Here, when we are told we use 39...it means 3900 gallons of water...just add two zeros.

When we moved in the water guy told us that a family of 2-3 will use a min of 1,000 gallons a month, and that's if they are uber conservative....the average is between 2,000-3,000 gallons a month.  So if you all used 3900 gallons of water in 20 days you are right about average I think.

We have a well (WOO HOO) but we still have to pay sewer, and guess how that's measured?  They put a gage on how much water we pull out of our well and then charge us sewage for that amount...except in the summer when I water my lawn, wash my car, let the kids play in the water....that's not going into the sewer.

If your water is only $20 a month you're doing great...might want to focus on bigger items like electricity...heh.

Oh, you guys may qualify for the "Homestead" tax reduction...we did when we were in Texas and an E-6.....call the local tax assessment office to find out...we saved almost $100 a month after getting homestead.

Tell them you want to know if your eligible and they will mail you the info.

 

LW:

Ouch, that is expensive. It certainly doesn't encourage conservation. I would want to get my money's worth.

Tova:

Cool, thanks. Haha. And that sounds like A LOT!!



I'm glad it's a decent amount and not horrible.



That's ridiculous. I guess they're going to make sure they get your money, one way or another.



Haha, electricity is the big one we're working on. I figure if there are bills we can minimize fairly easily, there's no point in not trying to. I don't know how much more we can cut down on water, realistically. There will always be dishes and laundry and showers. Unavoidable.

We have a toilet downstairs that just runs and runs and runs. We keep it turned off except when we're using it for now until it can be fixed.



The lady who walked us through the closing gave me paperwork on the Homestead thing. She highly recommended that I do it (me, not Adrian), and gave me an info sheet for it. She said I could do it in January.

Thanks!

Well I just saw something on the weather channel about water consumption...you might want to add THREE zero's to that 39...39,000 because according to this guy a family of 4 averages 400  gallons a day of water.

And the single most water using thing in the house?  THE TOILET!

Make sure it doesn't run...

Something we do (because we don't have economy toilets) is take a tupperware bowl or plastic pasta holder, anything from the dollar store with a lid that will fit in the basin behind the toilet bowl...fill it with water, put a lid on it and set it down in the bottom where it doesn't affect the flapper...you will use lots less water with that in there taking up space, but still have enough water to flush.

 

you can also put a brick behind the flapper in the tank....If you don't have a tupperware bowl....

Homesteading is a great idea too.

Anyway, you can lower that a bit by getting a smaller trash can.  They automatically give you a huge one, but you can request a medium or small.  I have a medium and I could probably go to a small (except on holidays and weeks I decide to throw a ton of stuff away).  The recycle bin is a monthly charge but you will still save by getting a smaller trash bin. (plus they don't charge if you have more than fits in your recycle bin...if you overfill the trash bin, it is an $18 charge)

 

 

I was thinking the same thing. Tex, whatever you're doing is already working.

We pay twice as much as you.