Water is something you can’t live without, so it’s impossible to cut it from your budget entirely. But that doesn’t mean you can’t reduce how much you spend on it! By using the right tips and tricks, you can reduce your water usage, and as a result, reduce your water bill! Take a look at these16 Ways to Save Money on Your Water Bill!
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If your water bill is eating away at your utilities budget, these handy tips will help a lot!
- Take showers, not baths- Did you know that most people use 30 gallons of water to take a bath? In contrast, a 10 minute shower uses 25 gallons. Get a low-flow showerhead and you cut that down to 20 gallons. Considering all the times your family washes themselves, you can save a lot of water (and money) by switching from baths to quick showers!
- Pause the shower water- Cut your shower water usage down even more by turning off the water when you’re not using it in the shower. Just like you should turn off the tap when you’re actively brushing your teeth, turn off the shower while you’re soaping up or letting conditioner sit on your hair. You don’t need the continual stream of water for those things, and turning off the water for those moments can cut down on the overall costs of your shower!
- Don’t let the water run- We all know we should turn off the faucet when we’re brushing our teeth. But what about other moments that we’re using the water? Do you leave a continual stream over the veggies you’re rinsing while you move around the kitchen getting other things for your meal? Do you run the water for a while to let it heat up before taking a shower, or to make it cool down before filling your water pitcher? If you want to save money, you can make it through the first few cold minutes of your shower, and room temperature water is better for you anyway. Try to be very deliberate about your water usage, and only have the tap running when you’re actively using it. It’ll save you a lot!
- Use low-flow plumbing- Low-flow showerheads aren’t the only things that can save you water/money. If you want to save money on your water bill, consider also getting low-flow toilets, or low-flow faucets. Or just get low-flow aerators to install on the faucets you have now.
- Wait until you have a full load- Before you run the dishwasher or washing machine, ensure you’ve filled the machine with a full load. Doing a lot of mini loads will use more water, versus just washing everything in one go.
- Use a rain barrel for gardening- Gardening requires water, and if you don’t get enough rain, you’re going to wind up using your hose and paying for that water. Make it so that you’ll rely less on water from the city by catching extra water when it rains. Hook up your rain barrel to a hose and you’ll have all the convenience of hose watering and none of the cost!
- Wash everything together- Another way to save money on your water bill is to wash all your clothes together. Meaning, don’t do separate loads based on darks and lights or heavy and delicate. The more loads you do, the more water you’re using. Of course, this is really only possible if you avoid getting clothes that need to be washed separately to begin with. But really, most outfits nowadays are pretty colorfast and don’t need to be washed separately. You can check the label on the clothes to see what the manufacturer recommends in terms of laundry, or Google how to do a colorfastness test.
- Get water-saving appliances- Getting new water-saving (AKA water efficient AKA high-efficiency/HE) appliances may cost you up front, but over the life of the appliances, can save you a lot on water! Plus, new appliances tend to also be more energy-efficient than old ones, so they use less electricity, too!
- Stop hand washing dishes- Did you know that your dishwasher uses around 3.5 times less water to wash dishes than you washing dishes by hand? That means if you want to save money on your water bill, you need to stop hand washing dishes! At most, just give them a quick rinse off before putting them in the dishwasher, but even that isn’t that necessary, especially if you have a newer dishwasher that runs well.
- Use the quickest cycle- To save money on your water bill, try to always use the quickest cycle for your dishwasher and washing machine. The quick cycle in most machines uses less water than the standard cycle. As a plus, quick cycles also use less electricity!
- Skip the hose- Need to clean up something outside? If you can, just sweep it away with a broom. Frequently using the hose for little things will quickly add up into big costs!
- Reuse water- A clever way to save money on your water bill is to reuse water! For example, if you capture the water you used to rinse vegetables, you can then use that water to water your plants. Some reused water is even beneficial for your plants, like hard-boiled-egg water (because of the calcium that was in the eggshells).
- Water plants in the morning- Another way gardeners can save on water is by watering their plants in the morning. In the morning it’s cooler, so more of the water will go into the soil and your plants vs. evaporating into the air. Which means you’ll have to water your plants less often. You don’t want to water your plants at night, because then the water will sit on their leaves for way too long and could lead to the growth of fungi.
- Wash your car at the car wash- Believe it or not, washing your car at the car wash can save you money. Because washing a car uses so much water, the price of a commercial car wash will cost at least the same, but most likely less than, washing your car at home. To save the most, skip the fancy add-ons and just opt for the most basic wash.
- Stop leaks- Leaks aren’t always obvious things like a dripping faucet or a puddle on the floor by an appliance. Do you always hear your toilet running/draining? That’s a type of leak! Aside from just being mindful of leaks in your home, also keep an eye on your water bill. If it suddenly increases one month, you may have a leak somewhere. Fixing issues like that can really help you to save money on your water bill!
- Let the grass grow long- Did you know that taller grass needs less water to stay green and lush? So if you want to save money on your water bill, cut your grass higher!
As you can see, all you have to do is make some small adjustments, and you can save big on your water bill!
Do you have any other water saving tricks?
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