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6 Free Ways to Reduce Your Water Bill

Alongside your power bill, your monthly water bill may be one of the things you most dread each month. A lot of families out there, especially the bigger ones, use a lot of water and it can really end up taking a huge chunk out of your pocket every month. So, naturally, you want to look for ways of reducing your water bill.

But an issue with reducing your water bill is that a lot of the very common methods you see online require you to invest your own money. For example, things like installing low-flow shower heads or getting leaky sinks fixed, are both good ways to reduce your monthly water bill, but they also require investments on your part.

We have done posts before about free ways of reducing your energy bill, so in this one we are going to look at some free methods you can use to trim some of the fat off your monthly water bill. Now, these methods are not necessarily going to save you hundreds of dollars, but they can make a bit of a dent in the water bill, especially if you have high water bills.

If you want really big monthly savings, then you are going to have to invest in water saving technology like low-flow toilets, showerheads, and other things like that. Find a list of effective domestic water-saving devices from The Guardian here. In the meantime, check out this guide to reduce your water bill:

  1. Don’t pre-rinse dishes

After a meal, a lot of people end up with caked on food on the plate – particularly if you ate something very messy. Because these food scrapings can make the dishwasher dirty, a lot of people opt to do pre-rinsing in their sink before they put the dishes in the dishwater. While this is understandable, it is a waste of water. When you think about it, it is very wasteful.

First off, you are using water to pre-rinse the dishes, depending on how many people ate and how caked on the food is, this could result in a lot of water usage. Secondly, you then proceed to use water to wash the plates in the dishwater. Obviously, you cannot save water on the dishwasher part (unless you buy a more efficient one), so you have to cut down on the water usage during the pre-rinsing phase.

A good alternative to running the plate under the tap to get the food off is to instead just slightly wet a scrubber and scrape the food off yourself. It is a more work, but it does save water.

  1. Only run the dishwasher when it is full

This is another useful tip for those who use dishwashers. Dishwashers use the same amount of water, regardless of whether they have a full load in them or whether they have a single dish in them.

So, while it may be tempting to do small loads throughout the day, it is far better for your wallet to just save up all the dishes and do them in one big load at the end of the day.

  1. Take shorter showers

Believe it or not, even shaving just a few minutes off the time you spend in a shower can save quite a few litres of water. The ideal shower time from a conservation standpoint is 5 minutes. It gives you enough time to thoroughly wash, while at the same time saving water.

Although overall, Australia does quite well when it comes to shower times, there is still room for improvement. Australian women average about 7-8 minutes in the shower depending on whether it is the weekday or the weekend. Australian men average about 7 minutes in the shower regardless of whether it is a weekday or on the weekend.

If you are one of those people who spend that much time in the shower, try looking for ways to cut down on the time you spend in the shower by a few minutes.

  1. Don’t take baths

This probably is not a big issue for adults, but if you have kids or elderly people in the house, you might want to cut down on the number of times they bathe. With kids, you should try introducing them to the shower as quickly as possible. With the elderly, you might want to consider ways that they could try showering instead of bathing.

  1. Wash your car less often

It takes hundreds of litres to wash your car properly and yet some people do it way too often. A lot of people out there feel the need to keep their car clean at all times, while this is good for the car, it is bad for your wallet. All that washing is massively boosting your utility bill.

You only need to wash your car around once a month, any more is unnecessary and hurtful for both the environment and your wallet – especially given the frequency of droughts in Australia. Also, while this is not technically free, we should point out that generally, it is cheaper just to go to a car wash, since they use much less water, and thus you save money in the long-term.

  1. Opt for sweeping over washing

A lot of people use their hose to wash off their sidewalk and driveways, usually because they are watering their lawns and figure that they might as well clean their sidewalks at the same time. This is very wasteful. In fact, you could end up wasting close to 100 litres a year by washing your sidewalks with a hose. So, what is the alternative? Well, you could try to sweep the sidewalk instead. It is a bit more work, but you will not need to use any water.

Individually these tips may not save you a lot of money on their own, but when you combine this with other tips, you should see a noticeable improvement on your monthly utility bill.