What do toilet paper and lumber to build your home have in common? Wood. And prices of everything that uses wood are heading up sharply.
Think toilet paper is a bit pricey now ever since last year's shortage? It's going up again.
Kimberly Clark has just announced it will be hiking prices on Cottonelle and Scott toilet paper sometime in June.
It's due to wood pulp prices, which have jumped 20 percent in the past year due to shortages and soaring demand. In a bizarre way, it is connected to the price of lumber, which is also dependent on the price of raw wood.
The National Association of Home Builders says that's adding $24,000 to the cost of a new home.
Basically, home building or any sort of major home improvement project will cost you a lot more this year. Home builders say it's almost impossible to build a home for under $150,000 in materials anymore.
When will it end? The builders group hopes lumber prices ease this fall as supply re-balances, but the price of that wipe with toilet paper will probably not be coming down.
And that stinks.
As with all pandemic-related price hikes, the price goes up quickly but will take months if not longer to fall again.