out of the car to do it

The old London taxi cabs were a good bet. They had a trap door in the floor at the back.

[Target]

The old London taxi cabs were a good bet. They had a trap door in the floor at the back.

a bit like your pyjama's?

[40hz]

Strangely enough, tissue doesn't work as well.  

Hmm...guess you learn something new everyday!

[Arizona Hot]

plus you don't have drive around with that body in the boot trying to find a hardware or garden supplier...

The thread WAS to Reddit.

[Tinman57]

  When I lived in the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona, I always kept a gallon of water and a towel in the trunk.  Out in the middle of nowhere, if you broke down it may be hours and hours before another car came through, and there's no guarantee that they would stop to help.  The towel was used by wetting it and putting it on your head like the Arabs do to keep your noggin cool while walking for miles in the desert heat.