One of my favorite blogs to read each day is the Happy Rock.
Yesterday, Frank put up a post about not flushing the toilet so as to save money on water or some such nonsense…
Most of his post was most certainly a tongue-in-cheek sort of thing as many of his “Cheaper than Cheap” posts tend to be.
“If it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.”
It made me think of how Sheryl Crow insisted that people should only use one piece of toilet paper per visit a couple of years ago to save the environment or something.
It was obviously a joke though many apparently seemed to miss it.
Now I’m not saying that flushing the toilet less often is a bad idea but I think people need to put the savings aspect of it in perspective.
Water is freakin’ cheap!
My water bill arrived yesterday, coincidentally, and you know how much the bill was for?
$47.31
And that’s for three months worth.
Not that I usually measure out my water in cubic feet, but according to the bill, I used 1820 cubic feet of water over three months.
A quick calculation into a more common unit of measurement tells me that that’s 13614 gallons of water. Divide by three and that’s around 4500 gallons per month.
Now, I’ll admit that I take long showers. I take long showers often.
It’s a pretty safe bet that that’s most of the water was used.
And with a baby coming soon that’ll poop all over everything (that is what babies do, right?), can you imagine how much laundry we’ll be doing? Or how many additional showers I’ll feel the need to take as a result of all that pooping?
I guess my point is that for every three gallons of water that I use, my bill only increases by a penny.
In reality, it’s probably far less than that as I’m sure a good chunk of that $47.31 bill goes towards things totally unrelated to my water consumption.
Basically, flush the toilet…
And if you want some real savings… stop paying $1.29 for a little bottle of water.
The stuff is worth far less than 1-cent per gallon.
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PIAC Flashback Moment that Sorta Relates:
One time in university, one of my crunchier classmates told me not to use so much water to wash out an Florence flask.
Thinking it was a joke and being a geology nerd, I deadpanned, “Seventy percent of the world’s surface is covered with water. I hardly think we’re running low…” as I turned on a second sink faucet.
They were somewhat miffed, understandably, but I stand by my statement to this day.
Water, in one form or another, is not a commodity we’re lacking. If it were, it’d cost more.
Seriously, it’s falling from the sky right now in New England!? For FREE!
WOW~! That’s a decent water bill for THREE months! Mine atleast $35.00-$40.00 a month ($14.00 of it is an environmental fee the stupid, greedy city council voted to approve!)
But I agree with ya… I’m not up for the “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down” mantra that my mom used to preach! She now has plumbing problems and it is probably due to lack of flushing for the majority of my formative years – which has only gotten worse since I moved out!
Babies do more than poop tho! They also cry, and eat, cry some more – if it’s a boy he’ll become a fountain from time to time… lol! Naw, hope you post the details about the kiddo when the time comes! It’s not too far away… where has the time gone?
I completely agree. People love to take the smallest of tasks and make it into a huge money-saving deal. Meanwhile, people continue buying their $4 lattes and driving a $40,000 car.
Where are the priorities in today’s society? Are we so obsessed with the “latest craze” that we fail to have some perspective?
What’s next – turn the brightness of your TV down to use less power? Are you kidding me?? 🙂
I grew up in NYC, and took the subway for 8 years, high school and college. The smell of urine is something the subway is known for. I’d not want my house to start to smell like that. At $4/1000 gal, and 3 gal/flush, I can well afford the extra flushes. One latte not bought is 3 flushes a day for the year. Sorry, this ain’t the place to save money or water.
you’re right, water IS cheap!
And you’re also right that once the kid comes, you might as well invest in Whirlpool or Maytag, or GE (don’t they own all the others anyway?).
I think we do a load of laundry every other day with our three month old…
-Grant
I agree, Brainy. I was surprised how much traction that post got. I was pretty sure most people would be a little revolted. I would hate for people to miss the wealth forest for the penny trees.
Agree wholeheartedly with the message. However the “Water Saving” mantra has nothing to do with the lack / abundance of water. It has everything to do with the energy required to get it into the toilet and remove the waste when it comes back out. Which admittedly for your part of the world (and mine as well) is still pretty insignificant.
Two other points: 70% of the surface of the earth may be covered with water, but only 3% of the water on earth is readily potable (google says it so it must be true), and if it’s yellow let it mellow has an asterisk “*for a flush or two”.
-b
The cost of water/water treatment/sewage/blah blah depends on where you live. I’m in New Mexico and water is very expensive here. For me to have a nice lawn, my water bill is about $200/month through the summer. Do not misunderstand: I flush every flipping time.
I live in a rural area, and we do observe this rule, only flushing every two number 1’s or so. This is only because we have a well, and therefore a finite amount of water. If we use too much water, we end up with pinkish brown water because of the clay in the bottom of our well. The value of conserving water is, for us, far more than mere money. It’s the value of being able to take a shower and really get your hair clean because you aren’t washing it with clay water.