Extremem Moneysaving - Water Butt

uncommonadvice

Do any posters on here take buckets of water from their Water Butts and use them to "flush" the toilet?

Ben84

Many people don't have a water meter, so saving water isn't a big thing in the UK really. However, if you do have a meter, flushing the toilet is unlikely to be much more than a penny. For the time and effort it takes, I'd be tempted by quite a few other money savings or making ideas. Or possibly even to just spend the time having a coffee!

harrys_nan

Have done, We live in the SW and our water bills are the dearest in the country and are we not supposed to save water?

thriftwizard

We don't need to (no meter) but I'd use bathwater, washing up & washing machine water first - water from the butt is too good to waste - great for the garden, even better for cleaning fleece or dyeing!

babyshoes

When I lived in a drought stricken country as a child (real drought, not the slightly dry summers that get labelled a drought here) we used to have to save bath and shower water to flush with - and had to use the old rule of 'if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down'... yeugh! As others have said, waterbutt water may be more useful for other jobs. That said, I have previously thought about the possibility of installing a water butt on the roof and somehow plumbing it into the cistern. As we live in a rented flat, that was pure speculation!

[Deleted User]

My (expensive) water costs £5.2 a cubic metre and that is 1000 litres. A dual flush toilet uses 3 or 6 litres of water. 3 litres cost 1.5p. Most water districts charge £2 to £3 per cubic meter (that includes waste water) so most people on a meter pay only 3/4p per short flush

Mrs_Veg_Plot

I have put bottles of water in the cisterns to reduce the amount of water used with each flush. We also practice if its yellow let it mellow. We also have a bowl in the shower to catch the water that runs cold at the beginning of the shower (before it warms up) and use this for flushing

guineapig

Our house has a Water meter. When we moved in the Water bill was £26.00 a month. 13 years later it is NOW £14 a month.

I have the washing machine on 5 times a week and have a (6 inch depth) bath every day.

I use ALL my bath water/shower water and washing up water to flush the toilet THAT is what has reduced our bill.

We recently had a new kitchen fitted and I decided AGAINST a dishwasher, because I can re-use my water for the garden/car cleaning/ toilet flushing.

I have a "thing" about wasting water that is no wholly to do with the cost and I think we should treat this resource with respect.

[Deleted User]

guineapig wrote: »

I have a "thing" about wasting water that is no wholly to do with the cost and I think we should treat this resource with respect.

me too. We actually have 7 water butts in a row for the garden and we have a rainwater harvesting system so use rainwater for the washing machine and toilets. When the rainwater in the tank runs out, as it can do in a very dry summer, then we use shower and washing up water for the toilets