Saving money 3 cents at a time. Respecting the penny!

[jnw]

I always thought, since I was a child even, that a penny is so insignificant we shouldn't bother worrying about saving a few cents here and there.

Starting to rethink that now.

My guy warms up the shower each day using more than 2 gallons each time he does it.  This typically goes down the drain.  This water costs us 1.5 cents per gallon in the water/sewage bill.   So 3 cents down the drain each time.

We've decided to collect that 2 gallons of water into a 16 quart stock pot which we will then sit next to the DIY Berkey to cool down.  Then when it comes time to refill the Berkey, the water will have arrived to room temp.  We'll dump it in the Berkey and it will then be pristine filtered drinking water.

Our DIY Berkey holds 2.75 gallons of water and we fill it each day.   So this works out perfectly.

365 days * 3 cents per day is $10.95.  $11 and 730 gallons of water saved throughout the year.

Sure someone might say, like I used to, it isn't worth our time for 3 cents.  But I beg to differ now, we get exercise walking that 2 gallons of water to the kitchen each day; which improves our physical health and we get paid to exercise instead of us paying for a gym membership to use a treadmill.  Also we have to, at a minimum, walk from the kitchen sink to the Berkey with a filled pot of water, but the bathroom isn't much further of a walk.

So I am seeing things differently now. I am respecting the penny, especially if it's a routine which we do every single day like this example.

What do you think about this? Maybe you have some other tiny savings examples, which I should consider, to save pennies each day :)

[RWD]

Personally I would be reluctant to drink water from my shower. Using it for gardening or similar makes sense to me though (see Greywater).

I do try to squeeze every last bit out of my toothpaste tube.

[jnw]

Personally I would be reluctant to drink water from my shower. Using it for gardening or similar makes sense to me though (see Greywater).

I do try to squeeze every last bit out of my toothpaste tube.

Oh this is fresh water, not grey. Ya know how you run the water to warm it up for the shower and it just goes down the drain?  Just stick a pot there for the first minute or so to collect the initial 2 gallons from the tap.  It's warm clean water right from the faucet. (Unlike some here, we don't do ice cold showers.. brrr.)

[ixtap]

Personally I would be reluctant to drink water from my shower. Using it for gardening or similar makes sense to me though (see Greywater).

I do try to squeeze every last bit out of my toothpaste tube.

Oh this is fresh water, not grey. Ya know how you run the water to warm it up for the shower and it just goes down the drain?  Just stick a pot there for the first minute or so to collect the initial 2 gallons from the tap.  It's warm clean water right from the faucet. (Unlike some here, we don't do ice cold showers.. brrr.)

It may be an urban legend, but I was brought up to not consume the water from the hot water side because vague germy reasons. Something to check out if you continue with this.

We don't shower every day unless it is really hot, then we try to shower at the pool house, which has a weak flow and 29 second shut off. But then, we don't need to filter our water at our current location, either.

[RWD]

Personally I would be reluctant to drink water from my shower. Using it for gardening or similar makes sense to me though (see Greywater).

I do try to squeeze every last bit out of my toothpaste tube.

Oh this is fresh water, not grey. Ya know how you run the water to warm it up for the shower and it just goes down the drain?  Just stick a pot there for the first minute or so to collect the initial 2 gallons from the tap.  It's warm clean water right from the faucet. (Unlike some here, we don't do ice cold showers.. brrr.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/health/29real.html

[jnw]

The water is being filtered through a Berkey Water Filter.. which removes 99.9% lead.

[sonofsven]

I don't drink from the warm side, either, but I would in an emergency. All of us with a standard water heater have approximately 50 gallons of emergency water, if needed.
As for pennies, I put them in a jar with the rest of my change.
I pay a set amount for water, with no sewer charge, so I don't take water conservation all that seriously (also: live in rain forest).
I have 100 gallons of rain barrel water for the garden and emergency use, I had to use it one time when the water district shut down all our water after a big storm. I used it to fill the toilet tank, not for drinking.
JenniferW, here's a thought: instead of filtering the two gallon bucket water for drinking, shut off your toilet water supply and fill the tank manually from your bucket supply.

[affordablehousing]

Maybe I shouldn't be saying this but we only shower once a week. That's another good way to bring down costs (and keep the neighbors away).

[SunnyDays]

I don't drink from the warm side, either, but I would in an emergency. All of us with a standard water heater have approximately 50 gallons of emergency water, if needed.
As for pennies, I put them in a jar with the rest of my change.
I pay a set amount for water, with no sewer charge, so I don't take water conservation all that seriously (also: live in rain forest).
I have 100 gallons of rain barrel water for the garden and emergency use, I had to use it one time when the water district shut down all our water after a big storm. I used it to fill the toilet tank, not for drinking.
JenniferW, here's a thought: instead of filtering the two gallon bucket water for drinking, shut off your toilet water supply and fill the tank manually from your bucket supply.

