Author Topic: Water savings coming in like a bad ass  (Read 3381 times)

Metalsatsuma1212

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Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« on: March 21, 2017, 10:00:12 AM »
MMM had a fantastic post on saving money with water conserving showerheads.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/11/30/an-800-gift-from-me-to-you/

We took it one step further and got free two Bathroom Faucet Aerators, a Kitchen Faucet Aerator, and three low flow showerheads. This is a program in my area but it would be worth checking your water company to see if you can get any free goodies. We estimate it will save us quite a bit.

https://www.tvwd.org/conservation--rebates/free-residential-water-conservation-items.aspx

Check into rebates for saving water as well.

https://www.tvwd.org/conservation--rebates/request-a-rebate.aspx

I'm a red panda

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2017, 10:10:51 AM »
I'm all about conserving water.  (For awhile I caught water in a bucket while we waited for it to warm up, and then used that to flush the toilet... but DH eventually said he wasn't willing to do this anymore.)

Our water bill is ridiculous- but the price is all in the first unit. Extra units cost almost nothing.  I hate it.

Thanks for the link though- I don't stop by the blog often.  I'll have to see what the flow of our shower is already, the house was built with a lot of energy saving features to begin with.

Dave1442397

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2017, 11:06:27 AM »
I installed a low-flow shower head a few years ago. First thing my DW said was "What's wrong with the shower?".

Gotta say, I hated it too, and went back to a regular shower head. Our water bill is under $40/mo, so it didn't make much of a difference anyway.

acroy

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2017, 11:20:32 AM »
Badass
I recently installed a touchless water faucet in the kids bathroom
https://www.amazon.com/Greenspring-Automatic-Touchless-Sensor-Bathroom/dp/B01MEHL532/ref=sr_1_8?s=kitchen-bath&ie=UTF8&qid=1490116743&sr=1-8&refinements=p_n_material_two_browse-bin%3A542672011
You can image in 6kids using it all day, some water was getting wasted. And always always, water on the counter!
The touchless faucet has been awesome. counter is nice and clean, water waste reduced.

nouveauRiche

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2017, 04:13:26 PM »
I installed a low-flow shower head a few years ago. First thing my DW said was "What's wrong with the shower?".

Gotta say, I hated it too, and went back to a regular shower head. Our water bill is under $40/mo, so it didn't make much of a difference anyway.

I think you got a bad one.  I'm super-picky and I think ours are as good as the regular-flow ones we had before we switched.

sol

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2017, 04:25:31 PM »
In the winter, 2/3 of our water bill is the flat fixed fees.  We couldn't save very much if we totally stopped using water entirely.

But our water bill triples in the summers, when we are watering the yard.  If you really want to save water, tear out your lawn.

Dave1442397

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2017, 05:28:38 PM »
But our water bill triples in the summers, when we are watering the yard.  If you really want to save water, tear out your lawn.

That's one thing I don't do. If the grass turns brown, fine by me. It always turns green again by the time the leaves are falling.

I have one neighbor who has sprinklers running for at least three hours every morning. I often wonder how much that costs.

sol

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2017, 05:32:38 PM »
Depends where you live and how much yard you have, but ours costs about an extra $65/mo to run for 15 minutes four days per week, in the height of the summer.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2017, 05:49:38 PM »
We don't water the lawn. It turns brown at the end of the summer. If God wanted green grass, he'd make it rain

Awka

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2017, 05:40:43 AM »
Nice.

Water is included in our rent, but our town is in drought status.  We tried to mimic the 90% reduction guidelines to see what was possible for a few months. This meant bucket showers, mellow yellow, less laundry (handwashing some)and all sorts of cutting back in small ways. Wasn't easy, but was really useful in terms of appreciating water and coming to terms with how freely we used it.

Awka

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2017, 05:47:23 AM »
Forgot to explain the 90 target wasn't a local one, but comes from the "Riot For Austerity" challenge, years ago.  It's interesting, if you're not familiar.  We don't slavishly adhere to it, but from changes often do come in around the targets.  Here's a link:  http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2011/08/01/time-to-riot/

Fireball

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2017, 11:19:34 AM »
We don't water the lawn. It turns brown at the end of the summer. If God wanted green grass, he'd make it rain

Ha! Love it.

Morning Glory

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2017, 03:13:41 PM »
I have too much water. I wish I could share it. Right now I am pumping hundreds of gallons out of my basement every day. My plan is to rig something up to irrigate my vegetable garden with the sump pump water. I also have ankle deep water on most of my field because the creek is not staying in its bed. I have no water bill but I do have to pay for the electricity to pump it out of the ground and heat it.

prognastat

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2017, 03:19:03 PM »
I wish not watering our lawn or watering it less was an option. However our HAO tends to fine people if their yard upkeep slips too much.

Morning Glory

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2017, 03:49:18 PM »
I wish not watering our lawn or watering it less was an option. However our HAO tends to fine people if their yard upkeep slips too much.

That is insane, especially in a naturally dry area. Do they allow you to replace the grass with something else? Cacti maybe? It says something about our country that there is more land dedicated to yard grass than all of the food crops combined.

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2017, 03:55:32 PM »
I wish not watering our lawn or watering it less was an option. However our HAO tends to fine people if their yard upkeep slips too much.

This is why we refused to buy into an HOA, and refused to sign when our neighbors tried to form one. 

I do realize there are some areas where this is near impossible though.

moof

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2017, 04:13:46 PM »
Ours is also typically 75-80% fixed costs, pretty maddening.  We don't bother putting extra effort into saving as a result, just not worth it.  I hate mowing the lawn, so that is why we don't bother watering it.

prognastat

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2017, 04:14:33 PM »
I wish not watering our lawn or watering it less was an option. However our HAO tends to fine people if their yard upkeep slips too much.

This is why we refused to buy into an HOA, and refused to sign when our neighbors tried to form one. 

I do realize there are some areas where this is near impossible though.

I came from a country where HOAs would be considered insane and had no idea what I was signing up to unfortunately.

prognastat

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Re: Water savings coming in like a bad ass
« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2017, 04:16:18 PM »
I wish not watering our lawn or watering it less was an option. However our HAO tends to fine people if their yard upkeep slips too much.

That is insane, especially in a naturally dry area. Do they allow you to replace the grass with something else? Cacti maybe? It says something about our country that there is more land dedicated to yard grass than all of the food crops combined.

If it were up to me I would totally be up for xeriscaping my yard and to a certain extent I could despite the HOA. However my wife doesn't want it at all.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!