10 Ways to Save on Water and Your Water Bills

Easy Ways to Save on Water Consumption in the bathroom

Bathroom

You would be amazed at how much water you can save by just changing the way you do things around the house concerning the use of water.  Here are a few to start with:

• If you take short showers you will save up to 7 gallons of water a minute.
• If you want to take a bath, just fill it half way and you can save up to 15 gallons of water.
• You can install water saving toilets or you can place a bottle of water in the tank of the toilet which will save a great deal of water every time you flush.
• When you are brushing your teeth or shaving or just washing your hands, don’t leave the water running; bathroom faucets use up to 3 gallons of water a minute.
• Only flush the toilet when necessary; if you blow your nose and throw the tissue in the toilet, there is no need to flush. 

By adjusting your habits by using just these five easy tips, you could save hundreds of gallons of water a year.  Get out your water bill and see how much they charge per gallon and then do the math; I think you will see it would be well worth the effort to put these tips into use. 

Easy Ways to Save Water Consumption -  Laundry and Kitchen

Saving water doesn’t stop at the bathroom; every room in the house that has a water faucet is a chance to save gallons of water.  Here are a few more helpful tips:

• Don’t run the dishwasher until it is full and when you do run it, use the short cycle instead of the regular cycle.
• Only wash full loads of clothes; don’t just wash a few things.  You can also run your clothes washer on a shorter cycle to save water; your clothes will be just as clean.
• If you wash dishes by hand, fill the sink half way with water and don’t let the water keep running.  Once you have finished washing a certain amount of dishes, rinse them and then turn off the water and continue with the rest of the dishes.  A kitchen faucet can use up to 3 gallons of water a minute.  Filling the sink only takes 10 gallons.
• You should install faucet aerators on all your faucets.

So far we’ve covered the bathroom, kitchen, and laundry room.  You can easily see how much water you can save by just doing these very simple things.  Sometimes old habit are hard to break, but they aren’t so hard to break if you can see how much money you can save by doing these simple everyday things; you just have to get into the habit of doing them.

READ What Plain Old Water Can Do For Your Health

Easy Ways to Save Water Consumption - Garden and Lawn

Now let’s move outside to the garden and lawn and see what water saving tips you can use out there.

• Using a self closing nozzle on your hose will save you gallons of water.
• Instead of washing down your driveway or sidewalk, sweep them instead.  It may take a little more time but it will save you gallons of water.
• The best time to water your garden, lawn, or plants is before 9 am and after 7 pm; if you water during the hottest part of the day the water will not soak into the ground as well.

It is important that you read your water bill carefully and if you think it is showing you have used more water than what you normally do, check to make sure you don’t have a leak somewhere.  You can easily do this by making sure all the water is turned off in the house and then find the water meter; if it is still running and you know there is no water running in the house or on your outside faucets, you could have a leak in a pipe.  You should contact the water company to have them check the meter and if it checks out fine, you should inspect the pipes under the house to make sure there are no leaks.  During the cold winter months pipes can freeze and expand and when they thaw there may be a small crack that is causing a leak.  It is important to always make sure you read your water bill and compare it to the last bill.  Any major increase in water usage could mean you have a major leak that needs to be attended to immediately. 

In order to get your family and yourself into the habit of using less water, you might need to leave little notes on the bathroom mirror or near the kitchen sink.  These reminders will help your family get used to changing the way they used to consume water. 

Start doing these things immediately and then compare your past bills to your new bills.  When you see how much money you are saving each month, you might consider taking that savings and putting it towards a vacation or something special that the entire family can enjoy.  If you have a goal in mind it makes it easier to break the bad habits and learn the new good habits.