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The cheap man's gray water, saving £10 per month
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stator
Posts: 7,441 Forumite
in Water bills
Quick tip if you want to save money on your water bill. :beer:
Keep a couple of buckets near the kitchen sink and whenever you rinse something out catch the water in a bowl and empty it into the bucket. Then use the bucket to flush your toilet instead of the cistern! If you don't use enough water at your sink you could empty your dishwasher or washing machine into a bucket, but you'd have to make sure you know how much water is coming out first and how big your bucket is :cool:
I've saved myself £10 per month for over a year. My bill is now down to £24/month. I only used this method for number 1s, Number 2s I still used the flush (for no real reason). You can use those dissolvable cistern blocks in one of the buckets if you don't like the look of the soapy water, but they dissolve pretty quickly.
Keep a couple of buckets near the kitchen sink and whenever you rinse something out catch the water in a bowl and empty it into the bucket. Then use the bucket to flush your toilet instead of the cistern! If you don't use enough water at your sink you could empty your dishwasher or washing machine into a bucket, but you'd have to make sure you know how much water is coming out first and how big your bucket is :cool:
I've saved myself £10 per month for over a year. My bill is now down to £24/month. I only used this method for number 1s, Number 2s I still used the flush (for no real reason). You can use those dissolvable cistern blocks in one of the buckets if you don't like the look of the soapy water, but they dissolve pretty quickly.
Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.
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Comments
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£10 a month is a huge saving by using buckets of water!
You don't say where you live, but water/sewerage costs can vary between £2 and £4 a cubic metre(1,000 litres) with the average about £3.
To save £10 a month you would need to save between 2,500 and 5,000 litres. So if you had a large 10 litre bucket(weighing over 20lbs) and filled it every time, you would need 250 to 500 buckets a month. So 8 to 16 10 litre buckets a day.
A lot of water!0 -
Well I live in a house with a large single flush cistern so each time I flushed it used a lot of water. When I flush with a bucket I don't use the same amount of water because there is no need for a number 1. Generally I used 2 x 10L buckets a day but the cistern would be using more like 90L per day
If you have a dual flush toilet already yes your savings would be a lot less.
oh and it's South West Water, most expensive water in the country £5.51 cubic meter
Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0 -
Well I live in a house with a large single flush cistern so each time I flushed it used a lot of water. When I flush with a bucket I don't use the same amount of water because there is no need for a number 1. Generally I used 2 x 10L buckets a day but the cistern would be using more like 90L per day
If you have a dual flush toilet already yes your savings would be a lot less.
oh and it's South West Water, most expensive water in the country £5.51 cubic meter
OK, so 20 litres a day = 620 litres a month. At £5.51 that is a saving of £3.42 a month.
For most of the country the savings would be around £2 a month.
Sorry to be pedantic!0 -
The saving is in the water I'm not flushing from the cistern, which is a lot higher volume than the water in the buckets.OK, so 20 litres a day = 620 litres a month. At £5.51 that is a saving of £3.42 a month.
For most of the country the savings would be around £2 a month.
Sorry to be pedantic!Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0 -
Hi Stator, yes, I do much the same, as I am on South West Ripoff too,
but I collect the rainwater (of which there is a plenty in the We*t Country near PZ) and use it for all sorts, as it does not go into drains.
It's actually very good for washing up my one plate and cup too !!
I only have a septic tank system.
Also doing #1's in the garden at chosen spots saves a lot of flushing water as well- but we all know that !
thanks for your pm reply too, I am still trying to work out the niceties of being a MSE contributor.16 x Enhance 250w panels + SolarEdge Inverter + TREES
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Don't empty the bath - and if you shower in a bath, put the plug in and leave the water there. Use that to flush with.0
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PasturesNew wrote: »Don't empty the bath - and if you shower in a bath, put the plug in and leave the water there. Use that to flush with.
This is also an energy saving tip.
If you run a bath / bowl of water in the Winter months, leave it to cool before pulling the plug. That way the heat from the water warms the fabric of the house rather than making the sewer rats all cosy.0 -
You need to do something with the additional RH though right? I noticed a big difference when I was taking too long to flush our baby bath after bathing our son.0
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