It's even easier than that.  Just set the bucket aside in the bathroom and pour it directly into the toilet when it needs flushing.  The toilet will basically flush itself, returning the water to it's usual level.

[jnw]

Great ideas :)

[jnw]

Would be cool if I could collect greywater from shower into a tank then draw from that to pour into the toilet bowl to flush :)

Also would be great if there was a greywater tank the rinse cycle of washing machine would fill, only to then be used by the following wash cycle of the washing machine.

[GreenToTheCore]

Ha! We've been starting to do this (collect the shower warming water). We already have a showerhead that turns off when the water gets hot enough so that's been a nice signal to know when the shower is ready.
We've picked out parts to add to our downspout for easy pouring, something like a Y connector. That downspout is right outside the back door and connected to the rain catchment system so it'll go straight into the holding tank. We should really get those parts on order, thanks for the reminder :)

[ixtap]

Maybe I shouldn't be saying this but we only shower once a week. That's another good way to bring down costs (and keep the neighbors away).

This was the scariest part of our water heater going out: it had already been a few days since anyone had a shower and one never knows how long the property manager/landlord/ handyman chain will take.

[SunnyDays]

Would be cool if I could collect greywater from shower into a tank then draw from that to pour into the toilet bowl to flush :)

Also would be great if there was a greywater tank the rinse cycle of washing machine would fill, only to then be used by the following wash cycle of the washing machine.

How dedicated are you?  If you really want to put your back into it, just plug the tub while showering so it fills up, then use the bucket to slog the water somewhere else.  Maybe a storage tank of some sort.  Every time someone leaves the bathroom, they have to bring out a bucketful. 

[secondcor521]

I think it's smart to economize.  I think it's really smart to economize economically.  Here's what I mean by that.

I could, and have, saved pennies in similar ways - in my case, by tracking which gas station was cheapest, or by collecting hotel shampoos and soap bars, and things like that.  I think if these are fun and interesting or provide other benefits then they make sense to do them.

I can, and have, saved much larger amounts of dollars in other ways.  In my case, by optimizing my taxes, optimizing my health insurance, doing preventative maintenance on my car, and things like that.  These also can be fun and interesting or provide other benefits (less chance of being stranded on the side of the road, for example).

It doesn't have to be an either/or between saving dollars and pennies.  And saving pennies does end up saving dollars, both in the sense of accumulation and also overall mindset.  And I think personal preferences can and should come into play.

But in my particular case, I've sometimes decided to focus my efforts on the dollars rather than the pennies.  Either because my time and energy and focus are limited so I have to make a priority call, or sometimes because I make a tradeoff in my mind where I'll spend some amount of time saving, say, $40 on my Internet bill and then using that as permission or an offset so I can skip taking the little hotel shampoos if I feel like being a bit lazy.

One thing I do is categorize my transactions (I'm over 50 so I use Quicken ;-) ) and then sort categories largest to smallest.  This way I can (a) make sure that my spending aligns with my values, and (b) I can see which categories are largest and thus more likely to have savings opportunities.  For example, I currently spend 43 times more money on food than I do on my cat.  So if I want to economize, I can safely figure that switching from one grocery store to the other is probably going to save me more raw dollars than buying cheaper cat food.

[jnw]

One thing I do is categorize my transactions (I'm over 50 so I use Quicken ;-) ) and then sort categories largest to smallest.  This way I can (a) make sure that my spending aligns with my values, and (b) I can see which categories are largest and thus more likely to have savings opportunities.  For example, I currently spend 43 times more money on food than I do on my cat.  So if I want to economize, I can safely figure that switching from one grocery store to the other is probably going to save me more raw dollars than buying cheaper cat food.

I think it's awesome you use Quicken; I've used it as well and think it's great. It sure beats everything offered online due to the precise tracking of every penny and the ability to make as many subcategories you'd like.  I use the free Gnucash software now, as of recent, which does the same thing, but a little different since the accounting is more like bookkeeping instead.

I had gone for many years without tracking expenses and by not doing so you really don't get a clear picture of all the expenses.

