With no access to public water, a cistern, or a well, our family has an unusual perspective on how to save money on your water bill.
Several years ago, and after much searching, we found a house that seemed perfect for our family. It was in a quiet area and had a barn (a must for me!). We loved it!
Before placing an offer on the home, we had an inspection done. We learned that the home wasn’t on a public water supply, but it had a cistern and a well. This didn’t concern us too much.
In fact, I thought we’d save money on our water bill because we could get it naturally and wouldn’t have to pay for it.
Two very expensive lessons later, we bought the home only to discover that the well didn’t hold enough to support our family. And the cistern could not be repaired, even after a number of tries. So we quickly learned many tips that helped us to save money on our water bill.
How to Save Money On Your Water Bill
Our Unusual Water Situation
We certainly aren’t the only people in our situation, but it’s still pretty unusual. We have two large 1,000-gallon tanks in our basement. Some people have a set up like this that is hooked up to a well or a rainwater system. But not us.
When the water approaches the bottom of the tanks, we call our “water guy”, who hauls us a dump truck load of water to refill them.
Watching our water drain as we use it gives us a strong desire to save our water whenever we can. Well, that and the amount of money we have to pay our water guy to haul to us every couple of weeks or so. (The expense of keeping up with truck maintenance, gas, and more adds to the bill.)
Chaos!
Because our water guy charges by the truckload rather than the gallon, we have to empty our tanks nearly to the bottom before we can refill them. This gives us a strange mix of saving every drop of water we can for weeks at a time, only to be followed by a day where we have to use up all of the water in the house to make the most of our money.
So once I call the water guy and find out what time he will deliver, it’s a race to empty every drop of water from the tanks before he comes to refill them.
On water day, I’ll often run as many loads of laundry as I can (since that’s the main way we use up water). I’ll also clean the bathroom, do all of the dishes, run a few pitchers full of water, start a crock pot of beans, set up the coffee, run a couple of buckets of mop water, clean the dishwasher, and anything else I can think of.
None of these are things that waste the water. It’s just a matter of planning to do water involved things on this one day.
Water day is a busy day.
How to Decrease Your Water Bill
On any other day, we are careful with our water usage. We really want to squeeze out every drop that we can. Here are some ways that we have saved on our water bill over the years.
Water Saving Devices
One of the first switches we made was to our washing machine. The one that came with our house was a standard older model. It used 40 gallons of water per load of laundry.
Our family of 7 was only a family of 5 at the time, but we still went through quite a bit of laundry. By buying a high efficient front loader, we were able to save 25 gallons of water per load. The washer paid for itself quickly by gaining us more days between loads of water.
Later we added a dishwasher to our home, but it, too, is water and energy efficient.
Showers and Baths
We try to take short showers and lower the water level in our baths. In the winter time, our kids need fewer baths. In the summer, they require more. But we try to keep an eye on the length of time each child spends in the tub.
Sometimes we even set a timer to make sure we don’t get distracted and forget.
When we first moved in, I would use a bucket to catch the water we wasted waiting for the shower to warm up. Then I would use the bucket throughout the day to refill the toilet as we used it.
That became tedious, and I was concerned that pouring water in was messing up the inner workings of the toilet. So I gave up that practice.
Since I take my showers in the evening, I start the dishwasher first. That pulls the hot water upstairs and makes my shower water hot right away. Which means less water wasted down the drain while I wait for it to warm up.
Toilet
We are not mellow yellow and brown down kind of people. That’s a frugal line I haven’t crossed.
You don’t necessarily have to go through the expense of buying a water efficient toilet. We just bought a special flapper for the inside of the toilet that saves on water. Our toilet flapper is similar to this model which sells for less than $10. Well worth the water savings you’ll gain over time.
Well water
Our goats and other critters are watered from our well. We also use well water to water any plants or flowers we have growing. If we didn’t have a well, I’d set up buckets to catch rain water from our gutters.
Other Small Ways to Save On Your Water Bill
We don’t leave the water running while we brush our teeth.
We use public water whenever we have the opportunity. (Filling a water bottle or one last trip to the restroom before leaving.)
We are well aware of leaky faucets or toilets because our tanks empty more quickly. We try to take care of these problems immediately.
And that’s how to save water in daily life.
With a bit of up front work, you can save a lot on your water bill year after year!
If you need to find more ways to save money, be sure to join the newsletter subscription. Join the hundreds of subscribers that are getting bonus money saving tips delivered to their inbox every week!
How do you save on your water bill? If I missed a way, you know I want to hear it!
I found this post so interesting! Makes me wonder how much more conservative we’d be if we could literally watch our water and other utilities being consumed. Thanks for giving me something to think about!
Love to hear that! Thanks for reading.
