Water-saving tips so your money doesn't go down the drain

Just as we are spoiled when it comes to food, we are also spoiled when it comes to our water supply. In our households, we use pure, drinking water quality water for almost everything, and we often let the tap run as if water were free for both us and the Earth. Nowadays there are plenty of tips and ideas with which we can reduce our water consumption. One such tip is to use as much greywater as possible – water that we have already used for something – again. Although greywater is not suitable for drinking, it is more than perfect for watering plants, mopping, and flushing the toilet. In addition, there are simple technical solutions with which we can save a lot of water, such as water-saving shower heads or push-button toilet tanks.

Saving water is really simple, especially if you follow a few of our tips that we have compiled for you in this article.

8 tips for a water-saving lifestyle

1. Turn off the tap: the most basic advice is that if you are not using water, turn off the tap so it doesn't run needlessly. Just by brushing your teeth, you can save as much as 6-9 liters of water, which means 10-15 thousand liters per year.
2. Water-saving shower head: there are shower heads that disperse water very finely. When using this, you don't need to open the tap very wide, so you use much less water when showering.
3. Smaller toilet tank, less water: it's good if the toilet tank is as small as possible, since we use many times more water than necessary in a single flush. If you don't want to replace the tank, put an empty mineral water bottle with pebbles in it, seal it tightly, then place it in the toilet tank. This way it will fill with less water. You will notice the difference in your water bill at the monthly level, since we flush the toilet many times a day.
4. Only full loads: always fill your washing machine and dishwasher completely. A full load of washing requires much less water than two half-full ones. You can save as much as 100 liters per washing machine cycle and as much as 50 liters per dishwasher cycle.
5. Minimal water boiling: only boil as much water in your kettle as you actually need. This way you can not only reduce your water consumption, but also your energy consumption, since reheating water uses double the energy.
6. Cover it up: when cooking, put a lid on your pots. Much less water will evaporate, the food will cook faster, and it will retain more nutrients.
7. Half a bath, or better yet, a shower: from Earth's perspective, a quick shower is one of the best choices. If you still prefer bathing in the tub, don't fill it completely. A full tub uses roughly 80 liters of water, while a quick shower uses 10-50 liters. Don't let the water run while you soap yourself, and while you wait for the warm water, collect the clean, cold water in a basin, which you can later use for almost anything.
8. Rainwater, the greenest option: when watering your garden, use rainwater if possible. Place barrels and tanks outside and use the water collected in them to water not only your garden flowers, but also your indoor plants. In fact, other household needs can also be met with rainwater, since a family house with a floor area of 150 square meters can collect enough rainwater on its roof for a year's worth of toilet use, cleaning, and washing needs.

Rethinking water conservation

We have compiled two modern solutions to the problem of water waste:

1. Rethought toilet tanks that use greywater when flushing.
2. An invention called Gris that collects the water used in showers, which we can then reuse later.

Image source: Pixabay