I've been dong the same lately with respect to sorting the most expensive categories to least to discover savings opportunities.  The latest being on Heavy Cream -- yeah I am going through the grocery receipts line by line in the transaction assigning each item to the right grocery subcategories.  Heavy cream is our biggest grocery expense after meats.   I use too much heavy cream, I could easily cut my consumption in half and am going to do that and save $240 per year as a result :)

Cheers :)

Note: Meat purchases of $199 this month includes eggs and a very large purchase of case of pork loin ($1.78/lb) this month -- the case of pork loin cost $109 with taxes.  [We process the whole boneless pork loins into dozens of portions of sliced loin / chops and freeze those portions.] We also eat a lot of eggs, so does the dog :)  Additionally, the reason why dry goods is so little is we don't eat any grains here; well my guy pecks here and there at the huge 40 lb bag of rice we bought for emergency backup (along with 40 lb bag of pinto beans); this huge bag of rice will last a few more years at the rate he's going at it.

[DoneFSO]

One of my favorite financial quotes is from Katherine Porter:  "You can't latte yourself to bankruptcy. The bladder won't stand for it." 

The common wisdom is that you can make financial headway by cutting out the daily latte.  But in the grand scheme of things, how many lattes will your bladder allow you to drink?  Porter’s point is that the places to make/save money in a meaningful way lie in the big things and the necessities:  income, rent/mortgage, transportation, etc. 

So keep the daily latte because it’s only a matter of a hundred dollars a month, and the stress-relief and pleasure it gives you may well be worth the cost.  One could argue that, if a matter of a hundred dollars were truly that significant to someone, then they might be better served by focusing on making more money rather than saving individual dollars (or pennies) because the evidence I have seen indicates that the real changes in one’s financial life are made elsewhere and in more meaningful ways.

And so I agree with Katherine Porter.  Thinking about pennies – in this day and age when they are worth so little – is almost by definition pound-foolish because the calories it cost you to think about such insignificant things are wasted, frankly… literally; if you stop to look down at a penny, consider its value, decide to retrieve it, endeavor to pick it up, wipe it off, store it in your pocket, and then decide what to do with it when you get home… then you have already spent more energy and resources on that penny than it could ever be worth to you; that energy could have been spent simply activating your comparative advantages to make additional money or simply strategizing to save money in more significant ways.

Of course, if one’s problem isn’t really the daily latte, but rather a number of things like the daily latte – such as subscriptions, apps, scratch tickets, clothing purchases, etc. – then there’s probably a psychological problem afoot; the daily latte, in such a case, is the leitmotif and not the theme.

[jnw]

$10 per month on instant coffee, along with the heavy cream, does us both fine here :)  Tastes yummy to us. :)  Great Value Instant Coffee.  $2.98 for 8oz of crystals.

I could make them even fancier if I whipped up the heavy cream etc.. if I wanted. :) 

[Runrooster]

We have similar debates on every low-grocery-budget thread.  While $40/month on cream seems high, (and $34/month on produce sounds unhealthily low), it's probably well within your budget money-wise.  It seems less ideal health-wise to me, but I'm not one of those keto people. 

I do think it depends a lot on how much you make, how much time/stress you have...  There are people $800/person on groceries who could slash that with little effort.  Then there are people spending $300/person because they have long hours, young kids, lawn care and house repairs, for whom pinching grocery pennies would mean spending more somewhere else.  My brother makes $400K, drives multiples Teslas, lives in a McMansion, goes on international resort vacations twice a year, but thinks he should scrimp on blueberries at $1.60/pint.  Then my Mom gets mad because I don't buy them for him. It's odd.

[jnw]

We have similar debates on every low-grocery-budget thread.  While $40/month on cream seems high, (and $34/month on produce sounds unhealthily low), it's probably well within your budget money-wise.  It seems less ideal health-wise to me, but I'm not one of those keto people. 

Veggies are really cheap though.  Head of cauliflower is like $1.49 and lasts many meals.  Same with head of Romaine lettuce.   Roma tomatoes here are like $1 per pound.  Green peas are like 76 cents per pound (frozen). You did notice the $20 in frozen berries right?  That's produce as well just I wanted to track the Berries outside of the other produce since I knew it was a big expense each month.   Berries are absolutely the most healthy fruit of all fruits, even the most healthiest vegans would agree and have written such.  Berries are the only fruits we eat.    Yeah you are right though I've been slacking  a little lately on veggies and normally we do eat even more than we do.  I mean veggies are the only other food group we eat besides protein :)  Gotta have some variety.. not into keto carnivoire here.   We have a large garden out back as well for veggies so we won't have to buy as many from the store.  Have a few winter crops out there including some kale, chives, parsley, scallions, endives which are currently thriving :)

The Heavy cream usage is excessive this month.  Been drinking a lot more coffee than I normally do lately.. and I put like 3 tbsp of heavy cream in a mug.  Gonna reduce that to at least 2 tbsp.  Also often use the heavy cream with a little pinch of salt, vanilla extract and liquid stevia to make a cream base for the frozen berries.. it's a healthy alternative to ice cream.  I use too much cream in that as well and can cut that in half.  I was a bit shocked at how muich cream we were going through lol.

