Comments on: How I Cut My Water Bill In Half

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 00:57:43 +0000

Oops, sorry on that last comment about the electricity – it was directed to Jim, not Nick. My bad.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 00:55:45 +0000

Jim, I’m in Baltimore County and my water usage is down only slightly from the summer, so maybe one of the bills was estimated and the other not or maybe you do have a leak in one of the outside water pipes, although I think that would be showing up somewhere if it’s doubling your water usage. FMF, we have a low-flow showerhead and cannot tell the difference; just get a good one – try to test it at the store or someone’s house. Nick, thank you for the laugh. It started with the ice in the drinks and really got going with throwing water off the balcony to watch it freeze in mid-air.

Nick, one more thing – don’t worry how much you save on water – you’ll be paying it in electricity this summer when the deregulation price caps come off!

By: jim

jim — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 17:34:30 +0000

I will have to double check that but the water is provided by the county and not a private company.

By: Dus10

Dus10 — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 16:54:44 +0000

Are you sure they were not just billing you for your estimated usage? My water company does that. We get billed monthly, but they estimate it frequently, and only actually check the meter every so many months, and then that bill is adjusted accordingly.

By: Free Money Finance

Free Money Finance — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:32:04 +0000

Festival of Frugality

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Festival of Frugality. For those of you who don’t know, this carnival is about frugal living and saving money. Somewhere this got lost in the translation since I received entries that weren’t about

By: Shaun

Shaun — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 17:30:06 +0000

Not sure if this applies to Maryland this time of year, but I did notice my water bill had taken a jump recently. Turned out to be two problems: 1) I have an in-ground fountain in my backyard and the cement had cracked, allowing water to leak out. The fountain has an auto-fill float, so more water was constantly being put back in. 2) My irrigation system developed cracks in two of the hoses, causes more leaks. Out here in Arizona, there isn’t really a winter, so the irrigation goes all year. Not sure if these types of issues might be a problem in the Maryland winter, but it’s worth a check.

By: FMF

FMF — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 15:13:59 +0000

I’m thinking of installing the low-flow showerheads and see what that does to our water bill. Our current showerhead was made sometime in the 80’s and gives a full blast of water.

By: mbhunter

mbhunter — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 06:42:56 +0000

Our county does a flat fee for the first 8,000 gallons, so putting aside for the moment my desire not to waste water, we never really save any money by conserving.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 19:27:06 +0000

Still, for every reason that you might use less water in the winter, you can probably come up with another reason you use more. For example, I don't know about you, but cold weather makes me pee more, and that means more flushes of the toilet. Another example: winter is more depressing, so you'll need more ice for your mixed drinks. And while your plants might not need as much water in the winter, if you intend to keep your Christmas tree looking nice and healthy into March and April, you're gonna have to keep it properly hydrated. Also, whenever the temperature drops below zero, any normal person will spend the day throwing buckets of water off their third-story balcony to watch it freeze in mid-air.

By: raising4boys.com

raising4boys.com — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 19:08:39 +0000

I think the fact that you stopped showering has helped tremendously. That and the lack of dish washing.

By: RS

RS — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 18:20:08 +0000

I am with Jane on this one. I find that I naturally use more water in the summer months, even though I would say that I don’t change my habits between seasons (consiously at least).

By: Jane Dough

Jane Dough — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 17:42:07 +0000

Not sure if it is true for you, but I find that I do less laundry in the cold months (I don’t sweat through as many clothes). My plants need less watering in the winter months, and I don’t drink as much tap water. In the summer months it is not uncommon for me to take two showers a day (one in the morning and one in the evening to cool me down before bed). So the season may in fact be having an impact on your water usage.