Pay for water?

[jolenegreen2]

My water bill has finally reached my limit of $55 a month! This is absolutley absurb! I sued to pay $133 every 6 months and then $35 a month and now $55 a month! I thought maby we could share ways to re-use or save on water? ANy takers?

[Russ]

Rain barrels is a good way to save water for your garden.

[Buc-O-Mama]

We pay for water, and have always had pretty high bills in our home. We found a leak in our foundation this spring that we fixed, cutting our bill in HALF! If you ever see a really sudden jump, you might want to take a look around.


As far as reusing water, I use water that boiled veggies to water plants outdoors. I run everything on the shortest wash cycle. I'm getting a rain barrell. It would be nice to reuse more, I can't wait to see what others do.

[mombottoo]

I have well water, so the only way I pay for it is through my electric bill. But, I have read articles on ways to save on water bills when you have city water.

Put a container in the shower to catch runoff water & use it for watering plants. Fill a jug & put in the toilet tank...toilet will use less water for flushing purposes. Make sure you don't have any leaking faucets. Use a rain barrel (already suggested). Install a well pump for outside watering purposes...if you are allowed to have one. Use a dishwasher and only run full loads of dishes. Wash full loads of clothes.

[StaceyS]

In our area, most houses don't have meters. You just pay a set amount every quarter. Now, though, when a house sells the buyer has to pay to have a meter installed. I'd be curious as to how little I use.

[staciah]

This is what I have done and we are saving about $120 a year.

1- Low Flow shower head and Low flow faucet nozzles - Cheap
2- Put a soda bottle full of water in your Toilet tank - Cheap
3 - Rain Barrel
4 - Reuse Shower Water- I use it to flush toilet
5 - If you have a dehumidifier in your basement - reuse the water
6 - Wash clothes and dishes only when you have a full load
7 - Fill a pitcher of water and put it in your refrig. So you don't have to turn on your faucet for a drink of water.
8 - Reuse your bath water. I fill up buckets and use them for my clothes washer. (Already has soap in it)
9 - Military Shower ( turn water off while your soaping up)
10 - Fix any leaks
11 - Turn water off while brushing your teeth.

[freebs]

We are recycling our grey water. We installed a 55 gallon barrel to catch the grey water from our washing machine and 2 showers. We use that to water our outdoor plants!

[ladytoysdream]

We have our own well, so only cost would be the electric part.

If I had to pay for water, then I would be conserving in any way that I had to. Catching rainwater would be a good thing.

You got a lot of good suggestions so far, hope you can make use of some of them

[Ebbie]

About 6 months ago I had an energy auditor guy install a low flow showerhead in my shower. Now I read here about navy/military showers where you turn off the water while you soap up, for even more water savings. But you need a special valve on your shower spout to do that. I wonder why the auditor guy didn't install one of those while he was installing the showerhead? Anyway, I looked online and they can be had, but I'm so mechanically challenged I don't know if I can install it myself.

Here's what it looks like:



It goes between the showerhead and the spout and you push the button to the turn the water off (or rather, it goes to a trickle since it's not meant as a permanent water shutoff). Then when you're ready to rinse you just hit the button and the water comes back with the temperature the same as before. Anyone put one of these in themselves?

I think combined with a low-flow head and this shutoff valve that you'd save a LOT of water just from your showers alone.

[zakity]

We don't have a special valve. We just turn the shower off and then back on. I didn't even know they made a special nozzle to do that.

[Ebbie]

I think if you have a single control faucet half way up the shower wall you could do that (since the mix of hot and cold would be consistent if the handle is in the same place), but I have separate hot and cold faucets located near the bottom where the tub spout is, so not only would it be hard to turn off and on, but I'd have to readjust the water temperature (the mix of hot and cold) while the water is pouring down on me (a possible danger if the water comes out too hot). So in my case I wouldn't turn the water off unless I had a device like this to make it easier/safer.

[Momto2Boyz]

We had a shut off valve put in on our shower when we moved in, and had problems with it leaking. It had a slow leak, and constantly dripped, even when the water was turned off. So just a warning there. We went through 3 different brands before we found one that wouldn't leak!

We use a rain barrel which saves me on watering our outside plants and my garden, I also use rainwater to fill my outdoor pond in the spring, when I have to change out and clean the water.

We have low flow valves on every faucet in the house.

Check for leaks, if you have a leak on any pipe in the house, it can cost you a fortune, even at a slow drip!

Another suggestion for brushing teeth, instead of simply turning off the water, fill a water glass about half full. Dip your toothbrush in it, brush your teeth, rinse with the water, then rinse your toothbrush in the cup, dump the cup into the sink to wash out the sink. It saves a bit of water. I stopped up the sink once while brushing my teeth and even with turning off the water while actually brushing, I used almost 3 cupfuls of water...so this saves a bit!

[wanderinggrandma]

Ebbie it is pretty easy to add the fitting to your shower head. First unscrew the shower head. There should be teflon tape (white tape, looks like plastic) on the threads of the pipe. Take it off and rewrap it with new teflon tape. You can purchase this in most hardware departments. Then wrap the threaded end of the shut off fitting you are adding. Then just screw the shut off fitting to the pipe sticking out of the wall that you have already wrapped with teflon tape. Then screw on the shower head. Check to make sure the joints don't leak when the water is turned on. If they do, tighten them a little. You shouldn't need any tools.

Good Luck!

[cejhome]

We cut our water useage in 1/2 by doing this:

Put low flow aerators in 2 bathroom sinks. Put a low flow aerator WITH on/off button on my husband's bathroom sink. Now he doesn't run the water when he shaves/brushes teeth. (I don't need a button on mine. I don't let the water run.) Put low flow aerator w/the on/off button in our shower. I don't let the water run when washing face/soaping up/shaving legs. Low flow aerator w/switch in kitchen sink. I don't let water run when doing kitchen "stuff", or when rinsing dishes. I only use the dishwasher when have a full load. Usually I just wash in the sink as there are only 2 humans in the house. I don't know if this saves any water, but it does save electricity, since the dishwasher isn't running and it isn't generating heat (even though we don't use the dry cycle, it still puts out heat). When I am running the water in the kitchen sink to get hot, I catch the water in a plastic pitcher and use that to water plants with. I only fill the sink w/enough hot soapy water to do the job w/washing dishes. Nothing was or is an inconvenience in any way, and it has saved a little money and a lot of water!

We have a rain barrel, just need to install it. Outside watering, even just a little uses a TON of water. Found that out this month. I water my outside container plants 2 times/week with a hose and attachment. I don't let the water run between plants. Even just this little bit raised our water usage from 3000/mo to 4000/mo. I really don't have many plants this year, either. We will also add a couple more rain barrels when we can afford to.

[FrugalMomof3]

You might want to try making/getting a rain barrel (I know I will be making one soon) and installing those shower heads, turning off water when brushing teeth, limiting showers, using the dishwasher only when completely FULL, etc...

My water bill is about $100 every 3 months when it used to be $75, but they of course increased our rates as well.