Regarding health, put it this way, my guy is now 155 pounds.. without even trying as side effect of the diet, he lost 60 pounds over the past 4 years since we have been eating this way. He was 215.  He has been maintaining the 155 pounds for 2 years without any effiort at all.  He's a hard worker and that's all the exercise he gets. He's 52 and size 30 waist; he used to be size 36 waist. I have also lost 65 pounds and reversed my type 2 diabetes where I was A1C 10.0 and now A1C 5.7.   So yeah it's a healthy diet compared to grains, at least for us.  Also, our triglycierides and HDL cholesterol have improved dramatically along with liver enyzmes as well. I had a CAC (calcium score scan) of heart and it's a ZERO at 51 years old.

Believe me we'd be eating beans and rice predominantly if we could get away with it, since it's much more affordable than meat & veggies.  But eating grains / legumes makes such a negative impact on health for us, we can't eat that way. The extra expense of meat and veggies is worth it to us since we are healthier.  EDIT: I really miss my artisan loaves/boules of sourdough bread I used to bake.. they were so delicious and gorgeous.. but I can't eat that way anymore; one piece and I feel like death because blood sugar spikes.  I do eat carbs but limit it to like three or four times per year, and I suffer every time but it's worth it sometimes, if I do it rarely.

[Runrooster]

One of my favorite financial quotes is from Katherine Porter:  "You can't latte yourself to bankruptcy. The bladder won't stand for it." 

The common wisdom is that you can make financial headway by cutting out the daily latte.  But in the grand scheme of things, how many lattes will your bladder allow you to drink?  Porter’s point is that the places to make/save money in a meaningful way lie in the big things and the necessities:  income, rent/mortgage, transportation, etc. 

So keep the daily latte because it’s only a matter of a hundred dollars a month, and the stress-relief and pleasure it gives you may well be worth the cost.  One could argue that, if a matter of a hundred dollars were truly that significant to someone, then they might be better served by focusing on making more money rather than saving individual dollars (or pennies) because the evidence I have seen indicates that the real changes in one’s financial life are made elsewhere and in more meaningful ways.

Of course, if one’s problem isn’t really the daily latte, but rather a number of things like the daily latte – such as subscriptions, apps, scratch tickets, clothing purchases, etc. – then there’s probably a psychological problem afoot; the daily latte, in such a case, is the leitmotif and not the theme.

I like the quote but I think the last paragraph is the real point.  I wouldn't call it a psychological problem though, just habit. The daily latte is but a symptom of a larger spending habit.  I think it's the infrequent latte that provides a lot of pleasure, but I only get one every few months when someone buys it for me.  It's basically ice cream, not a daily part of my diet. Even the sugar-free is not low in calories.

I would love to hear how you would go about changing the big things- cheaper house means longer commute or smaller space.  cheaper car, how?  more income, again how?  I think most people DO focus on the big things, those get optimized pretty quickly, but then they feel like they can splurge on the little things.

[Kris]

One of my favorite financial quotes is from Katherine Porter:  "You can't latte yourself to bankruptcy. The bladder won't stand for it." 

The common wisdom is that you can make financial headway by cutting out the daily latte.  But in the grand scheme of things, how many lattes will your bladder allow you to drink?  Porter’s point is that the places to make/save money in a meaningful way lie in the big things and the necessities:  income, rent/mortgage, transportation, etc. 

So keep the daily latte because it’s only a matter of a hundred dollars a month, and the stress-relief and pleasure it gives you may well be worth the cost.  One could argue that, if a matter of a hundred dollars were truly that significant to someone, then they might be better served by focusing on making more money rather than saving individual dollars (or pennies) because the evidence I have seen indicates that the real changes in one’s financial life are made elsewhere and in more meaningful ways.

Of course, if one’s problem isn’t really the daily latte, but rather a number of things like the daily latte – such as subscriptions, apps, scratch tickets, clothing purchases, etc. – then there’s probably a psychological problem afoot; the daily latte, in such a case, is the leitmotif and not the theme.

I like the quote but I think the last paragraph is the real point.  I wouldn't call it a psychological problem though, just habit. The daily latte is but a symptom of a larger spending habit.  I think it's the infrequent latte that provides a lot of pleasure, but I only get one every few months when someone buys it for me.  It's basically ice cream, not a daily part of my diet. Even the sugar-free is not low in calories.

I would love to hear how you would go about changing the big things- cheaper house means longer commute or smaller space.  cheaper car, how?  more income, again how?  I think most people DO focus on the big things, those get optimized pretty quickly, but then they feel like they can splurge on the little things.

