20 tips to save money on your water bill.

Saving money on your water bill - twenty tips

Water charges can build up quickly and go unnoticed, until suddenly you're presented with a  water bill that makes you gasp.

We had a $500 water bill one quarter, it was about 3 times as high as usual. I pinpointed the increase to the drip hoses I'd been using on the garden. Oops.

1. Check for water leaks, inside the house and out. Hoses, leaking shower pipes....

2. Install timers on watering systems.

3. Replace dripping tap washers inside the house and out.

4. Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth.

5. Install a dual flush toilet.

6. If it's brown, flush it down.....you've heard that one right? Flushing the toilet uses a lot of water.

7. Install a displacement device in the cistern (tank) of single flush toilets, as it can save you water every flush. You can do this by removing the lid of your cistern and placing a large sealed plastic bottle filled with pebbles and water inside in a way that won’t interfere with the flushing mechanism.

8. Put a timer in the shower and take five minute showers.

 9. Only run the dishwasher when it's full.

10. Install a water efficient washing machine.

11. Adjust the level of water in your washing machine to suit the size of load you are washing.

12. Collect rain water, this can be used for gardening or included in a grey water system. Install a rain barrel or a water tank.

13. Place a bucket on the floor of the shower while you shower and use the water collected on the garden.

14. Instead of spraying the kids with the running hose in summer, give them small spray bottles full of water and let them spray each other. Much less water is used this way.

15. Install a water efficient shower head, and make sure it doesn't drip.

16. Use water bottles for the family, instead of everyone grabbing a glass of water when they're thirsty. This means less water wasted (as people tend to over-fill a glass and tip out the remainder) and less dishes to wash.

17. Don't bathe your kids every day if they don't need it.

18. Place pet's drinking bowls out of the sun, to reduce evaporation.

19. Use mulch on your garden to reduce water loss.

20. When washing veggies in the kitchen, put the plug in or put some water into a bowl for washing the, don't let the tap run.

There ya go, twenty water saving tips that will save you money. 

How many of these are you doing already?

20 tips to save money on your electricity bill

20 electricity saving tips for your home

1. Keep your appliances clean and well maintained. Vacuum the coils of the fridge. Clean the filters on your wall heater. Clean the filters in your dishwasher. Keep an eye on build-up in your washing machine and dishwasher. Vacuum out your computer, it attracts dust which makes the fan work much harder.

2. Have appliances such as heaters and air conditioners checked out annually by a qualified service technician. This can reduce the appliance’s operating costs by as much as 20%, extend the life of the system, and improve its safety and air quality.

3. When using air conditioners, it is best to establish your comfort temperature, and then set your thermostat at that level permanently. This will definitely save on electric bills because the air conditioning unit takes less energy to cool air four to five degrees than it does to cool air eight to ten degrees.

4. Keep your deep freezer full. Fill empty bottles with water and use them to fill space in your freezer, you freezer is more efficient because objects hold the cold, whereas air needs to be constantly cooled down.

5. If you experience a power outage, keep your fridge and freezer closed as much as possible to conserve the cold air inside so your food does not spoil.

6. In refrigerators, do not over stuff compartments with bottles and plastic containers. Cool air must circulate freely to avoid overworking the condenser. Don't have your fridge set to such a low temperature that it freezes your food.

7. Hang dry your washing. Electric dryers use huge amounts of power. If you have central heating vents, you can hang your washing on a rack and place the rack over or under a vent.

8. Always use energy saving lights or light bulbs. These energy saving lights or light bulbs usually last up to 12 times longer. Plus, energy saving light bulbs consume less energy.

9. In winter, set your heating a little lower and put a sweater on.

10. Turn off lights and appliances when not in use. This one is a no-brainer. Why would you leave something turned on when nobody is using it?

11. Install lined curtains and draw them in the evening to keep the heat in. Or during a hot day, to keep the heat out.

12. Don't heat or cool rooms you are not using.

13. Turn heating off, or lower, at night.

14. Block drafts coming in under doors with a rolled up towel.

15.  Insulate your hot water heater, wrap it up to keep the heat in it.

16. Consider installing double glazed windows. They keep the heat out in summer and the heat in, in winter.

17. Turn appliances off at the wall. TVs and computers still draw decent amounts of power when in standby mode.

18. When using your oven, cook several things at once, or one after another. This saves your oven using energy to heat up from cold multiple times.

19. On a cold day when you've finished using the oven, leave the oven door ope so the residual heat can help heat the house.

20. Instead of leaving outdoor security lights on all night, install a sensor, so they only light up if they detect movement.

There they are, twenty electricity saving tips, see how many you can initiate today.

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Tips on saving money on your car

We all know prices seem to go higher every year, especially the cost of gas. Car expenses are one big factor in most households that stretches the budget, sometimes to breaking point. Here are some guidelines to help you save money on your transportation:

1. To keep your car on the road, you should check your vehicle regularly. A well-maintained vehicle will hopefully cost you less in repairs. Do the simple maintenance yourself, things like oil changes, new windscreen wipers, rotating tires, changing bulbs in light fittings. Look up your make and model of car on the internet and find out how to do these things.

2. Do not to buy a new car. The value of a car depreciates automatically when you drive it out off the showroom of the car dealer shop. You want someone else to cop that depreciation, not you. Buy a new-to-you car, at least 1 or 2 years old. Get the car checked over though so you know you're not buying a lemon. The internet is your friend here: look up the make and model and see what other people are saying about it.

3. Compare the prices of buying a car from a dealer, to buying the car from a private owner. A car from a dealer may be a bit more expensive but you may be able to get extra warranties.

4. Compare gasoline rates. Find out who has the cheapest gas on what days. Is it cheaper to fill up before  a long weekend? Use reward cards through various stores and credit companies to get cheaper gas. Check the gas cap is tightened to ensure no gas can spill out.

5. Always keep your engine tuned-up and have your tires inflated to their correct pressure to save you more money. A well-maintained engine consumes less gas. Heavy loads in your vehicle can cause your car to use more fuel because of the excess weight, so empty the trunk.

6.     Drive smoothly. Heavy braking and fast acceleration use more gas.

7.     Limit the use of your car on a day to day basis. Walk or take the bus or the subway to save gasoline. If you know you need to pay for parking once you get there, see if you can carpool with others who are going to the same venue as yourself. Combine your errands so you can do all or most of them in one trip.