Turn the Water Off to Your Toilet ($1.13/month)

Most hard core misers have a saying you might be familiar with: "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." That's good stuff, but I can do better.

In my last post I mentioned using a bucket or container to catch the cold water that would otherwise go down the drain when you shower. You can use this water for your indoor plants. But, if that isn't enough, combine it with the following. Read on...

Have you heard of a rain barrel? Basically it is a giant plastic container that you stick under your downspout. There is a hose attached at the bottom so that it basically works like the hose you connect to your outdoor faucet. As long as you get an occasional rain, you have a free supply of water. Most misers would craft a rain barrel themselves, but I had a fairly large gift certificate balance for Amazon so I paid about $100 for a 50 gallon barrel. I purchased the Suncast Rain Barrel.

I save my plastic one gallon milk jugs, rinse them out really well (trust me, you don't want to neglect this step!), and fill them from the rain barrel. Whenever I do flush the toilet, I add one gallon of rain water to the tank. This mixes with the fresh water that would normally fill the tank.

Savings: $1.13 per month.
Math: Most modern toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush. By adding 1 gallon of rain water, I am only using .6 gallons per flush. Where I live, 1 gallon of water costs about .75 cents. If I flush the toilet 5 times per day, I save 5 gallons of water, or 3.75 cents per day. 3.75 cents * 30 days = $1.13 per month.