I have always thought that was the point of the latte thing. It’s not literally a latte a day that will stop one from achieving financial freedom. It is mindless spending on things that don’t really add to one’s life. The daily latte at Starbucks is a symbol. It refers to a buying habit on a luxury item that has stopped giving any real pleasure but has become automatic. The person who has that habit likely has many others like it. And becoming mindful about that is what the latte concept is about.

It’s always been weird to me that so many people take the idea so literally.
I agree with you that the infrequent latte is a lot more pleasurable than the daily one.

[Runrooster]

We have similar debates on every low-grocery-budget thread.  While $40/month on cream seems high, (and $34/month on produce sounds unhealthily low), it's probably well within your budget money-wise.  It seems less ideal health-wise to me, but I'm not one of those keto people. 

Veggies are really cheap though.  Head of cauliflower is like $1.49 and lasts many meals.  Same with head of Romaine lettuce.   Roma tomatoes here are like $1 per pound.  Green peas are like 76 cents per pound (frozen). You did notice the $20 in frozen berries right?  That's produce as well just I wanted to track the Berries outside of the other produce since I knew it was a big expense each month.   Berries are absolutely the most healthy fruit of all fruits, even the most healthiest vegans would agree and have written such.  Berries are the only fruits we eat.    Yeah you are right though I've been slacking  a little lately on veggies and normally we do eat even more than we do.  I mean veggies are the only other food group we eat besides protein :)  Gotta have some variety.. not into keto carnivoire here.   We have a large garden out back as well for veggies so we won't have to buy as many from the store.  Have a few winter crops out there including some kale, chives, parsley, scallions, endives which are currently thriving :)

The Heavy cream usage is excessive this month.  Been drinking a lot more coffee than I normally do lately.. and I put like 3 tbsp of heavy cream in a mug.  Gonna reduce that to at least 2 tbsp.  Also often use the heavy cream with a little pinch of salt, vanilla extract and liquid stevia to make a cream base for the frozen berries.. it's a healthy alternative to ice cream.  I use too much cream in that as well and can cut that in half.  I was a bit shocked at how muich cream we were going through lol.

Regarding health, put it this way, my guy is now 155 pounds.. without even trying as side effect of the diet, he lost 60 pounds over the past 4 years since we have been eating this way. He was 215.  He has been maintaining the 155 pounds for 2 years without any effiort at all.   I have also lost 60 pounds and reversed my type 2 diabetes where I was A1C 10.0 and now A1C 5.7.   So yeah it's a healthy diet compared to grains, at least for us.  Also, our triglycierides and HDL cholesterol have improved dramatically along with liver enyzmes as well. I had a CAC (calcium score scan) of heart and it's a ZERO at 51 years old.

I did notice the $20 in frozen berries, and agree with you that they are the healthiest. I probably spend $20 for just myself between strawberries and blueberries.  Lately we've been buying a $10 case of mangos every week for the 3 of us.  When asked what I was grateful for at Thanksgiving, I said I was grateful I'm not diabetic yet (my family is) and don't have to scrimp on fruits.

Your veggie prices seem awfully low- we don't get cauliflower for less than $3/head, and that's at the Asian market.  For a few weeks it was $7/head and we were very sad not to eat it. 

[jnw]

I did notice the $20 in frozen berries, and agree with you that they are the healthiest. I probably spend $20 for just myself between strawberries and blueberries.  Lately we've been buying a $10 case of mangos every week for the 3 of us.  When asked what I was grateful for at Thanksgiving, I said I was grateful I'm not diabetic yet (my family is) and don't have to scrimp on fruits.

Your veggie prices seem awfully low- we don't get cauliflower for less than $3/head, and that's at the Asian market.  For a few weeks it was $7/head and we were very sad not to eat it.

Here is a screenshot from Gnucash, where I track my personal finances to the penny for all accounts.  The cauliflower purchased the other day you can see was $1.83.  That's after taxes of 8.52%.   $1.83/1.0852 = $1.69 per head.  So yeah up a little in the past couple years due to inflation I guess.  I'm in Oklahoma.

We do eat a lot of veggies as you can see 58% of the line items below in the shopping cart were veggies.  We also have the veggies out back in the garden.  If you were to snap a photo of our typical Aldi cart half of the bulk of the cart or more would be visibly veggies/berries.  The other items in carts being meats and cheeses. At least there isn't any cheezits, cookies, chips, etc.. in it :)  We only eat whole foods and stay away from trans fats as well. We cook everything from scratch.

(The 26 cents at top is the paper bags we buy at aldi for the groceries.. i need to make a groceries subcategory for that.)

