Water bills can be unsuspecting. They lurk in the shadows and hide from your eye while bigger bills like gas and electricity take over. You work hard to be more energy efficient, only to realise how much money you’re spending on water. It’s primarily thanks to an overuse of water throughout the home — so what can you do to bring the costs down as low as possible? 4 main tips spring to mind; try them out and watch your water bill slowly wash away!
By Team Savant
Image: Jason Jarrach
Use a Dishwasher To Conserve Water
This is crazy as you probably think a big machine like this uses way more water than washing things by hand. The complete opposite is true — Which discovered that dishwashers are (on average) four times more water efficient than washing by hand.
Pop your plates and cutlery in the dishwasher and avoid washing by hand to conserve water. You’ll be stunned by how much water gets wasted during the washing process. It’s usually only good if you’re washing pots and pans. Even then, be careful with water use and don’t leave the tap running the whole time.
Start Timing Your Showers
It sounds a bit extreme, but if you want to cut your water bills, you need to start timing showers. Hop in there for 10 minutes maximum. Every little helps, and you can avoid using an extra five minutes of water every day. If you take two showers a day, that’s 10 minutes of water you’re saving — 70 minutes a week.
Plus, you’re saving loads of hot water too, meaning you’re creating a more energy-efficient home. It’s the best of both worlds; save money on cold water usage and cut down your hot water bill too.
Switch To a Solar Water System
Speaking of hot water, you can use a lot of it if you’re not careful. It ramps up your heating bills and usually means you use more water too. Switching to a solar water system means you heat the water from the sun — for free!
It’s a no-brainer and you benefit from easier maintenance too. The system is more separated from a normal hot water system, so solar hot water repair jobs are easier to do. This makes them cheaper, slashing the cost of lifetime maintenance.
Don’t Leave Things Running
We’ll leave you with the world’s most obvious tip; don’t leave the water running in your house.
If you wash things up, use a bit of water to rinse, then turn off the tap and scrub away. Turn it on again to rinse off the suds. When you’re brushing your teeth, keep the water off until you need to wash away the spit at the end. Think of it like this; if the water isn’t serving an immediate purpose, it doesn’t need to be on.
That final tip will save gallons of water in your lifetime, slashing your water bills in half. Combine it with the others and you’ll have a home that doesn’t waste water and does have a manageable water bill.