Financial Fitness: Easy Ways to Save on Your Water Bill

It’s a new year and you may have a New Year’s Resolution to save more money. A great place to start is by looking at your utility bills, including your water bill.

Saving water means saving money around your home. However, you might not be quite ready to put a brick in your toilet tank or reduce your shower flow to a trickle. Have no fear; you can still take steps to seriously reduce your water bill each month.

• Take shorter showers.
• Fix leaks to faucets or pipes.
• Only do full loads of laundry or dishes.
• Don’t leave the faucet on while you brush your teeth or shave.
• Buy more efficient appliances, like a laundry machine or toilet.
• Use a dishwasher instead of doing dishes by hand.
• Put food coloring into your toilet tank and see if the dye ends up in the bowl. If it does, you have a leak and you are wasting hundreds of gallons of water each day.
• Capture rainwater to water the lawn or plants during dry times.
• Use hose water to clean – such as the sidewalk, gutters, or roof – as infrequently as possible.
• Don’t water your lawn on windy days.
• If your children want to cool off during the summer, use a small pool instead of constant-stream water toys.
• Choose plants, flower, shrubs or trees that don’t require a lot of water.
• Wash your car at a car wash instead of at home.
• Don’t use the toilet as a wastebasket. Throw everything you can into the trash instead.
• Put a plastic bottle full of water into your toilet tank to reduce the amount of water that is fed into the tank each time you flush.
• Avoid using your sink’s garbage disposal feature.
• Put mulch around plants to slow the evaporation of water.
• Teach your children to turn off faucets properly.
• Shower instead of taking a bath.
• Don’t thaw food by running water over it. Thaw it in the microwave instead.
• Keep cool water in the refrigerator so you don’t have to run the tap water until it turns cold when you want a drink.
• Replace your toilet flapper if it doesn’t close properly. It’s the rubber stopper at the bottom of the tank.
• Save the water you use to rinse fruit and vegetables and use it water your house plants.
• Wash your pet in an area of the lawn that needs watering.

You will likely find that one or two of these actions alone won’t put you on easy street. However, if you are conscientious about your water use, the savings could add up to hundreds of dollars more in your pocket every year.