[Runrooster]

I'm in Oklahoma.

We do eat a lot of veggies as you can see 58% of the line items below in the shopping cart were veggies.  We also have the veggies out back in the garden.  If you were to snap a photo of our typical Aldi cart half of the bulk of the cart or more would be visibly veggies/berries.  The other items in carts being meats and cheeses. At least there isn't any cheezits, cookies, chips, etc.. in it :)  We only eat whole foods and stay away from trans fats as well. We cook everything from scratch.

I'm in the DC suburbs, so prices are higher, and our garden hasn't produced much since my Mom became disabled. 
You know, I don't buy much in the way of cheezits cookies chips either but they end up in my belly, through work, through freebies.  I bought a couple bags of chips in December when they were $.50/bag, and I have one left.
My parents love bread but that's also been coming home for free from the senior center. 
I do believe in/eat my legumes.  And I eat some rice, usually brown but not always.

[jnw]

I don't know why veggies are so cheap here.  It's so hard to grow them.  Totally a steal at the market.

[PMG]

(The 26 cents at top is the paper bags we buy at aldi for the groceries.. i need to make a groceries subcategory for that.)

I just found you an easy way to save 26 cents with much less work than the shower water toting deal.

[ixtap]

(The 26 cents at top is the paper bags we buy at aldi for the groceries.. i need to make a groceries subcategory for that.)

I just found you an easy way to save 26 cents with much less work than the shower water toting deal.

Even if I forget my bags, I just have them put everything in the cart.

[jnw]

We save the paper bags and use them :)  And when done with them compost them, which we then grow veggies with.  I grew up with paper bags, before there were even plastic grocery bags.  Love the crinkling sound when the groceries are brought in  the house :)

You are right though, I'll give it some more thought :)  Maybe I'll save a little on the bags, snd still do the water thing with the shower :)

Btw, again walking the water from the bathroom instead of the kitchen sink isn't much more work, just a few more steps :)  Free treadmill!

[MissNancyPryor]

On the water thing specifically, I didn't see it mentioned but the math isn't quite right.  If you are counting pennies then you must consider that the additional water put through the Berkey actually consumes some of the life of the filter element.  Paying to replace the filter even a moment earlier than possible consumes far more than savings on water costs, plus the environmental impacts of filter production and acquisition cost are not negligible.     

I suggest using the pre-shower water for the next brown flush (cuz yellow be mellow) and that way you don't have to haul the water to the Berkey, you won't drink even the negligible 0.01% of whatever the Berkey left in there, and you are extending the life of the Berkey by not putting the warm water in it.  You lose the treadmill but still get your lifting reps.  :)

Often folks don't really think about the entirety of the math for conservation, they really just consider the back end.  They will recycle 3 cents of plastic and feel good about it without considering what it cost for that diesel spewing truck to come get that recycle bin, or what it costs to melt it down for re-use, etc.

Since we are talking about pennies.     

[jnw]

On the water thing specifically, I didn't see it mentioned but the math isn't quite right.  If you are counting pennies then you must consider that the additional water put through the Berkey actually consumes some of the life of the filter element.  Paying to replace the filter even a moment earlier than possible consumes far more than savings on water costs, plus the environmental impacts of filter production and acquisition cost are not negligible.     

I suggest using the pre-shower water for the next brown flush (cuz yellow be mellow) and that way you don't have to haul the water to the Berkey, you won't drink even the negligible 0.01% of whatever the Berkey left in there, and you are extending the life of the Berkey by not putting the warm water in it.  You lose the treadmill but still get your lifting reps.  :)

Often folks don't really think about the entirety of the math for conservation, they really just consider the back end.  They will recycle 3 cents of plastic and feel good about it without considering what it cost for that diesel spewing truck to come get that recycle bin, or what it costs to melt it down for re-use, etc.

Since we are talking about pennies.     

I am putting water in the Berkey regardless, each day.  I recently bought it specifically to save money on filtered water.  It will cost me a max of 2.47 cents per gallon to filter the water with the Berkey with a 6000 gallon filter life -- however there is this one guy on youtube that showed his Berkey Filter passed red dye inspection after 10,000 gallons and it's still going strong.  At 6000 gallons filtered, this is about 1/4th the cost of Britta filters.  It's about 8 times cheaper to filter than distilling, which I was using before.   I am literally going to save about $240 per year not distilling.

As I mentioned I am not putting warm water in the Berkey, the water sits in the pot next to the Berkey and cools to room temp before pouring in.

I am not wearing out the Berkey any faster and I am not wasting anything. I am saving the 3 cents per day on the water.

