Finally we've made some progress...water bill

**guest002** · 10-03-2007, 06:10 PM

Last month I almost had a heart attack upon opening the water & refuse bill.

Our total bill for Aug. usage was $93.53 ($12 is for refuse every month).

I dropped the hammer down on my dh and ds. Stop wasting water. No watering the lawn.

I got the Sept. bill in the mail today and was scared to open it.

Our total bill for Sept. usage was $58.51 ($12 for refuse).

That's the lowest it's been over the past 3 months (as long as we've lived here). I'm happy but not thrilled as I think we still can do better as my dh needs to repair our toliet tank in our master bath (it runs) but neither of us are plumbers or have knowledge of how to fix it. I told him to go to Home Depot or Lowes and ask for help, LOL.

And I have no idea on how much is typical usage for a family of 4. We used 8,000 gallons on this last bill.

**sdrjeolsen** · 10-03-2007, 06:33 PM

Wow, way to lower your bill. We are a family of five and we used to use 4000/mo. Now we are on a well. But, I am pretty frugal when it comes to water usage...I try not to be the water police for my family, but I do try hard to watch what I/we use.

One good tip, when I remember to do it, is to turn the water level down on the washer when it hits the rinse cycle. I just turn it down one notch, but over a year that 5 gallons a load adds up.

**ravenmaniac** · 10-03-2007, 07:10 PM

I almost fell over when I got my electric bill last month, $433.00. I'll check my rate but I coudn't believe it.

**redrose74** · 10-13-2007, 09:02 PM

8,000 gallons seems pretty decent for a family of 4. We used 6,000 gallons last month, just for two of us plus 4 pets. Unfortunately, we're on a base rate system here in town so anything we use up to 10,000 gallons is the same price. Water, sewage, and trash is $77 a month here. If you use over 10,000 gallons, the price shoots up.

**Domestic Gal** · 10-14-2007, 08:23 PM

Wow we are on budget for water and sewer and trash and out bill is $34 a month. Actual bill was $36 for Sept.
$10 is for trash $10 for sewer and the rest is for water.
There are 4 people in the house. We do not water our lawn at all. I do have a front loader washer that when I got it our bill went down by $10 a month. I have a newer dishwasher that is a energy star it get ran almost everyday.
I am not the water police but do get after the kids for taking 15 minute showers.
I do about 30 loads of laundry a month.
I guess I should be lucky that our bill is so low.

**peanut** · 10-15-2007, 11:17 AM

Paula - about the toilet. Lift the top off the tank (the back) and there should be a lever with a chain going down to a big round rubber valve. It's not landing properly on the outlet drain. That's why the toilet continually runs.

There are a couple reasons for this. The rubber thing (valve) needs to be replaced because it's worn. The chain is too short or too long, preventing a proper seal (they're usually adjustable...if not, buy one that is and replace the existing chain with it). Or the entire assembly, including the arm that trips the valve needs to be replaced. Could be the arm is broken.

All these things are easily fixed at your local hardware store.

Hope that helps. Way to go with the water bill!

Jean

**baxjul** · 10-15-2007, 11:21 AM

Way to lower your bill!! We used 10,000 gallons last month. Family of 3, with about 6 daycare kids in and out all the time. Our bill is $25.58, 15.59 is sanitation (garbage).

**guest002** · 10-15-2007, 01:11 PM

So it looks like my rate for water is much higher than a lot of y'alls. Wonder if the fact we are in the middle of the worst part of the drought over here is the reason.