Cut my water bill by almost half

falcieri
falcieri Posts: 195 Forumite
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in Water bills
I feel victorious. In the first 6 months in my new flat, and with my first 6 monthly metre read from United Utilities I've managed to cut my water bill from £302 to £197 a year.



I live alone so I'm not battling with other householders, but it takes quite a lot to get a bill down that far and you have to be consistent. Bear in mind I work from home and am here quite a lot. In order to manage this I've done the following:


Only flush the toilet when I really need to (once or twice a day)
Get one of those cistern devices to reduce the flush
Shower every other day and keep it relatively short

Wash up once a day
Don't run the tap when brushing teeth
Only do one lot of washing a week on a short cycle


Does anyone have any other tips. I'm not sure there's much else I could do here!
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Comments

  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 8,606 Forumite
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    Only put as much water as you need into the kettle when boiling it. You could put a flow restrictor on the shower to reduce the amount of water that flows through it.

    Some showers can dump 10-15 litres a minute, mine does 6lpm and I can have a decent shower in around 90 seconds.

    If you really want to get silly then just turn the shower on to get yourself wet, turn it off, apply and massage soap and shampoo and then turn it back on to rinse it all off.(that's what we do in our caravan)

    Rinse stuff, including your hands in cold water rather than running the hot tap until hot water comes out (that will save you energy as well as water)
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • D_M_E
    D_M_E Posts: 3,008 Forumite
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    When you flush the toilet, as soon as the water starts going down the tap opens and starts to refill the cistern while the water is still going down the drain.

    How much extra is used is determined by the mains pressure feeding the inlet tap.

    Try turning down your stoptap - most of them are located under the sink - so that the flow is reduced a bit to your taps.

    This will reduce the volume of water wasted when the cistern starts filling when you hit the flush - less pressure means less water going in the cistern before the syphon reseats itself after the flush, thus saving a bit on every flush.

    Don't turn it down so low that the washing machine does not wait forever for water.

    Also has the advantage of less water used in showers - a reduced flow rate may be noticed but most likely will not be.
  • McKneff
    McKneff Posts: 38,822 Forumite
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    How can you say £x per year if you have only been there 6 months.

    do you pay by DD, if so, you cannot know how much it is per year till a year is up.
    Only then can you take readings and divide it by 12.
    More water is used at certain times of the year, like electricity and gas.
    make the most of it, we are only here for the weekend.
    and we will never, ever return.
  • Norman_Castle
    Norman_Castle Posts: 11,871 Forumite
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    falcieri wrote: »
    In the first 6 months in my new flat, and with my first 6 monthly metre read from United Utilities I've managed to cut my water bill from £302 to £197 a year.
    Is the £302 an initial guestimate from your supplier and the £197 based on your first six months usage?
  • ricky_v
    ricky_v Posts: 330 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    With United Ultilities. I pay around £215/yr consistently for the past 3 years or so. I shower once every 2-3 days (no baths), wash up every 2-3 days, clothes wash about once a week, sometimes 2 loads.



    Out of the total bill, about £40-£50/yr is based on actual usage and sewage, the rest comes from standing charge and highway drainage so assuming no discounts, I doubt anyone can get much lower than £200/yr, unless they smell:rotfl:
  • Mr.Generous
    Mr.Generous Posts: 3,373 Forumite
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    There's a lot of things I'd rather cut down on than washing and clothes washing. Don't go too far for a few ££ and change things you don't really want to.

    I am dead happy when I save a few ££ - so I can spend it on something I want to. Washing is a pleasure I'm prepared to pay for.
  • Bettie
    Bettie Posts: 1,225 Forumite
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    £14.50 a month for last few years. I have a bath every day sometimes use the water to flush the toilet. I put an isolator on the flush so it doesn't fill up until i switch it on. I wash up when I need to at least once a day but don't waste the used water, I use a bowl and chuck it in the downstairs toilet. The first bit of water out of the tap I run into a jug until the hot comes out then I use that cold water to rinse the dishes or water plants.
  • dont_use_vistaprint
    dont_use_vistaprint Posts: 601 Forumite
    First Post Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    matelodave wrote: »

    If you really want to get silly then just turn the shower on to get yourself wet, turn it off, apply and massage soap and shampoo and then turn it back on to rinse it all off.(that's what we do in our caravan)

    Iv'e always done that since working in Asia where the showers were always cold! I quite like it now and also turn the heat very low, it wakes me up better, its surprising how much energy and money we waste without thinking.

    We use 20-25 a month family of 3-4. Severn Trent let you change the DD to any amount so we pay a nominal £5 month and then transfer savings in once a year to put back to £0
    "It is not the critic who counts..." - Theodore Roosevelt
  • Norman_Castle
    Norman_Castle Posts: 11,871 Forumite
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    edited 26 November 2018 at 3:04PM
    ricky_v wrote: »
    I doubt anyone can get much lower than £200/yr, unless they smell:rotfl:
    £184 per year with STW. Daily shower and washing up. Washing machine once or twice a week. Average use 0.12m3 per day. I use what I need without being wasteful. I don't do anything such as flushing the toilet with bath water as I suspect it would make very little difference.
  • falcieri
    falcieri Posts: 195 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    matelodave wrote: »
    Only put as much water as you need into the kettle when boiling it. You could put a flow restrictor on the shower to reduce the amount of water that flows through it.

    Some showers can dump 10-15 litres a minute, mine does 6lpm and I can have a decent shower in around 90 seconds.

    If you really want to get silly then just turn the shower on to get yourself wet, turn it off, apply and massage soap and shampoo and then turn it back on to rinse it all off.(that's what we do in our caravan)

    Rinse stuff, including your hands in cold water rather than running the hot tap until hot water comes out (that will save you energy as well as water)


    I did the switching the shower thing off during the summer. Way too cold in the winter though! I'll reinstate it when the weather improves next spring. :T
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