Saving Water - Tips

squeaky

GreyQueen wrote: »

:money: Awesome! And I thought I was doing well at bringing mine in at 40 quid per 6 months.:o

What do your water company charge per cubic meter, if I can be nosey? Just flabberghasted at the bill being so low and wondering how I could equal it.

I'm on a low user tariff (which would cost me more if I went over a certain amount) and my average usage is under 1cu mtr per month. I.e 6 cu mtr per billing period.

water used (incoming) £1.62

sewerage (90%) £2.54

So just over £4 per cu mtr

My last bill was £23.46


I have some advantages over many of you in this respect. To start with I live alone and I don't work.

So most days I have a "bird bath" and just do the "pits and bits" and will have a shower on days that I'm going out into the world at large. Shower water is minimal because I turn off once wet, soap up and scrub, then the water goes back on to rinse. This water is saved and I use it to flush the loo.

Again, just being me, it means that I can be pretty good on "if it's yellow let it mellow" and so, by and large, I only ever need to flush the loo with clean water every couple of days because the shower water covers most needs.

In winter I can also use water from my two water barrels.

My current washing machine uses half the water my old one did, and the dishwasher does even better at one third. Laundry I can usually keep down to two loads per week in summer and three in winter. Dish washing is mostly once per week. While my meal plans are loose, i.e. I don't plan per particular day but which of maybe ten meals I'm going to have that week - I also lend an eye to which pots and pans I'm going to use. So I don't plan two big casseroles, for example, because that would force a washing session.

Water from cooking taters, rice, pasta is saved for bread making - and while I don't have a steamer, putting veggies above the tater water in my sieve and then the pan lid on top of that works just as well. And I always put lids on. It saves energy and I don't need loads of water to cover for losses by evaporation.

Nothing is done under a running tap.

There's almost always a bowl or pan under the cold tap so that when I rinse out my coffee cup the water is caught (and said bowl,dish or pan gets a soaking) and the water is used for plants either indoors or out. Same with veg washing.

House plants and fish tank top-ups are done with rain water. ONLY.

Cleaning of things like the cooker top and kitchen worktops, bath and sink are always done using sprays of diluted vinegar or star drops. In most cases this is minimal because I do my best not to make a mess and I wipe up spills as I make them. By and large I spray and allow it to soak, use the scrubber side of those sponge cleaners, then use the sponge side to soak up. A single rinse of the sponge and a swipe to clear anything left. While I'm sure it's not "perfect" it's good enough for me and in any event I never prepare raw food directly on the worktop - I use my cutting boards which are squeaky clean from the dishwasher.

If push comes to shove and I need to be REALLY strict with myself I can halve that usage.

GreyQueen

Wow, thanks for the detail. I'm on a low user tariff, too, with the same thingy where you pay more if you go over a certain cubic meterage per annum. I haven't got anywhere near that threshold figure.

I'm not at home this weekend so haven't got my bill at hand to compare my unit costs with yours. I shall be making a hawkish comparison once I get home.

A lot of the stuff you do is done here also; I'm a singleton and am out of the house circa 6 hours most working days. I have a 6 litre WC flush which I've dispaced down by 3 x 1 pint plastic milk bottles (which fills the empty bits of the cistern) and only flush 1-2 times a day. Washing up is done every 1-2 days.

My Bosch washer runs 1-2 times a week and is A rated for water efficiency and I consider myself pretty darned hot when it comes to water efficiency, but there is obviously more to be learned.

That's why I looooove MSE!

