Decrease Your Water Bill

Use a "soaker" hose rather than a sprinkler, where possible. Less water is required when a soaker hose is used because the water is concentrated on the soil nearer the roots, and there is also less evaporation.

If you suddenly see an increase in your water bill and know that you haven't been using more water, you should be suspicious that there's a leak in your plumbing system. To find out if you have an undetected leak, turn off all water faucets inside and outside of your home. Make sure you turn off your refrigerator's automatic icemaker and don't flush the commode. Monitor your water meter for 30 minutes. If the dial moves on the meter, you have a leak.

Water your lawn, yard plants, and the vegetable garden only in the early morning, late afternoon, or evening. It is best to refrain from watering in the heat of the day, when it is windy, or when the sun is shining brightly. Under these conditions, you lose a large amount of water through evaporation.

The permanent press cycle on most automatic clothes washers uses approximately one-third more water than the regular cycle, so when you use it, your water costs for every load are one-third higher, too.

Mulch plants in your yard and vegetable garden to help hold moisture in the soil. The longer you can keep the soil moist through mulching, the more money you will save on watering. Mulch is not expensive and is available at garden stores, at supermarkets, and at mega-marts like Sam's, K-Mart, and Wal-Mart.

If you add fabric softener to your laundry at the appropriate point in the cycle, rather than at the end and running another rinse cycle, you can save up to 10 extra gallons of water every time you do laundry! If your washing machine doesn't have its own "add softener" reminder light, all you need to do is figure out how much time it takes your washer to reach the rinse cycle, and set a timer so you can add softener at the right time.

Put one to three tightly closed quart-sized plastic bottles (with rocks inside them to weigh them down) inside your commode tank. Be sure to place the bottles in such a position as to not interfere with the flushing mechanism. When you flush the commode, one to three fewer quarts of water will be used. (Note: Don't use bricks for displacement of water in the commode tank. They may flake off and cause damage to the system.)

Don't put off fixing that leaky toilet! A continuously running toilet uses more than 8,000 gallons of water per year. If you think that your toilet is continuously running, place several drops of food coloring in the tank. Wait 15-30 minutes without flushing the commode. If color appears in the toilet bowl, you have a leak that warrants immediate attention.

Compare the water requirements of different dishwashers before making your selection. If all other things are almost equal, consider purchasing the model which has a "water miser" cycle, which uses less water than the normal wash cycle. A "miser" also means that you're not wasting water when you only have a small number of dishes to wash.

Locate and repair, as soon as possible, all leaking water pipes detected by visual inspection. For example, you should suspect a leak if you find unexplained dark green patches of grass or a permanently damp area of ground on your property. An unexplained jump in your water bill may also indicate a leak in your water main.

Your garden will look better and cost less if you regularly remove weeds from your yard and vegetable garden. Weeds are notoriously thirsty and steal away the water which could be used by your vegetables, flowers, shrubs, trees, and grass. Why spend your hard-earned money on water to nourish weeds that you don't want in the first place?

Limit the amount of time you allow your children to play with the water hose, whether they're helping with gardening chores or just having fun. Thirty minutes of "hose time" can waste as much as several hundred gallons of water.

Depending on the distance of the water heater from your tap, many gallons of water may have to be run off before the hot water reaches the tap. Instead of letting the hot water faucet run, waiting for the temperature of the water to rise, heat a kettle of water for various small uses rather than drawing hot water from the tap.

Hand-washing isn't just for your delicates. Whenever you have just an item or two of clothing that needs to be washed, simply fill your bathroom sink or a small tub with an appropriate amount of water and wash your clothing by hand. An extra savings tip: be sure not to let the water run from the faucet continuously while washing and rinsing, or all your savings are going to go right down the drain.

Garbage disposals are handy and a time-saver, but they require a large amount of energy to operate. That means you'll want to use your disposal sparingly in order to keep your utility bill in check. Instead of dumping everything down the disposal, consider creating a compost pile from old food scraps to fertilize the plants in your yard as well as your vegetable garden.

A typical washing machine uses about 21 gallons of water to wash a large load, while a small load uses 14 gallons. Several small loads use considerably more water than one or two large loads -- If you do two small loads instead of one large one, you use (and pay for) additional 7 gallons of water. Over the course of a year, this adds up on your bill.

Don't hose-down your garage, sidewalks, and driveway to keep them clean. You could use over 100 gallons of water to do the job! Instead, brush away debris with a broom.

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