When you need hot water (such as in the shower or for cooking), use a bucket or a container to catch the cooler water. You can then reuse this water to water plants, wash the car, boil it for dinner, etc.
I am not very diligent about doing this but I should be. Our water bill runs $70-$80 a month! (We have sewer too.)
Be sure to catch up on all the previous Let’s Save Some Money posts.
Hubby chuckled when I mentioned this article last night. Then he was so excited when he told me tonight that he boiled our chicken tonight for dinner (in preparation for the grill) and saved the water. He made a quick chicken soup with the water, veggies, and some of the chicken pieces since I had bought a jumbo pack! He was so proud that he saved the water AND found a way to use my jumbo pack of chicken.
Here water is cheap. It’s the sewer charges and trash pickup in the combined bill that cost so much. That’s a set fee.
I realized my dishes still came out clean if I ran a “light” load instead of a “normal” load on the dishwasher. I still haven’t cut out heated dry to save electricity, but I’m at least using a short load to save water.
Also, during out record dry spell this August, I prevent wasting water by watering my thirsty plants with a watering can. That way, I’m not wasting water as I drag a hose around, plus I get a little work out hauling my 2 gallon can around the yard : )
Our water bill is pretty high, too. I really love the posts in this category, Kristin…they make me think about our day-to-day practices and what they cost. There are opportunities to save money everywhere!
Holy cow! $80 a month??? Our water bill is less than $20 a month.
My brother just installed in our entire home water savers. He put new water savers in the showers that say 1.5 gallons as opposed to the regular 2.5 gallons per minute. He also put a meter on the wall that you turn over, it looks like an hour glass and it lasts 5 minutes. So we should be starting to save a ton of money from just taking less time to shower and using almost half of the water than we used to. He also used the same feature in every sink in the house and installed two toilet bags in the tanks. He promised all these features would cut down my water bill in half if not more so I am excited to see the savings in my next bill.
Before we moved in January, our water bill was consistently $60-63 a month. We had a dishwasher, but it took forever to go through the cycle, so the whole year we were there, we did dishes by hand. I still do dishes by hand, its so much quicker. I do leave the water on when the sink is full of soapy water, but not on full blast.
I just read the other day another way to save the water bill is to put a 1/2 gallon jug filled with water and lid on into the back right corner of the tank. This means less water to flush each time. Haven’t tried yet, but I’m debating it!
Whenever I find half full cups of water around the house I’ll dump them into the house plants or out on the yard. I also use the water from boiling noodles or potatoes to water the garden, make sure it’s cooled first.
I’ve never thought about catching the cooler water, but I can’t say I’ve ever considered this a category to be more thrifty in. I guess we are lucky that our water bill is so cheap! Our’s typically averages less than $30/mth. We can fill our pool for $14 and it 30x15x4. I’m excited to read the other suggestions though and will begin using some of them I’m sure.