Cut Back or Pay a Fortune

Now remember we live in the same house as in 2008, but now we even have one extra baby to use water on. So what measures have we done to reduce our water bill?

Watering our garden – Prior to this year we used to water our front and back gardens quite regularly; every couple of nights. This year we switched to doing it once a week. And guess what; it didn't die, even through a hot summer. We came to the realisation we had been watering it too much in the past years.

Installing water arrestors – We had a plumber install this device at the start of the year into our kitchen sink. I was a bit sceptical of this thing and was unsure how it would work. But it aerates the outcoming water so essentially, as you're filling up your sink, instead of the flow from the tap being 100% water, it has air particles in it. One side effect of this is your sink takes a lot longer to fill. But when you do the dishes you can use the pressure to rinse the dishes with less water. You will just have to trust me when I say this works.

Pick fork the grass – Once every six months I grab my trusty pick fork and take to the grass. This does the same job as hiring out a grass core machine. By creating small two-inch holes in the dirt right across the grass, it allows water to get closer to the roots and where the grass needs it. Now we do not have to water the grass as often or as much, saving us bucket loads of water.

Don't get a shower timer – We usee to have a shower timer until recently but it kept breaking down on us. We tried several different brands from different hardware stores. But would you believe, in each case, after it got wet, its days were numbered. Now we just keep a radio near the shower and listen to one song. As songs average around 3 to 4 minutes this is a great way to know when to jump out.

Stack your dishes in order – If you are still washing dishes by hand, stack them from cleanest to dirtiest. This way the water doesn't get too many food scraps right until the end of the wash. It allows you not to have to empty and refill your sink due to the water being dirty mid wash.

We have cut down on the baths – A normal bath uses up to three times more water than a three-minute shower. And a spa or hot tub can use up to six times more water. Just by having fewer baths, our water usage has dropped.

The bottom line is we can complain about fuel, food, electricity, gas and water prices going through the roof all we like. It seems governments and companies are unable or unwilling to try and stop the big price increases which have been happening lately. One way we can at least insure ourselves against price rises is to use less. Let's grab the bull by the horns and really make some deep cuts in our lifestyle.