I am not affraid of the warm water lead contamination thing. I call BS to start with, and if it's true the Berkey catches 99.999999% of it.

The flushing the toilet by pouring in pre-shower water is a great alternative I agree.  But by using it for the Berkey instead, I am avoiding any potential splash back from toilet :)  Also there isn't much room in the bathroom at all -- very small here; whereas the kitchen is relatively large here.

FYI, I am usually the type of person who thinks about the entirety of things and if I don't I am welcome to criticism so I may learn.  But in this case, I believe I thought it out well enough.  The lead contamination thing got me a little, but I don't know if I believe it and I am confident in the Berkey to catch it if any extra comes through.

[jnw]

So I thought about it more and agree it's probably not worth the extra $11 per year because of the lead thing y'all mentioned.  I guess we'll start to try and save it in a bucket to flush toilet.

I am gonna work on an alternative to buying paper bags though :)  Thanks for pointing that out.

[yachi]

Personally I would be reluctant to drink water from my shower. Using it for gardening or similar makes sense to me though (see Greywater).

I do try to squeeze every last bit out of my toothpaste tube.

I push the tube into the funnel-shaped part with my thumb like a plunger, but the real key to maximum use is to cut the tube once you've squeezed as much out as you can.  There are usually at least 2-3 brushes left where the tube transitions from flat to the the circular opening.

[SunnyDays]

Personally I would be reluctant to drink water from my shower. Using it for gardening or similar makes sense to me though (see Greywater).

I do try to squeeze every last bit out of my toothpaste tube.

I push the tube into the funnel-shaped part with my thumb like a plunger, but the real key to maximum use is to cut the tube once you've squeezed as much out as you can.  There are usually at least 2-3 brushes left where the tube transitions from flat to the the circular opening.

I cut the tube open too.  Make sure to cut it high enough up that it can be pinched shut or the toothpaste dries out.

[mistymoney]

Personally I would be reluctant to drink water from my shower. Using it for gardening or similar makes sense to me though (see Greywater).

I do try to squeeze every last bit out of my toothpaste tube.

Oh this is fresh water, not grey. Ya know how you run the water to warm it up for the shower and it just goes down the drain?  Just stick a pot there for the first minute or so to collect the initial 2 gallons from the tap.  It's warm clean water right from the faucet. (Unlike some here, we don't do ice cold showers.. brrr.)

It may be an urban legend, but I was brought up to not consume the water from the hot water side because vague germy reasons. Something to check out if you continue with this.

We don't shower every day unless it is really hot, then we try to shower at the pool house, which has a weak flow and 29 second shut off. But then, we don't need to filter our water at our current location, either.

the hot water is in the pipes for a much longer period of time, plus the hot water heater - is that recommended for potable water?

So if is picking up a lot more of the pipes, etc may go through filters much faster.

Every morning we run the cold water in the kitchen for a minute or two to clean out what has been sitting in the pipes overnight.

[mistymoney]

Would be cool if I could collect greywater from shower into a tank then draw from that to pour into the toilet bowl to flush :)

Also would be great if there was a greywater tank the rinse cycle of washing machine would fill, only to then be used by the following wash cycle of the washing machine.

How dedicated are you?  If you really want to put your back into it, just plug the tub while showering so it fills up, then use the bucket to slog the water somewhere else.  Maybe a storage tank of some sort.  Every time someone leaves the bathroom, they have to bring out a bucketful.

lol reminded me of a time our btub was really clogged, nothing going down. had to bail it every time anyone wanted a shower.

to ease the process, I started bailing every time I went to the bathroom to flush the toilet.


I felt.....virtuous.

[jnw]

Would be cool if I could collect greywater from shower into a tank then draw from that to pour into the toilet bowl to flush :)

Also would be great if there was a greywater tank the rinse cycle of washing machine would fill, only to then be used by the following wash cycle of the washing machine.

How dedicated are you?  If you really want to put your back into it, just plug the tub while showering so it fills up, then use the bucket to slog the water somewhere else.  Maybe a storage tank of some sort.  Every time someone leaves the bathroom, they have to bring out a bucketful.

lol reminded me of a time our btub was really clogged, nothing going down. had to bail it every time anyone wanted a shower.

to ease the process, I started bailing every time I went to the bathroom to flush the toilet.


I felt.....virtuous.

Hah great idea if you take baths.  To just keep the water in there and bail it for toilet :) brilliant.

Would be cool if greywater went from shower into a large tank for the toilet :)  Also if washing machines were designed so the rinse water for a load is used as the wash water for a subsequent load :)

[Cassie]

I am much more focused on the big items such as housing, cars, groceries, and hobbies etc that are expensive. I recently saved 40/month by switching my phone service to T-Mobile prepaid for 15/month and dumping cable for you tube tv for a savings of 60/month.