Jamie – when Matthew and Mel were little we lived in a rented farm house with a well and cistern. I too saved bathtub water for flushing – bought drinking water, did laundry at the Laundromat (Sundays with the Sunday newspaper and coffee and donuts!), saved any extra water from the water delivery into containers and barrels for the pets (we had 2 horses), 3 dogs, 6 cats, some rabbits, etc) and numerous other small tricks. I am in awe of you doing this with five children. And I never ever ever take clean filtered water from the tap for granted. 🙂
Having grown up in the droughty West, saving water is second nature to me. We save even water used to wash vegetables and use it to water plants, and we tag team showers to avoid having to heat the pipes twice.
Too bad about the well and cistern not working properly. I live in an area that is really gauged by the water supply company. I am a fan of “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down. I would imagine though if I lived in a family as large as yours I would not be a fan of that option. Interesting read.
Wow, I honestly didn’t even know that was a way to obtain water these days. I can imagine it would make you way more aware very quickly! These are a lot of great ideas to minimize water consumption.
I remember as a child having a well at our house, I actually called my father about it because I had no idea the cost that went into it. He explained to me that the initial cost was high to get it set up and a good pump in there to get the water to the house but after that it was great. It did however add to our electric bill which was higher than most in the area.
I do though remember that I have not ever had since better tasting water than that well.
Interesting post! Thanks for sharing this info with us! Blessings, Janet
Wow, I have never heard of having water tanks in the basement like that (of course, we don’t have basements anywhere near here!) and it was really interesting to read about how you all have to deal with the whole water fill-up situation! Thanks for joining us at #FridayFrivolity!
I hadn’t either before we moved in! It’s a pretty different set up. Thanks for hosting!
When I was growing up, we lived in a home that had no running water. Mama hauled it 50 gallons at a time from her mom and dad’s up to our home. We were water cautious, and not having running water, it was dishpan baths and a real honest to goodness ‘commode’ which was emptied into the outhouse each day. THAT was my job. Mama was ashamed of not having running water and insisted I take the ‘chamber pot’ out the back door, which involved jumping off the back porch and lifting it down….ugh! We won’t discuss how often that spilled upon me, and how I loathed that task! Now that I’m older (57) when I mention this to others near my age, I’m astonished to hear how many of them had no running water in their homes either and knew full well the old outhouse and the familiar chamber pot. Astonishing when you consider the age we live in.
Anyway, it was interesting to hear your water story. I was curious last week when you mentioned it but I didn’t have time to read, so glad you mentioned it again this week.
I’m surprised these days how often I run into people that still live on cistern water. I guess it’s just one of those things that we don’t realize is still common. Thanks for sharing your story, that sounds like a rough job you were given!
I was relieved to read that you don’t reuse the toilet water, lol. We stayed as guests in a home that made us follow that rule. Can you say BLECKY??? I can almost understand doing it as a family, but to make your guests do it???? Ugh, it gives me the heebie jeebies still!! Thanks for linking up at Frugal Fridays, Jamie! 🙂
haha! Yes, that is asking a lot of guests!
The only things I might consider adding might be something I was unaware of until I had a friend with a 5th-wheel camper.
They sell shower heads on hoses (like those we normal people use) that have an on/off switch. I had to use his shower one weekend because we were camping, and we had limited water – so the off was used while I soaped up and shampooed, turning it back “on” to rinse. It kept the water “warm” (hot?) in the handle, so it wasn’t a splash of cold water to rinse. It also had a low-flow (but strong enough to rinse well) head.
Also, find the ones (aerators?) you can attach to your faucets. I had a boyfriend with those in 2005, so I know they are fairly simple (and probably less expensive) to attach to the faucets. It’ll slow the consumption more as you can adjust the flow of the water 😉
Oh my! I bet that is/was a bit of an eye-opener. Just as a source of info. Grandma Donna has some great water conserving info. on her blog (gdonna.com) Actually, her latest post is about this very thing. I don’t know her and get nothing from sharing that, but if it can be of help to you, am glad to share. We bloggers are pretty good at watching out for each other aren’t we:)
Have a fabulous Wednesday!
Thanks for sharing that resource! I’ll definitely check it out. 🙂
Interesting. I grew up w/ a well, and now live again in a place with a well (my neighborhood growing up was all wells, and the entire town I live in now is about 90% wells though a small section is hooked up to a neighboring town’s water). We always had ready access to water growing up unless there was a power outage, but the building I live in now sometimes has issues with the well and water pressure. I haven’t needed to be quite as frugal or creative as you, but I’ve learned to be careful! I do remember using extra water for flushing the toilet – before a storm we would fill the tub or use melted snow. The only thing I can think of that you didn’t mention would be rain water. I know lots of people save it for watering plants etc.