Ways To Save Water At Home And Reduce Your Bills By $184

According to the EPA the average American uses 100 gallons of water per day at home. However by understanding all the various ways to save water it’s possible to reduce your household water bill by approximately 30% – while helping the environment too.

With the average water bill totaling $51 a month, that saving is worth an average of $184 per household! Now that’s something to get excited about!

Where Do We Use The Most Water?

You might be surprised by how we typically use water around the home. Certain areas are far more prone to water usage than others and it’s these “high use” areas where the greatest money savings can be made.

People using sprinklers and other outdoor irrigation systems to keep their lawns and gardens green all year round will find massive potential savings are possible by watering more sensitively (more details below).

However for the average homeowner without a garden, or that uses minimal water on their plants, the biggest uses of water are almost certainly in the bathroom. Indeed, depending on the authority you listen to, between 27% and 40% of all the water you use in your home goes just on flushing the toilet.

Another 30% goes on bathing alone, leaving the remainder to be accounted for elsewhere such as through leaky pipes, washing up, clothes laundry and cooking.

In other words, whilst it’s possible to reduce your water bill by implementing all the ways to save water listed below, for the quickest wins the statistics suggest you should focus first on your garden, secondly on your bathroom and lastly on your kitchen.

So without further ado, let’s jump into our detailed “hit-list” of ways to save water at home…

Ways To Save Water In The Bathroom

Use A Hippo

No, not the herbivorous African mammal! A “hippo” is a bag that can be inflated and placed into your toilet cistern. In doing so, whenever you flush the toilet, less water will be flushed away. And seeing as up to 40% of your water use results from flushing the toilet – these savings can add up fast.

Alternatives to this idea can include gently placing a brick or a sealed plastic bottle of water to the cistern. So no matter which option you choose, they can all have a considerable effect on your water use.

Install A Dual-Flush System

Another of the most effective ways to save water at home is to install a dual-flush system which enables you to select either a small flush or a large flush. In most cases, a small flush is perfectly sufficient though if you ever need it the big flush is still available.

Note that fitting a dual-flush system doesn’t necessarily require replacing your toilet altogether. These days, dual-flush systems can be bought cheaply from places like Amazon and can be fitted reasonably easily as the video below demonstrates. Best of all, it’s one home improvement which will pay for itself in next to no time.

Install A Low-Flow Toilet

Installing a whole new toilet may seem like one of the more extreme ways to save water but the water savings can be truly astonishing. Overall, these toilets use 75-80% less water than old-style toilets so this is one of the quickest ways of all to slash your water bill.

It may not be practical to replace your toilet altogether – instead apply the steps above – but when the time comes to replace your bathroom suite try thinking carefully about water conservation and the money it’ll save you.

Flush Less

I feel a little uneasy mentioning this tip. While some people simply shrug their shoulders and say “makes sense!” others consider it a pretty revolting idea. I’ll leave it up to you to decide for yourself but as flushing the toilet is likely your biggest source of water use, it’s one of the most useful ways of saving water. Just remember the phrase…

[symple_highlight color=”yellow”]”If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”[/symple_highlight]

Sorry, too much?!

Shower Instead Of Bathing

Overall, showers use far less water than taking baths. Infact, research has shown that overall a five minute shower uses just a third of the water when compared to taking a bath so the savings are considerable.

Use Low-Flow Faucets

One of the easiest ways to save water in the bathroom is to fit low-flow or aerated shower heads and taps/faucets. These essentially pump air into the water flow, providing more than enough flow for practical purposes while subtly reducing your water use by around a third.

Turn Off The Tap When Brushing

Did you know that leaving the tap running when you’re shaving or brushing your teeth uses a surprising 9 liters of water a minute?! According to research carried out by WWF, turning the tap off when you’re not using it will reduce the total water used by around 13% for the average household.

Apply the same strategy to your kitchen in order to save even more water.

Ways To Save Water In The Kitchen

Wash Only Full Loads

Whether we’re talking about washing machines or dishwashers, the same amount of water is used no matter how full the machine is. So try holding off and only using your washing machine or dishwasher when it’s nice and full.

Use Eco Washes

Many newer washing machines have eco-settings which use less power and less water. Check out whether your machines offer these options and if so use them wherever possible.

Reuse Cooking Water

One of the simplest ways to save water is to re-use “grey” water from your cooking. Rather than tipping that water you just used to cook your pasta down the sink, instead consider re-using it to water the garden or instead of flushing the toilet.

Washing The Dishes

You may be surprised to here that as long as the dishwasher is full, these can actually be just as efficient as washing by hand so don’t feel guilty about this little mod con. That said, if you tend to wash the dishes by hand, ensure you put the plug in rather than washing under a running tap as this can halve the water it takes to wash up.

Ways To Save Water In The Garden

Buy A Water Butt

Tap water might cost you money but once you’ve bought your water butt, collecting rain water is free. I use two different butts, plumbed together, so that when the first one is full the water trickles over into the second. While these run dry eventually in the summer months, once they’re set up they’re one of the easiest ways to save water at home because they work by themselves.

Water In The Morning

One problem with watering your garden is simply that in warmer weather much of the water evaporates in the heat rather than being drawn into the roots of your plants. To ensure your plants get as much of the water as possible, try watering early in the morning before the sun gets too intense. Doing so will reduce waste and reduce your water bill.

Grow Your Grass

Carefully-clipped lawns don’t do much to reduce evaporation when you’ve watered. Therefore another way to save water in the summer months is to change the setting on your mower to let your grass grow just a little longer. In doing so, you’ll help to create more shade at the roots and so more of the water you spray on will be available for your grass.

Mulch

The last of our ways to save water in the garden is to consider adding mulch – such as grass clippings or finely-shopped bark as available from many garden centers – to the base of your less drought-tolerant plants. For the same reasons as letting your grass grow, you’ll reduce evaporation and so need to use less water in your garden.

Further reading: Save Water the Easy Way

How do you save water at home? Leave a comment below with your experiences…