The cheap man's gray water, saving Ј10 per month

A question about : The cheap man's gray water, saving Ј10 per month

Quick tip if you want to save money on your water bill.

Keep a couple of buckets near the kitchen sink and whenever you rinse something out catch the water in a bowl and empty it into the bucket. Then use the bucket to flush your toilet instead of the cistern! If you don't use enough water at your sink you could empty your dishwasher or washing machine into a bucket, but you'd have to make sure you know how much water is coming out first and how big your bucket is

I've saved myself Ј10 per month for over a year. My bill is now down to Ј24/month. I only used this method for number 1s, Number 2s I still used the flush (for no real reason). You can use those dissolvable cistern blocks in one of the buckets if you don't like the look of the soapy water, but they dissolve pretty quickly.

Best answers:

• Ј10 a month is a huge saving by using buckets of water!
  You don't say where you live, but water/sewerage costs can vary between Ј2 and Ј4 a cubic metre(1,000 litres) with the average about Ј3.
  To save Ј10 a month you would need to save between 2,500 and 5,000 litres. So if you had a large 10 litre bucket(weighing over 20lbs) and filled it every time, you would need 250 to 500 buckets a month. So 8 to 16 10 litre buckets a day.
  A lot of water!
• Well I live in a house with a large single flush cistern so each time I flushed it used a lot of water. When I flush with a bucket I don't use the same amount of water because there is no need for a number 1. Generally I used 2 x 10L buckets a day but the cistern would be using more like 90L per day
  If you have a dual flush toilet already yes your savings would be a lot less.
  oh and it's South West Water, most expensive water in the country Ј5.51 cubic meter
• Hi Stator, yes, I do much the same, as I am on South West Ripoff too,
  but I collect the rainwater (of which there is a plenty in the We*t Country near PZ) and use it for all sorts, as it does not go into drains.
  It's actually very good for washing up my one plate and cup too !!
  I only have a septic tank system.
  Also doing #1's in the garden at chosen spots saves a lot of flushing water as well- but we all know that !
  thanks for your pm reply too, I am still trying to work out the niceties of being a MSE contributor.
• Don't empty the bath - and if you shower in a bath, put the plug in and leave the water there. Use that to flush with.
• You need to do something with the additional RH though right? I noticed a big difference when I was taking too long to flush our baby bath after bathing our son.
• Replace the loo?
  Ј60 or so for a dual flush 6L/4L toilet. Pretty easy job to replace you could DIY or pay someone to install it.
  The payback time would only be a few years.
  My advice don't flush at all after a pee....just leave it there. I spray a bit of bleach around the rim so it don't smell....and it gets a full flush once/twice a day anyway so won't be there long enough to smell.
• Sorry I even bothered posting this to be honest. Please forget about it and don't drag it up again.
• On the contrary, I found it really interesting. I remember, many years ago, my dad put a brick in the cistern so it held less water.
  Whenever I leave a bath full of hot water, I fill a gallon plastic container and it keeps my legs warm all evening. The remaining water stays in the bath till it's cold. I guess I could use it to flush the loo.
• Saving water is all well and good but you have to save an awful lot before you would notice it on your water bill.
  The time and effort saving water (not to mention cleaning a bath out after having dirty standing water in it) is probably not worth it, 1000 litres of water costs about Ј3-Ј5 depending where you live, that's around 12 baths full, all for a drop in your monthly bill of Ј3-Ј5, so unless your efforts on not flushing the toilet every time and other measures you may take, are going to save 1000 litres or more, imo the effort needed to save the water doesn't make the savings worthwhile.
  Add in the cost of extra cleaning products for the toilet too, then the saving may not even be Ј3.
  Not having a go at the OP here either, just coming to the realisation myself, as I have just moved into a property with a water meter, I've been driving myself mad worrying about every little drop, I see now you can only go so far, the odd extra toilet flush etc is not going to send my bill sky rocketing.
• You could all just move to Scotland where the tap water is tasty & good for you & the Brucey bonus - Scottish Water is still public owned and a pittance per month on your council tax.
• Sniggings - i have cut my water bill from Ј52 a month to Ј40 a month by not flushing every time, and using rainwater on my garden always. Simple as that. My loo does notget dirty, I can put a drop of the thin cheap bleach down overnight, and that is all that is needed. I am on a very low income so this saving is brilliant