Since having our light bulb moment where we realised we seriously needed to sort out our finances and drastically reduce our outgoings, we have been closely looking at our household bills and ways to reduce them.
One of things we knew we could cut back on was water usage. There are four of us in the house which equals to a lot of toilet trips.
On average the toilet is used ten times per day in our house. This equates to a massive sixty litres per day just for flushing!
We decided that going forward we would the following rule taken from the Money Saving Expert website:
This was OK but after doing a little research I knew we could save even more water.
Looking online I came across the Waterwise website which has loads of useful information about the water we use and how how we can reduce our consumption. The following is taken from the site.
“Considering the average household flushes 5000 times per year, savings of up to 5000 litres per year could be achieved just by simply installing a cistern displacement device (CDD). These are available for free from most water companies. These devices are easy to install and are placed in the toilet cistern to displace approximately one litre of water every time you flush.”
After reading this I straight away logged on to our water supplier to see if I could get a CDD sent to us. It took me all of two minutes to find some information and another minute or so to fill in my details for the free water saving device.
Three days later the post arrive with a small package. I was now the proud owner of a Hippo7.
This device will save us 1-2 litres of water per flush which along with our rule from above will cut our water usage from the toilet drastically!
It was a little awkward to install into the cistern as there wasn’t much room but once in you see it really did make a difference when flushing.
If you want to find out a bit more about the Hippo7 have a look their website here.
A word of advice, on the above site you can order a family pack of three Hippos for £8.95 but if you contact your water provider directly they will provide these for free!
Over all I am happy with the amount of water we are saving on toilet trips. I just wish we had known about this device sooner. I am surprised the water companies don’t send them out at standard to every household.
If you have any other tips on how we can use even less water please let me know.
Happy flushing 🙂
Ricky Willis is the original Skint Dad. A money-making enthusiast, father, and husband to Naomi. He is always looking for unique ways to earn a little extra.
Congrats on the water hippo, I’m a real tightwad on the water front, and not to save money as we’re not metered, it’s on the environmental front for us.
While running the water to get it hot for the dishes I run it into a separate bowl, I then use this water to water the plants, fill the iron, water the garden and if there’s still spare flush the toilet.
I use the washing up water to water the garden and I run the shower into a bucket while it’s heating up and use that to flush the toilet.
We have a jug of water in the fridge all the time to use for drinks rather than getting the tap to run cold for every drink.
Unfortunately the water companies won’t offer these to their customers as it woulf ultimately result in them losing money in the long run as everyone uses less water. They fulfill their minimum expectations by making them available on their website and waiting for customers to ask for them.
You can fill a small plastic milk bottle with sand and put that in your water cistern. Or you can pee in a bucket and put it on your compost heap, no flushing needed. I collect rainwater in plastic bowls in the garden, and empty them into a big bucket next to the downstairs loo. Use small jug for flushing. All my bathwater is used for flushing, easy for me, single person household.
Some local councils also have some water saving devices. Give them a call.
For anyone who’s moved onto a meter, by choice or not, investigate if the water company offer a phased in pricing structure. South East water do, for example, and that is also applied to your waste water too (which becomes metered in the same way). That gives you a tapered discount on the price hike over the first two years, with the potential to save hundreds of pounds. It’s not means-tested (ie different to other similar tariffs sometimes available), you just need to ask.
Obviously after the first 2 years you’re in the same boat as everyone else, although perhaps boat isn’t the best metaphor to use there….