Want to save money on your water bill? Here's how one family does it: They flush their toilets less . . . once in two days. They also share the same bathwater. Real bad, eh? But as long as it will save you a little cash . . . If after being used the water still isn't dirty enough they'll use it the next day. While I'm all for saving money, there are strategies which I'd never recommend. But if you don't mind trying . . .
Wow, that is pretty disgusting.. Can you post the link where you got that info? I wonder how much do they earn to do very extreme and gross ways to save money..
I don't suppose they save too much. But every little saved helps, right? I saw it on youtube whilst viewing a number of vids. It would be pretty hard to find it again. Couldn't find the link but if you are interested, you could search for the video on the site. You should consider watching a number of extreme cheapskates vids on youtube. You'd be surprised to what extreme lengths some people go to save [a little] money.
There are much better strategies that I could suggest to this family. One would be to install a composting toilet. Secondly, sharing bath water is not very hygienic, so filling a bucket with water and using that for a sponge bath would be a much better idea. Also, swimming in a river or in the ocean, wherever possible, would be recommendable. Another way to save water is to collect rain water.
Well, yes, I find it gross, but it's not exactly new. The phrase "don't throw out the baby with the bathwater" is from the time when the entire family would use the same bathwater. The father would be the first one in and the baby was the last one out, so you had to make sure not to "throw it out." The biggest issue I have with these sorts of people is that they insist on telling everyone as a way to justify to themselves and try to get more people on their side. No, just do what you want to do and if people think you stink, then they will and move away from you. Don't bother them after that.
I think I have seen some of the things you mentioned here from "Extreme Cheapskates" that I happen to surf through while checking out tv shows. I quickly browsed at other episodes and discovered other ways on saving money and lowering the bills such as washing your hair at a limited amount of time after using the shampoo, cutting down on your use of toilet paper, even mowing the lawn at midnight because electricity is cheaper during that time. I personally think that if you or your family is not bothered by these practices, then you might as well continue with it. On the other hand, it won't hurt to always be hygienic when going about these methods.
I have heard of only flushing when it's number 2, but that was what a friend told me they did at an orphanage in Mexico, and the cost of water there was much higher for them than it is for us, so they were very careful to save where they could. They also do not flush TP ever, so if this family is only flushing now and then, they must be putting all their TP in the trash. Fine if you take out the trash everyday, but somehow I have a feeling they are not keeping up with that.
I have also seen this show a few times. I don't know if the stories are legit but if they are, then they are really extreme! I remember one man who reuses his napkin several times, hanging it in the clothesline to let it dry. He also reuses tea bags a whole lot. He can make several cups of tea with just a single tea bag. Surprisingly, his wife has the patience to deal with him. When they went out to watch a movie, his wife asked him to buy some snacks. What he did was pick up a popcorn container and a cup of soda from the trashcan, went to the counter for a free re-fill, and voila! Popcorn and soda for his wife!
We have our bodily waste magically whisked away for us at the touch of a button. We never have to really deal with it, so of course it would seem gross to let it sit there. The saying goes "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down". This is not something that I practice all the time, but there are occasions where I do. When you get passed the yuck factor, it kind of makes sense. Why does it take a whole gallon of water to flush a few ounces of fluid? If I am going to be home all day, and going to the bathroom several times, then I can flush every 3rd time. If I am going to be gone for a while, I won't let it sit all day, because that is gross. But think about how many gallons of water we could save if everyone adopted this technique. For people going through extreme drought, it may become absolutely necessary. It is only gross because we have become so accustomed to not having to face our own filth.
The only time I reused bathwater was to water the lawn when I used to live with my ex. There were limits on watering grass because of a drought, so I dumped buckets of bathwater on the grass so it wouldn't die. I know of the family that OP is talking about because I saw that episode too, and they didn't look too clean.
That is so gross that you would actually reuse bath water, I would be horrified if I had to do that. The not flushing after going pee is not so unusual because I have known people who live in very rural areas that had to do this. They had to truck their water in, so every drop counted. The toilets get nasty though, so it is not worth it to me to save a little water. You are better off getting a low flow toilet.
I did know a person who would only flush their toilet once per a few months. They claimed that the water was too expensive to waste money on flushing the toilet, so they just took a stick and pushed the contents down themselves... But yeah, the whole family sadly had mental issues, hardcore schizophrenia, alcoholism, and other problems, so that was the least of people's worries..
I am concerned about water usage and when I lived alone, I would only flush after every second wee. I cannot abide it now there's another person living here though so try and reduce my water usage in other ways instead.
A less gross, but still cheaper method with the toilet water is with this phrase: If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down. It's the phrase used to remind kids when to flush and when not to. If it's just pee, they just let it sit and don't flush as frequently because of it.
I can't imagine that you could possibly save enough money by doing this to make it worthwhile. I would not bathe after someone else or expect anyone else to bathe after me. Even when we had a water shortage, we found other ways. You can skip the long shower and just put a tiny amount of water in the tub, or you can fill a bowl with water if you don't like sitting in bath water. I'd much rather have a sponge bath with a small amount of clean water than bathe in the dirt left behind by other people... even if they are my family members.
Zyni, I'm with you on that (but not in the tub!). I don't understand why people have to post a video of these disgusting suggestions. I get it when people rewash ziplock bags or reuse (gift) tissue paper, etc., to save money, but letting the rest of the world in on these bathroom habits is beyond me.
Haha, yeah, I prefer to have the tub (and bathwater) to myself. I agree. I mean, seriously, I do all manner of things to try to save money, but this just seems so over the top (I know some people feel the same about me, but I do draw the line somewhere). I wonder how much money they actually even save. Sometimes, you make life that much harder and only end up saving a few pennies. A few pennies just aren't worth it to me. It's funny, because I'm like the queen of frugal, but I'm just going to have to say no to bathing in dirty water. I think I'd rather go out and hunt pennies on the ground, if it came to that.