Did you know, the average family of four pays $70 a month for water? According to Statista, “that means every one of those family members uses 100 gallons.” But we’re going to have to disagree and say that one family member uses 90% …
Apart from yelling at that person to stop taking long showers, what can you do to stop wasting so much water?
After all, the expense is one thing, but the environmental impact is another!
Today we’re going to tell you not one, not two, but 10 ways to stop wasting water.
Yes, tip #1 is, take shorter showers! So here are the other nine:
2. Install a special showerhead / flow restrictor to save water. Easily found at your local hardware store, a flow restrictor works by reducing the water pressure that comes into the line using spring-loaded technology. By reducing the pressure, you also reduce the amount of water coming through the showerhead.
3. If you’re the type to use the toilet as a trash can, stop! You may not know what we’re talking about until we say, Do you blow your nose in the bathroom and then throw it in the toilet and flush? Do you use a tissue to remove makeup, and then flush that? Or, do you take the hair collected in the shower drain and flush that? Or flush cigarette butts?
If you have any other reason for flushing the toilet than going to the bathroom, then nix that habit now!
4. Don’t let the water run while brushing your teeth. Did your kids watch Barney growing up? Then you may remember the incessant song, “Brushing my Teeth.” The Grammy-winning lyrics go, “While I’m brushing my teeth, and having so much fun, I never let the water run.” This is a good message you should be taking into adulthood. (But we’re sorry if we got the song stuck in your head.)
5. Similarly, there’s no reason to keep letting the faucet run while you rinse off your vegetables. Just rinse them in a clean bowl! Cleaning them with your hands is more effective than just running them under the faucet, anyway.
6. Only run wash full loads of laundry. This may mean you reuse the towel you use to dry after a shower once, and that way you have a full load of towels to wash. Also, skip the “extra rinse” cycle by using the correct amount of detergent in the first place!
7. This tip goes for the dishwasher, too. The dishwasher is more efficient than hand-washing, sure, but also try to make sure you fill your dishwasher before using it.
8. If you water your lawn with a sprinkler, do what’s called a “deep soak.” That just means, water your grass long enough for the water to actually get down to the roots. Just a light sprinkling means the water will evaporate before it gets down to the grass roots, which means that water was wasted.
9. This is a fun DIY tip for saving a lot of water over time. All you have to do is put some sand/pebbles inside a water bottle, so it’s weighted. Fill in the rest of the bottle with water. Then, put the water bottle in your toilet tank. That means less water is needed to fill the tank.
Of course, make sure the water bottle isn’t touching or interfering with anything else in the tank.
10. Last but not least, consider getting a low-flow toilet. This can save you up to seven gallons for every flush, which translates in the all-important dollar amount to as much as $110 per year off water bills!