[jnw]

I am much more focused on the big items such as housing, cars, groceries, and hobbies etc that are expensive. I recently saved 40/month by switching my phone service to T-Mobile prepaid for 15/month and dumping cable for you tube tv for a savings of 60/month.

Yeah me too.  But lately I’ve been trying to save even more and find this a good exercise to respect all money.  i’m just trying to discipline myself because if I can save every penny then I won’t let anything get by me.  if I can think of 99 other tiny ways to save $10 per year that amounts to a total of thousand dollars per year of savings.  And once they become routine it becomes worth it because you’re not doing any extra work to save that thousand a year.

[secondcor521]

@JenniferW, you might do well to go check out the Tightwad Gazette volumes 1 through 3 from your local library.  Amy D. basically already thought of pretty much every way to save a penny and wrote them all down in those books.

Because of when they were written, they probably don't have any savings techniques related to Internet stuff, but for day-to-day stuff I think she thought of pretty much everything.  And after you read all three volumes, you can probably generalize from her ideas to anything, including Internet stuff.

[jnw]

@JenniferW, you might do well to go check out the Tightwad Gazette volumes 1 through 3 from your local library.  Amy D. basically already thought of pretty much every way to save a penny and wrote them all down in those books.

Because of when they were written, they probably don't have any savings techniques related to Internet stuff, but for day-to-day stuff I think she thought of pretty much everything.  And after you read all three volumes, you can probably generalize from her ideas to anything, including Internet stuff.

I bought her Complete Tightwad Gazette a few years back and really liked her Price Book idea and use that.  The rest seemed really straightforward to me or I thought at the time much of the things she mentioned wouldn't amount to much savings.  So now that I see more clearly now, I should probably repurchase it for $7 and re-read it carefully.  I can't find it at my library.  I can't find my copy I bought.

[RetiredAt63]

Re greywater for laundry, back in the day washing machines were set up just for that.  The wash water drained into the laundry tub and out.  The rinse water went into the laundry tub and stayed there, then was the wash water for the next load.  This worked when all the laundry was done in one day.

That was in the 1950s and that was an old setup even then.

[jnw]

Re greywater for laundry, back in the day washing machines were set up just for that.  The wash water drained into the laundry tub and out.  The rinse water went into the laundry tub and stayed there, then was the wash water for the next load.  This worked when all the laundry was done in one day.

That was in the 1950s and that was an old setup even then.

Thanks for sharing this :) Interesting :)

[Cranky]

So I thought about it more and agree it's probably not worth the extra $11 per year because of the lead thing y'all mentioned.  I guess we'll start to try and save it in a bucket to flush toilet.

I am gonna work on an alternative to buying paper bags though :)  Thanks for pointing that out.

Stick a couple of laundry baskets in the car. Wheel your cart out of Aldi, and unload it into the laundry baskets (or plastic tubs). It’s easier to carry into the house and the baskets last a lot longer than paper bags. I started doing this in 2020 when I wanted to get in and out of the store as fast as possible.

[RWD]

So I thought about it more and agree it's probably not worth the extra $11 per year because of the lead thing y'all mentioned.  I guess we'll start to try and save it in a bucket to flush toilet.

I am gonna work on an alternative to buying paper bags though :)  Thanks for pointing that out.

Stick a couple of laundry baskets in the car. Wheel your cart out of Aldi, and unload it into the laundry baskets (or plastic tubs). It’s easier to carry into the house and the baskets last a lot longer than paper bags. I started doing this in 2020 when I wanted to get in and out of the store as fast as possible.

They make cargo organizers designed specifically for this purpose (example). They are collapsible to save space when you aren't using them and have compartments to better hold your groceries. They might even be cheaper than laundry baskets.

[jnw]

So I thought about it more and agree it's probably not worth the extra $11 per year because of the lead thing y'all mentioned.  I guess we'll start to try and save it in a bucket to flush toilet.

I am gonna work on an alternative to buying paper bags though :)  Thanks for pointing that out.

Stick a couple of laundry baskets in the car. Wheel your cart out of Aldi, and unload it into the laundry baskets (or plastic tubs). It’s easier to carry into the house and the baskets last a lot longer than paper bags. I started doing this in 2020 when I wanted to get in and out of the store as fast as possible.

Oh the plastic tubs thing is brilliant.  We have a few here and they are easy to clean :)  We'll try that thank you!

[ixtap]

Most of our canvas and recycled materials bags were free. Drs without borders sends one with their soliciting materials. One I made out of scraps from another project. I have bags that are over 15yo. These things tend to last.