These 5 water-saving tips and conservation ideas are very cost-friendly and will effortlessly lower your water usage at home, not to mention save money on your monthly utility bills for years to come.
Household water consumption can sometimes be overlooked but according to the U.S Department of Energy, water usage alone can account for up to 17% of your total utility bills. And this doesn’t even factor in the extra cost of heating water.
The subject of saving water at home has been a constant as of late due to continuously low yearly rain levels and droughts, primarily in the southeastern, southwestern, and western regions of the United States.
Where you live, seasonal conditions and environmental motivation aside, water conservation at home will, without doubt, translate into monthly and annual savings for your pockets.
It’s also important to note that some of these water-saving tips and conservation ideas can significantly reduce your natural gas and electricity costs. How do you ask? The unavoidable and additional cost of heating water is also reduced by reducing hot water use.
For instance, showering accounts for up to 20% of a home’s total indoor water use, but what’s often overlooked is that showering also accounts for an estimated 20% of the average home’s total water heating cost.
Considering that the bathroom is where more than half of water use occurs, your bathrooms are the ideal place to start saving water. Here are the 5 water-saving tips and conservation ideas for your bathrooms.
Here are five water-saving tips and ideas for your bathroom:
1. When it’s possible attempt to cut your showers, or singing sessions, by just a few minutes. You can save up to 150 gallons of water every month by just cutting your shower short by just 2 to 3 minutes, not to mention the much-deserved break shorter showers will provide your water heater.
2. Consider replacing your old shower heads with newer water-saving showerheads. If your current shower heads are 9 years old or even older, they can have flow rates as high as 5 to 7 gallons per minute. Low flow showerheads have reduced flow rates of 2.5 gallons per minute or lower while providing the same or even improved water pressure. And water saver shower heads are very inexpensive and easy to install.
3. For even more savings potential, consider purchasing water-saving shower heads with shut-off valves. There just as inexpensive in most cases and you save warm water while you’re shampooing, conditioning and lathering. Low flow shower heads with shut-off valves can be more effective at reducing hot water use and when the switch is turned on again (after shampooing and conditioning) the water remains at the exact same desired temperature as before.
4. Don’t ever take your bathroom toilets for granted. Remember each flush can use anywhere from 1.6 gallons to 5 gallons of water. So don’t use your toilets as bathroom trash cans. Besides excess tissue and paper waste can easily result in the ever-annoying clogged toilet.
5. Ever so often check all of your toilet tanks for possible leaks. Even the smallest leaks can have a huge effect on your water bills. A toilet tank leak test is easy to do, quick, and very accurate. Your local hardware store and big-box home improvement retailers have toilet tank leak test packs. These packs cost just a few dollars each.
Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of The Sized delivered to your inbox daily.
