A woman shared a money (and water) saving tip on TikTok. Replacing her toilet flappers with water-saving ones cut her monthly water bill by 40%.
The scoop
TikToker Christina (@teamhay5) posted a video explaining that her family of seven regularly racked up high water bills.
"Our water bill was consistently about $140," she says in the video. "I did some research and found out that [you can] simply replace the flapper with one of those water-saving ones."
When the toilet is flushed, the flapper — which is inside the upper tank — lifts to allow water to flow from the tank into the bowl, effectively controlling how much water is used per flush.
@teamhay5 Save $50/month with one easy fix #moneysavingtips #momhack #savewater #savemoney #homeschooling #waterconservation ♬ original sound - Christina
Christina demonstrates how her toilet flushes using less water with the new flapper. "See how quickly it closes?"
She explains that, by using less water per flush, the flapper helps "to save money and to save water … We changed it out and, I lie you not, consistently $80 to $90 per month for my bill. You're welcome. Super cheap fix."
How it's helping
This tip couldn't be easier or more cost-efficient. Replacing a flapper is easy and can be done without professional help, so there are no associated plumbing costs. And with most flappers priced under $20, the entire hack will pay for itself in just a month or two.
It's also an important category for savings when it comes to utility bills. The average American wastes 30 gallons of water a day. Toilet water is the biggest contributor to our water consumption, with toilet use accounting for about 30% of the average water bill, so reducing water waste in the bathroom makes a big difference in cutting your monthly charges.
To this end, one commenter even had a suggestion to take the money-saving tips one step further.
"Switch [the] toilets out with [the] water saver kind! They're a godsend!" she wrote.
These efficient — or low-flow — toilets have been shown to save up to 13,000 gallons of water per year, using only 1.3 gallons per flush as compared to the six gallons per flush of many older toilets.
If you're looking to save even more money in the bathroom, you can make some other bathroom upgrades, like installing a bidet, switching to sustainable toilet paper, or switching to bar soap, which will save you even more money and make your bathroom less wasteful.
What everyone's saying
Whether they also had large families or lived alone, people were appreciative of this simple money-saving hack.
"Thank you girly!" one wrote.
"My mind is blown these exist," another wrote. "We were just so mad about our water bill last month. Def gunna try."
"Got any tips to save on electricity?" someone joked.
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