Thanks again, I need to work those numbers.

splodger_seedswapper

i am quite consious about what water is use - but sometimes i really have to ask myself why i bother - especially when my bill arrives on the doorstep.

i can't actually find my latest bill - but from the previous bill my water usage amounted to £3.80 worth - the remainder of the bill totalling £46.07 was standing charges (and the wastewater drainage costs of £6.53)

i really annoys me that the actually water usage is so low yet the water bills remain quite high in comparison

on the water saving front - i use a bucket to chuck - in the loo - using drawn off water, washing up water and water used to clean my homebrew stuff - i also wash the floors etc using the sterilised water from my homebrewing. i have water butts plus 10 x 25 ltr containers which i store rain water in - for use in the garden all year around

i have a triple star rated washing machine - which uses less water per cycle (apparently)

i don't have a bath, just a shower - i wash up in a bowl - cook all veg in one pan etc etc

abwsco

squeaky wrote: »

Ouch!!

My six monthly bills sit between £20 and £25 per time.

We pay £53 per month over 10 months :eek: Online meter calc for our use says it would cost us even more.

Rachel G, hope your bills aren't too bad when you get them and I would be interested in an update. Didn't realise that some areas are being forced to have meters.

rising_from_the_ashes

Wow!

I was reading out of interest as water is a big bug bear of mine - we don't have the option of a meter so I have no option and have to pay the same water rates as the family of 5 down the road!

Therefore, although I don't waste it on purposes - I also do not take extra measures to use less.

Hoping that one day they will let us get meters here (as I'm positive I would save money) and will bear these tips in mind!

squeaky

That reminds me - I don't know if it's still true but those price comparison sites would price up the water and sewage charges but NOT the standard charge.

Some time back I found that while my water cost was lower than others (so the comparison advice was "stay put") my actual bill showed that although my direct water cost had dropped by a small amount the standing charges had almost doubled! Overall effect? A much larger bill. Harrumph!

You need a degree in ruddy mathematics these days to catch all the different ways that companies drill money out of us. All companies. For everything we buy.

JayJay14

When we moved 13 years ago we went from a 3 bed semi with water rates to a 4 bed detatched with a meter. There were 5 of us, the youngest 10 at the time. It is only this year that we have finally started to pay more than we did in 1999, there are 3 adults here now. We were very careful at first as we thought the bills were going to be huge - I've paid and average of £20 a month DD until this year. It's jumped up though but I think I underpaid last year. It's still only £5 a month than we were paying all those years ago though.

We don't use rainwater for the loo or anything like that but do use bowls and take care with things like teeth cleaning. It's often the little things like that that really add up.

balmaiden

Our water bill is approx £27 a month for the two of us. We shower every other day and wash "bits" on the inbetween days. I can shower and wash my hair in two minutes. We have two toilets each toilet gets flushed once a day after each of us have done the morning "necessary" if you know what I mean. Washing machine 3 times a fortnight, dishes washed once a day. All washing water reused for toilet/ garden. I remind myself what a precious commodity water is and how lucky we are to have clean water at the turn of a tap.

After all I grew up in a house where Mum had to walk up the lane to the communial pump and carry every drop of water we used back to the house.

SpikyHedgehog

My water bill on a meter is £35 per month, that's for 3 of us + cat..., no car so don't wash one! When I first had a water meter, DS1 was 5 and I was very careful about every drop of water - Husband used to wash his car at his parents' as they're not on a meter, we used one lot of bath water for the 3 of us, minimal flushing etc.

Must admit that I've relaxed a lot over time... I think most of what we've done has become second nature. Still don't flush for wees unless we've guests, certainly don't leave water running when brushing teeth, veg washing water goes on the garden, pulse soaking water goes on the garden, etc. The cat likes to drink out of glasses of water, so we use sports' bottles for drinks so she can't get them, and any left in the bottles goes on the house plants. The washing machine was A rated when we bought it, but it's 8 years old now, so probably not as efficient as a new one,a nd I do have to use that more than I'd like as DS2 wets the bed sometimes, and we use more than I'd like with washing up as DS1 is not the best washer-up and things have to be re-done.

I still won't get a paddling pool though!

lostinrates

I'm in awe of everyone's dedication to minimising water use. Its an area in our life over which we struggle to be frugal.

fwiw, we've decided to help ourselves with this a little by installing a grey water system here in the wreck eventually.