Tag Archives: economize

3 Tips to Cut Your Water Bill and “Save” Water

One of the best ways to get folks to participate in environmentally friendly activities is to show them how to save significant money while conserving. Here are three simple things you can do to drastically cut your water and sewer charges.

First: Stop letting water just run down the drain.  We are probably all familiar with the ads to turn off the water while brushing our teeth. What if we all stopped running water whenever we aren’t actively using it for something? Start paying attention to how often you turn it on and then do something else, like stand there and wait for it to get hot. Or just let it run while rinsing dishes in the sink. Try catching the “not hot enough” water in a pitcher and saving it to pour into your filter pitcher or for cooking or for making big ice cubes.

Second: Cut down the amount of water you use in the shower. For under $5.00 you can purchase a quick shut-off value that you install between the hose and the shower head. Then get in the shower and wet down, turn off the flow with the valve and lather up, turn the water back on and rinse off. The valve will more than pay for itself the first month, even if only one person is using it!

Third: Adjust the amount of water you use in the washer according to the size of the load. But ideally, try to limit your clothes washing to full loads only. Use your dishwasher when full and not on half loads. Believe it or not, manufacturers have said that it takes less water to load dishes, then run a “rinse only” cycle after a meal than to hand-rinse  before loading the dishes. When the washer is full, run your cycle.

By using even one of these tips you can have dollar savings, but if you use all three you should significantly cut your water usage and have significant savings in your bill.