Water. Once viewed as an inexhaustible natural resource, homes were granted unlimited use for one flat fee per month. Folks let their sprinklers run while it rained, washed their cars in the driveway while the hose poured water down the sidewalk and directly into the drain, allowed their children to play in the sprinklers in the heat of the day. Today, water is now a precious commodity, metered and included right on your utilities bill. Perhaps the folks who decided to meter water usage hoped to cause customers to reduce the amounts of water they used every month - unfortunately, that didn't seem to work.

If your water bill is already high or getting higher by the month, this article is definitely for you! I plan to cover several simple water-saving techniques that will help you lower those monthly costs and put a little bit of cash back into your wallet. Ranging from small-scale to large-scale, these suggestions are designed with ANYONE in mind, whether you own a home, or rent one. We'll start with small-scale suggestions, and end with large-scale ones.

CHALLENGE: Use these suggestions for one month, and compare the current and previous water bills. Post a comment here to tell me how much (if any) money you saved!

"Tuna Water":

The water that comes in tuna cans is a coveted treat by animals everywhere. Cats especially love the stuff, so giving it to them as a treat (added to a bowl so that the poor things don't slice their tongues on the can edges) not only provides healthy protein, but helps to make sure that your pet remains healthily hydrated. Soak dry cat food in it and feed the softened stuff to kittens or animals which are ill to help them recover.

Limit the intake, however, because sometimes rich foods will upset kitty's stomach.

Using cooking water for plants:

When you boil vegetables or pasta, the remaining water is often poured out into the sink, which sends the dozens of healthy vitamins and minerals that were extracted from the veggies down the drain. Rather than tossing this useful stuff, let it cool and then pour it directly into potted plants or brown spots on the lawn. Your plants will love the easy-to-absorb nutrition and will thrive because of it. This keeps you from having to draw more water from the hose or faucet to give to your plants.

Do not add water used in cooking meats, however. Plants cannot utilize the proteins.

Leftover Ice Cubes:

When you've finished drinking your glass of iced tea and don't plan on getting a refill, rinse the cubes and dump them into the pet's water bowl. He'll enjoy the cool water if it's hot out, and some animals like to play with the cubes as they float around in the bowl.

Ice cubes can also be dropped into a potted plant for gradual release of water, or simply toss the whole cupful (rinsed or not) out onto the lawn.

Waiting for hot water - The kitchen sink version:

If it takes a long time for the water from the kitchen faucet to become hot, put a bucket or pan beneath the flow of water while you wait. When the water becomes hot enough for your tastes, remove the bucket and set it aside. You can use this clean water for plants, pets, or even pour it into water bottles to be stored in the fridge for drinking later.

Don't leave the faucet running:

While brushing your teeth, the only water you need is for wetting the brush (optional) and rinsing your mouth when you're finished. There is no need to leave the water on while you're bushing, especially not if you brush for the full 2 minutes recommended by dentists.

In the same vein, if you're shaving at the sink, rather than leaving the water on to rinse the razor every few seconds, plug the sink basin and fill it with just enough water to rinse your razor effectively.

Wash your hands!

We're all taught to wash our hands after every trip to the bathroom, but NOT that we don't need to run the tap at full blast while we're doing it. Running the faucet at a gentle trickle gets the job done just as well, but doesn't waste water in the process. Remember how many times you use the restroom a day and you'll realize that blasting the faucet for every hand-wash lets the wasted water totals add up quickly.

Shower, don't bathe:

Unless you're an infant who can bathe in the kitchen sink, try to avoid taking a bath. Limiting yourself to a 10 minute shower saves several gallons of water - especially when using showerheads that allow 7 gallons per minute or more. Try getting a water saving showerhead installed, as well. I found one at Wal-Mart for under $3.00.

If you're the sort that likes to shower for 30 minutes or more, a bath may be more efficient. If you aren't sure which one would use less water, plug the tub when you take a shower. If the tub fills before you're finished, a bath is your best bet.

Waiting for hot water - The bath tub version:

Put a larger bucket of water beneath the faucet while you're waiting for hot water in the tub. This can be poured directly into the toilet to produce the same effects as a flush, without emptying your toilet's tank.

Don't shave in the shower:

Shaving the legs, face etc while standing in the shower leads to excessive waste. In most cases, you try to avoid getting wet while you're shaving, so that the shaving foam or soap doesn't get rinsed away before you're finished.

Try sitting on the edge of the tub with the bath faucet turned down to a trickle. The hair and soap still goes down the bath tub drain, and you won't have to bend yourself into odd positions to stick your leg up near the sink.

Pee twice, flush once:

This one usually causes the first-timers to flinch. For some reason, humans have been trained to think that a toilet is no longer usable unless it has been flushed. It's especially true in a public restroom. In THAT case, I don't blame anyone, but when you're at home and you're alone, there's no need to flush the toilet every time you urinate into it.

The human bladder can only hold about 17 to 18 ounces of fluid, but the average toilet flushes 2.9 GALLONS with every flush. That, my friend, is hardly worth sending a teeny little amount like 17 ounces down into the sewer. This is where one of the biggest wastes of water comes from. If a person uses the toilet once every two hours for 18 hours a day, that's 104.4 gallons a day by ONE PERSON. "Pee twice, flush once" cuts that total in half - 52.2 gallons per day, per person. You can improve it even more by purchasing a low-water toilet that only flushes about 1.6 gallons each time, which takes the total from 104.4 gallons down to 57.6 gallons per day, per person, and the "Pee twice, flush once" total down to 28.9 gallons per day, per person.

Of course, whenever you have to use the toilet for OTHER restroom purposes, it's polite not to follow the P2F1 rule... Unless, of course, you're a really hardcore Green Living junkie.

Watering the lawn:

Contrary to popular belief, lawns do not need daily watering. Several gardening sites (and you can research this for yourself if you don't believe me) assure me that lawns need, on average, one inch of water per week. It is recommended to let the soil dry a little in between watering, too. An over-watered lawn will display the same signs of damage as an under-watered one, so if your grass is yellowing and dying but the soil is constantly damp, it's time to lighten up.

Water your grass in the early morning so that it has time to soak up what water it needs before the sun rises and evaporates everything. Do NOT water the lawn at night, because water that is allowed to sit in the dirt without being absorbed by the grass invites fungus and disease to invade the lawn and kill it.

If you don't have a sprinkler system that you can set to water your lawn for you in the early morning, watering a little bit every other day before 10am is best. After 10am, the sun can do damage to wet lawns, especially since water droplets can magnify sunlight and burn the grass leaves.

How can you tell how long it takes your sprinklers to put one inch of water onto the grass? Easy: make a mark at the height of one inch inside of an empty tuna can and set it onto the lawn. Make a note of the amount of time your sprinklers run, and check the can after they turn off. If there is more than one inch of water in the can, shorten the length of time the sprinklers stay on. If there is less than one inch, leave them on a little longer.

Rain helps, too:

Remember that you don't need to water your lawns or garden after it has rained. This is one of the biggest wastes of water I see out in the city, and I don't think I need to explain to anyone why that is.

Wash your car in the grass:

Pull your car right up into the grass to wash it, and use a mild soap without a ton of chemicals in it. The excess dirt, water and soap will run off into the lawn and serve double-duty, since after you're finished with your car, you won't have to worry about the lawn for another couple of days. Remember not to pull the car up into the lawn while it's wet, though. You'll end up with long tire tracks in it that aren't so great to look at.

That's all I have for you now! If there's something here that was particularly helpful to you, or you'd like to add an idea that I missed, please leave a comment!