Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Life is in flux BIG TIME these days. I want to keep in touch with all of my peeps. The Internet is this beautiful thing. I can move to a brand new city and still stay in easy, near-daily contact with the people I love. When I feel connected to the people in my life that matter, I am unstoppable!

I’ve Been a Bad, Bad Girl.

By Abby at 1:27 am on Tuesday, March 18, 2008

At brunch the other day, my friend Drew mentioned that each person in Raleigh is supposed to try and keep their water usage under 35 gallons a day. (He clearly reads his bill more carefully than I do.) When I went to check my usage, I was at 52 whopping gallons a day! My first thought was that there had to be a leak. Second, I thought that most people in Raleigh are out of their homes using water elsewhere 40 hours a week, and I’m not. But still, I want to do whatever I can to get my water usage back where it should be. I’ve set up a little weekly calendar in the bathroom. I make myself check when I flush. It’s my little reminder to “let it mellow”, and I think it’s helping a lot. I went to Target and bought a lot of bottled drinking water. My only concern about it is that I have teeth that are very prone to decay, and this water doesn’t have fluoride in it. As a person who doesn’t shower every day (Oh just stop it. I have really dry skin.), I thought that I would be way below the average for sure. Guess I was wrong. Perhaps I’d better hang up a poster of Raleigh’s drought mascot, Rainy, to inspire me. What on earth?! I am amazed this actually exists!

Check your bill. How are you doing? It tells you right at the top.

Filed under: Raleigh and the Triangle8 Comments »

8 Comments

1
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Comment by libby

March 18, 2008 @ 10:14 am

i think we’re around 30 gallons a day. we do the mellow thing and the industrial bucket in the shower thing (which we use to flush the toilets and water what’s left of our indoor plants).

have you checked out dual-flush toilets? we’re thinking about replacing ours: http://www.kbdtoilet.com/

also, low-flow showerheads start at $14.99 at lowes or home depot.

there are all kinds of tips online for conserving water.

2
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Comment by kristin

March 18, 2008 @ 2:37 pm

Randomly, not keeping the water running while you brush your teeth or doing the dishes saves about 40 gallons (on average) per session.

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Comment by Abby

March 18, 2008 @ 5:56 pm

Session? See, I already turn the water off when I brush my teeth. And hell, I don’t even do dishes all that often! I’m really bad about it. I don’t get them very clean before putting them in the dishwasher. I think I’ve been running it too often. I’m trying to limit that and limit washing machine usage. I have both in my apartment. I do need to get my apartment checked for leaks.

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Comment by Lu

March 19, 2008 @ 8:46 pm

I have to check our bill. I have no idea how much we consume. Those dual flush toilets are obligatory in Australia because they are very prone to droughts there. They make a lot of sense… pee doesn’t need much water to go down.

You could put something inside the tank in your toilet, so that it doesn’t fill up with as much… like a bottle of water or something.

When you wash the dishes or brush your teeth, make sure you don’t turn the tap on full blast. That saves water. I wash the dishes with a trickle of water and we hardly use the dishwasher.

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Comment by Abby

March 20, 2008 @ 12:40 am

I like the suggestion about putting something in the toilet tank. Very nice photography web site you’ve got there.

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Comment by Lu

March 21, 2008 @ 12:19 am

Thanks! 😛

Now I know why we don’t know how much water we consume! We don’t get a water bill here… it’s included in the rent… what great motivation to conserve!

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Comment by Ginny

March 26, 2008 @ 11:44 pm

I so did not see the city’s mascot on your blog or I totally would have given you props. Funny that you posted this so many days ago and that the N&O is just now writing about it.

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Comment by Abby

March 27, 2008 @ 4:11 pm

So what you’re saying is that you’re not as good at reading my blog as I am at reading yours. And that I’m totally cutting edge.

😛

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