It might sound like a cliché, but water truly is the essence of life. Not only do we require it to hydrate our bodies and survive, but a vast majority of the internal processes that unfold in our homes rely heavily on it. However, high consumption per capita is getting to be a true problem nowadays, which is why everyone should consider more environmentally friendly alternatives.

Water Usage on Average

According to statistics gathered by the USGS Water Science School, flushing the toilet is the most water-consuming action performed in a household. Showers and baths come as a close second, which brings the total average per home at 80 to 100 gallons daily. Even by modern-day standards, that’s undoubtedly a lot.

Despite the governmental regulations that strictly limit the amount of flow each fixture is allowed to produce, the consumption level of most homes is still through the roof. And when you add in energy bills and addition repair or renovation fees that might be necessary from time to time, the bottom line is the following: having a bathroom is expensive.

But what if you could do something about it? There are certain changes you could make to reduce costs on your monthly bills and optimize your living space in the process as well. Here are four money-saving tips for a greener and highly efficient bathroom.

What You Need

1.      A Dual Flush Toilet

As previously mentioned, your toilet is the number one water consumer in your household. Traditional toilets are by far the most inefficient, which is why you need to upgrade yours right away if you want your bathroom to be a true energy and money-saver. Replacing it with a low flow model is an alternative if you’ve got the budget for it.

But if that’s not the case, dual flush will be your best friend. The system behind it is a simple, yet highly interactive one that delegates different flows depending on what you did while in the bathroom. This basically means that your number one will be flushed down using less water than your number two.

To keep things thrifty, you can simply visit your local hardware and home supplies store and purchase a dual flush kit. Using the instructions that come with or a handy YouTube tutorial, you will be able to install the whole thing yourself.

And if you want to take it one step further, you can also learn how to perform some basic repairs and other improvements by yourself, such as how to fix a toilet that won’t flush or how to replace its defective parts.

2.      Low Flow Showerheads

When it comes to saving water and energy on showers, spending less time on them is one simple way to go about it. But if you want to be fully efficient in achieving this goal, what you need to do is install a low flow showerhead. This small change cuts your consumption during showers in half.

While traditional showerheads use up 5 to 8 gallons per minute, a low flow model will drop the amount down to 2.5 in the blink of an eye without as much as sacrificing pressure levels. This means that you also save some of the energy required to heat the amount you are using because you won’t use as much of it.

3.      Motion Sensor Faucets

More water is wasted in your bathroom sink than you’d like to think. Even when you’re being good about it and turning the faucet off whenever you don’t directly need it, you are most likely still pouring unnecessarily high amounts of the stuff down the drain, both literally and metaphorically.

The best solution for this problem is to have motion sensor faucets installed. There are quite a few reasons why you should consider this option. Not only is such a fixture a lot more hygienic due to reduced need for actually touching it, but it is most importantly water efficient. In fact, its usage is 20% lower than that of traditional faucets, which is a considerable improvement.

4.      Energy Saving Light Bulbs

To further optimize energy usage in your bathroom, replacing your bulbs with LEDs is an incredibly forward-thinking decision. They are some of the best green technologies available today, which is why you should take the leap and say goodbye to your old fluorescent lights if you haven’t done that already.

Final Thoughts

Updating your home so that it’s eco-sustainable can very well start in your bathroom. By using low flow fixtures and installing motion sensor faucets, you are taking important steps towards using less water overall. Thus, you are doing your fair share for protecting our environment.

And if you want to take it all one step further, replacing your old light bulbs with energy-efficient LEDs is a great idea that can be applied to the rest of the house as well. All you need to achieve this is ambition and an appropriate budget.