Pat:

LWolfT:

I'll set up basins under the downspouts this spring to catch water .. that will help with the outdoor gardens.

Does anyone, or has anyone ever, used rain barrels? (That might not be a great idea if it never rains!)

I've thought about using them before, but never have. You can buy heavy duty plastic ones with spigots and hose connectors. I found this: "1 inch of rain on a 1000 sq ft roof yields 625 gallons of water. To calculate the yield of your roof, multiply the square footage of your roof by 625 and divide by 1000."

I wonder if it might not be a wise move, even when it doesn't rain often. Even a quarter of an inch of rain should help, but I was thinking also of pouring the buckets of kitchen, shower and laundry water into a barrel with a hose connector. That would simplify the use of it. 

That may not be very frugal, though. Is there any other way to do this? Can you buy and install spigots or hose connectors on other things?  

Yes.  I've always had a a couple rain barrels, and Mom and Dad always had them as well.  These were just old metal barrels.  Later on Dad put taps on them, but it is quite slow at draining that way and Mom (who will be celebrating her 21st birthday for the 66th time in May) just hauls the water with her watering can.  The metal barrels aren't that common to find around here anymore and a lot of people are using blue plastic ones, but I'm not sure what they held, or what they cost, but I need to look into it soon.

You should be able to fit your rainbarrels with taps, you can get taps that screw into a fitting from a hardware store.  But check pricing, by the time you get everything you need it might be cheaper to get the ones for plastic barrels.  Leevalley tools has nice solid brass ones for $17, but I have seen cheaper plastic ones some place.  But pailling it is cheaper and good exersize...

 
 

Only wash the dishes once per day.  Have 2 dish pans--one for the wash water, one for the hot rinse water.  Dishes get scraped clean than stacked unitl wash time.  Anything that needs soaking getst the used wash water poured into it and washed later. All wash water gets pitched into the gardern during growing season.

Bath towels are reused for the entire week--hang to dry between uses, they are used for wiping clean water off of clean skin.  We have family/friends who are absolutely appalled by this and think it is dirty.  Whatever. 

We wash delicate unmentionables, shirts, etc. by hand.  Each of us girls are responsible for our own.  The wash water gets pitched onto the garden in growing season, other wise down the drain.

My mom grew up with questionable (volume) water supply and bathed this way:  One basin full of hot water.  Started with her face and worked down.  Washcloth and soap to suds with.  Then rinsed as best as possible with the basin water.  Then stepped into the tub to use a bucket of fresh water to rinse well. Of course, different times.  Hair washing was accomplished much the same way.  She still prefers her bird baths to the running shower or full tub of water.

We make a concious effort to turn off water whenever possible: brushing teeth, sudsing up in shower, dishes, food prep, etc.

We live on a gravel road so car washes are generally a waste of time: it's either mud or dust but it's a way of life   lol   We either "dust" the car off or chip off the dry mud if it gets too bad.  Maybe a few washes a year using the used wash water from dishes and unmentionables.

 

 

Dear Helen, You're welcome! (gallon plastic jug)

Jim:

You should be able to fit your rainbarrels with taps, you can get taps that screw into a fitting from a hardware store.  But check pricing, by the time you get everything you need it might be cheaper to get the ones for plastic barrels.  Leevalley tools has nice solid brass ones for $17, but I have seen cheaper plastic ones some place.  But pailling it is cheaper and good exersize...

Jim, I found a site called Rain Barrel Guide which is a long page that explains a lot about rain barrels. The plastic ones are fairly expensive, from what I see there. $17 sounds pretty good, I'll have to look around and see what the prices are here, if I can find them. I know that hauling water by the bucket is good exercise, and I wish I could do that always, but I have some health problems that sometimes stop me from doing everything I'd like to do. The garden needs to be watered whether I feel up to it or not! :)

Do your metal barrels have screens to keep mosquitoes out? That would be a problem here.

 

We have had more than a fortnight without rain, with extreme warm weather (normally 15°Celsius, now up to 27°) and a dry wind blowing from Germany. For the Netherlands it is extreme dry. There have already been woods on fire. But not a word from our government about saving water....

I like to be frugal with water. We are always happy when the watercompany comes to our house to check the meter... they think we are swindlers!

We do the same thing you all do. Save clean water in a tank in the kitchen (I use it to fill bottles of water), short showers (or in the sportsclub) and wearing your clothes more than once before washing. We never use water for our garden during sunshine, but always late in the evening well after sunset.

I must confess: I use water to cool our house, which is very hot in the summer. We do not have airconditioning but I soak old sheets in water and hang them in our windows. I read this in a novel about settlers in Israel, and it really works!

Our future king is a specialist in water management. He says the wars in the 21st century will not be about oil, but about water. So it is worth being frugal about!

Pat:

Do your metal barrels have screens to keep mosquitoes out? That would be a problem here.

 

Mosquitos are a problem here as well, but the larva only live in stagnant water and the physical act of hauling the water out of the barrel keeps them from surviving long enough to mature.  Try putting a drop of dishsoap in the barrel to break the surface tension and the larva will drown.  I can see a system set up with taps etc would make a nice low pressure drip system. 

Dear Eurostretcher, I have the wonderful G-d given trait of not sweating in most climactic conditions.  I only have to wash street clothes when they become stained.  I honestly have clothes that I wear that I have not washed for a year.  (Obviously, I wash lingerie after each wear.)  Also -- & here I have to leave off writing to check -- I have enough nightwear to only have to wash once every 2 months; I have 5 dresses, 8 blouses, a great number of turtleneck sweaters; 6 skirts; 8 pairs of pants; & various outerwear.  I put none of these things in the dryer; I hang them over the shower rail to dry (on hangers), or sometimes on a drying rack if the clothes are liable to stretch with the weight of the water.

Jim:

Mosquitos are a problem here as well, but the larva only live in stagnant water and the physical act of hauling the water out of the barrel keeps them from surviving long enough to mature.  Try putting a drop of dishsoap in the barrel to break the surface tension and the larva will drown.  I can see a system set up with taps etc would make a nice low pressure drip system. 

Ah, ok, thanks. That makes sense. The back yard, where I'd want to run the water, slopes away from the house, but I have two raised bed gardens down there, so I don't know if it would work for them. I'm still thinking, thanks for your input.  

Here is another tip on mosquito solutions when saving rain water:

" If you have the ability, we found that the best way to save water was simply to use old fashioned "rain barrels." Cut off your gutter downspouts and place barrels with lids that cover the entire thing. If the area where the drain pipe goes into the lid is tightly wrapped with something like duct tape and the lid is securely closed, you won't have to worry as much about mosquitoes."

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/03/03jul28b.cfm

 

 

Ok... now I feel like a dummy, thank you.

I hadn't intended to leave a container open, but hadn't thought of using duct tape to seal around pipe entrances. Good ol' duct tape... ;) There are some other cool ideas for saving gray water in that article, too.