by RancherMan ~
Today we’re talking about conservation of one of our most precious resources: water. Now we all know about the old “turn off the water when brushing your teeth” rule, but there are so many more ways that I can’t name them all here.
We have an earlier post on this blog about outdoor water conservation that I urge all of you to check out. It is eye opening. But today we’re talking about conserving water inside the house.
Leaking Toilet Wastes Water
Toilets are notorious for stealing water. Here’s how you check – put a couple drops of food coloring in the tank and check in half an hour.
If there’s color in the bowl then your *flapper is leaking. It’s a $5 fix that can pay for itself in a couple months.
Also walk around the outside of your house and look for your water heater’s pressure relief valve drain. If water is running out of it something is wrong, have it checked.
One thing that’s really simple is to check and make sure you have low-flow aerators on all your faucets and shower heads. Also if it drips fix it, you’re wasting water by the minute.
Lawn Sprinklers On ‘Automatic’
Sprinkler systems are a great way to keep your yard looking good. But they are one of the biggest wastes of water in the residential home. Get to know how your system works.
If you don’t have one already, get a *Rain Sensor for your system. This keeps your system from running when it’s raining (when you obviously don’t need it.)
Many of these monitors also have freeze sensors to keep you from turning your sidewalk into the local skating rink.
Most importantly, keep a check on the heads. One bad head can waste hundreds of gallons per cycle.
So here’s a run down of the average usage around our house. (Granted there are just 2 of us but we work here 24/7 so we’re here a lot more than the average household.)
Electricity = $75 a month average.
Propane = less than one refill a year.
Water = less than 2,000 gallons a month.
Now let’s hear about your conservation ideas…
~TxH~
Links In This Post
- Outdoor Water Conservation
- *Leaking Toilet Flapper Wastes LOTS Of Water
- *Rain Sensor For Automatic Lawn Sprinkler Systems
Other Frugal Tips
- When Financial Times Turn Tough Unexpectedly
- Conserving Electricity
- Outside Water Conservation
- 3 Rainwater Catchment Systems We Use
- Build Financial Security With Less Effort
- A Financial Hit On The Homestead
- Thriving Financially Without A Corporate Paycheck
- Make Your Slow Cooker More Efficient
- Is Food Past The Expiration Date Safe To Eat?
- Make A Cute Gift Box With A Repurposed Greeting Card
- MYO Minty Mouthwash
- Repurposing Empty Coffee Canisters
- Keep That Broccoli Fresh
- Don’t Waste Onion Trimmings
- Cleaner Vegetable Chopping
- Using Frozen Water Bottles In The Kitchen
- Don’t Waste It – Free Vegetable Broth
- Make A Cute Dish Carrier From Old Jeans
- MYO Crispy Taco Shells CHEAP
- Paper Napkins In A Paperless Kitchen
- Use ALL Of Your Spray Cleaner
- Quick Coffee Stain Cleaning
…and many MORE!
See ALL Our Frugality Articles
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Great tips! It is so important to start with conserving water before we try to solve water problems in other ways, and some of the conservation methods are really so simple.
Well-said Gretchen! I think there’s plenty of water to be able to use what we need as long as we’re not wasting it! ~TMR~
Great info…Thanks for sharing on The Creative HomeAcre Hop! Hope to see you again today!
theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/05/the-creative-homeacre-hop-15.html
Where I live it is not legal to collect rain water, you want to check your area.
LaQuetta, I’ve heard of places where it’s illegal to collect rainwater, I can’t really wrap my head around that but thanks for mentioning that. ~TMR~
We use rain barrels and we have a pond that we’re hoping to somehow utilize. I’ve heard about using gray water, but we have not tried that yet; we’re just getting started. Thanks for sharing this at the HomeAcre Hop! Look forward to having you back tomorrow. blackfoxhomestead.com/the-homeacre-hop/
I haven’t done any gray water collection either Jenny, except watering the grass and trees with water from the dishpan when I’m hand-washing dishes. I’m interested though and we have several potential gray water projects coming up this year. I’ll be sure to post about them when the projects come to fruition. ~TMR~
We built a grey water collection system to collect our clothes washer water. We attached a 100 foot water hose to it so I can water all of our citrus trees plus our side yard and part of our front year each week. Here’s how we did it..www.schneiderpeeps.com/2013/04/gray-water-recapturing-system.html
Angi – I read your article on gray water collection – very interesting and helpful instructions. Thanks for sharing. ~TMR~
Water is so important to conserve for so many reasons – financial to earth conservation. I need to do a better job! Thank you for linking up with us for Fabulously Frugal Thursday.
I agree Heather, water is a precious resource and there are many reasons (and many WAYS) to conserve. Love the link party! ~TMR~
Water conservation is something I am just starting to learn about, my green steps are serious baby steps 🙂 I live in Maine, where water is in abundance, so much so that we feel the need to ship our water out for people to bottle up and sell elsewhere. But, I have learned so much recently about the lack of clean water in other countries, and how much water we waste here in the US. With the recent droughts all over the south and midwest, I feel like I should be conserving more. These indoor tips are not ones I would have thought of, besides the leaky faucets, so thank you! We hope to get a rain barrel this year to help with watering the garden and for our chickens.
Heather that’s a good point about living in a place where water is so plentiful and not THINKING about conservation. But at the very least it would still be beneficial to collect rainwater for non-potable outside use, such as garden irrigation or potted plant watering. Thanks for weighing in. ~TMR~
Great tips for conserving water, not only for our own home but for our planet! Thanks for sharing at TTF!
Linda
Wow! Thanks for the tips. I am hoping to get some rain collection containers for outside soon to help with conservation. Thanks for stopping by Friday Follow Along party.